KUALA LUMPUR (Yosefardi) – Axiata Group Berhad saw moderate top-line performance and solid profitability, in a seasonally slow quarter (first quarter of this year), amidst heightened competitive pressures and maturing markets.
Almost all the Group’s operating companies (OpCos) posted very strong results, with Robi and Smart performing exceptionally well.
Revenue for the Group was RM4.5 billion, up 1% year-on-year (YoY) which at constant currency would have been 4%.
EBITDA growth (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) remained steady at 1%, 4% at constant currency, to RM1.8 billion.
Continued focus on cost management saw stable margins at 39.6%. Bottom line profits showed
excellent growth, with PATAMI (Profit after Taxation and Minority Interests), up by 10% YoY to RM675 million.
At constant currency PATAMI would have been higher at 11%. Regional mobile subscribers grew
18% to 258 million making Axiata one of the largest telcos in the region.
Encouraging improvements were seen at XL in the first quarter. The company delivered strong performance outperforming the market in the 1Q 14 with a revenue growth of 1% QoQ amidst a seasonally slow quarter for the industry. This was also the best first quarter growth compared to the past three years.
On a YoY basis revenue and EBITDA were up 10% and 9% respectively. EBITDA margin remained stable at 40% and PAT rose by 20% in the same period.
Data remains the fastest growing segment with revenue up by 30% YoY. Data adoption remains strong as traffic increased 176% YoY with total Data users reaching 37.5 million as of March 2014 or 55% of the total base. Data services contributed 26% to total usage revenue, an increase from 22% in the previous year.
The quarter saw XL officially complete the acquisition of Axis, with XL and Axis now formally becoming a single entity.
The consolidation of Axis financials is effective from the date of acquisition, 19 March 2014, which means 12 days impact of Axis has been taken into account in the first quarter.
Post-merger, XL aims to carefully execute the integration plans with minimum disruption to customers and operations. The integration process will be prioritised focusing on billing & service migration, traffic migration and network integration.