TM's 1Q net profit falls 31% to RM157m

Market observers noted that the quantum of the fall in its shares had slowed despite the negative news of the surprise net loss that had been reported in its quarterly results.

KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd's net earnings fell 31.8% to RM157.16mil for its first quarter ended March 31, 2018, compared to RM230.43mil in the year-ago period as TM ONE's contributions were impacted by a decline in voice, data and other telecommunications-related services.

The group said group revenue slid 3.9% to RM2.85bil, and as a result operating profit fell 35.2% to RM193.9mil on a year-on-year basis.

TM ONE, Telekom's business solutions arm, experienced a 10.7% or RM124.1mil decline in revenue to RM1.03bil in the quarter under review. 

"This led to 33.8% (RM68.6 million) decrease in profits to RM134.2 million in the current quarter from RM202.8 million in the corresponding quarter last year," the group said in a stock exchange filing. 

unifi's contribution to group profit also slipped 17.4% to RM12.8mil in the quarter compared to RM15.5mil previously.

However, in revenue terms, unifi experienced growth of 2% to RM1.34bil due to higher uptake of the product for home and SME use as well as as the growing demand for Premium Channels, Video-on-Demand and unifi Mobile. 

The customer base of the service grew to 1.16 million by March 31 from 959,499 a year earlier.

TM Global also saw an increase in revenue by 0.5% to RM554.7mil, mainly due to its voice service. Its profit contribution grew 3.6% to RM130.9mil.

Moving forward, Telekom said it would focus on delivering faster results via its "PERFEXE 10" execution plan, which identifies 10 pillars for advancing the company amid a challenging marketplace.