Axiata more than doubles Q2 profit

Malaysia’s Axiata Group has reported a strong 115.5% year-on-year surge in Q2 profit to 479.1 million ringgit ($112.2 million) due in part to record-high revenue.

Group revenue increased 13.9% year-on-year and 3% sequentially to 6.1 billion ringgit, despite increased losses from Axiata’s 19.75% stake in India’s Idea Cellular due to that market’s ongoing weakness.

Revenue and ebitda at both Malaysian mobile unit Celcom Axiata and Indonesia’s XL Axiata both improved, while Cambodia’s Smart Axiata had another strong quarter, the company said.

Data revenue grew nearly 11% from the previous quarter to account for 44.1% of service revenue.

In the group’s South Asian Markets, Sri Lanka’s Dialog Axiata increased its mobile data revenue by 44.1% sequentially, Bangladesh’s Robi Axiata’s year-to-date data revenue grew 95.6% sequentially and Nepal’s Ncell posted data revenue growth of 16.9% quarter-on-quarter.

For the first six months of the year, group revenue grew 15.7% quarter-on-quarter to 11.9 billion ringgit with profit up 17% over the same period to 741.1 million ringgit.

“While the Group achieved better-than-expected half year performance, there remain considerable macroeconomic and industry challenges. As such, the Board is supportive of the ongoing turnaround of key units, while balancing the need to remain fiscally disciplined in terms of dividend and investment policies,” Axiata chairman Tan Sri Azaman Hj. Mokhtar said.