SINGAPORE
Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:36pm EDT
SINGAPORE Aug 12 (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) (STEL.SI), Southeast Asia's largest telcom firm, reported flat first quarter profit on Thursday, lower than market expectations of a four percent rise.
Operating conditions in Singtel's two core markets -- Singapore and Australia -- have improved thanks to an economic rebound. But a weak performance at Indonesia Telkomsel, in which SingTel owns a 35 percent stake, and other associates limited overall earnings growth.
SingTel, the most valuable firm on the Singapore stock market, earned S$943 million ($693 million) in underlying April-June net profit, versus S$945 million a year ago.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast an average net profit of S$982 million.
SingTel's revenue climbed 12 percent to S$4.3 billion.
Facing a domestic market of just 5 million people where virtually everyone has a mobile phone, SingTel has bought stakes in mobile operators in high-growth Asian countries such as India, Indonesia and in the bigger Australian market to boost profits.
Shares in SingTel, which is 55 percent owned by state investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL], have fallen by 2 percent so far this year, underperforming the broader Singapore market .FTSTI which is up around 2 percent. (Reporting by Harry Suhartono, editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)
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