2. Singapore Post Limited
About SingPost
• Commonly abbreviated as SingPost
• Subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications
Limited
• Singapore’s designated Public Postal Licensee
• 3 main businesses
Overview of Company and Industry
Mail Digital Services
•Domestic & International Mail
•Philately & Stamps
•Hybrid Mail
•Digital Services
Logistics
•Courier: ‘Speedpost’
•E-Fulfilment
•Warehousing, Fulfilment &
Distribution Freight
•Self-Storage
Retail & Financial Services e-
Commerce
•Agency Services
•Financial Services
•E-Commerce
Industry Characteristics
• Letter business in decline; Parcel (e-commerce) business growing
• Porter’s five analysis shows relatively low rivalry within industry
3. Adjustments
Operating lease
Assumptions:
• the discount rate is cost of debt (1.64%).
𝑅 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑡 =
interest expense
(𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 debt2013+𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑡2014)/2
• the payment after 2019 make the full payment at 2020.
Adjust for operating lease
PV of Operating Leases at Singpost In 2014
Commitments Discounted factor PV of Operating lease
2015 19.3 0.98 18.93
2016 9.4 0.96 9.05
2017 9.4 0.94 8.88
2018 9.4 0.93 8.71
2019 9.4 0.91 8.54
Thereafter 31.3 0.89 27.91
Total 88.20 82.02
4. Adjustments
Operating lease
capitalize the operating Leases of Singpost In 2014
beginning
net book value
depreciation
expense
accumulated
depreciation
ending net
book value
2014 82.017 16.403 16.403 65.614
2015 65.614 16.403 32.807 49.210
2016 49.210 16.403 49.210 32.807
2017 32.807 16.403 65.614 16.403
2018 16.403 16.403 82.017 0.000
Assumptions:
• Straight-line method
• Salvage value = 0
• Estimated useful life = 5yrs
5. Adjustments
Operating lease
Assumptions:
operating lease = imputed interest expense + depreciation,
FS Adjustment done Final Effect
Income
Statement
• Plus operating lease expense(+18.858)
• Minus interest expense(-16.403 )
• Minus depreciation(-2.455)
None
Balance
Sheet
Assets
• Add capitalized Leases(+82.017)
• Minus depreciation(-16.403)
• Increase assets
(+65.614)
• Increase liabilities
(+65.614)Liabilities • Add ending book value(+65.614)
Equity • No change
Statement of
Cash Flow
• Move principal payments from operating CF to
financial CF (17.3 )
Principal Payment= Lease payments - Begin Lease Liability * Interest Rate
• Changes in capital Expenditure offsets changes
in net debt
• OCF decrease
(-65.614)
• FCF increase
(-65.614)
• FCFE: no change
6. Adjustments
Other adjustments
• Intangible Assets
FS Adjustment done Final Effect
Balance
Sheet
Assets • Minus goodwill(-167.202)
• Minus other Intangibles(-16.423)
• Decrease assets
(-183.625 )
• Decrease liabilities
(-183.625 )
Liabilities • No change
Equity • Minus goodwill(-167.202)
• Minus other Intangibles(-16.423)
• Inventory
Average cost method
• PP&E
Useful life is close to industry average
7. Income Statement Analysis
Revenue and Operating Profit Breakdown
Revenue from Mail increases
over years, but operating
profit from Mail shows no
significant change.
Revenue from Logistics
increased a huge amount, but
the operating profit didn’t
show a responding increase.
