Welcome to this week’s edition of top stock market highlights.
StarHub Ltd (SGX: CC3)
StarHub released its earnings report for the first half of 2024 (1H 2024).
Total revenue inched up 1% year on year to S$1.1 billion after excluding the financial performance of D’ Crypt which was sold in February this year.
In terms of business divisions, Mobile, StarHub’s largest division, saw a 4.3% year-on-year dip in revenue to S$289.7 million.
Both Broadband and Entertainment divisions also saw revenue fall by 1.4% and 3.9% year on year, respectively, to S$122.9 million and S$109.4 million.
The bright spot was the Enterprise division which saw its revenue jump 10.8% year on year to S$417.3 million.
Digging deeper into the Enterprise division, the star performer was the cybersecurity segment which saw revenue surge by 29% year on year to S$140 million.
Network Solutions segment enjoyed a 7.6% year-on-year rise in revenue to S$196.9 million but the Regional ICT Services segment saw revenue fall by 5.4% year on year to S$80.4 million.
StarHub’s net profit for 1H 2024 (excluding D’ Crypt) improved by 8.7% year on year to S$83.3 million.
The telco raised its interim dividend to S$0.03, 20% higher than the S$0.025 that was paid out last year.
The group did well in generating a positive free cash flow of S$99.9 million compared to a negative free cash flow of S$0.1 million in 1H 2023.
StarHub will continue to execute its strategic priorities and most of its DARE+ investments should be completed by this year.
The group plans to harvest returns from its new growth platforms next year while looking to diversify its customer base and regional presence.
Genting Singapore (SGX: G13)
Genting Singapore also released its 1H 2024 earnings and delivered a strong set of results.
Revenue climbed 25% year on year to S$1.36 billion led by a 28% year-on-year increase in gaming revenue to S$957.6 million.
Non-gaming revenue rose 19% year on year to S$397.9 million, with attractions bringing in the biggest year-on-year jump at 25.3% to hit S$201.3 million.
The hotels segment also saw a healthy 19.7% year-on-year increase in revenue to S$121.5 million.
Operating profit for the blue-chip group rose 29% year on year to S$450.9 million with net profit also increasing by 29% year on year to S$356.9 million.
The business also generated a positive free cash flow of S$261.2 million, up 18.3% from 1H 2023’s S$220.8 million.
In line with the healthy growth in net profit, Genting Singapore upped its interim dividend by 33% from S$0.015 last year to S$0.02.
The first phase of the integrated resort’s makeover, titled RWS 2.0, remains on track for a soft opening in early 2025.
These include Illumination’s Minion Land and the Singapore Oceanarium, along with the ongoing development of the Central Lifestyle Connector and an all-suite hotel to replace the Hard Rock Hotel.
Two new luxury hotels will also begin construction in the fourth quarter of this year.
Singapore Technologies Engineering (SGX: S63)
Singapore Technologies Engineering, or STE, also reported its 1H 2024 earnings recently.
The group saw its revenue rise 13.5% year on year to S$5.5 billion with all three of its divisions posting year-on-year revenue increases.
Commercial Aerospace (CA) enjoyed a 20% year-on-year revenue increase to S$2.2 billion and Defence & Public Security (DPS) saw revenue rise 12% year on year to S$2.4 billion.
Urban Solutions and Satcom’s (USS) revenue inched up 3% year on year to S$918 million.
All three divisions also posted positive operating profit with CA and DPS seeing a 7% and 8% year-on-year rise to S$190 million and S$324 million, respectively.
CA’s strong revenue growth was attributed to healthy growth for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services and the division secured S$2.1 billion of new contracts in 1H 2024.
The DPS division clinched S$2.6 billion of new contracts in 1H 2024 and made good progress in international market development by winning more than S$500 million in contracts over the same period.
For USS, the growth of Urban Solutions was offset by weakness in Satcom and the division secured S$1.4 billion of new contracts for 1H 2024.
At the group level, STE generated a positive free cash flow of S$523 million for 1H 2024, comparable to a year ago.
The engineering giant clinched a total of S$6.1 billion in new contracts for the first half of 2024, taking its order book to S$27.9 billion as of 30 June 2024.
S$4.9 billion of this order book is slated to be delivered by the end of this year.
A quarterly dividend of S$0.04 was declared and will be paid on 5 September 2024.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.
