Maxis Q4 net profit down more than half


NST, February 27, 2013

MAXIS Bhd's net profit dropped more than half in the fourth quarter despite a higher revenue.

Maxis' net profit for the quarter ended December 31 2012 slipped to RM378 million from RM900 million in the comparable quarter a year ago, bogged down by higher network operations cost.

Revenue for the period climbed to RM2.3 billion from RM2.2 billion on higher contributions from all segments, such as data and voice.

For the full-year, net profit fell to RM1.8 billion from RM2.5 billion, but revenue rose to RM8.9 billion from RM8.8 billion previously.

Maxis chief executive officer Sandip Das said 2013 will see the realisation from the completion of its marketing initiatives launched last year.

"We spent less than RM1 billion in capital expenditure last year and we expect to spend less than RM1 billion this year as most of the infrastructure have been developed," Sandip said at Maxis' results briefing here yesterday.

Sandip expects non-voice revenue to contribute more than 50 per cent to total revenue within the next 12 to 24 months, from 46 per cent in 2012.

For 2013, he said revenue is likely to be in the mid-single digit growth, driven by the completion of its marketing initiatives, completion of infrastructure, new content services in the market and greater penetration of smartphones.

He said mobile Internet has overtaken short message service, which used to account 50 per cent of non-voice traffic.

He said Maxis is leading in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation at 48.6 per cent, compared to industry average of 35 per cent.

Malaysia has a mobile penetration rate of 130 per cent and Maxis has a subscriber base of eight million, he noted. The company has declared a dividend of 40 sen per share amounting to RM3 billion for the full year.




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