Axiata Group Berhad closed its financial year ended 31 December 2021 (FY21) with strong operating performance, affirming its resilience and preparedness to meet with accelerating demand for digitalisation across the region in the pandemic environment.
On a reported basis, compared to financial year ended 31 December 2020 (FY20) FY21 revenue and Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) both rose to RM25.9 billion (+7.0%) and RM11.4 billion (+7.0%) on the back of growth across all Operating Companies (OpCos) except Ncell. In constant currency, revenue excluding device (ex-device) expanded by 8.3% to RM25.1 billion lifted by all OpCos except Ncell2 . EBITDA climbed 8.5% to RM11.4 billion mainly contributed by Celcom, Dialog, edotco and ADS.
On a year-on year (YoY) basis, for the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2021 (4Q21), revenue grew by 10.2% to RM6.9 billion. Consequently, EBITDA rose 11.4% to RM3.0 billion. Reported PATAMI surged more than 100% to RM116.0 million mainly led by higher top lines and lower depreciation and amortisation offset by impairment of Ncell goodwill (RM338.4 million). In constant currency of 4Q21, revenue ex-device and EBITDA increased by 10.0% and 11.1% YoY respectively. Underlying PATAMI grew 29.7% to RM411.4 million.
In FY21, Axiata achieved cost excellence through opex and capex savings of RM696 million and RM1.3 billion, totalling RM2.0 billion. Additionally, it closed the year with a resilient balance sheet, as gross debt/EBITDA lifted to 2.56x with the acquisition of Touch Mindscape and cash balance remained healthy at RM7.0 billion.
In view of the Group’s balanced performance, a full year total dividend of 9.5 sen per ordinary share (DPS) was announced.
