KUALA LUMPUR (May 28): Axiata Group Bhd’s (KL:AXIATA) net profit attributable to shareholders for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025 (1QFY2025) more than doubled year-on-year, bolstered by lower depreciations and costs, net foreign exchange gain and higher share of results from CelcomDigi Bhd (KL:CDB).
Axiata's 1QFY2025 earnings stood at RM159.84 million, up from RM60.03 million a year earlier, even as revenue fell 11.3% to RM5.09 billion, impacted by the depreciation of the Indonesian rupiah and Bangladeshi taka.
The improved profitability was largely driven by lower depreciation, impairment and amortisation charges, reduced marketing and promotional costs, as well as net foreign exchange gains of RM28.4 million, the telecommunications group said in its bourse filing.
Basic earnings per share stood at 1.7 sen in 1QFY2025, compared to 0.7 sen in the same quarter last year and 3.3 sen in 4QFY2024. No dividends were declared during the quarter.
Axiata said all its telco units except XLSMART delivered profit after tax and minority interest (Patami) growth, along with CelcomDigi.
"Underlying Patami was impacted by one-off losses, without which it would have reflected a 7.4% growth," it added.
The group’s net debt/earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) held steady at 3.00 times year-on-year, higher compared to the previous quarter as, despite improvements in total debt and cash, this was negatively impacted by lower annualised Ebitda.
Notwithstanding the decline in Ebitda in the first quarter by 12.5%, a significant capex reduction of approximately RM548.2 million across operating companies helped drive cash flow higher to RM815.4 million.
In a statement, Axiata said both its jointly controlled entities are actively integrating, with significant progress towards realising expected synergies. CelcomDigi is projected to deliver RM700 million in annual run-rate synergies by 2027, while XLSMART is anticipating annual pre-tax synergies of US$300 million (RM1.27 billion) to US$400 million by 2027.
Axiata’s frontier market assets — Robi, Dialog and Smart — successfully navigated volatility, delivering strong profit growth and positive cash flow while increasing their operational resilience.