Axiata second quarter earnings jump 34.2%

PETALING JAYA: Axiata Group Bhd’s net profit leaped 34.2% to RM610.7 million in the second quarter ended June 30 (Q2’FY15) from RM455.01 million from a year ago, due mainly to lower losses from its Indonesia operations, PT XL Axiata Tbk, arising from lower foreign exchange losses and net finance costs.
In its filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Axiata said higher profits were recorded by its Sri Lankan operations Dialog Axiata PLC and Cambodian operations Smart Axiata Co Ltd. , In addition, share of profits from its associate company in India, Idea Cellular Ltd, increased significantly.
Revenue, however, saw a marginal drop at RM4.7 billion compared with RM4.73 billion previously due to lower revenues in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Earnings per share for the quarter rose to 7.10 sen from 5.30 sen previously. It announced an interim dividend of 8 sen a share.
The group said its Malaysian gross revenue decreased by 7.6% in Q2’FY15 mainly due to decrease in voice and SMS revenue by 12.7% and 40.2% respectively, off-set partly by higher data and mobile virtual network operator revenue.
Net profit for the local unit declined by 25.5% to RM349 million mainly due to a 14.6% drop in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) and higher depreciation and amortisation charges, but partly offset by lower taxation recorded in second quarter.
For the six months ended June 30, 2015 (H1’FY15) Axiata reported a 5.8% rise in net profit to RM1.2 billion, from RM1.13 billion a year ago, mainly due to higher profits from its Sri Lankan and Cambodian operations.
Revenue rose by 2.3% to RM9.46 billion, from RM9.25 billion a year ago.
Axiata president and group CEO Datuk Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said in a statement Celcom and XL have shown early signs of progress, despite the challenging market and industry conditions. “Celcom added more than 60,000 net subscribers for the first time in three quarters post its IT transformation.”
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Axiata plans to restructure a US$590 million (RM2.44 billion) loan in Indonesia into a local currency-denominated partial sukuk to reduce its exposure to forex volatility.
“We are talking to a bank and we are in the final stage of signing the papers,” chief financial officer Chari TVT said. CIMB is managing the conversion.