Maxis YTD revenue up 3%

• 14.6% Internet and data revenue growth year on year, contributing 28.9% of mobile revenue
• Announces a third interim  dividend of eight sen per share amounting to RM600 million

MAXIS Berhad said revenue grew 3% in the first nine months ended Sept 30 this year compared with the same period in 2012, to RM6.86 billion on the back of contributions from all business segments, but largely driven by higher mobile Internet and data usage which recorded an increase of 14.6%.
 
Profit After Tax (PAT) for the period was impacted by a one-time Career Transition Scheme (CTS) cost (including tax effect) of RM76 million due to an “organisational refinement exercise” as well as accelerated depreciation (including tax effect) of RM75 million due to a network modernisation programme.
 
Excluding these items, PAT for the period would have increased by 3.9% to RM1.631 billion, the company said in a statement.
 
[RM1 = US$0.31]
 
For the quarter under review, Maxis posted revenues of RM2.239 billion. Excluding one-time CTS costs, PAT at RM550 million would be comparable to the previous quarter.
 
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) would show a marginal decrease of 0.9% to RM1.154 billion, the company said.
 
“Our strategy around improving customer experience, as well as focusing on mobile Internet, is showing early positive results,” said its newly-minted chief executive officer Morten Lundal (pic).
 
“During the quarter, we gave customers more reasons to increase usage with products that offer them both ease and value.
 
“We know our customers value extensive coverage and reliable data speeds. We are putting a lot of work to further enhance our leading 3G infrastructure and expand the reach of our 4G LTE (Fourth Generation Long Term Evolution) network.
 
“Our 4G LTE footprint is the widest in the country and now available to close to one-third of the population in the Klang Valley. This will progressively be extended to other parts of the country,” he added.
 
Maxis also confirmed a third interim dividend of eight sen per share bringing the total dividend year-to-date (YTD) to 24 sen per share and YTD dividend pay-out to shareholders to RM1.8 billion.
 
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