Axiata dips 4.47% on 4Q loss, downgrade

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 25): Axiata Group Bhd fell 4.47% in thin trade this morning after it posted a net loss of RM1.66 billion for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018 (4QFY18) — compared to a net profit of RM24.73 million a year ago — as the group recorded various one-off, non-cash, technical items during the quarter

At 9.08am, Axiata fell 19 sen to RM4.06 with 94,500 shares traded.

The one-off expenses it recorded during the quarter include the RM3.9 billion of losses recorded by Idea Cellular, a RM1.8 billion asset write-off as a result of network modernisation at PT XL Axiata Tbk and Celcom Axiata Bhd, and foreign exchange and derivatives losses of RM0.5 billion.

Its revenue for the quarter rose marginally to RM6.27 billion from RM6.26 billion a year earlier.

For the full-year period, its net loss stood at RM5.03 billion, versus a net profit of RM909.48 million reported in the preceding year, while revenue fell to RM23.9 billion from RM24.4 billion.

Meanwhile, CIMB IB Research has downgraded Axiata to “Hold” at RM4.25 with unchanged target price of RM4.40 and said Axiata’s FY18 core EPS missed expectations due to wider digital business losses.

In a note today, the research house said Celcom and Dialog underperformed while XL, Robi, Smart and Ncell did better.

“Downgrade to Hold as share price nears unchanged SOP-based target price,” it said.

Source : TheEdgeMarkets