SINGAPORE: Singapore Post (SingPost) has announced a special dividend of nine cents per share after it booked a net exceptional gain of S$222.2mil, largely from the recent divestment of its business in Australia.
Including an interim dividend of 0.34 cents, which has been paid, SingPost shareholders are set to receive a total of 9.34 cents, the company said on May 15.
Its net exceptional gain of S$222.2mil for the full year ended March 31 came largely from a S$302.1mil gain on its disposal of its Australian logistics business, Freight Management Holdings (FMH).
This was partially offset by impairment charges of S$79.6mil on another business, Quantium Solutions.
“The proceeds from the sale of the Australia business have been allocated to debt reduction, shareholder returns, strengthening the group’s balance sheet and funding future growth of the business,” SingPost said in its filing on the Singapore Exchange.
SingPost completed the sale of FMH for A$1.02bil or about S$853mil in March this year.
SingPost board chairman Simon Israel said: “The transaction has crystallised the unrealised value of the business, bringing forward the unlocking of value and returning capital to shareholders.”
Net profit for the full year stood at S$245.1mil, up 212.9% from S$78.3mil the previous year.
But excluding the net exceptional gain, underlying net profit fell 40.3% to S$24.8mil.
For its second half, SingPost posted an underlying net loss of S$500,000, reversing from a S$28.1mil profit in the same period last year.
Singpost shares fell 9.45%, or six cents, to 57.5 cents as at 9.20am, after its results announcement.
“This downturn reflects the intensifying challenging and uncertain conditions in the global logistics sector,” the company said.
SingPost said the global economic outlook remains clouded by ongoing trade tensions, with US tariffs and retaliatory measures by key trading partners.
“In the logistics sector, the impact has been particularly pronounced. Cross-border logistics volumes have come under pressure. This, along with geopolitical tension, has led to a more uncertain and challenging operating environment,” it said.
SingPost added that these challenging conditions intensified in the second half of the financial year and are expected to persist into the coming financial year.
But it also noted that after the divestment of the Australia business, the group has taken steps to sharpen its focus on its core business including streamlining its operations to right-size the cost base.
The international cross-border business has been reintegrated into the Singapore postal and logistics business to achieve business synergies and drive operational efficiencies, it said.
Efforts are also under way to strengthen the Singapore postal and logistics operations for greater efficiency, with a S$30mil investment in a new automation system to expand processing capacity for small parcels at the regional eCommerce logistics hub facility.
SingPost’s full-year revenue also fell, to S$813.7mil, a 7.5% year-on-year decrease, primarily driven by headwinds in its international segment, it noted.
On the other hand, the Singapore segment registered a modest increase of 2.9% in revenue to S$326.7mil.
This was underpinned by the property business, which recorded a strong 11.9% increase in revenue.
SingPost added that its strategic review and reset is ongoing.
It had said earlier that it is undergoing restructuring to optimise its operations and corporate functions.
Seven executives were reported to have left the company amid the restructuring in April.
These include head of strategy and communications Lee Eng Keat, group chief people officer Sehr Ahmed, group chief information officer Noel Singgih, chief sustainability officer Michelle Lee and chief information security officer Audrey Teoh.
The restructuring is “the result of prolonged macroeconomic challenges facing the business, including intense competition”, SingPost had said in a February statement, adding that the exercise is not correlated with previous incidents and whistleblowing reports.
SingPost said at the end of last year that it had received whistleblowing reports that revealed cases of data falsification at the company’s international business unit.
Three senior executives – group chief executive Vincent Phang, chief financial officer Vincent Yik and international business unit chief executive Yu Li – were sacked for mishandling the reports.
All three have hired lawyers and are contesting the decision. — The Straits Times/ANN
