Daily news - 11 Feb

StarHub Q4 net profit drops 11%; full-year revenue hits record
StarHub – A 17 per cent surge in pay-TV revenue and single- digit sales growth across three other business lines lifted StarHub Ltd to a record full year revenue of $2.128 billion for its fiscal year 2008. But increased acquisition and retention costs in the first half of the year, as well as higher pay-TV content costs put a drag as full year net income fell 6 per cent to $311 million, from $330 million. Full year earnings per share, on a diluted basis, fell 2 per cent to 18.16 cents, from 18.54 cents. StarHub yesterday announced the results of its fourth quarter and full year. For the three months ended Dec 31, 2008, sales dipped 0.4 per cent to $537 million, from $539 million in the year-ago period. Net income fell 11 per cent to $87 million, from $98 million. Earnings per share, on a diluted basis, fell 11 per cent to 5.09 cents, from 5.73 cents. 'In the fourth quarter, we managed through an increasingly volatile business environment, as the Singapore economy continued to contract - yet we ended the full year with a larger customer base and a relatively strong fourth quarter,' said StarHub CEO Terry Clontz.

Source: Kim Eng