Celcom records earnings of RM811m in Q1

KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom Axiata Bhd expects to retain its performance momentum in the second quarter this year after a good performance in its first quarter where it recorded RM1.74 billion in revenue.

However, more aggressive promotions from competitors in both, voice and data segment are expected during the second quarter, said its Chief Executive Officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly.

"Basically, we are on track for the second quarter and the market is behaving very similar as in the previous quarter with no drastic changes," he told reporters after announcing Celcom's first quarter results here today.

Despite the first quarter being seasonally the toughest quarter of the year, the mobile telecommunications company managed to record an increase of two per cent to RM1.74 billion in revenue compared with RM1.7 billion in the same quarter last year, he said.

The growth in revenue was due to campaigns and promotions which were launched in December last year to stimulate adoption and usage in the first quarter, especially in the postpaid segment.

"We will launch two new products next week to ensure the momentum can be maintained and it can help to boost the performance for this quarter," he said, adding that on an average Celcom launched five products every quarter.

These would be either new, improved or adjusted to be the key drivers for its business, he said.

As for its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, Celcom recorded RM811 million this quarter, an increase of five per cent against RM773 million previously.

Its profit after tax and minority interest, meanwhile, increased 13 per cent to RM499 million, driven by continuous effective cost control management.

He said besides its industry competitors, Celcom also needed to be cautious of unscrupulous content providers who had tarnished the image of the industry and decreased the confidence level of the users.

"These unscrupulous content providers who send scam SMS to our customers have somewhat disturbed our business. (Because of that)..when we send promotion packages via SMS, the response we receive is very sad as they do not believe it is from us," he added. - Bernama