SingPost profits climbed 37.2% to $25.68m in Q1

It sold off its GD Express warrants.

Singapore Post (SingPost) profits grew 37.2% YoY to $26.68m in Q1 from $18.71m last year, an announcement revealed. Revenue inched up 1% YoY to $376.38m from $372.58m previously.

This is attributed to the sale of GD Express warrants and the utilisation of the sale’s proceeds to increase its direct shares in GD Express. This move allowed SingPost to no longer recognise any fair value losses or gains that may arise from the warrants.

Also read: SingPost's profits plunged 86% to $18.96m in FY2018/2019

Meanwhile, the increase in revenue was reportedly due to higher international post and parcel revenue with a 5.2% YoY rise, although this was partially offset by a 6.7% YoY decline in domestic revenue due to continued letter mail decline and the suspension of ad-hoc admail volumes.

Logistics revenue was also lower by 2.2%, whilst eCommerce logistics revenue fell by 7.4% YoY due to the exit of some customer contracts at Quantum Solutions as well as the depreciation of the Australian dollar against the Singapore dollar. SingPost noted that revenue would have been stable if disregarding the depreciation.

Property segment revenue dipped 1.5% to $29.8m in Q1 from $30.3m previously.

The US business segment’s first quarter revenue saw a 7.9% YoY rise due to higher freight revenues, although this was offset by the rise of outsourced expenses to third-party vendors for deliveries, leading to losses. Earlier, the group announced its decision to exit the US market.

Also read: Sale of loss making e-commerce business could push SingPost earnings by up to 20.3%: analyst

For the first quarter, the Board of Directors announced a dividend of $0.005 per ordinary share, to be paid on 30 August.