StarHub's profits slid 10.9% to $178.6m in 2019

Lower revenues were reported for the Mobile, Pay TV, and broadband lines.

StarHub’s net profits saw a 10.9% decrease at $178.6m in FY2019. Revenues for FY2019 inched up 1.3% to $2.33b.

On a quarterly basis, net profit surged 115.6% in Q4 to $33.3m, from $15.4m in the same quarter in 2018. Meanwhile, revenue for the quarter slid 1.8% to $608.4m.

The lower revenues were mainly due to contracted revenues from the company’s product lines of Mobile, Pay TV and Broadband, which is partially mitigated by higher revenues from the Enterprise business and sales of equipment.

Mobile service’s revenues were lower in Q4 by 1.8% as well as for the full year by 7.2%. The decrease was mainly due to lower revenues from IDD, excess data usage, roaming, as well as from decreased data subscriptions and VAS (value-added services) revenues.

Revenues for the Pay TV service, meanwhile, dropped 20.8% for the quarter and declined 20.3% in for the full year, mainly due to a lower subscriber base and lower ARPUs in line with the promotional activities in respect of the cable to fibre migration.

Broadband services’ revenue also slid by 10.2% in Q4. For the full year, the service line saw a 5.1% drop, mainly due to lower average revenue per user (ARPUs) similarly as a result of promotional effort of the cable to fibre migration.

Meanwhile, the company’s Enterprise Business, and sale of equipment both saw a jump in revenues. Enterprise Business’ revenue increased YoY by 6.3% in Q4, the business line reported a 12.6% increase for the full year. The increase is attributed to higher revenues from cyber security services and managed services.

Revenue for sales of equipment increased YoY by 1.7% in the quarter, driven by higher selling price of handsets. Meanwhile, full-year revenues increased 6.8% due to higher volume of handsets sold.

On its balance sheet, StarHub reported an improved free cash flow of $218.6m in FY2019.

StarHub had recently submitted a bid with M1 to the regulator for one of two nationwide 5G standalone networks. The regulator is expected to award the licenses by mid-2020.