KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): The share price of Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) hit a nine-month high after noon market break today, as the telecommunications group announced an almost doubling of its net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 (1QFY19).

At 3.25pm, the counter was up 61 sen or 22.43% to trade at its nine-month high of RM3.33, translating into market capitalisation of RM12.51 billion. Earlier, TM rose as much as 68 sen to touch RM3.40.

The sudden increase in its share price came after the group announced today, a net profit of RM308.28 million for its 1QFY19, almost double the RM157.16 million the group recorded in the same quarter a year earlier (1QFY18). Earnings per share jumped to 8.2 sen from 4.18 sen.

This is despite revenue for the quarter being 2.4% lower at RM2.78 billion, versus RM2.85 billion previously.

TM said its performance was supported by lower operating cost during the quarter, as it continues to shrink costs as part of its Performance Improvement Programme 2019-2021.

“We recorded improved operational efficiency and increased profitability. Our operating expenditure(opex)/revenue also improved by 11.4 ppts (percentage points), whilst profit for the quarter also doubled mainly from cost optimisation efforts undertaken to counter revenue decline,” said TM acting group chief executive officer Imri Mokhtar in a statement.