12. Significant Changes in Accounts
Changes in recent years Possible Reasons
Cash And
Equivalents
Increased from S$339M in 2011
to S$695M in 2012
Dropped to f$415M in 2014
Issuing perpetual securities
Use cash to repay S$300M long
term loan
Accounts Payable
Increased in 5 years Stretching out payables
Long-Term Debt
Decreased from S$505M in 2012
to S$220M in 2014
Repay the S$300M long term
loan
Total Equity
Increased significantly in 2012
Issuing perpetual securities of
S$346M in 2012
• Cash decreased, but still $S414M at hand
• Changing the way of financing: lower the financial leverage and credit risk
Balance Sheet Analysis
13. (500.0)
(400.0)
(300.0)
(200.0)
(100.0)
0
100.0
200.0
300.0
400.0
Mar-31-2009
Mar-31-2010 Mar-31-2011 Mar-31-2012 Mar-31-2013 Mar-31-2014
CashAmount
Cash from Operation
Cash from Investing
Cash from Financing
Net Change in Cash
• Net changes in cash and changes in financing cash flow were more significant and
fluctuant than that of operating cash flow and investing cash flow. Trend of net
changes in cash was mainly decided by the changes from financing activities
Cash Flow Analysis
Changes in Cash Flows
14. (200.00)
(100.00)
-
100.00
200.00
300.00
400.00
500.00
600.00
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
FCFF
FCFE
• Significant increase of FCFE in 2010:
SingPost issued $S200M loan.
• Steep fall of FCFE in 2014: company
repaid the debt of S$315M.
• Although repayment of debt
lowered default risk, negative FCFE
indicated the company might have
trouble paying shareholder
dividend.
• FCFF in 2014 is positive, indicating
that the firm has the ability to
generated enough profit to cover
its costs and investment activities.
Changes in FCFF & FCFE
Reasons behind the changes
15. Benchmarks
Choice of Comparable Companies
Businesses: Mail, Parcel & Logistics
Coverage: One of the Largest in UK
Clientele: Businesses, e-commerce users
Market Cap: £218.8 million
Businesses: Mail, Parcel & e-Commerce
Coverage: Germany’s only universal
provider of postal services
Clientele: Individuals, Businesses
Market Cap: €30.12 billion
16. Ratio Analysis
Profitability
FY 2014 Singapore Post Limited UK Mail Group Deutsche Post AG
Performance Ratio
Gross Margin 35.89% 13.40% 11.40%
EBIT Margin 22.08% 4.50% 4.00%
Net Income Margin 16.86% 3.40% 3.80%
Basic EPS $0.08 ₤0.32 € 1.73
Profitability Ratios
Return on Assets % 12.163% 10.288% 5.894%
Return on Equity % 28.588% 24.205% 20.810%
Return on Common Equity % 42.219% 24.205% 21.213%
Analysis:
- Efficient management of cost of operation.
- Ability to withstand downturn is higher versus the comparable.
- Drastic difference could be attributed to higher cost of labour in UK
and Germany
- Leveraged on technology, less capital-intensive structure and better
returns Higher ROA
17. Ratio Analysis
Leverage
FY 2014 Singapore Post Limited UK Mail Group Deutsche Post AG
Solvency Ratios
Total liabilities% of Total Assets 57.45% 57.50% 71.68%
Total Debt/Equity Ratio 1.350 1.353 2.531
Long Term Debt/Equity Ratio 0.558 0.158 0.482
Short Term Debt/Equity Ratio 0.686 1.195 1.207
Coverage Ratios
EBIT/Interest Exp. 17.6 227 12.5
Debt coverage 0.41 0.29 0.12
Interest coverage 49.85 331.00 42.32
Analysis:
- Debt ratio similar to peers, less reliance on short-term funding More stable
- Interest coverage ratio within industry standards, bearing in mind its lower reliance
on cheaper but less stable short-term funding.
