KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 18): CelcomDigi Bhd's net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023 (2QFY2023) jumped 56.11% to RM343.52 million from RM220.04 million a year ago, as revenue doubled to RM3.12 billion from RM1.54 billion.
The telco declared a second interim dividend of 3.2 sen per share, amounting to RM375 million, with an entitlement date of Sept 6 and a payment date of Sept 29.
In a bourse filing on Friday (Aug 18), CelcomDigi attributed the revenue growth for 2QFY2023 to higher device sales, while subscriber base grew by 3% with net additions of 599,000.
Blended average revenue per user (ARPU) slipped to RM41 from RM42 a year ago.
The growth in its home fibre segment was driven by high take up rates of its more expensive plans launched in the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 (1QFY2023), which somewhat mitigated the lower interconnect rate in its postpaid and prepaid segments, as well as lower contribution from wholesale partners which led to a service revenue decline of 0.3% to RM2.71 billion.
"In the quarter under review, CelcomDigi ramped up integration activities, and continued investments in network capacity upgrades and IT initiatives to improve customer experience. The company invested RM252 million in capex [capital expenditure] or 8.1% of total revenue in 2QFY2023, catering for network capacity upgrades and integration initiatives.
“As key projects have commenced in June 2023 onwards, the company expects capex to ramp up for the remaining two quarters of FY2023," said the telco in a separate statement.
For the first half ended June 30, 2023 (1HFY2023), CelcomDigi recorded a net profit of RM661.44 million, up 45% from RM456.19 million the prior year. Revenue for 1HFY2023 more than doubled to RM6.3 billion from RM3.06 billion previously.
This marked CelcomDigi's second full quarter of combined financial reporting post-merger of two telcos: Celcom Axiata Bhd and Digi.Com Bhd.
CelcomDigi booked a net gain on fixed assets written-off and disposed of RM15.94 million for 2QFY2023 versus a net loss of RM9.05 million in the same quarter last year.
The group’s share of profit of an associate was RM2.87 million for 2QFY2023 and RM10.34 million for 1HFY2023.
It recorded a foreign exchange (forex) gain of RM13.1 million for 1HFY2023 compared with forex loss of RM1.18 million a year earlier.
Looking ahead, CelcomDigi said it remains focused on delivering top line growth and profitability while pushing ahead with integration of its networks, IT and organisation.
The network integration and modernisation initiatives have commenced in full and are progressing well to elevate the network experience of the group’s 20.5 million customers on the nation’s fastest and widest 4G network, according to its chief executive officer Datuk Idham Nawawi.
“We [also] remain committed to leading 5G adoption in the country and have put in place initiatives such as the CelcomDigi MY5G CEO roundtable series to help businesses realise the true potential of 5G together. We look forward to unlocking more value and benefits of 5G for consumers and businesses in the coming months,” he added.
Shares of CelcomDigi were trading down five sen or 1.13% to RM4.37 at the time of writing on Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM51.3 billion.