Telekom Malaysia Q2 earnings at RM213.84m, dividend 9.8 sen

by **Cals** Fri 30 Aug 2013, 02:17

Published: Thursday August 29, 2013 MYT 1:06:00 PM
Updated: Thursday August 29, 2013 MYT 1:57:19 PM
Telekom Malaysia Q2 earnings at RM213.84m, dividend 9.8 sen

KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd's earnings fell 38.6% to RM213.84mil in the second quarter ended June 30, 2013 from RM348.45mil a year ago mainly due to recognition of higher tax incentives a year ago.

However, TM said on Thursday the normalised profit after tax and minority interests (PATAMI) showed improvement, with a growth of 9.6% on-year to RM244.5mil from RM223.0mil.
It was rewarding shareholders with a dividend of 9.8 sen a share or approximately RM350.6mil.

As for revenue, it rose 7.7% to RM2.613bil from RM2.425bil while earnings per share were 5.98 sen compared with 9.7 sen.

For the first half ended June 30, 2013, TM said its earnings fell 28.8% to RM427.08mil from RM599.08mil due to unrealised forex loss on borrowings arising from strengthening US dollar and lower tax incentives.

"Normalised Group PATAMI, excluding the above, grew by 17.7% year-to-date to RM478.5mil primarily due to higher revenue," it said.

TM said the six-month revenue rose 4.7% to RM5.038bil from RM4.808bil mainly driven by data, Internet and multimedia services, particularly UniFi.

"Reported operating profit (earnings before interest and tax - EBIT) grew by 9.9% year-to-date to RM627.8mil in 1H2013 due to higher revenue and lower operating cost.

TM group CEO Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said normalised PATAMI grew by 17.7% to RM478.5mil.

"We also reported an improved capex/revenue ratio, which reduced from 16.3% to 12.5%. Cost as percentage of revenue also improved from 88.3% to 87.7%," it said.

TM recorded healthy growth particularly in Internet and Data services, with UniFi being the key driver - growing 50.3% from a year ago, to close to 577,000 customers.

To date, TM has over 590,000 customers and UniFi now covers 1.43 million premises passed on the back of 103 exchanges. This translates to about a 40% take-up rate.

"In the first half, our Internet services turned in a revenue of RM1.28bil, a growth of 12% from RM1.15bil recorded in 2012, on the back of a 7.1% growth in broadband customer base to 2.15 million in 1H2013 from 2.01 million in the same period last year.

"Data revenue increased by 17.2% to RM1.19 billion in the current period from RM1.02 billion in the corresponding period in 2012, driven by new circuit installations and upgrades to higher bandwidth," said Zamzamzairani.

TM’s total capex spent for 1H2013 was RM631mil, lower from RM785mil a year ago. Its cost as percentage of revenue also improved from 88.3% to 87.7%.