Malaysia’s Axiata Q1 Net Profit Down 13.3% on Higher Operating Costs
Kuala Lumpur. Axiata Group, Malaysia’s largest mobile phone operator by market value, said first-quarter net profit dropped 13.3 percent from a year ago, dragged by higher operating costs.
Net profit declined to 584.8 million ringgit ($162.90 million) in the January-March period from 674.8 million ringgit a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the stock exchange.
Revenue increased 5.2 percent to 4.75 billion ringgit, it added.
Profit after tax fell 26.6 percent from the previous quarter due to losses in Indonesia on the back of foreign exchange losses and consolidation, and lower earnings from Malaysia.
Axiata, which counts state investor Khazanah Nasional as a major shareholder, has over 200 million subscribers in countries including Indonesia and Bangladesh, helping it counter slowing growth in Malaysia, where the number of subscriptions exceed the country’s population.
Its shares closed flat at 6.75 ringgit per share.
Reuters
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