· FY Operating Revenue Increased 5% to S$2.4 Billion
· FY EBITDA Improved 7% to S$720 Million
· FY NPAT Rose 14% To S$359 Million
· Recommends Final Dividend of 5 cents per share, totaling 20 cents per share for FY2012
Singapore, 7 February 2013 – StarHub Ltd. today announced its results for the fourth quarter and full year ended 31 December 2012.
Operating revenue for the quarter rose 7% to S$654.1 million compared to S$612.6 million year-on-year (YoY). The Group’s EBITDA decreased 5% to S$175.9 million for the quarter. On a full year basis, operating revenue increased 5% to S$2,421.6 million while EBITDA was 7% higher at S$719.8 million from S$676.0 million previously. EBITDA margin as a percentage of service revenue was 31.2% for the quarter and 32.3% for the year.
In 4Q2012, net profit after tax was at S$87.9 million. Compared to a year ago, net profit after tax decreased 5%. On a full year basis, net profit after tax increased 14% to S$359.3 million. Cash capital expenditure (capex) was at S$115.3 million for the quarter or 1% lower YoY. On a full year basis, it was 11% higher at S$272.7 million.
Business Highlights
Total service revenue for both the quarter and the full year periods recorded 1% and 3% growth respectively.
YoY, Mobile revenue decreased 1% for the quarter but increased 1% on a full year basis. Post-paid mobile services revenue was 2% lower YoY at S$246.1 million for the quarter but 1% higher at S$980.9 million for the full year. Pre-paid mobile services revenue improved 3% YoY to S$62.0 million for the quarter. It was 2% lower for the full year. Comparing to a year ago, post-paid ARPU decreased S$2 to S$74 for the quarter and was at S$74 for the full year. Looking at pre-paid ARPU, it inched S$1 YoY for the quarter and stayed at S$19 for the full year.
Pay TV revenue decreased 1% YoY for the quarter but on a full year basis, was higher by 5% to S$396.3 million. The higher revenue was attributed to the UEFA EURO 2012 event, HD set-top box rental, increased take up of add-on channels, and full year impact of the S$2 subscription rate increase that has been effective since August 2011. Pay TV ARPU was at S$51 for the quarter and for the full year, it increased S$2 YoY. There were 536,000 pay TV households at the end of the year.
Broadband revenue improved by 4% to S$62.9 million for the quarter compared to a year ago. For the full year, revenue was S$7.7 million higher. The residential broadband customer base grew 1% YoY, ending the quarter with 444,000 customers. For the quarter and full year basis, ARPU was up S$1 to S$46. The higher ARPUs were on the back of a higher mix of customers on higher speed broadband plans.
Fixed Network revenue increased 8% to S$94.7 million YoY for the quarter. For the full year, it increased 6%. Data & Internet services revenue, which makes up the bulk of the Fixed Network revenue, increased 5% YoY both for the quarter and full year. Voice services revenue increased 19% to S$17.3 million YoY for the quarter. It was 13% higher for the full year. The higher revenue was from local voice services as the digital voice home services became chargeable, coupled with higher in-payments from carriers.
Hubbing households with three services increased by 9,200 to 214,000 from the previous year. There were 447,000 Singapore households taking up two or more StarHub services as at end 2012.
“StarHub has shown immense resilience in 2012 despite the overall slow growth of the local and global economies. We are pleased to have registered our eighth straight year of growth,” said Mr Neil Montefiore, CEO, StarHub. “StarHub continues to be the leader in the Singapore pay TV industry. Not only have we grown the content suite on our platform to over 200 channels, we also continue to delight customers with innovative offerings such as multi-screen services. Our enterprise business has also seen healthy growth while our consumer mobile and broadband businesses remain very stable.”
Outlook for FY2013
Based on the current outlook, we expect Group operating revenue for 2013 to grow in the single-digit range and Group EBITDA margin as a percentage of service revenue to be about 31%. The total capex payments in 2013 are expected to be about 13% of operating revenue. We intend to maintain the annual cash dividend payout of 20 cents in 2013.
For more details on the Group's performance for FY2012 and the outlook for FY2013, please visit www.starhub.com/ir. Materials available at this website include the audio conference link, investor presentation and unaudited results for the quarter and full year ended 31 December 2012.
