ComfortdelGro H1 profits fell 12.7% to $141.3m

Its taxi fleet revenue slipped 12% to $184.7m due to smaller operation.

ComfortdelGro recorded a 12.7% YoY decrease in its H1 profit to $141.3m in 2018 despite a revenue growth of 3.3% YoY to 1.82b in H1 2018, an announcement revealed.

For Q2, the firm’s profits slipped 5.5% YoY to $75m from $79.4m a year ago, even with a revenue increase of 5.4% YoY to 941.1m from $893.1m.

In 2018, the group divested $269m in local and overseas acquisitions. Because of this, contributions from new subsidiaries like National Patient Transport and Tullamarine Bus Lines in Australia, as well as AZ Bus in Singapore helped to boost the firm’s performance.

“The deal pipeline remains strong and we hope to conclude more deals in the coming months to grow the business,” ComfortDelGro group CEO and managing director Yang Ban Seng commented.

Revenue from the public transport services business jumped1 3.9% to $667.9m fueled by growth in Singapore, Australia, and the UK. The boost camecame from higher fees earned, higher mileages operated, as well as contributions from newly acquired businesses.

“In Singapore, rail ridership continued to grow but operations continued to incur losses as the fare revenue was not sufficient to cover rising operating and maintenance costs,” the firm noted.

For its taxi fleet, revenue slipped 12% to $184.7m due to its smaller operation. Meanwhile, revenue from inspection and testing services business dipped1.2% to $25.3, as the exit of the firm’s operation in Beijing was partially offset by an increase in Singapore.

The firm believes that its Singapore business will be buoyed even more from revenue coming from public transport services with the commencement of the Seletar bus package in March and the Bukit Merah bus package in Q4 2018.

Rail service revenue is also expected to be higher with a full year contribution from Downtown Line 3.

“Notwithstanding this, the rail business will continue to be challenging due to the fare reduction which came into effect on 29 December 2017 and rising operating and maintenance costs,” the firm commented.