PETALING JAYA: CelcomDigi Bhd today announced its fourth quarter and full-year results for the financial year 2024 (FY24), delivering strong performance overall while executing an extensive integration programme in its second year as a merged company.
The company, in a statement said that it progressed ahead of plan in integration and transformation programmes across network, IT, retail, customer experience and other operating model changes, putting in place a strong foundation for long-term profitable growth.
In 2024, CelcomDigi intensified efforts to complete about 75% of its network integration and modernisation programme. It also concluded the first phase of harmonising the billing and customer relationship management system.
The rollout of 48 new retail stores, the company said, is delivering improved sales productivity and enhanced customer and digital experiences. The company also refreshed its product portfolio across all consumer and enterprise segments, going to market as a single CelcomDigi brand.
As a flow-through of cost efficiencies from these integration initiatives, the company is on track to deliver annual cost savings of around RM700 million to RM800 million post-2027.
CelcomDigi said FY24 topline remained stable with strong underlying profitability, supported by disciplined cost management and synergy realisation.
One-off merger-related financial adjustments caused its reported earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and profit after tax (PAT) for FY24 to decline 13.4% and 11.4% respectively. Excluding the non-recurring adjustments, the full-year normalised EBIT and PAT registered growth of 4% to RM2.797 billion, and 11.6% to RM1.748 billion respectively, resulting from stringent cost management and synergy savings.
Continued revenue growth in postpaid, home and fibre, and enterprise solutions cushioned the decline from prepaid and enterprise mobile. FY24 service revenue was at RM10.792 billion, a marginal decline of 0.6% in the second year of integration.
For FY24, postpaid revenue grew 2.6% year-on-year to RM4.181 billion on the back of growth in subscribers and enhanced convergence plans, while prepaid revenue recorded a slower decline of 3.4% to RM4.416 billion, with subscribers losses now at a lower rate than in previous quarters, marking signs of a turnaround from effective base management.
Home and fibre revenue recorded double-digit growth to RM185 million, with subscribers growing ahead of the industry rate of growth.
Enterprise solutions reported continued growth while enterprise mobile showed improvement in the quarter, reflecting encouraging adoption of its corporate offerings.
The company closed the year with about 20.4 million subscribers, with improved blended average revenue per user at RM42.
The company declared a fourth interim dividend of 3.7 sen per share or total dividend of 14.3 sen per share for FY24, in line with its sustainable dividend commitment to shareholders.
CEO Datuk Idham Nawawi said, “We achieved significant milestones in the second year of post-merger integration, capturing synergies as planned while maintaining financial discipline to achieve an overall strong financial and operating performance. This solid execution and operational excellence enabled us to deliver shareholder value in line with our FY 2024 guidance.”
He said CelcomDigi will continue to focus on strengthening market leadership across its lines of business, creating pathways for long-term profitable growth.
