ATH over the year
It goes without saying that these are extraordinary times, as we are two years down the road in a pandemic, that has impacted everyone.
Ivan Fong, the Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Group chief executive officer, made this statement in the 2021 ATH Group annual report released by the South Pacific Stock Exchange recently.
“We are extremely grateful to our employees, business partners and customers, who showed tremendous commitment and resolve, ensuring that our business continued smoothly, and that we could deliver essential services, without significant interruptions.
“I sincerely appreciate their efforts and am grateful for their support, as we continue to deliver on our commitment to all stakeholders, despite these challenging times,” Mr Fong said.
“The global COVID-19 pandemic is a significant health crisis from which recovery now appears a longer-term process, requiring governments and companies to take extraordinary actions, to support their citizens and stakeholders across twin dimensions of health and economic recovery.”
Mr Fong said it was testing companies’ abilities to simultaneously serve their employees, clients, shareholders and communities, while grappling with the profound challenges created by the virus.
“ATH expresses its sincere gratitude for shareholders who participated in the recent Rights Issue, which was extended from the original closing date of 18 June 2020, total applications for 56 million shares were received.
“Despite the extenuating circumstances, the support by shareholders and investors was truly heartening.
“The success of the Rights Issue, viewed in the context of the prolonged nationwide lockdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is a strong vote of confidence, by both domestic investors, foreign investors and retail shareholders.
“This capital raise has enabled ATH to strengthen its balance sheet and accelerate its post COVID-19 plans and fully fund its earmarked portion of equity in the PNG Project.”
Financial Results
Mr Fong highlighted that these are, for sure, some of the most challenging times in ATH Group’s history.
“However, the Group, with its positive vision and resilient spirit, worked on overcoming the challenges it was confronted with, and achieved a positive result for the year.
“The impact of COVID-19, compounded by the disruptions caused by the tropical cyclones during the financial year, had a negative impact on the economy and society, and the ATH Group’s business development was no exception.”
Mr Fong highlighted:
-Operating revenue of the Group, for the financial year ended 31 March 2021, was $580 million, representing a decline of 14.11 per cent compared to the same period last year.
-With its stringent cost management, direct costs reduced by 15.44 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The effect of these measures improved the gross profit margin from 62.9 per cent in the financial year 2020, to 63.4 per cent in the current financial year.
-The Group EBITDA amounted to $171.5 million, representing a decline of 22 per cent, compared to the same period last year.
-Net financing cost decreased to $5 million, from $33 million, mainly due to the weakening of USD against the Fijian dollar during the year.
-The Group’s net profit before tax amounted to $54.7 million, representing a decline of 22 per cent over the same period last year.
-Consolidated profit after income tax, attributed to the members of the holding Company for the financial year, was $14.6 million compared to $14.3 million last year.
-Despite the subdued operating environment and investment pressure, the Group continues to maintain a healthy cash flow, driven by stable growth in its business operations, disciplined cost controls, and the continuing realisation of economies of scale available within the Group companies, due to the regional expansion.
-The Group will continue to uphold prudent financial policies, and strictly monitor and control financial risks, to maintain healthy cash flow generation capabilities, as well as value preservation and enhancement capabilities.
Going forward, Mr Fong said the Group would focus on realignment of its capital structure, and reinforce and develop favourable economic benefits, in order to continuously create value for its shareholders.
“Notwithstanding the current challenges, the Group will continue its efforts to grow shareholder value, by increasing its expansion in the region, with immediate focus on the Papua New Guinea (PNG) broadband network construction, where successful delivery of services into a market of 9 million population, will be a great milestone for the Group.
“The greenfield network rollout project in PNG is nearing readiness for commercial launch, with the construction of a number of cell tower sites, and completion of modern data centres now hosting the Next Generation Core Network systems.”