Axiata Group recorded a modest recovery across most of its operating companies in Q3, but warned of a potentially soft Q4.

President and CEO Jamaludin Ibrahim said the current quarter had become challenging again as some countries have reimposed lockdowns, affecting many enterprises and customers, and its overall business.

He also cited heightened competition in Indonesia.

Ibrahim said almost all operating companies registered growth in Q3. “This is an amazing feat under these circumstances and the all-round outstanding performance must be commended.”

Net profit grew 52.3 per cent year-on-year to MYR468 million ($114.9 million), while revenue dipped 1.6 per cent to MYR6.11 billion.

The company said it recorded savings of MYR366 million, bringing total cost reductions to MYR895 million in the first nine months of the year.

Group capex for the January to September period fell 14.5 per cent year-on-year to MYR3.75 billion.

Q3 breakdown
XL’s revenue rose 1.7 per cent to IDR6.58 trillion ($466.9 million); net profit jumped 53.2 per cent to IDR331 billion; subscriber numbers increased 2.9 per cent to 56.9 million; and blended ARPU was stable at IDR36,000.

In Malaysia, Celcom’s revenue fell 4.8 per cent to MYR2.45 billion; blended ARPU slid 7.7 per cent to MYR48; total subscribers dropped by more than 200,00 to 8.4 million; and net profit rose 25.6 per cent to MYR240 million.

Sri Lanka unit Dialog booked a 4.9 per cent increase in revenue to LKR30.5 billion ($164.9 million); net profit jumped to LKR4.8 billion from LKR1.47 billion in Q3 2019; subscribers inched up 1 per cent to 15.3 million; blended ARPU increased 1.3 per cent to LKR384; and average data usage per customer increased to 6.8GB from 5.3GB.

Revenue at Robi rose 1.7 per cent to BDT19.3 billion ($227.9 million), despite a 1.6 per cent drop in ARPU to BDT124; net additions of almost 2 million took subscribers to 51.1 million; and net profit tumbled to BDT389 million from BDT1.7 billion.

In Nepal, Ncell revenue fell 26 per cent to NPR10.04 billion ($84.5 million); net profit fell nearly seven-times to NPR499 million; blended ARPU dropped 20.8 per cent to NPR213; and subscribers declined 1.4 million to 15.3 million.

Tower company
Revenue at edotco was flat at MYR469 and net profit fell 45 per cent to MYR53 million. Towers under management rose 8 per cent to 21,521 and tenancies increased about 6 per cent to 1.6 per tower.