Axiata Q3 net profit doubles

Published: 2009/12/01

AXIATA Group Bhd's (6888) third quarter net profit more than doubled from a year ago, driven by improved contribution from its local, Indonesian and Bangladeshi outfits, and favourable pre-tax foreign exchange gain.

It made a net profit of RM503.67 million in the July to September quarter, compared with RM243.90 million a year earlier.

Revenue for the third quarter ended September 30 2009 rose 3 per cent to RM3.38 billion from RM3.28 billion a year ago, primarily due to higher contributions from Celcom (Malaysia) Bhd and Axiata (Bangladesh) Ltd.

In a statement issued yesterday, Axiata said the quarter saw Celcom recording its highest ever quarterly net profit, up 18 per cent year-on-year to RM404 million.
Revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation were also up by 12 per cent and 10 per cent year-on-year, respectively.

Axiata said Celcom's strong performance was driven primarily by aggressive promotional campaigns during the festive seasons, which saw subscribers growing by 5 per cent to surpass the 10 million mark.

The promotions also saw prepaid daily recharge hit an all time high in September 2009.

For the nine-month period, Axiata's net profit grew 8 per cent to RM1.09 million from RM1.01 million within the same period a year ago.

Revenue rose 5 per cent to RM9.41 billion from RM8.93 billion the same period last year, primarily led by the continued strong performances of Celcom and PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk (XL).

Axiata said Celcom and XL recorded a year-on-year revenue growth of 12 per cent and 7 per cent respectively in the January-September period, on the back of higher subscriber additions and usage.

Subscriber net additions for the group were 25.3 million.

"We are heartened to see Axiata's Malaysian flagship Celcom maintaining top line growth despite a saturated market," Axiata chairman Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said.

Axiata president and group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Jamaludin Ibrahim said for the rest of the year, the group will continue to focus on revenue growth but with a prudent approach, emphasising cost management.

Axiata's mobile subsidiaries and associates operate under the brand name "Celcom" in Malaysia, "XL" in Indonesia, "Dialog" in Sri Lanka, "AKTEL" in Bangladesh, "HELLO" in Cambodia, "Idea" in India, "M1" in Singapore and "MTCE" in Iran.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Axiata told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that the high court of Gujarat, India, had approved the merger of Spice Communications Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd on November 26.

"The proposed merger is also subject to the approval of the high court of New Delhi," it added.