Sri Lanka's Dialog Axiata has reported a 20% slump in profit for the first quarter, as higher depreciation costs outweighed revenue growth.
The operator has posted a profit for the quarter of 1.38 billion rupees ($10.59 million), down 20% year-on-year. Dialog Axiata blamed the decline on increased depreciation costs associated with its investments in spectrum as well as mobile and fixed-line infrastructure.
Revenue grew 7% year-on-year to 16.3 billion rupees, but was flat sequentially. Dialog Axiata's core mobile, international and tele-infrastructure businesses contributed 86% of group revenue for the quarter. The operator ended the period with 9.3 million mobile customers.
Fixed line unit Dialog Broadband Networks meanwhile reported a net loss of 311 million rupees, significantly higher than the 62 million rupee loss from Q1 2013.
Digital pay TV business Dialog Television recorded revenue growth of 27% to 1.1 billion rupees. The unit swung to a net profit of 132 million rupees, from a 14 million rupee loss a year earlier.
Group capex for the quarter reached 3.2 billion rupees, with spending focused on mobile coverage and capacity extensions, as well as expansion of the group's fiber network. Dialog Axiata recorded a group ebitda margin of 29%.