SingTel

[CityFarmer]

OCBC Investment Research, rating BUY, TP $3.68

SingTel posted its 4QFY13 results this
morning, with revenue slipping 6% YoY and
3% QoQ to S$4.48b, weighed down by the
weaker A$. Full-year revenue fell 3% to
S$18.18b, and was 3% shy of our forecast.
Reported net profit for 4Q came in at
S$868.2m, down 33% YoY but up 5% QoQ;
core earnings slipped 2% YoY and rose 15%
QoQ to S$1.0b. Core FY13 earnings eased
1.8% to S$3.61b, and was about 4% below
our forecast. SingTel has declared a final
dividend of S$0.10/share, bringing the fullyear
payout to S$0.168 (74% of underlying
net profit). For FY14, SingTel expects to
consolidated revenue to remain stable, while
EBITDA should continue to see low singledigit
growth. It also expects to spend some
S$2.5b in capex, with free cashflow coming
in at around S$2b. Last but not least, it has
revised up its dividend payout ratio from 55-
70% to 60-75%. We will have more after the
analyst teleconference later. Meanwhile, we
place our Buy rating and S$3.68 fair value
under review. (Carey Wong)

http://remisiers.org/cms_images/research...15-OIR.pdf

[Dividend Warrior]

i just don't want to buy more than 5 lots for this counter though dividend yield is not too bad. I should have.

I see.......

[CityFarmer]

From Lim & Tan Securities, TP $3.99, no rating

 Fiscal 4Q ‘13 net profits at Singtel came in at S$868
million, down 33% y-o-y, as a result of (1) a one-time
loss of S$225 million from the divestment of Warid
Pakistan and (2) an exceptional tax credit of
S$270million in the same period last year. This is in
line with consensus numbers.
 Excluding exceptional items, Singtel’s underlying
quarterly net profit would have just declined 2% y-oy.
The operating weakness came mainly from
unfavourable foreign currency movements, as well as
investments in network, digital initiatives and
spectrum.
 Its overseas business registered just a 1% increase in
pre-tax profits (S$514 million), as strong
contributions from Telkomsel and AIS offset poorer
performance from Bharti Airtel.
 The telecommunication company increased its
dividend payout ratio, bringing its full-year dividends
to 16.8 cents per share. This translates into a dividend
yield of 4.2% for FY ‘13.
 Looking ahead, Singtel foresees its revenue from its
Group Consumer unit to decline by low single digit
level due to lower anticipated contributions from
Australia. Overall, consolidated revenue for the Group
is expected to be stable, growing at low single digit,
supported by productivity and yield management
initiatives

http://remisiers.org/cms_images/research...052013.pdf

[Temperament]

SingTel – MayBank Kim Eng. 16 May 2013 . The Heavy Lifting Begins. “Hype” phase over, time to deliver. SingTel is a SELL with a target price of SGD3.38 as ...

[Dividend Warrior]

Optus launched 4G in Australia......

[Drizzt]

Optus launched 4G in Australia......

is this a good thing or a bad thing?

[CityFarmer]

Optus launched 4G in Australia......

is this a good thing or a bad thing?

4G is a global trend, with the popularity of tablets and smart phones. The Optus 4G's plan seems a well-planned deployment. It should be a good news IMO. Do you have a different view?

[Drizzt]

capex is necessary evil and that eats into free cash flow. they been losing market share so to me thats a bad thing. will they be able to gain traction from monetizing with new products? Singtel have not shown the capability to do that.

[CityFarmer]

capex is necessary evil and that eats into free cash flow. they been losing market share so to me thats a bad thing. will they be able to gain traction from monetizing with new products? Singtel have not shown the capability to do that.

Capex is a necessary expense of telco. If Optus did not spend the capex on 4G, but other tech, than it will be a much bigger concern IMO

4G isn't an expensive technology relatively. I don't expect a large increase from the regular capex due to the deployment.

[greengiraffe]

Optus takes 4G fight to Telstra

BY:MITCHELL BINGEMANN From: The Australian May 21, 2013 12:00AM
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OPTUS has unveiled plans to extend its 4G mobile footprint to 70 per cent of the metropolitan population by the middle of next year as it prepares to take on Telstra in the race to sign up data-hungry mobile customers.

In an Australian first, the No 2 mobile carrier announced it had begun testing a new variant of 4G network, known in technological circles as a "time-division long-term evolution" network, in Canberra.

Optus will begin the trial at 12 sites across the capital and will increase the number of mobile base stations to 20 in the coming months.

The trial will help Optus to decide what network supplier should be selected to take part in its $1 billion national 4G tender, which is set to be finalised later this year.

Yesterday, the telco said it was able to launch the new 4G service in Canberra by using spectrum it acquired from media mogul Kerry Stokes's Vividwireless for $230 million last year.

The TD-LTE technology, which Telstra considered but decided against using, is expected to support an increasing number of devices and a broader ecosystem of applications and services in coming years.

But early take-up of the service could be slow as smartphones such as Apple's popular iPhone 5 are not compatible with the service.

However, Optus's outgoing head of networks, Gunther Ottendorfer, said TD-LTE would offer advantages over the 4G services in use today.

TD-LTE allows both uploads and downloads to be used on the same spectrum frequency, but at different times, which can better suit asynchronous services such as video broadcasts and high-capacity downloads.

Today's 4G networks that run on FD-LTE (frequency-division long-term evolution) use two separate frequency channels, one for data travelling in each direction.

"TD-LTE is a great opportunity for asymmetrical services, where you have more down-push of data like TV services, because you can adjust the ratio of how much you give for uplink and how much you give for downlink," Mr Ottendorfer said.

He added that the expansion would leave Optus well placed to compete against Telstra.

"We are eyeballing Telstra. This expansion should give us real opportunity to differentiate ourselves with TD-LTE and give Australians a very, very capable 4G combination," he said.

Optus's TD-LTE network will run on 2300MHz spectrum to complement Optus's present FD-LTE network, which runs on 1800MHz spectrum.

The telco plans to launch a third band of 4G services in 2015 using the 700MHz spectrum acquired in the government's recent spectrum auctions.

In those auctions, Optus paid $649m to acquire half the spectrum obtained by Telstra, which spent $1.3 billion. Third-ranked carrier Vodafone did not participate in the auction process.

Optus first introduced 4G services in September 2011 and has since expanded its network to five state capitals. Optus said it planned to expand its 4G network to 70 per cent of the metropolitan population by mid next year.

The telco has declined to disclose its precise investment in its 4G network but has said it spent more than $2bn across three years on its mobile network.

Telstra is spending $1.2bn this year to improve its mobile services and build out its 4G network to 66 per cent of the population by June.

Vodafone plans to launch 4G services in June.

Last week, Optus revealed that it was making ground on Telstra's lead in the race to sign up customers to 4G mobile.

Although Optus added only 103,000 new mobile subscribers in the year to March 31, the telco has signed up 785,000 4G handset subscribers since launching its 4G network a year ago.

Telstra had connected more than one million handsets to its 4G network by the end of last year. Optus has a total customer base of 9.59 million, compared with Telstra's 14.4 million.