Business

Saturday August 22, 2009

TM gains from unrealised forex


KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysian Bhd’s (TM) net profit for its second quarter ended June 30 slipped 2.6% to RM266mil from RM273mil in the previous corresponding period following the demerger of its mobile business in April 2008.

Excluding the results of its demerged Axiata Group Bhd, TM said its profit from continuing operations surged 132% as it benefited from unrealised foreign exchange gains.

Revenue in the period under review improved 0.9% to RM2.13bil from RM2.11bil reported in the same quarter last year.

TM declared an interim tax-exempt dividend of 10 sen per share, which was close to the gross payout of 12 sen per share in the equivalent period last year.

At a press briefing yesterday, group chief executive officer Datuk Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa said the group’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margins of 37.5% for the quarter and 37.9% over the six-month period “was better compared with its full-year guidance of low to mid-30s due to lower operating cost.”

The company, he said, also recorded positive growth in customer base in all three segments – business, residential and broadband.

This, however, was at the expense of lower average revenue per user (ARPU) as the company attracted new customers with better deals.

The ARPU in the broadband and business segments showed a decline of between 5% and 8% in the second quarter compared with a year ago, while average income from residential fixed line showed a 16% drop.

As at end-June, TM’s broadband customers reached 1.37 million, up 18.4% from 1.157 million a year earlier. Zamzamzairani said TM had allocated RM1.4bil for capital expenditure this year.

So far, RM520mil was spent under its “business-as-usual” programme, while RM428mil was utilised to set up its high-speed broadband (HSBB) infrastructure.

“We expect higher capex spending in the second half of the year mainly for HSBB,” he said.

TM plans to make HSBB available to select customers in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Bangsar, Shah Alam and Subang Jaya during the last quarter of this year, while commercial roll-out is targeted for the first quarter of 2010.

On the outlook for the rest of the year, Zamzamzairani said he expected the “challenging business environment” to continue.

“The emergence of mobile and other wireless mobile broadband technology will challenge TM’s dominance of the Malaysia Internet access service market,” he said.

Contibution from data and Internet services made up 52% of TM’s revenue during the six months ended June 30, up from 46% in the previous corresponding period.


TM : [Stock Watch] [News]

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