Axiata cuts dividend amid forex woes, regulatory uncertainties

Kuala Lumpur

AFTER six consecutive years of increasing its dividend payout ratio (DPR), Malaysia's Axiata Group Bhd intends to significantly slash the payout for financial years 2016 and 2017 to pare down its US dollar borrowings, and also as a precaution amid currency volatility, and tax and regulatory uncertainties.

The "heads up" notice follows a 75 per cent plunge in Axiata's profit after tax (PAT) to RM657 million (S$208 million) for the year to end-December against RM2.5 billion for FY2015 owing to large foreign-exchange losses and higher depreciation and amortisation (D&A) charges from capital expenditure investments, but also the underperformance of its main unit Celcom.

Axiata's board has proposed a final three sen dividend per share (DPS), which together with the interim payout of five sen DPS amounts to eight sen DPS or a 50 per cent DPR. (FY2015: 20 sen DPS and 85 per cent DPR). The company's lowest DPR in recent years was 30 per cent for FY2010, but it was raised to 60 per cen…