TM posts solid 1H 2009 results

Malaysian fixed line incumbent Telekom Malaysia™ has reported its financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2009, posting a 28.2% year-on-year rise in net profit to MYR293.7 million (USD82.9 million). Group revenue in the six-month period climbed 2.9% compared to the same period a year earlier, to MYR4.23 billion, despite fixe d line voice service revenue continuing to decline. While revenue from voice services fell 8.6% year-on-year, this was more than offset by 17.2% and 13.3% increases in data revenue and internet revenue respectively. Overall, non-voice revenue contributed 51.9% to total group revenue. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was MYR1.64 billion in the operator’s first fiscal half of 2009, up 17.3% compared to MYR1.39 billion a year earlier. Despite the decline in fixed line voice revenue, TM actually reported stable subscribers to such services in the half, with fixed line voice customers up 0.1% y-o-y to 4.32 million. The number of broadband sign-ups continued to climb, up 18.4% compared to end-June 2008 at 1.37 million. Commenting on the first half performance, TM’s CEO, Dato Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, said: ‘The continued encouraging performance of all of our line of businesses is primarily due to the effective delivery of our services to customers and Performance Improvement Program (PIP) 2.0 initiatives. After realigning our operations according to market segments, we were able to focus on improving our products and services and delivery to each of the market segments.’