KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Maxis Bhd reported a 13.6 per cent drop in net profit to RM343 million in the second quarter (Q2) ended June 30, 2020, against a year earlier due to the loss of its wholesale business and higher impairment made to receivables.
The telecommunications service provider said net impairment of receivables and deposits rose by over fourfold to RM118 million following a change in expected loss rates used to derive the impairment of trade receivables.
“The directors are of the view that the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on economies worldwide has caused a significant increase in credit risk. Consequently, the expected loss rates are now determined based on the historical ageing profile and the corresponding historical credit losses experienced since the outbreak of Covid-19,” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
Maxis also recorded a decline in Q2 revenue to RM2.15 billion from RM2.21 billion previously.
In April, the group withdrew its earlier advised guidance on the outlook for this financial year ending Dec 31, 2020 (FY20), which was issued on Feb 20, due to uncertainties related to Covid-19.
In a media statement today, Maxis chief executive officer Gokhan Ogut said the company delivered a strong Q2 performance amid a challenging environment.
The underlying service revenue, excluding wholesale revenue, was stable at RM1.89 billion compared to the Q2 FY19 revenue, driven by positive growth in convergence offsetting the negative impacts of Covid-19.
The group registered continued year-on-year growth of subscribers for postpaid (+9.7 per cent) and fibre (+32.6 per cent).
Demand for data grew exponentially, Maxis said, with its customers consuming an average of 21.1 gigabytes of data per month on a blended basis during the quarter, 54.0 per cent higher than Q2 FY19.
“We continued to lead the mobile market and turn in consistent growth in our converged solutions for individuals, homes and businesses.
“We will continue to invest in our network to provide the best fixed and mobile connectivity to our customers. At the same time, we are accelerating our 5G network readiness, engaging with the industry on trials, RAN (radio access network) sharing and will feature even more use cases in the coming months,” Ogut said.
He added the company was ready to deploy 5G and was committed to providing the best 5G innovation to Malaysia as soon as the spectrum was made available.
In maintaining its 4G network leadership, Maxis has invested RM259 million in Q2 FY20, bring the year-to-date capex to RM422 million this year.
The company declared a second interim dividend of 4 sen per share for the quarter (Q2 FY19: 5 sen). — Bernama
