SINGAPORE (Oct 16): M1 reported a nearly 5% dip in 3Q17 ended Sept earnings to $32.7 million from $34.4 million in 3Q16 a year ago, mainly due to higher depreciation and interest expenses.
This brings 9M earnings to $101.5 million, down 13% from a year ago.
Total operating revenue increased 1% to $251.6 million in 3Q17 compared to $249.1 million in 3Q16, due to higher postpaid and fixed services revenue, but was offset by lower international call services revenue.
The group’s mobile telecommunications revenue, which includes postpaid and prepaid revenues, increased 3.4% to $160.5 million in 3Q17 from $155.2 million last year.
Meanwhile, fixed services increased 19.9% to $32.4 million compared to $27 million in 3Q16, mainly attributable to higher fibre customer base and contribution from corporate segment projects.
However, revenue for international call services decline 7.0% to $13.9 million in 3Q17 from $14.9 million the previous year.
The increase in operating revenue also came on the back of a 2% y-o-y increase in M1’s customer base to about 2.19 million, but was 1.4% lower compared to 2Q17.
Operating expenses also saw a 0.6% increase to $209.1 million from $207.8 million last year, mainly due to higher depreciation and amortisation expenses.
Finance costs for the third quarter ended August increased 49.6% y-o-y to 2.9 million from 1.9 million in 3Q16, due to higher borrowings and interest rate.
M1’s cash and cash equivalents stood at $52.1 million as at end August.
Karen Kooi, CEO of M1 says, “With the shift in consumer preferences from traditional telecommunications to data centric services, we are addressing their changing needs through proactive customer service management, network optimisation and upgrades, as well as innovative and competitively priced service propositions.”
No dividend has been declared or recommended for financial period.
Based on current outlook, M1 expects a decline in net profit after tax for the year 2017.
Shares in M1 closed at $1.80 on Monday.
