Singapore’s smallest mobile operator by subscribers, M1 Limited (M1), has published its financial results for the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2018, reporting that net profit plunged 21.4% year-on-year to SGD25.2 million (USD18.7 million), despite a 3.7% annualised increase in total revenue to SGD312.8 million. Service revenue, however, declined 1.8% y-o-y to SGD187.8 million and 4Q18 EBITDA slumped 10.3% to SGD68.0 million; fourth-quarter EBITDA margin on service revenue was down more than 3pp to 36.2% from 39.6%. In its filing, M1 confirmed that revenue derived from Fixed and Handset Sales segments rose by 8.6% and 13.3%, respectively, but revenue for International Call and Mobile Telecommunication dropped by 18.4% and 2.7%, respectively, when compared to the year-ago period. Further, the operator reported that year-to-date free cash flow improved by SGD33 million y-o-y to SGD140 million, while net debt was SGD8 million at end-December 2018.
M1 closed out 31 December 2018 with a total of 1.956 million mobile subscribers, down 4.1% compared to end-2017, although its fibre broadband base climbed 7% y-o-y to 209,000.