Singapore Telecommunications, or Singtel, reported first-quarter underlying net profit of S$831 million ($649.22 million) for the three months ended June 30, up 21% from S$686 million a year earlier and above the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of S$746.1 million. Overall net profit was S$818 million, down 71.6% from the prior-year quarter, which had been boosted by exceptional gains from the partial sale of a stake in Bharti Airtel and one-off items linked to the Intouch Holdings-Gulf Energy merger. Shares rose as much as 4.2% to S$4.43 on Friday as investors focused on stronger operating contributions from Optus, Airtel, AIS, NCS and Digital InfraCo rather than the headline profit decline.