KUALA LUMPUR (April 27): Maxis Bhd said it registered solid subscriber growth and enhanced data usage in its first quarter ended March 31, 2015 (1QFY15), with a 1.4% increase in its revenue to RM2.15 billion, from RM2.12 billion a year earlier.

In a press release today, the group said its 1QFY15 service revenue grew 4.4% to RM2.13 billion from a year ago, mainly driven by proactive measures taken to offer “worry free proposition” to its customers.

These included capped data roaming charges and free social chat for prepaid users and downward repricing of postpaid pay per use charges, it said.

It said prepaid revenue grew 8.6% to RM1.05 billion, whilst postpaid revenue was relatively stable at RM972 million.

The quarter also saw Maxis adding 328,000 new revenue generating subscriptions (RGS), bringing its total RGS base to 12 million.

In its result filing to Bursa Malaysia, net profit for the quarter however declined 15.3% to RM410 million, from RM484 million in 1QFY14, due to higher accelerated depreciation charges assocated with its network modernisation programme; earnings per share (EPS) was at 5 sen versus 8 sen in the previous year.

Nevertheless, the group declared a first interim dividend of 5 sen per share, payable on June 26, which will go ex on May 27.

Going forward, Maxis intends to build on the current positive operational momentum to drive competitiveness.

It expects service revenue growth to be in the low single digits for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2015, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) at a similar level as that in FY14.

Base capital expenditure is expected to be approximately RM1.1 billion.

“One thing that’s certain, Malaysians love data. So we will continue with a high investment level to deliver this capacity and give the best data experience to our customers,” said Maxis CEO Morten Lundal in the media release.

As at 2.30pm, Maxis’ counter was unchanged at RM7.15, with 440,500 shares done. The price gives it a market capitalisation of RM53.7 billion.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)