KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 6): Maxis Bhd reported a 17% rise in fourth quarter net profit from a year earlier as lower business expenses supported the mobile-telecommunication network provider's bottom line.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia today, Maxis (fundamental: 1.15; valuation: 0.9) said net profit rose to RM339 million in the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2014 (4QFY14) from RM290 million. Revenue was however lower at RM2.12 billion versus RM2.22 billion.

Service revenue however rose in quarterly terms. Maxis said service revenue climbed 2.2% to RM2.094 billion from RM2.049 billion in the preceding 3QFY14.

Service revenue excludes device and hubbing income.

"Maxis continued to grow its data revenue despite taking RM16 million revenue hit from the re-pricing of postpaid pay-per-use (PPU) charges, similar to the previous quarter

"More importantly, we are growing data revenue and the strong uptake in MI (mobile Internet) was able to compensate the SMS decline," the group said.

Maxis proposed dividends of 16 sen a share for 4QFY14. These comprise an eight sen interim payout with another eight sen final dividend.

The 16 sen dividends will bring full-year payout to 40 sen a share.

Maxis' full-year net profit fell to RM1.72 billion from RM1.77 billion a year earlier. Revenue was lower at RM8.39 billion versus RM9.08 billion.

Its mobile subscribers however rose to 12.91 million from 12.89 million.

"This (revenue) decline was driven by lower voice and SMS usage coupled by the proactive measures taken to offer worry free propositions to the customers with the introduction of capped data roaming charges, free basic Internet for prepaid users and the ownward re-pricing of postpaid pay per use charges," Maxis said.

According to Maxis, MI revenue rose 16.4% to RM2.32 billion from RM1.99 billion. The firm said MI revenue rose on higher Internet and smart phone usage.

Maxis shares fell seven sen or 1% at 12:30pm to RM6.99 for a market capitalisation of RM52.47 billion.

(Note: 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.)