At The Smart Investor, we spend a lot of time breaking down numbers, earnings reports and financial ratios. Those are the basics. But seeing how a company operates behind the scenes adds a layer of perspective that no document can replicate.
This is why site visits are valuable, because they give us context you cannot get from a PDF, a press release or a management transcript. They allow me to observe how the business functions day-to-day and to ask questions directly to the people responsible for running it. All this helps me understand the story behind the numbers and give investors a clearer and more grounded view.
Recently, I visited StarHub, one of Singapore’s major telco companies, for a behind-the-scenes look at its operations for a behind-the-scenes look at its operations. The experience helped me connect what I see in the financials with the operational realities that sit underneath.
StarHub’s Latest Numbers: What They Say and What They Miss
StarHub’s 3Q2025 performance was challenging. Service revenue fell 4.7% year-on-year. Mobile dropped 10.1%. Entertainment weakened further. Net profit for the first nine months fell 25%, and EBITDA margins compressed as revenue pressure outpaced cost adjustments. Free cash flow also declined, which matters for a company that pays out around 80% of its earnings as dividends.
Numbers are essential, but they only show outcomes. This is where being on the ground made a difference.
Why Understanding Management Matters More Than Ever
As a long-term investor, I place significant weight on the people leading the business. Strategies, cost plans and transformation roadmaps only work if the management team is capable of executing them. A site visit gives me the opportunity to assess how they think about the challenges in front of them, how realistic their plans are and how clearly they understand the constraints of their own business. During my visit, hearing management explain the operational context helped me see the factors behind the latest results and interpret the numbers with better context.
What a Site Visit Reveals That Reports Can’t
- Cost Cutting Looks Different When You Hear the Details
It is easy to read about savings targets. It is different when management explains where those savings will actually come from. During the visit, they shared that the expected S$60 million in savings is largely due to reduced interest expenses rather than operational cuts. Understanding this helped put the expectations into context and made clear how these improvements are likely to unfold over the next few years.
- Consumer Competition Feels More Intense Up Close
Mobile ARPU fell to S$22, and the market has shifted sharply. S$10 and S$12 plans are now common, and roaming is bundled for free more often than not. Seeing how the team monitors customer behaviour and adjusts its plans and pricing made the competitive pressure far more tangible. It helped explain why certain metrics remain under strain despite ongoing efforts.
With Simba set to acquire M1 and StarHub taking full ownership of MyRepublic, the market now has fewer ownership structures but just as many active brands competing for the same customers.
- Enterprise and Cybersecurity Are Important, But Inherently Uneven
Enterprise revenue rose 1.5% and cybersecurity grew 17%, but the work behind these numbers is inherently lumpy. Watching how multi-country deployments and regulated cybersecurity operations are carried out helped me understand why quarterly results fluctuate. The capabilities are real, but the revenue pattern reflects the nature of the work, not a lack of demand.
The Real Takeaway for Investors
The near-term outlook remains difficult. Mobile competition is still intense, entertainment continues its decline and enterprise results will fluctuate. Margins may stay under pressure for some time.
The real value of the visit came from understanding how management is thinking about the years ahead. Hearing them outline their longer-term priorities, such as expanding enterprise services and strengthening cybersecurity capabilities, provided insight into how they see the company’s next phase, even with short-term pressures still in place. They also highlighted industry recognition in areas like network innovation and cybersecurity, which reflects capability rather than guaranteed outcomes.
These conversations offered a clearer sense of how the leadership team views future opportunities and the groundwork they believe needs to happen before any of it shows up in future results. For a broader look at how Singapore’s telcos are repositioning themselves beyond 5G, including Singtel and StarHub, you can read our article: Telcos in Transition: Can Singtel and StarHub Deliver Growth Beyond 5G?
Get Smart: The Case for Going Beyond the Spreadsheet
Financial statements tell you what happened. A site visit helps explain why it happened.
Nothing replaces hearing directly from the people who run the company, how they view their challenges and where they see future growth coming from. Those conversations provide context that no report can fully capture.
And for investors, that context matters. In an industry that appears simple from the outside but is far more complex underneath, taking the time to understand how a business really works is what separates informed decisions from guesswork. That is why site visits continue to make a difference.
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Disclosure: Joanna Sng doesn’t own shares of Starhub.