18. Ratio Analysis
Liquidity
As at financial year 2014 Singapore Post Limited UK Mail Group Deutsche Post AG
Liquidity Ratios
Quick Ratio 1.566 1.003 0.878
Current Ratio 1.580 1.157 1.017
Days Sales Outstanding 53.555 41.058 46.648
Days Inventory Outstanding 3.327 0.166 2.991
Days Payable Outstanding 89.439 35.563 47.436
Cash Conversion Cycle -32.557 5.661 2.203
Analysis:
- Sufficient working capital
- Negative CCC efficient in collecting receivables and able to establish beneficial
credit terms with creditors
19. Ratio Analysis
Cash Flow Statement Analysis
As at financial year 2014 Singapore Post Limited UK Mail Group Deutsche Post AG
Performance Ratio
Cash flow to revenue 1.81 1.60 1.37
Cash return on assets 0.20 0.16 0.09
Cash return on equity 0.37 0.39 0.33
Cash to income 1.41 1.22 1.24
Analysis:
- Cash flow ratios all slightly better than industry
- Cash flow position is healthy and liquidity will not be an issue
Conclusion:
- Healthy financials
- Coupled with strategic alliance with strong industry players like Alibaba and
a clear direction towards sectors with more potentials (e-commerce,
logistics)
- Dividend of $0.025/year
Stable investment in the long term ($1.7 $1.92) ✓✓✓
We make the simple assumption that it merely replaces lease expense with interest expense and depreciation
Balance Sheet Analysis
Some accounts in balance sheet changed significantly in recent years. Firstly, cash and equivalents increased from S$339M in 2011 to S$695M in 2012 due to the fact that Singpost issued the perpetual securities that increased both common equity and asset by S$346M. Then cash and equivalent dropped significantly to S404M in 2014 because of the repayment of S$300M long term loan. Secondly, as a result of repaying the long term loan, the long term debt in balance sheet dropped from S$505M to S$200M in 2014 as well. Moreover, since Singpost issued perpetual securities, the total equity increased by S$346M in 2012. Besides, account payable increased gradually in last five years, which indicated that Singpost might be try to delay the payment and extended the payment period.
Although cash and equivalent decreased sharply in 2014, Singpost still held large amount of cash which is enough to cover the current liability. The issuing of equity and the repayment of long term debt in past years lowered the financial leverage and credit risk of singpost.
Operating Cash Flow
Overall, the net income decreased from S$157M to S$131M in past five years due to high operating expenses. Although in terms of operating cash flow, the company seems to operate better than 5 years ago and adjusted cash generated from operations increased from S$217M in 2010 to S$259M in 2014. But after looking through the balance sheet, we found that the account receivable had a significant negative change while the account payable had a positive change in year 2014. So we knew that Singpost was improving its operating cash flow mainly by accelerating receivables and stretching out payables other than by operating more efficiently, which means there was little improving in the company’ s operation and such growth in cash inflow cannot sustain.
Investing Cash Flow
The investing cash outflow had been decreasing since year 2011. There was almost no cash spent on investment in financial assets before 2011 and the investing cash flow mainly consisted of purchase and sales of PP&E and investment on associates or dividend from associates and joint venture. Since 2011, Singpost began to purchase and hold large amount of financial asset. And in 2013, Singpost received a significant amount of proceeds from maturity of financial assets and used this money to finance acquisition of subsidies. The company didn’t buy much financial assets or acquire any subsidies in 2014, so the investing cash outflow in 2014 was less compared to former years.
Financing Cash Flow
The changes in financing cash flow from 2009 to 2014 were very fluctuating due to several reasons. Generally, the financing cash flow of Singpost includes debt repaid, debt issued, common stock issued and dividend repaid and usually the financing cash outflow was around S$140M. As we analyzed before, the dividend paid was quite constant and steady during all these years but other items changed frequently. Long-term debt of S$200M was issued in 2010, which we assume to finance the purchase of financial asset, resulting in a significantly positive cash inflow. And a similar large positive amount of cash inflow happened in 2012 due to issuance of S$351M of common stock. In 2014, Singpost repaid S$315M long-term loans by cash, which resulted in S$444M cash outflow.
In all, although Singpost had S$224M net cash outflow in 2014, but since it was previously hoarding too much cash, it still has S$404M of cash in its balance sheet, which can surely cover the expenses, reinvestment and dividend occurred every year. In fact, S$404M is still a large amount of cash, so Singpost may consider spend some on investment or development.
In terms of the operating cash inflow, Singpost is gradually recovering from the industrial structural adjustment in 2012. But the financing cash flow is too fluctuant and unpredictable, which makes cash flow projection more difficult. If we cut out the influence of financing cash flow, the changes in net cash flow showed that Singpost had a healthy cash inflow.