SIA's profits rose 10.8% to $314.8m in Q3

Its passenger revenue expanded 7% to $239m.

Singapore Airlines' group net profit grew 10.8% YoY to $314.8m in Q3 FY19-20, the company announced in an SGX filing. Revenue climbed 3% to $4.47b over the same period.

Profits rose 8.4% YoY to $520.4m for the first nine months of the fiscal year, whilst revenue expanded 4.5% to $12.25b.

The group’s basic earnings per share grew to $0.266 during the quarter, compared to $0.24 in Q3 FY 18-19. Diluted earnings per share also climbed to $0.264 from $0.239 over the same period.

The growth in revenue during the quarter was mainly driven by a 7% growth in passenger revenue at $239m. However, this was partly offset by a lower cargo revenue of $112m. Load factor was up 2.6 ppt to 85.6%, but cargo yield and load factor fell by 9.3% and 4.6 ppt respectively.

Also read: SIA Group's passenger load factor rose 2.6 ppt to 87.6% in December

The group’s net profit was also boosted by a stronger operating performance as well as an improvement in share of results of joint venture and associated companies, although partly offset by a growth in net finance charges and other non-operating losses.

Group expenditure edged up 1.7% to $4.02b from a 4.2% rise in non-fuel costs at $113m. This was attributed to both the increase in capacity as well as higher traffic, but was partially offset by a 3.6% dip in net fuel costs at $45m mainly due to a lower jet fuel price post-hedging.

Operating profit for its parent airline company rose 11.9% YoY to $413m during the quarter, with total revenue expanding $120m due to rise in passenger flown revenue, whilst expenditure climbed on higher ex-fuel costs.

Meanwhile, SilkAir’s operating profit remained flat at $7m. Capacity for the carrier fell 8.2%, primarily attributable to the grounding of the 737 MAX 8 fleet as well as the progressive transfer of routes to Scoot. However, traffic dipped by a smaller extent at 2.9%.

Scoot’s operating profit soared to $4m, compared to $1m in Q3 FY 18-19. Passenger flown revenue improved 6%, supported by a 6.8% expansion in passenger traffic (+6.8%).

Operating profit for SIA Engineering was also stable at $16m.