M1's Q3 profit falls 23.4% to S$34.4m

A DECLINE in telecoms revenue contributed to a 23.4 per cent fall in M1's net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2016.

The Singapore telco operator's earnings fell to S$34.4 million from S$44.9 million in the year-ago period. This came on the back of a 10.3 per cent drop in revenue to S$249.1 million, from S$277.6 million one year ago.

Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was down 13.9 per cent to S$74.6 million, from S$86.6 million one year ago. Earnings per share (EPS) were down 22.8 per cent to 3.7 Singapore cents, from 4.8 Singapore cents one year ago. The company did not declare a dividend for the period.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2016, net profit was down 12.6 per cent to S$117.9 million, from S$134.9 million one year ago. Revenue for the period was down 12 per cent to S$747 million from S$849.3 million. Ebitda was S$240 million, down 5.3 per cent from S$253.6 million. EPS were down 12.2 per cent to 12.7 Singapore cents, from 14.4 Singapore cents one year ago.

The company said traditional telecommunications services such as international calls and roaming continued to be impacted by OTT (over-the-top) services and there was a slowdown in excess data usage revenue in the latest quarter.

It added that the "key growth segments continue to trend well" and M1 made further progress on various new initiatives around IoT (Internet-of-Things) and cybersecurity.