KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 — Axiata Group Bhd swung to a net loss of RM5.03 billion in the 2018 financial year (FY18) from a net profit of RM909.48 million in the previous year due to dilution of its investment in India and asset write-off that ran into billions of ringgit.
The group said its performance was affected by loss from the dilution and derecognition of the investment in India, which went from associate to simple investment amounting to RM3.7 billion, and one-off assets written off/accelerated depreciation amounting to RM1.8 billion.
Revenue decreased by 2.1 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM23.89 billion for the year ended Dec 31, 2018, compared with RM24.4 billion posted previously, it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
It said the ringgit strengthened against all regional currencies, leading to an adverse foreign exchange (forex) translation impact for the group.
“At constant currency of FY17, revenue grew 6.2 per cent driven by better performance from operating companies in Malaysia and Sri Lanka as well as the infrastructure business,” Axiata said.
For FY18’s fourth quarter, net loss stood at RM1.66 billion against a net profit of RM24.72 million a year earlier, while revenue was RM6.26 billion versus RM6.26 billion previously.
Besides Malaysia, Axiata also operates in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Cambodia.
In Indonesia, it said revenue dropped 11.6 per cent y-o-y to RM6.5 billion due to unfavourable forex impact.
The operation recorded a net loss of RM939.8 million compared with a net profit of RM116.8 million previously.
“This was mainly due to one-time write-off from 2G and 3G assets amounting to RM892.3 million and higher depreciation charges from larger network assets investment of prior years,” it said.
In Bangladesh, revenue declined by 10.1 per cent to RM3.2 billion mainly due to unfavourable forex translation, while Sri Lanka’s total revenue improved by 2.2 per cent for the year to RM2.71 billion.
Its operation in Nepal saw revenue falling by 12 per cent to RM2.11 billion, affected by telecommunication services charges implementation, among others, and Cambodia’s revenue for the year declined by 2.4 per cent to RM1.15 billion, also due to unfavourable forex translation. — Bernama
