Maxis Berhad kicked of 2023 with a strong Q1 performance, with service revenue increasing 4.0% year-on-year (YoY) to RM2.1 billion and EBIT increasing 3.4% YoY to RM541 million.
The telco attributed the positive earnings driven by the strong execution of its integrated telco strategy, the company was able to deliver growth in both core mobile and fixed-line connectivity services across its Consumer and Enterprise businesses and improved profit margins from lower operational costs.
Profit After Tax at RM320 million, is up 7.4% YoY. Maxis has declared an interim dividend of 4 sen net per share for the quarter. During the quarter, Maxis invested RM130 million in capex to maintain network quality to serve its customers better and to meet the growing bandwidth demands of an increasingly digital environment. Maxis said it recognises the economic benefits that 5G will bring to Malaysia and will fully leverage its resources, skills and infrastructure to build a 5G network of the highest quality and reliability.
Maxis looks forward to providing 5G-related products and services to its customers soon, with a focus on affordability and adoption.
Commenting on the result, CEO Goh Seow Eng said “We are pleased with our strong start to the year. As we strengthen our position as an integrated player, we will focus on sustainable and predictable growth and strong across-the- board execution to deliver the best service to our customers.”
Q1 2023 financial highlights – Q1 2023 vs Q1 2022:
Service Revenue at RM2,112 million, up 4.0% fueled by strong growth from both Consumer and Enterprise businesses. Postpaid revenue grew 10.1% to RM864 million driven by growth in Maxis Postpaid and Hotlink Postpaid. Effective pre-to-post migration strategy resulted in increasing overall Postpaid subscriptions by 6.5%, bringing the total number of postpaid subscriptions to 3.4 million with a stable ARPU at RM78.
Prepaid recorded resilient revenue growth of 0.6% to RM661 million amidst a highly competitive landscape. Continued adoption of Hotlink Prepaid plans helped to sustain a healthy subscriber base at 5.7 million and strong ARPU at RM38 despite an overall contracting prepaid market. Home Connectivity revenue increased by 11.0% to RM222 million, delivering healthy
customer growth attributed to competitive converged services offering. Total home connections reached 688k boosted by active conversion of WBB customers to fibre customers.
Enterprise revenue (excluding wholesale voice) was up by 5.5% to RM365 million. EBIT increased by 3.4% to RM541 million due to higher service revenue and stable recurring resource costs, excluding one-offs in 1Q22. Profit after tax increased by 7.4% to RM320 million as a result of higher EBIT and discontinuation of Prosperity Tax charges in 2023. Operating free cash flow is at RM181 million with a stable cash balance of RM340m as at 1Q23.
