KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23): Axiata Group Bhd posted net profit of RM544.58 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2011 compared with net loss of RM367.04 when it was affected by impairment charge on investment in India.

It said on Thursday that its revenue was RM4.264 billion, up 6.16% from the RM4.016 billion a year ago. Earnings per share were 6.0 sen compared with loss per share of 4.0 sen.

The board of directors recommended the payment of a final tax exempt dividend under the single tier system of 15 sen per share (2010: 10 sen).

Axiata said the group taxation decreased by 68.6% to RM73.4 million in 4Q2011 as compared to RM234.0 million in 4Q2010, mainly due to the utilisation of investment tax credit on LBTI enjoyed by Malaysia.

For FY11, its net profit rose 32.5% to RM2.345 billion from RM1.770 billion. Its revenue increased by 5.29% to RM16.447 billion from RM15.620 billion.

Commenting on the full year results, Axiata said that eggressive execution by all operating companies on strategies resulted in positive quarterly revenue trends.

“Revenue was impacted by the weakening currencies outside of Malaysia and would have been 7.5% at constant currency. The robust performance was on the back of higher data in key markets particularly Celcom, XL and Dialog,” it said.

The group's EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) remained steady at 1% to RM7.1 billion, 3% at constant currency, due to the growth in data and broadband at Celcom and XL in particular.

Axiata added that margins dipped by 1.9 percentage points due to aggressive network roll-out at Celcom and XL to accommodate the growth in data.

Celcom’s profits increased by 11% to hit the RM2 billion mark.

As for its subscribers, Axiata reported the total base expanded to nearly to 200 million, up 25% from a year ago, an average of 3.3 million per month “making the group one of the largest telcos in the region”.

Axiata said it had RM6.6 billion in cash and while its balance sheet had significantly strengthened. Axiata’s gross debt to EBITDA ratio was 1.6 times.