Maxis declares 8 sen dividend
Q1 net profit up 6.12%, dividend of 8 sen declared
Maxis Bhd, which saw its net profit rise 6.12% to RM572mil in the first quarter ended March 31, declared an interim dividend of 8 sen per share amounting to RM600mil.
KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd, which saw its net profit rise 6.12% to Rm572mil in the first quarter ended March 31 against Rm539mil previously, declared an interim dividend of 8 sen per share amounting to Rm600mil.
In a briefing on its financial results, CEO Sandip Das said the telco would continue to focus on cash flows with commitment on progressive dividend policy.
For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2011, Maxis paid a total or 40 sen per share, or Rm3bil in cumulative dividends. The payout represented a dividend yield of about 6.5% based on yesterday’s closing price of RM6.19. As at March 31, the company had a cash and cash equivalent of Rm1.81bil.
For the first quarter ended March 31, Maxis’ revenue increased 4.5% to Rm2.22bil from Rm2.13bil a year ago. Its non-voice revenue contributed 45.5% of its mobile revenue, rising 13.2% to Rm 970mil from Rm857mil in the same quarter last year.
Earnings per share were 7.6 sen compared with 7.2 sen. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin stood at 50.8%.
Das said Maxis would continue to be aggressive on all its business segments to gain more market share.
“Starting late last year and going into the first quarter, in a series of major market moves, we have introduced attractive pre-paid tariffs, post-paid data bundles and reduced IDD rates.
“As a results, we have had a promising start to year 2012 with the best first-quarter revenues and the lowest seasonal impact in five years,” Das said.
The initiatives introduced, Das said, had yielded results and proved to be major market share win-back initiatives and would continue to roll out products for the post-paid and wireless broadband to gain the momentum.
As at March 31, Maxis had a total of 13.8 million subscriptions, including revenue-generating subscription base of 12.6 million.
To a question on its declining subscribers, Das said the group focused on getting revenue-generating subscribers explaining the rise in its revenue despite marginally lower total subscribers. He added that more subscriber share win-back initiatives were under way.
Separately, its home services are gaining traction with already 41,000 customers on board, including 5,180 who are on Home Fibre Internet.
On its average revenue per user (ARPU), Das said it remained relatively stable during the quarter. Its blended ARPU stood at RM52 against RM49 in the previous corresponding period.
On capital expenditure (capex), Das said Maxis would continue to spend about RM1bil this year. In the first quarter, it spent RM78mil in capex.
“Our capex has been deferred to later half of this year. Our overall capex is still within guidance of about RM1bil.”
Maxis has invested RM3.7bil in capex in the past three years resulting in 95% 2G and 81% high-speed 3G coverage of the population. Maxis currently has 3,400 of 5,200 sites enabled with 42Mbps capability. It has also built the capability for LTE migration.
Das said Maxis was ready to roll out LTE once it received the spectrum from the Government.