Malaysia-based telecoms group Axiata has unveiled its financial results for its first fiscal quarter of 2010, posting a surge in net profit from MYR63.89 million (USD17.5 million) in 1Q09 to MYR921.48 million (USD281.7 million) in the three months ended 31 March 2010. The company attributed the increased profitability to operational improvements and cost management at three of its subsidiaries – Malaysia’s Celcom, XL of Indonesia and Sri Lanka’s Dialog – while it also noted that it had seen a gain in 1Q10 from the disposal of shares in XL. For the three-month period group revenue also climbed, up 31% year-on-year at MYR3.81 billion, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 52% against the same period a year earlier to MYR1.68 billion. Despite the positive results, looking ahead Axiata has said it expects to face continued challenges in the coming year, and reiterated its plans to take a long term view by adopting prudent measures to optimise financial performance.
In terms of subscribers, Axiata’s total customer base rose by 37% y-o-y to reach 129.7 million at end-March 2010, with all of the group’s subsidiaries reporting subscriber growth in the first quarter of 2010.
Separately, Malaysia’s fixed line incumbent Telekom Malaysia™ has also released financial data for the first three months of 2010, posting a 776% leap in net profit for the quarter on the back of an unrealised foreign exchange gain. For 1Q 2010 TM’s net profit was MYR242.9 million, up from MYR27.7 million in the corresponding period a year earlier. Revenue however remained flat, up just 0.9% at MYR2.12 billion, while EBITDA was down 12.4% at MYR715.3 million.