PETALING JAYA: Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (TM) net profit rose 12% in the second quarter ending June 30, 2019 with RM114.18 million against RM101.93 million recorded in the corresponding quarter of last year, attributed to a reduction in operating cost from its various cost initiatives.
For the quarter, the group saw revenue fall 5.7% to RM2.77 billion against RM2.94 billion reported previously.
According to TM’s filing with the stock exchange, earnings before interest and taxes (ebit) for its unifi division increased 47% to RM55.7 million in the quarter against RM37.9 million in the corresponding quarter last year due to lower operating costs.
Its TM One business saw ebit drop 3.6% to RM253.6 million from RM263.1 million, while TM Global reported an ebit of RM101.6 million, a 15-fold jump from RM6.7 million.
For the first half of the year, TM’s net profit soared 63.1% to RM422.46 from RM259.09 million in the same period a year ago, with revenue declining 4.1% to RM5.55 billion from RM5.78 billion.
With regards to its outlook for the financial year, TM highlighted that its improvement initiatives and efficient cost management continue to stabilise the group’s profitability.
““We continued to face challenges in 1H 2019. However, our cost optimisation efforts continue to show results and we will keep the momentum on profitability going,” TM group CEO Datuk Noor Kamarul Anuar Nuruddin commented in a press release.
He cited that the group’s announced ongoing copper network upgrade is part of its commitment to enhance the overall broadband customer experience.
“On TM One, we look forward to more collaborations with strategic partners and customers in the enterprise and public sector towards enabling digitalisation and smart solutions. This is true to our role as the enabler of Malaysia’s digital nation aspiration in this era of IR4.0.”
At the noon break, its share price gained 6 sen or 1.5% to RM4.01 on 1.19 million shares done.
