KUALA LUMPUR: Axiata Group Bhd posted a net profit of RM332.56 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2019 compared with a net loss of RM1.43 billion a year ago, attributed to better operational performance and lower depreciation and amortisation due to one-off assets written off in Q4 2018.
The group’s revenue was maintained at RM6.27 billion.
For the full year period, Axiata saw a record net profit of RM1.46 billion compared with a net loss of RM4.76 billion, driven by better underlying performance, lower depreciation, amortisation and assets written off, foreign exchange gain, discontinuation of losses related to its investment in India, gain on disposal of non-strategic investments and gain on disposal of rights of investment in India.
Its revenue rose 2.9% to RM24.58 billion from RM23.89 billion in the previous year on the back of strong growth in data revenue.
Axiata said it concluded FY19 with the highest ever earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) at RM10.6 billion. Following the implementation of its divestment strategy in 2018, return on invested capital (ROIC) improved by 5.1ppt to hit 6.4%.
Commenting on the results, Axiata chairman Tan Sri Ghazzali Sheikh Abdul Khalid said the results delivered by Axiata in 2019 signals that the group is on the right track with its profit and cash focus.
“We will continue to strengthen the group’s balance sheet, while staying the course in ensuring operational excellence across our markets,” he said in a statement.
In view of its performance and key performance indicators (KPI) achievements for 2019, the board has approved a full year dividend payout of 9 sen per share including the first interim dividend of 5 sen per ordinary share. Additionally, it has declared a special dividend of 0.5 sen from the M1 divestment.
Axiata also announced its FY2020 headline KPIs, including revenue growth of 3.5-4.5%, ebitda growth of 4.0-5.5% and ROIC of 5.5-6.0%.
Separately, Axiata has proposed to list its 68.69%-owned subsidiary Robi on the Dhaka Stock Exchange Limited and the Chittagong Stock Exchange Limited in Bangladesh.
It plans to raise proceeds of BDT5.24 billion (RM255.2 million) under the initial public offering for network expansion.
Robi is the second largest mobile network operator in Bangladesh by subscribers with 49.0 million subscribers as of end of December 2019.
