Maxis records highest profit after tax in four years

KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd reported a strong set of earnings in FY17 as normalised profit after tax (PAT) rose 5.5% to RM2.086bil, which was the highest in four years, and it announced a fourth interim dividend of five sen net  per share.

The telco said on Thursday the higher PAT compared with the RM1.977bil in FY16 was on the back of higher earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda). 

“Normalised Ebitda grew by 2.1% on-year to RM4.597bil from RM4.502bil, reflecting  higher revenue and positive results from cost optimisation initiatives. Ebitda margin (on service revenue) was strong at 53.9% against 53.2% last year,”  it said.

Maxis said despite a declining market, its service revenue continued to grow, rising 0.8% to RM8.525bil from RM8.455bil a year ago. Underpinning the service revenue, was strong growth in postpaid and integrated services.

Postpaid delivered on-year growth of 4.2% with revenue of RM4.117bil compared with RM3.951bil last year. This was mainly driven by growth in subscription base, with high and stable average revenue per user (Arpu).

Maxis said it flagship MaxisONE Plan has surpassed two million subscribers, contributing a high monthly Arpu of RM117.

However, prepaid revenue fell by 3.7% to RM3.849bil compared with RM3.997bil a year ago due to lower subscription base.  Maxis attributed it to aggressive price competition, prepaid-to-postpaid migration and SIM consolidation in the market. 

“We continued to focus on retaining and growing our quality subscribers, in particular high mobile Internet users. Hotlink FAST subscriptions grew to more than 2 million with sustained high and stable ARPU of RM43 per month,” it said.

In the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2017, it said service revenue fell 2.1% to RM2.119bil from RM2.165bil due mainly to lower prepaid revenue 

Normalised Ebitda dipped to RM1.169bil from RM1.187bil due to  lower total revenue, a one-off operation and maintenance cost and higher realised foreign exchange losses in Q4 2017

“Normalised PAT declined 2.0% to RM537mil as compared to RM548mil due to lower Ebitda,” it said.

Its CEO Morten Lundal said 2017 was a strong year with many proud highlights. 

“We gained further market share both in revenue and profits. We developed our superior 4G LTE network to be unparalleled in quality as the best and fastest data network in the country. Overall, our customers enjoy a combination of lots of quality data, attractive products and great connectivity.  

“We are most of all proud to record the highest customer satisfaction we have ever seen. We are on track towards our ambition for full digitalisation of Maxis. All in all, a strong finish to a great year,” he said.