Murty:
KUALA LUMPUR: Digi.Com Bhd, which posted a net profit of RM382.36mil in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, has a fourth and final net dividend of 4.9 sen per share amounting to RM381mil, or an almost 100% payout ratio to shareholders, on March 25.
For the full financial year ended Dec 31, 2015 (FY15), a total of 22 sen dividend per share or an equivalent to RM1.711bil has been declared as a continued commitment to deliver shareholder value.
In the fourth quarter, Digi’s net profit tumbled 31.7% to RM382.36 from RM560mil previously. Its revenue for the quarter stood at RM1.72bil.
“As a flow through effect from progressively higher operational and maintenance (O&M) cost from network expansion, increased market activities, intensified competition, and compounded by elevated cost from weak ringgit, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) trended lower to RM701mil or 41% margin.
“Full year EBITDA summed up to RM2.983bil or 43% margin. If foreign exchange rate is kept constant at RM3.50/USD (2014 year end rate), normalised EBITDA would be RM3.105bil or 45% margin. Consequentially, profit after tax trended lower to RM382mil,” Digi said.
Digi closed FY15 with 12.1 million subscribers, growing internet subscribers to 7.5 million or 61.9% of its total customer base. The stronger internet subscribers fuelled by higher smartphone penetration of 59.2%, affordable mobile internet bundles with the latest digital services content positively contributed to 11.5% increase in internet revenue for the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Digi’s postpaid internet revenue rose 14.5% while postpaid service revenue strengthened 3.4% year-on-year. Similarly, prepaid internet revenue grew 9.7% from last year to RM338mil on the back of higher prepaid internet penetration at 58.9%.
The telco’s LTE subscribers grew to 2.3 million at end 2015, representing 19% of its total subscriber base.
At this time, Digi’s 4G LTE network serves more than 65% of the population supported by an expanded fibre network of 6,600km, bringing high-speed internet access to 131 major cities and towns, with key market centres averaging 95% population coverage. Its 4G LTE-A network now benefits 28.8% of Malaysians, reaching an average 50% population coverage in key market centres.
Moving forward, CEO Albern Murty said Digi would remain focused on growth and value creation, with growth coming from its existing telco business, and driving data momentum from current and new digital services and verticals.
“We have an ambition to be our customers’ favourite partner in digital life, and will continue building on our robust foundation to drive future internet revenue. With a strong emphasis on customer experience, our focus in 2016 will be to enable easy enjoyment of next generation services and advanced, innovative digital applications for our customers with competitive smart device bundles and plans made widely available through our network of service touchpoints in stores or online. Our leadership position on 4G LTE, capturing data growth and monetisation of data from different digital verticals will be key to driving our business forward,” said Albern.
Digi invested an additional RM288mil in capex in fourth quarter 2015, with a cumulative investment of RM904mil as planned to support its aggressive 4G LTE and 4G LTE-A network deployment nationwide. It plans to maintain its 2015 capex level in 2016 to continue driving internet growth.
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