KUALA LUMPUR: Axiata Group Bhd's net profit fell 19 per cent to RM60.03 million in the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2024 from RM73.85 million a year ago due to higher foreign exchange losses and finance costs.
However, the company's revenue for the quarter rose 13 per cent to RM5.66 billion from RM5.00 billion last year. "Strong revenue growth was mainly driven by excellent performance across all operating companies (OpCos) except for Link Net," it said in a statement.
There was no dividend paid by the company during the financial period to date.
Commenting on the results, Axiata group chief executive officer and managing director Vivek Sood said Axiata met its revenue targets and achieved significant improvements in underlying operating profit, thanks to its operational excellence program and an improved business mix.
In recent months, Sood said the company has demonstrated its commitment to its strategic focus and capital allocation priorities, with the upcoming merger in Sri Lanka between Dialog Axiata and Bharti Airtel to strengthen its business resilience in frontier markets.
"Meanwhile, we are executing on a strategic and structural shift in Indonesia to transform Link Net into a FibreCo and XL into a converged ServeCo, along with exploring a proposed merger of XL and Smartfren."I am confident that our focus on value creation and operational discipline will enable us to capitalise on the significant market opportunities in the Asean and South Asian regions, as well as in emerging technologies, to deliver value to our shareholders," he added. Ends