President and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said the forecast was expected despite the better-than-expected financial performance for the telco in the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 2020) on the back of the easing of lockdowns across markets.
“We have shown our resilience. Despite the pandemic and heightened competition in a few markets, our teams across the group bounced back convincingly, going beyond overcoming challenges to excel in most areas.
“Almost all operating companies registered compelling growth, an amazing feat under these circumstances, and the all-around outstanding performance must be commended,” he told a virtual press conference on the group’s Q3 2020 financial results here, today.
Axiata’s Q3 2020 net profit soared 96.9 per cent to RM353 million from RM179.27 million in Q3 2019 on the back of healthy Ebitda margins.
Revenue, however, declined 1.6 per cent from a year earlier to RM6.11 billion from 6.21 billion due to a decline in revenues in all operating companies.
For the nine-month period ended Sept 30, 2020, net profit dropped 45 per cent to RM621.12 million from RM1.12 billion previously, while revenue fell 2.1 per cent to RM17.94 billion from RM18.32 billion.
On a quarterly basis, Q3 2020 revenue increased 5.5 per cent to RM6.1 billion, driven by contributions from all operating companies, while Ebitda rose 9.9 per cent to RM2.8 billion.
Jamaludin said given the strong performance, margin expansion and uplift in free cash flow, the group’s balance sheet experienced one of its best times with a cash balance of RM10.7 billion.
“After paring some debts in the fourth quarter, we still expect to end the year with a healthy debt profile and cash of about RM6 billion, which gives us a huge cushion to weather most pandemic and economic scenarios.
“We expect to record an even better year in 2020, but the pandemic derailed our plans,” he added.
Deputy group CEO Datuk Izzaddin Idris said the group was optimistic about further monetisation opportunities for Axiata Digital and infrastructure unit edotco Group Sdn Bhd in the near term.
He said this comes following various government initiatives to support consumers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which will contribute towards higher user engagement for its e-wallet app “Boost” and digital financial services brand “Aspirasi”.
“Every dark cloud has a silver lining and we stand to benefit from opportunities as we ride the digitisation wave.
“Furthermore, the shift towards online education, work-from-home, as well as SME digitisation is expected to ramp up our enterprise business,” he said.
Izzaddin said the group will leverage significantly its strategic focus areas and double down on operational excellence initiatives such as its group-wide “Collective Brain” in IT, network and procurement to keep focused on long-term goals and seize emerging opportunities. — Bernama
Source: Malay Mail
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