KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 18): Telecommunications company Maxis Bhd (KL:MAXIS) finished 2024 on a positive note with a five-time net profit jump in the final quarter, thanks to a sharp decline in other operating expenses as well as lower depreciation and amortisation.

Shares of Maxis rose following the results announcement on Tuesday, climbing more than 4% to RM3.56, setting the company on the path to snap a three-day losing streak. At that price, the company has market capitalisation of nearly RM29 billion on Bursa Malaysia. 

Net profit for the three months ended Dec 31, 2024 (4QFY2024) was RM321 million, compared with RM56 million a year ago. In 4QFY2023, the telco was dragged by additional tax assessments totalling RM73 million.

Revenue for 4QFY2024 rose 1.1% to a record quarterly high of RM2.77 billion from RM2.74 billion a year ago, thanks to growth across Maxis' consumer and enterprise businesses, which grew 1.2% and 6.2% respectively.

For FY2025, the group is guiding for a “low single-digit growth” in service revenue and a “flat to low single-digit” increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda). It also plans to keep capital expenditure under RM1 billion.

Maxis declared a fourth and one-time interim dividend of five sen per share for FY2024, payable on March 21. This brings its full-year dividend payout to 17 sen per share, up from 16 sen per share in FY2023.

For the full year, the telco saw its net profit increase 40.6% to RM1.39 billion from RM993 million in FY2023, while revenue rose 3.5% to RM10.54 billion from RM10.18 billion in the previous year.

In FY2024, Maxis' service revenue increased 3.5% to RM8.87 billion, driven by growth in both the consumer and enterprise businesses, while Ebitda was up 4.1% year-on-year to RM4.12 billion in FY2024. Capital expenditure totalled RM675 million, down 17% from FY2023.

Specifically, service revenue of the consumer business grew 2.7% year-on-year to RM7.26 billion, where consumer mobile revenue — including postpaid and prepaid — increased by 2.1%, in tandem with subscriber growth of 2.4% to 9.7 million.

As for the consumer home connectivity segment, service revenue increased 7.4% to RM993 million, with total home connections expanding to 784,000 from 782,000, driven primarily by fibre broadband.

Meanwhile, service revenue of the enterprise business grew by 6.8% to RM1.61 billion, driven by a focus on mobile and fixed connectivity, as well as adjacent services like Internet of Things and cloud solutions.

In a statement on Tuesday, Maxis chief executive officer Goh Seow Eng said: “We continue to achieve positive results by focusing on what matters most — delivering value to our customers. Our sound strategy, combined with disciplined execution, emphasises customer service, network reliability, and operational efficiency, enabling us to expand our offerings and enhance the customer experience across every market segment.”