Axiata Group reported revenues of MYR 5.5 billion for the quarter ended 30 September 2016, which represents an increase of 2.8 percent from the previous quarter. Revenue growth was mainly boosted by steady operational performance, particularly from the Group’s South Asia Operating Companies (OpCos) namely Ncell, Dialog and Robi, Axiata said. The company also said that total revenues of MYR 5.5 billion is Axiata’s highest absolute quarterly revenue to date, driven mainly from its newest acquisition, Ncell in Nepal.
EBITDA was up 1.3 percent to MYR 2.1 billion on the back of better performance from Ncell, Dialog, Robi and Smart. The Group’s profit after tax jumped 27.3 percent to MYR 296 million for the quarter. The Group’s cash balance for the quarter stood at MYR 6 billion.
For the first nine months of 2016, revenue rose 8.6 percent year-on-year to MYR 15.8 billion and EBITDA increased by 13.4 percent to MYR 6 billion, while PAT fell to MYR 929 million at 30 September 2016, from MYR 2.1 billion in the year-earlier period.
Improvements were seen in service revenue at Celcom and XL, despite operational challenges, whilst Smart continued with its overall strong performance. Service revenue growth at Celcom turned positive after three consecutive quarters of decline, recording revenue growth of 1.2 percent quarter-on-quarter.
XL gained 1.6 percent on service revenue for the quarter boosted by growth in data revenue, reversing the declining trend over the last two quarters. XL’s 9-month total revenue declined 5 percent, while EBITDA rose 2.7 percent and EBITDA margin climbed 2.9 percentage points to 38.6 percent. 9-month profit jumped more than 100 percent from forex gains mainly due to refinancing of XL’s USD debt to IDR, parent company Axiata said.
Smart’s 9-month revenue, EBITDA and PAT grew by 10.4 percent, 9.7 percent and 23.7 percent, respectively as compared to the same period of the previous year. The number of data subscribers grew by 77.2 percent, while data revenue jumped 45 percent, accounting for 41.1 percent of Smart’s total revenue.
The South Asia markets continued to deliver strong and steady performance. Ncell’s first full quarterly performance registered better than the Group’s internal investment targets. Ncell’s 9-month revenue, EBITDA and profit grew by 2 percent, 3.2 percent and 16.9 percent, respectively.
Sri Lanka’s Dialog posted 9-month revenue, EBITDA and profit growth of 18.7 percent, 19.7 percent and 70.5 percent. Dialog’s year-to-date revenue grew by 18.3 percent in its mobile operations while its fixed and pay-TV businesses increased by 26.6 percent and 7.3 percent. Mobile data revenue saw an increase of 54.2 percent in the 9-month period, with data revenue now making up 22.3 percent of Dialog’s total mobile revenue.
Robi reported a revenue growth of 11.5 percent quarter-on-quarter, primarily due to higher device sales and co-branding offerings as well as strong data revenue growth which was up by 31.8 percent. Robi’s 9-month revenue, normalised EBITDA and normalised profit after tax were lower by 1 percent, 11.5 percent and 61.3 percent, respectively. 9-month data revenue grew by 33.9 percent, as data accounted for 12.9 percent of Robi’s total revenue.
India's Idea posted a 9-month revenue and EBITDA growth of 7.6 percent and 2.5 percent. Profit growth was down 80.9 percent, as a result of higher depreciation and finance cost, Axiata said M1’s year-to-date revenue, EBITDA and PAT growth fell 12 percent, 5.3 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively. Idea and M1 accounted for 5.9 percnet and 7.5 percent of the Group’s year-to-date normalised PATAMI, respectively.
