KUALA LUMPUR: Axiata Group Bhd’s net profit fell 7.8% to RM589.6 million for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2011 (3QFY11) compared with RM639.13 million a year earlier due to foreign exchange translation losses and higher operating cost.
For the three months in review, Axiata’s revenue grew 6.3% to RM4.19 billion from RM3.94 billion a year ago. Basic earnings per share was seven sen compared with eight sen a year earlier.
It said at constant currency using 3Q10 exchange rate, group revenue would have seen higher growth of 8.3% year-on-year. Furthermore, operating costs rose 12.9% to RM2.3 billion in 3QFY11 from RM2.1 billion a year ago, mainly driven by its key units PT XL Axiata Tbk, Celcom Axiata Bhd and Dialog Axiata plc.
For the nine-month period ended Sept 30, 2011 (9MFY11), Axiata’s net profit fell 15.9% to RM1.8 billion from RM2.14 billion. Revenue rose 5% to RM12.18 billion from RM11.6 billion. Its basic EPS fell to 21 sen from 25 sen.
In its filing with Bursa Malaysia, Axiata attributed the better revenue to higher contribution from its key operating companies.
The group’s mobile subsidiaries are Celcom in Malaysia, XL in Indonesia, Dialog in Sri Lanka, Robi Axiata Ltd in Bangladesh, and Hello Axiata Co Ltd in Cambodia. It also has significant strategic stakes in Idea Cellular Ltd in India, and M1 Ltd in Singapore.
“Robi’s revenue grew by 17.9% mainly due to increase in prepaid usage and 32% increase in prepaid revenue generating subscriber base. Dialog Axiata plc’s revenue grew 9.7% mainly from increase in interconnect and data revenue, both increased by more than 100%,” it said.
It also noted that XL’s revenue growth of 7.8% for the nine-month period was mainly from increases in subscriber base and outgoing SMS by 6.7% and 44.5% respectively. Celcom’s revenue grew by 3.9% driven by postpaid and broadband revenue growth of 8.8% and 24.9% respectively.
Axiata said the group’s operating costs rose by 9.4% to RM6.87 billion from RM6.28 billion a year earlier, due to higher network related costs and marketing cost.
“Other operating income of the group decreased by 88.6% to RM44.3 million from RM389.5 million in the corresponding period last year, mainly arising from one-off gain on disposal of shares in XL of RM337.9 million last year,” it said.
Axiata’s depreciation, impairment and amortisation rose 4.8% to RM2.25 billion due to higher capital expenditure in XL and Celcom, and accelerated depreciation arising from network upgrade in Celcom and Robi.
“I am quite pleased to see sequential improvements across almost all operating companies in the third quarter, despite an increasingly difficult operating landscape. Particularly pleasing are the positive results seen at Celcom in voice, which saw good quarterly growth on the back of aggressive voice resuscitation campaigns,” said president and group CEO Datuk Seri Jamaludin Ibrahim.
Moving forward, Jamaludin said Axiata would retain its return on investment capital target for 2011 of 16.5% whilst moderating its revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) growth expectations, given the challenging operating landscape. Axiata has targeted 10% and 10.3% growth for its revenue and Ebitda respectively.
“Alongside this, we will re-emphasise on internal efficiencies as we continue to invest in the early growth phase of our transformation into a data-centric company beyond voice,” he added.
Axiata gained 25 sen to close at RM5.10 yesterday with 10.23 million shares changing hands.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, December 1, 2011.
For the three months in review, Axiata’s revenue grew 6.3% to RM4.19 billion from RM3.94 billion a year ago. Basic earnings per share was seven sen compared with eight sen a year earlier.
It said at constant currency using 3Q10 exchange rate, group revenue would have seen higher growth of 8.3% year-on-year. Furthermore, operating costs rose 12.9% to RM2.3 billion in 3QFY11 from RM2.1 billion a year ago, mainly driven by its key units PT XL Axiata Tbk, Celcom Axiata Bhd and Dialog Axiata plc.
For the nine-month period ended Sept 30, 2011 (9MFY11), Axiata’s net profit fell 15.9% to RM1.8 billion from RM2.14 billion. Revenue rose 5% to RM12.18 billion from RM11.6 billion. Its basic EPS fell to 21 sen from 25 sen.
In its filing with Bursa Malaysia, Axiata attributed the better revenue to higher contribution from its key operating companies.
The group’s mobile subsidiaries are Celcom in Malaysia, XL in Indonesia, Dialog in Sri Lanka, Robi Axiata Ltd in Bangladesh, and Hello Axiata Co Ltd in Cambodia. It also has significant strategic stakes in Idea Cellular Ltd in India, and M1 Ltd in Singapore.
“Robi’s revenue grew by 17.9% mainly due to increase in prepaid usage and 32% increase in prepaid revenue generating subscriber base. Dialog Axiata plc’s revenue grew 9.7% mainly from increase in interconnect and data revenue, both increased by more than 100%,” it said.
It also noted that XL’s revenue growth of 7.8% for the nine-month period was mainly from increases in subscriber base and outgoing SMS by 6.7% and 44.5% respectively. Celcom’s revenue grew by 3.9% driven by postpaid and broadband revenue growth of 8.8% and 24.9% respectively.
Axiata said the group’s operating costs rose by 9.4% to RM6.87 billion from RM6.28 billion a year earlier, due to higher network related costs and marketing cost.
“Other operating income of the group decreased by 88.6% to RM44.3 million from RM389.5 million in the corresponding period last year, mainly arising from one-off gain on disposal of shares in XL of RM337.9 million last year,” it said.
Axiata’s depreciation, impairment and amortisation rose 4.8% to RM2.25 billion due to higher capital expenditure in XL and Celcom, and accelerated depreciation arising from network upgrade in Celcom and Robi.
“I am quite pleased to see sequential improvements across almost all operating companies in the third quarter, despite an increasingly difficult operating landscape. Particularly pleasing are the positive results seen at Celcom in voice, which saw good quarterly growth on the back of aggressive voice resuscitation campaigns,” said president and group CEO Datuk Seri Jamaludin Ibrahim.
Moving forward, Jamaludin said Axiata would retain its return on investment capital target for 2011 of 16.5% whilst moderating its revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) growth expectations, given the challenging operating landscape. Axiata has targeted 10% and 10.3% growth for its revenue and Ebitda respectively.
“Alongside this, we will re-emphasise on internal efficiencies as we continue to invest in the early growth phase of our transformation into a data-centric company beyond voice,” he added.
Axiata gained 25 sen to close at RM5.10 yesterday with 10.23 million shares changing hands.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, December 1, 2011.
