MAXIS Bhd delivered a strong performance for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 (Q1 2020) despite headwinds, driven by a steady core mobile business and solid convergence growth.
It reported steady earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) although core performance was impacted slightly in the initial stage of Covid-19, while maintaining a healthy profit after tax (PAT).
The company’s normalised EBITDA remained healthy at RM920 million, 3.5% lower than RM953 mil registered in Q1 2019 while normalised PAT for the quarter was 10.9% lower at RM360 mil against RM404 mil in Q1 2019.
“The decline was mainly due to loss of wholesale business and higher impairment made to receivables as the group revised the expected loss rates in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on economies worldwide which has caused a significant increase in credit risk,” it said in a statement.
Maxis also declared a first interim dividend of 4.0 sen net per share for the quarter, representing a dividend payout ratio of 87 per cent.
“We are taking a prudent approach to ensure we continue to have the capacity to grow the business in line with our convergence strategy and invest in our network given the dramatic increase in demand,” it said.
Meanwhile, chief executive officer Gökhan Ogut acknowledged the overall strong results achieved by the telecommunications giant in Q1 amidst the early impact of Covid-19.
“Moving forward, we foresee the Covid-19 situation evolving and we will continue to assess its impact on our operations.
“Fundamentally, we are strong and are prepared to overcome these challenging times with a well-developed Business Continuity Plan that has been in place for several years,” he said.
During the quarter, the mobile segment continued to be resilient with positive growth in postpaid subscribers, reflecting increased digital adoption and successful prepaid-to-postpaid subscriber migration.
Postpaid subscriptions grew 13.7% year-on-year (y-o-y), bringing the total to 3.4 million, providing a larger base for resilient average revenue per user.
On the fibre front, Maxis sees consistent growth in subscriptions by both families and small businesses as fibre connections grew 40.0% y-o-y to 392,000 connections in total.
The company has also maintained its position, based on the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) 2019 Network Performance Report, as the leader amongst all service providers by excelling in all criteria for four consecutive years.
“In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Maxis remains focused on supporting the government and its customers while continuing to ensure the health of its networks to meet the demands during this trying time,” it said. – April 24, 2020, Bernama
