Incumbent fixed operator, Telekom Malaysia Bhd's entry into 4G market may put more pressure on mobile phone operators.
KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd
posted earnings of RM929.75mil in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017, aided by growth in Internet and multimedia services and boosted by foreign exchange gain on borrowings.
It announced on Tuesday the earnings were up 19.8% from the RM776.03mil in FY16. Its revenue inched up 0.2% to RM12.087bil from RM12.06bil due to growth in Internet and multimedia services. It announced a dividend of 12.1 sen a share.
Telekom said there was a strong 8.3% (RM305.7mil) growth in Internet and multimedia services despite the decline in all other revenue lines.
Operating profit before finance cost decreased by 8.3% (RM100mil) to RM1.101bil compared with RM1.201bil a year ago mainly due to higher operating costs.
“Foreign exchange gain on borrowings in FY17 compared to losses in 2016 led to a 19.8% (RM153.7mil) increase in group profit after tax and non-controlling interests (PATAMI) to RM929.7mil from RM776mil in FY16,” it said.
On the prospects, Telekom said it expects sustainable performance for the Group in 2018, despite competition and challenges.
“This is driven by our new execution model which prioritises our plans towards delivering relevant converged digital lifestyle services and end-to-end business solutions to all our customers,” it said.
Performance of the various segments in FY17
unifi
Revenue for FY17 rose by 4.0% (RM203.7mil) to RM5.334bil from RM5.130bil underpinned by higher unifi revenue.
The customer base rose from 931,701 as at end-December 2016 to 1,105,934 as at end-Dec 2017.
“Number of buys of unifi TV content was also higher and subscription of mobility services contributed to the revenue increase.
“Profit for the current financial year increased by 211.1% (RM57mil) to RM84mil from RM27mil last year,” it said.
Telekom its main broadband service offering continues to grow for home and SMEs. Also charting firm growth was its unifi Mobile offering, which recorded 9.8% penetration of its households.
TM ONE
However, TM ONE recorded a 3.5% (RM173.4mil) decrease in revenue from RM4.907bil to RM4.734bil in FY17 due to decline in voice, data and other telecommunication services despite growth in Internet and multimedia.
Hence, profits fell by 13.5% (RM127.4mil) from RM944.4mil to RM817mil.
“We foresee higher traction in our Data Centre business once our Klang Valley Core Data
Centre (KVDC) is fully launched later in 2018,” it said.
TM Global
TM Global's revenue dipped 0.6% to RM2.316bil in FY17 mainly due to lower data revenue as well as other telecommunication services. Profit however increased by 4.6% (RM20.7mil) to RM472.9mil from lower operating costs.
Q4 FY17 results
Commenting on the fourth quarter, its earnings jumped 80% to RM277mil from RM154.30mil. Revenue dipped 1.1% to RM3.199bil from RM3.237bil a year ago. Earnings per share were 7.3 sen compared with 4.1 sen.
There was a foreign exchange gain of RM74.8mil compared with losses of RM120.5mil a year ago.
When compared with Q3, FY17, the current quarter revenue increased by 8.8% (RM259.5mil) to RM3.199bil from RM2.940bil due to higher revenue from all services.
Operating profit before finance cost increased to RM284.3mil from RM259.6mil in Q3.
Net finance income in Q4 was driven by the foreign exchange gain on borrowings and boosted group PATAMI by 30.8% (RM65.2mil) to RM277mil.
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