KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 27): Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) reported today that second quarter net profit jumped 140.63% to RM274.75 million from RM114.18 million a year earlier on lower operating and net finance cost as the company contended with the impact of Malaysia's Movement Control Order (MCO) to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Revenue, however, fell following TM's Internet service Streamyx's price adjustments and amid restricted economic activities during the MCO, according to TM's Bursa Malaysia filling today.
TM said revenue fell to RM2.59 billion in the second quarter ended June 30, 2020 (2QFY20) from RM2.77 billion a year ago.
TM said it registered "decline in revenue for all lines of products except for data services reflective of impact from the Streamyx price adjustments effective from September of the previous financial year as well as impact from lower volume and restricted economic activities during the MCO".
"Notwithstanding this, the group recorded 57.4% (RM152.5 million) increase in operating profits before finance cost of RM418.0 million, from RM265.5 million recorded in the second quarter of 2019 which included a RM124.6 million impairment loss on fixed network assets triggered by the earlier mentioned price adjustments on Streamyx," TM said.
"[In quarterly terms] the group's revenue increased 1.4% (RM34.9 million) in the current quarter to RM2.59 billion (RM2,592 million) from RM2.56 billion (RM2,557.1 million) recorded in first quarter of 2020 despite the full quarter impact of MCO, with higher revenue from voice and data services," TM added.
For 1HFY20, TM said cumulative net profit rose to RM427.27 million from RM422.46 million a year earlier although revenue was down at RM5.15 billion versus RM5.55 billion.
TM declared an interim single tier dividend of 6.8 sen per share for FY20.
The dividends's ex and payment dates fall on Sept 10 and Oct 2, 2020 respectively.
On TM's prospects, the group said today it continues its commitment to maintain business profitability for the coming quarters of 2020.
"This has been made evident through the resilient financial performance recorded in the current quarter ended, being a full quarter under MCO.
"In our unique role as the enabler of our country’s Digital Malaysia aspiration, we continue to ensure that our network is always available to customers, so they can stay connected, productive, and continue to be served," TM said.
TM's share price rose after its financial results and dividend announcement. At 2:37pm today, TM's share price climbed 21 sen or 5.54% to RM4 for a market value of RM15.08 billion.
The stock saw some two million shares traded.
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Edited by Chong Jin Hun