Singapore Post’s (SingPost) third quarter results told a mixed tale of rises and falls.
Revenue was up 16.8% to S$369.4m (US$260.7m) when including SingPost’s US e-commerce subsidiaries, but net profit attributable to equity holders sunk by 27.9% to S$31.4m (US$22.2) and underlying net profit was down 28.5%. This was due to operating losses in the US e-commerce business, regional e-commerce logistics hub costs, and a decline in domestic mail volumes.
Mervyn Lim, covering group CEO of SingPost, said, “We are building out our capabilities, broadening and deepening our e-commerce logistics network to secure the future of SingPost.
“There are challenges along the journey and it is going to take a number of years for our investments to contribute.”
Due to the poor performance of Cincinnati-based TradeGlobal, which SingPost acquired in October 2015, the board of the latter will be conducting a review of all investments made by SingPost.
TradeGlobal has not achieved the underlying profit assumptions of the business plan that supported the investment, instead incurring a significant loss that is expected to determine the outcome for the full year. The business is being restructured to improve its performance.
Written by Kirstie Pickering
February 14, 2017
