Singtel’s plan to trim its 29% stake in Bharti to 24%, aligning with the Mittal family’s holding, could unlock around $8 billion in shareholder value over time. The share price has already increased 14.7% over the past month, helped by a flight to safety following global trade tariff concerns.
Further share price upside may be limited as the trade unwinds. “A key swing factor would be if buoyant Indian equity markets enable Singtel to pare down its stake in Bharti faster or at a higher price. Each Rs100 rise in Bharti’s share price adds 12 cents to Singtel’s valuation. By contrast, a 10% uplift in Singtel’s group ebit beyond FY2026 would only add 7 cents per share,” Jearajasingam wrote in a note dated May 12.
He foresees Singtel’s 4QFY2025 results, due on May 22, to show “continued earnings momentum”. Singtel’s Ebitda and ebit are expected to grow 6.2% and 19.7% y-o-y, respectively, lifting FY2025 core net profit to $2.52 billion, up 11.3% from a year earlier. “Sequentially, we expect results to show typical seasonality with core net profit down 5% q-o-q,” he says.
Singtel is projected to declare a final dividend per share (DPS) of 6.9 cents—an 82% payout ratio—alongside a 4.2-cent value realisation dividend (VRD), bringing total FY2025 DPS to 16.7 cents. “The key surprise, in our view, could come from a more generous VRD payment,” he adds.
As at 10am, shares in Singtel are trading at $3.71 flat.
