StarHub reported a 25.9% increase in earnings to $92.8 million for 1 QFY2016.
For the quarter ended March, revenue fell 4.4% to $590.9 million, due in part to the $28.9 million decrease in revenue from the sale of equipment.
Service revenue rose by $1.9 million, driven by the broadband and enterprise fixed businesses. This was offset by the decrease in sales revenue from the mobile and pay television businesses.
Mobile service revenue fell 2.4% on lower post-paid and pre-paid revenue, while pay TV service revenue decreased 1.2% to S$94.9 million from a lower subscriber base.
Broadband service revenue grew 11.3% driven by the higher take-up of higher speed plans, which led to a $3 increase in average revenue per user. Enterprise fixed service revenue rose 5.4% due to the data & internet services.
Operating expenses decreased by $48.8 million on the back of lower cost of equipment sold, which was offset by the increase in other operating expenses.
Other income grew by $1.9 million as the increasing take-up of the fibre broadband services led to higher claims for the NGNBN adoption grant.
StarHub says its hubbing packages helped to maintain its low churn rates in all its businesses. It also expects its service revenue in FY2016 to grow in the low single digit range.
The group declared an interim dividend of five cents per share for the current quarter.
StarHub’s shares closed unchanged at $3.30 on May 5.
This article first appeared in The Edge Singapore Market Report.
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