M1 warns on full-year profit as Q3 growth falters

M1 said it expects full-year profit to fall after the Singapore-based telcom services provider reported a near 5 percent fall in third-quarter profit, citing higher depreciation and interest expenses.

Singapore economy expands by 1.8 per cent in Quarter 1
The skyline of the central business district in Singapore Reuters

M1 said it expects full-year profit to fall after the Singapore-based telcom services provider reported a near 5 percent fall in third-quarter profit, citing higher depreciation and interest expenses.

Shares in the company fell as much as 1.7 percent to S$1.77.

M1 said net profit after tax fell to S$32.7 million for its third quarter ended September from S$34.4 million last year.

"Based on current outlook and barring unforeseen circumstances, M1 expects a decline in net profit after tax for the year 2017," the company said in a regulatory filing on Monday.

EBITDA increased 1.3 percent year-on-year to S$75.5 million.

For the said period, the group recorded a 1 percent rise in revenue to S$251.6 million.

Service revenue increased 4.9 percent year-on-year to S$206.7 million. This was mainly driven by higher postpaid and fixed services revenues.

During the quarter, M1's fibre customer base grew 6,000 to bring total fibre base to 182,000.

Average postpaid smartphone data usage grew to 4.2 gigabytes per month in third quarter of 2017, from 3.4 gigabytes per month a year ago.

Mobile data revenue increased 1.7 percentage points year-on-year to 55.9 percent of service revenue in the latest quarter.

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