Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): Telekom Malaysia Bhd has raked in a net profit of RM218.3 million or 5.9 sen per share in its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (4QFY14), down 36.59% from RM344.24 million or 9.62 sen per share in the previous corresponding period, on the back of higher operating costs.

Its revenue during the quarter under review, however, was up 5.96% on-year to RM3.16 billion from RM2.98 billion, due to higher contributions from its Internet and multimedia and data services, its filing to Bursa Malaysia today showed. 

Telekom (fundamental score: 1.10; valuation score: 0.90) has also proposed a final dividend of 13.4 sen per share, subject to shareholders' approval at its forthcoming annual general meeting.

In a news release accompanying its results filing, Telekom said its weaker 4QFY14 earnings was primarily due to higher operating costs and a tax charge of RM43 million in the current quarter.

4QFY14's Internet and multimedia services registered higher revenue by 16.8% to RM828.2 million, mainly from higher UniFi customer base at 729,048 compared to 634,809 in 4QFY13, and an increase in the number of buys for premium channels and video on demand, it said.

As for its full year ended Dec 31, 2014 (FY14) Telekom's net profit was at RM831.81 million, a decline of 17.82% from RM1.01 billion in FY13 - also due to higher operating costs and tax charge - even though revenue came in 5.71% higher at RM11.24 billion compared to RM10.63 billion previuosly.

Similarly, Telekom said the higher revenue was achieved on the back of higher revenue from Internet and multimedia, data and other telecommunication-related services, which was partially offset by lower contribution from voice and non-telecommunication-related services.

Telekom group chief executive officer Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said its broadband customer base grew to 2.2 million customers last year.

He noted that more customers have chosen to upgrade their packages to speeds of 4Mbps and above.

"This resulted in 48%, or more than 1.1 million of our customers now being high speed broadband users. UniFi continues to see a healthy growth of 14.8%, with more than 750,000 customers to date, representing a takeup rate of approximately 45%. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) was also higher due to successful upselling activities and increased content buys."

Moving forward, Telekom said the Malaysian telecommunications industry is expected to be challenging but generally stable in 2015.

"It is anticipated that increased competition may put pressure on profit margins whilst revenue growth will be limited as fast growing data services will continue to offset decline in traditional voice revenues," he said.

As at 3.52pm today, Telekom shares was trading at RM7.05, up 7 sen or 1%, giving it a market capitalisation of RM26.07 billion.

(Notes: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)

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