ComfortDelGro’s moves around the world are finally helping its balance sheet. The MRT operator reported Wednesday that overseas revenue made up 54.3% of its 2.42 billion Singapore dollars ($1.89 billion) in revenue for the first half of the year. It’s the first time that the company now generates more revenue from outside of Singapore, its home base.
Overall, the company’s half-year revenue rose by 14.4% year-on-year. Profits after tax and minority interests climbed 11.2% over the same period to reach 106 million Singapore dollars ($82.8 million).
“The increase in overseas earnings reflects our focus on pursuing profitable international growth. The international Public Transport business continues to do well, underpinned by our ability to collaborate effectively with our clients to deliver valued services to support their transport goals,” said CEO Cheng Siak Kian.
The company’s shares fell by 3.2% in Singapore trading on Thursday.
ComfortDelGro, ranked No. 105 on the Southeast Asia 500, is trying to expand its overseas operations, particularly in rail. Singapore’s size means transport operators like ComfortDelGro are inclined to look overseas for growth.
The company is a relatively late entrant to the business of public rail, particularly compared to giants like Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation and Japan’s JR Group. Yet it’s recently won contracts to operate Stockholm’s metro and parts of the Paris metro. ComfortDelgro currently operates two rail lines in Singapore and rail services in Auckland, New Zealand. The group is also part of a consortium that’s bidding to operate and maintain the metro lines in Melbourne.
In addition to rail, ComfortDelGro operates bus and taxi services in the UK, Australia and Singapore, and taxi and private-hire services in China.
In March, ComfortDelGro announced a partnership with Chinese robotaxi startup Pony.ai to launch self-driving cars in Guangzhou. On Wednesday, Cheng, ComfortDelGro’s CEO, said the trial has been accident-free so far. ComfortDelGro currently has five autonomous cars operating in a specific part of the city.
Cheng said the company is searching opportunities to “scale up,” yet declined to give a timeline on when the company will bring robotaxis to Singapore, citing a need to work with authorities. ComfortDelGro’s CEO has previously argued that autonomous driving is needed to prepare cities for coming labor shortages.
ComfortDelGro is also partnering with Moovita, a Singapore company, to test autonomous bus services in the city-state.
Cheng is part of a 17-member committee under Singapore’s Ministry of Transport tasked with guiding the roll-out of autonomous vehicles in the city-state. He’s joined on the committee by Grab chief operating officer Alex Hungate, WeRide founder Tony Han, and Waymo’s head of international policy George Ivanov.
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