Stronger ringgit, India investment dent Axiata’s Q1 results
KUALA LUMPUR: Axiata Group Bhd’s investment in Indian associate Idea Cellular Ltd put a dent on the group’s earnings in the first quarter this year.
The telecommunications group posted a net loss of RM147.41 million compared with a net profit of RM239.02 million in the same quarter a year ago.
The dilution of Idea cost the group a RM357.6 million loss, said Axiata in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
Excluding the Idea impact, Axiata’s after-tax profit would have increased 34.6 per cent, or RM386.9 million, it said.
Contributions from associates and joint ventures were lower by more than 100 per cent to a loss of RM86.1 million from a RM30.5 million loss in the first quarter ended March 31 last year as
Idea continued to face intense market aggression, it said.
Revenue in the quarter eased 2.3 per cent to RM5.75 billion from RM5.88 billion previously.
Axiata president and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said the quarterly results were also dragged down by the adverse currency impact as the ringgit had strengthened on an average of 12 per cent against all of its operating companies’ (OpCos) market currencies.
“Excluding those factors, the overall underlying performance was good. All OpCos performed better than the industry in their respective markets,” he said.
Jamaludin said while Axiata remained in line with expectation, its investment in Idea continued to be challenging.
He also said Axiata believed edotco’s growth and expansion would bring material gains for the group. “We will continue to invest in key digital businesses.”