CelcomDigi 2Q Net Profit Rises 18%, Cuts Ebit Guidance

By Ying Xian Wong

CelcomDigi's second-quarter net profit rose 18% from a year earlier, driven by tax incentives and lower depreciation.

The Malaysian telecommunication giant late Friday said second-quarter net profit was MYR406 million (US$91.6 million), compared with MYR344 million a year earlier. Quarterly revenue slipped 0.5% on year to MYR3.11 billion, mainly due to lower prepaid rotational one-time Sim acquisition, subscriber churn in the enterprise mobile segment and lower interconnect revenue.

Moving forward, CelcomDigi expects its 2024's earnings before interest and taxes to decline by a single digit percentage, due to "an organisation adjustment", that resulted an one-time cost of MYR140 million, and is actively taking steps to minimize the impact of this expense. The company previously guided for earnings before interest and tax to be at a similar level to 2023.

The telecommunication company maintained its guidance for a low single-digit percentage increase in service revenue growth and a capex-to-total revenue ratio of between 15% to 18% for 2024.

Write to Ying Xian Wong at yingxian.wong@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 18, 2024 21:20 ET (01:20 GMT)

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