Maxis Q2 earnings up nearly 18% to RM574mil

KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd posted a strong set of financial results in the second quarter ended June 30, 2017 with earnings up 17.6% to RM574mil from RM488mil a year ago.

The telco announced on Thursday its revenue rose 3.3% to RM2.17bil from RM2.10bil while earnings per share were 7.6 sen compared with 6.5 sen. It declared a second interim dividend of five sen a share.

Maxis said its service revenue up 3.3% to RM2.122bil verus RM2.055bil a year ago, supported by sustained postpaid and prepaid performance amidst intense competition.

Postpaid revenue grew 2.0% to RM998mil from RM978mil a year ago, with a solid base of nearly 1.9 million MaxisONE customers with monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) of RM120.

Prepaid revenue grew 2.9% to RM984mil from RM956mil in Q2 last year. Hotlink FAST, 4G prepaid market leader with high ARPU of RM44, has more than 1.8 million subscriptions which has almost tripled from last year. Its blended ARPU for the period stood at RM58 and has 10.42 million subscribers. 

Normalised Ebitda grew 9.3% to RM1.104bil from RM1.010bil a year ago reflecting the steady revenue growth and excellent cost control. Its Ebitda margin (on service revenue) was equally strong at 52%.

Normalised profit after tax (PAT) grew 14.2% to RM484mil from RM424mil driven  by higher Ebitda and lower property, plant and equipment related charges.

Maxis CEO Morten Lundal said that Q2 was a quarter of so many positives. 

“We delivered strong financials with an all-time high customer satisfaction score to top them off. Our priority is to continue to deliver a great network experience and create an unmatched customer experience across all channels.

“This will only get better with our ambitions for a full digitalisation and we are on track towards this,” he said.

For the first half ended June 30, 2017, its earnings rose 7.2% to RM1.08bil from RM1bil in the previous correpsonding period. Its revenue rose 2% to RM4.33bil from RM4.24bil.

In the first half, Maxis spend a total of RM373mil in capital expenditure. Maxis said it has the largest 4G LTE population coverage nationwide at 89% on comparable peer basis. 

“For the financial year ending FY17, the group expects service revenue, absolute Ebitda and base capital expenditure to remain at similar levels to financial year 2016. The group will continue to focus on strengthening its network leadership and deliver differentiated digital experience for its customers,” Maxis said.