CIMB Research retains Hold for Maxis, target price RM6.40

The research house said Maxis’s fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2015 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was up 0.9% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) (8.4% year-on-year) on slightly higher revenue and margin. Its core net profit fell 6.5% q-o-q (5.8% yoy) due to a higher tax rate. For FY15, EBITDA/core net profit grew by a decent 4.1%/0.8% y-o-y.

“This was largely in line with expectations, with FY15 EBITDA/core net profit at 103%/98% of our FY15 estimates (consensus: 103%/105%). But its FY15 dividend per share of 20.0 sen (4Q15: 5.0 sen) was below our expectation (23.5 sen), at 87% FCF payout,” CIMB said.