Malaysia-based Axiata has published its financial results for the three- and six-month periods ended 30 June 2015, reporting what it called ‘improved performance amidst heightened competitive pressures and maturing markets’.
In the second quarter of 2015 Axiata generated a total turnover of MYR4.707 billion (USD1.286 billion), representing a 0.5% decline compared to a year earlier, though revenues in the first half of 2015 stood at MYR9.458 billion, up 2.3% year-on-year. Axiata highlighted a continued ‘strong’ growth in data revenues, which were up by 31.3% in H1 2015 compared to year-ago period, with all of the group’s operating companies reportedly posting ‘great traction in the segment’. Notably, Axiata noted that data services now account for 26.6% of total group service revenue.
EBITDA in 2Q15 meanwhile totalled MYR1.715 billion, down by 1.6% against the corresponding period of 2014, while for the first half of the year EBITDA was MYR3.456 billion, down from MYR3.531 billion, with the decline attributed in part to marginally higher operating costs. Profit after taxation and minority interests (PATAMI), however, surged by 34.2% y-o-y in the second quarter of 2015, reaching MYR611 million, on the back of strong contributions from the group’s operations in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Six-monthly PATAMI, meanwhile, was up by 5.8% at MYR1.181 billion. Capital expenditures for the first half of 2015 totalled MYR2.284 billion, up by almost 29% against H1 2014.