KUALA LUMPUR: CelcomDigi said it achieved strong financial and operating performance in its second year post-merger to deliver shareholder value in line with guidance.
Over the financial year ended Dec 31, 2024, the telco posted a net profit of RM1.38bil, which was down from RM1.55bil in the previous year, bringing its earnings per share lower to 11.73 sen from 13.23 sen.
The company's revenue, however, was RM12.68bil, which was on a par with the previous year's topline.
In the fourth quarter alone, CelcomDigi recorded a net profit of RM157.04mil, down from RM435.15mil due to one-off merger-related financial adjustments.
Excluding these non-recurring adjustments, the telco said full-year normalised earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) and profit after tax (PAT) registered strong growth of 4% to RM2.8bil, and 11.6% to RM1.75bil respectively, attributed to stringent cost management and synergy savings.
Revenue for the quarter under review was RM3.28bil, slightly higher than RM3.27bil in the year-ago quarter.
In line with the performance, the board of directors declared a fourth interim dividend of 3.7 sen per share, with ex-date on March 14, 2025, and payable on March 27, 2025. This brought the year's total dividend payout to 14.3 sen per share.
For 2025, CelcomDigi said it was looking forward to a more robust and sustainable outlook.
In the new financial year, the company projects low single-digit growth in service revenue; low to mid-single digit Ebit growth excluding non-recurring and extraordinary items; and 14% to 16% capex-to-total revenue ratio.
"Looking ahead, with a solid foundation in place, we continue to focus on strengthening market leadership across our lines of business, creating pathways for long-term profitable growth," said CEO Datuk Idham Nawawi.
"We will focus on delivering more value to our customers through product innovation and digital value-added services.
"We will drive operational excellence through cost structure optimisation and robust operating models to be one of the most efficient operators in the world."
In 2024, CelcomDigi reported revenue growth in the postpaid, home and fibre, and enterprise solutions, which cuhioned the decline in the prepaid and enterprise mobile segments.
Service revenue in FY24 slipped 0.6% year-on-year to RM10.79bil.
Over the financial year, postpaid revenue grew 2.6% y-o-y to RM4.18bil on the back of subscriber growth of 374,000, due to enhanced convergence plans.
Prepaid revenue recorded a slower decline of 3.4% to RM4.42bil, with slower subscribers losses of 23,000 quarter-on-quarter, marking signs of a turnaround from effective base management.
Home and fibre revenue recorded strong double-digit growth of 34.4% y-o-y to RM185mil, with subscribers growing 76,000 y-o-y ahead of the industry rate of growth.
Enterprise solutions reported continued growth of 8.8% y-o-y while enterprise mobile showed 5.2% growth q-o-q, reflecting encouraging adoption of its corporate offerings.
CelcomDigi said it ended the year with about 20.4 million subscribers, and an improved blended average revenue per user of RM42.
