Malaysia's Axiata Group has reported a 2.2% decline in 1H post-tax profit, but its results for the half-year were solid enough for Moody's to maintain its outlook for the operator.
Axiata reported a profit after tax of 1.38 billion ringgit ($) for the period, blaming the decline on forex losses, investments at Indonesian subsidiary XL Axiata and adverse pricing trends.
Revenue grew 5.2% to 9.11 billion ringgit, and would have improved 8% at constant currency. But ebitda declined 3.9% to 3.64 billion ringgit.
The company increased its regional mobile subscriber base by 12% year-on-year to nearly 230 million, thanks largely to gains at XL Axiata and Indian regional affiliate Idea Cellular.
At home, Celcom Axiata increased its revenue for the half-year by 4% to 4 billion - or around 44% of the group's 1H income – on the back of data demand.
“At more than 70% of service revenue, voice and SMS still makes up the bulk of our business but momentum in data is growing fast,” Axiata group CEO Dato’ Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said.
“In light of this, we have remained aggressive in our investments in data, but monitoring closely to ensure our investments are targeted and done at the most opportune time and in line with the growing demand.”