SMRT's Des does well - profits plunged 57%. Congrats.

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

SINGAPORE — Transport operator SMRTCorp said yesterday that second-quarter net profit more than halved from the same period last year, due mainly to higher staff, depreciation, repair and maintenance costs.

Net profit for the three months ending September was S$14.3 million — down 57.1 per cent from the year-ago period — even as revenue rose 5.3 per cent to S$296 million.



Staff costs surged 27 per cent to S$118.5 million after a wage-revision exercise in the fourth quarter and increased headcount, the firm said in a statement yesterday.

In March, SMRT revised the wage scales of all its non-executive staff and restructured certain terms and conditions of employment.

Turnover from its train business rose 3.9 per cent to S$160.5 million due to higher ridership, but operating profit fell 95.8 per cent to S$1 million.

Its bus business saw revenue rise 2.9 per cent to S$58.4 million, but the operating loss widened 6.4 per cent to S$7 million.

Its taxi business experienced a 2.3 per cent decline in income to S$32.4 million, but operating profit surged 55.1 per cent to S$2.1 million with higher rental from a newer fleet.

“The fare business remains challenging with the misalignment between fares and rising operating costs, and the continued absorption of fare concessions,” said SMRT.

Mr Desmond Kuek, SMRT President and CEO, added that the firm is still in discussion “with the authorities on details for a timely transition to a viable and sustainable model for the train and bus businesses”.


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