Forex volatility hurts

by **Cals** Mon 02 Sep 2013, 05:43

Published: Saturday August 31, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday August 31, 2013 MYT 7:03:16 AM
Forex volatility hurts

PETALING JAYA: Axiata Group Bhd’s earnings dropped 3.2% to RM644.77mil in the second quarter ended June 30 from RM666.64mil a year ago, partly impacted by foreign exchange (forex) fluctuations.
It said yesterday that its revenue rose 4.8% to RM4.629bil from RM4.416bil, while earnings per share was at 7.6 sen compared with 7.8 sen previously.
It declared an interim dividend of eight sen per share.
For the six-month period to June 30, the telco recorded a net profit of RM1.26bil on a revenue of RM9.11bil compared with a net profit of RM1.23bil on a revenue of RM8.66bil for the same period a year earlier.
In a statement, chairman Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said forex volatility was still a concern.
“But given the continued operational improvements this quarter, we are confident that the momentum would remain strong in Malaysia and regionally.”
The company said that at constant currency, excluding the impact of foreign currency movements, revenue for the six-month period compared with the previous corresponding period would have been higher by 8%.
At constant currency, profit after tax and minority interest (Patami) growth would have been 3%.
After adjusting for exceptional items, such as impairment, forex and other one-offs, normalised Patami declined by 6%, it added.
For its Malaysian operations, robust performance was seen at Celcom Axiata Bhd.
Revenue for the quarter crossed the RM2bil mark for the first time.
On a year-to-date basis, revenue grew 4% to RM4bil mainly from the continuous growth of mobile Internet while Patami grew 2% to RM1.1bil.
The year saw strong growth in data services (excluding the short message service and value-added services), now contributing 16% to revenue, a growth of 16%, driven by a positive response towards smart offerings of new products and services, it added.
For PT XL Axiata Tbk, its Indonesian operations, revenue grew 5% quarter-on-quarter and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by 6% in the same period. Net profit was also up by a robust 20% in the quarter.
The group’s Sri Lankan operations, Dialog Axiata plc, meanwhile, saw another excellent quarter recording a strong year-to-date double-digit growth of 15% in revenue, while net profit in the period increased by more than 100%.
Its Bangladesh operations Robi’s revenue was up 21%, Idea, its Indian operations, saw its revenue higher by 19% year-to-date while its Singapore business parked under M1 saw a good quarter with service revenue up 7% year-to-date and net profit increasing by 6%.
At a press conference later, president and group chief executive officer Datuk SeriJamaludin Ibrahim said there were no imminent initial public offering (IPO) plans in response to a recent Bloomberg report which noted that Axiata had plans to raise at least US$500mil (RM1.6bil) from the IPO of its telecommunications tower assets.
He also said that discussions were ongoing with regards to Axiata potentially owning a stake in PT Axis Telekom Indonesia. “We have approached the Indonesian government and regulators to get approval in theory but it is still under discussion.”