PETALING JAYA: Axiata Group Bhd saw its net profit for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020 almost double to RM352.99 million, compared to RM179.27 million reported previously attributed to higher earnings, lower depreciation and amortisation, foreign exchange loss and tax.
Revenue for the quarter dipped 1.6% to RM6.11 billion from RM6.21 billion reported previously.
The group’s Malaysia operating company (OpCo) saw a 27.7% higher profit after tax (PAT) of RM243.8 million from a lower operating cost, while its Indonesian OpCO saw a PAT growth of 43% to RM96.4 million as a result of lower depreciation and amortisation, finance cost partly offset by lower other operating income and higher tax.
Its Bangladesh and Nepal OpCo posted a 77% and 62.2% decline in PAT, respectively attributed to respectively a higher depreciation and amortisation, finance cost and lower other operating income for the former and and a higher finance cost in the latter.
Elsewhere, Axiata’s Sri Lanka operations saw PAT jumped to RM109 million from RM34.3 million due to higher top lines, forex gains and lower finance cost, while its OpCo in Cambodia sees a 1.8% increase to RM85 million from a lower operating cost which was offset by a higher depreciation and amortisation.
Its infrastructure business saw PAT decline by 37.9% to RM64.1 million due to forex loss which was offset by lower depreciation and amortisation and tax.
Chairman Tan Sri Ghazzali Sheikh Abdul Khalid commented that the financial results for the quarter has provided some respite amidst an incredibly difficult year.
Similarly, its president & group CEO Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim stated that its team across the group bounced back convincingly, going beyond overcoming challenges, to excel in almost all areas despite the pandemic and heightened competition in a few markets.
He pointed out that almost all of its OpCos registered growth across all metrics - revenue, subscriber, ebitda and net profit.
“In particular, Celcom bounced back with great performance against the market, registering the highest subscriber and revenue growth, which in turn drove ebitda and patami up for the quarter,” Jamaludin said in a statement.
“Given our strong performance, margin expansion and uplift in free cash flow, the group’s balance sheet experienced one of our best times with a cash balance of RM10.7 billion.”
He stated that the group expects to end the year with a healthy debt profile and cash of around RM6 billion after paring down some debts in the coming fourth quarter, which will give it huge cushion to weather most pandemic and economic scenarios.
In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Axiata reported a net profit of RM621.12 million, a 44.8% tumble from RM1.12 billion reported previously.
Revenue for the period dipped 2.1% to RM17.94 billion from RM18.32 billion reported previously.
