PTCL’s profit falls to Rs6.5 billion in Jan-Sept

ISLAMABAD: Profit of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) fell seven percent to Rs6.5 billion with earnings per share (EPS) of Rs1.27 for January-September as the firm’s revenue declined during the nine-month period. 

PTCL recorded Rs7.59 billion in profit with EPS of Rs1.49 during the corresponding period a year ago.  The company’s board said revenue dropped three percent to Rs52.8 billion during the three quarters over the same period last year due to continued decrease in Voice and EVO revenues, which could not be offset by growth in other segments.

PTCL’s profit dropped to Rs1.79 billion with EPS of Re0.35 in the three-month period (July-September) as compared to Rs2.03 billion with EPS of Re0.40.  The company’s fixed broadband service grew six percent during Q3 over the same quarter last year as compared to four percent growth for the first nine-month period. 

Revenue from Charji/long-term evolution grew 20 percent in July-September and seven percent in January-September. Corporate and international revenues also increased seven and 11 percent year-on-year, respectively. 

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited’s group profit, however, almost doubled to Rs5.42 billion with EPS of Rs1.06 in January-September as against Rs3.96 billion with earnings per share of Re0.78 in the same period a year earlier. 

Analyst Nabeel Khursheed at Topline Securities said consolidated sales remained almost flat in 9M2017, while a 44 percent increase in ‘other income’ and lower effective tax rate led to 37 percent growth in net earnings.

“We flag competition in mobile subscribers impacting Ufone’s subscriber base, decline in EvDO and DSL subscribers not offset by increase in Ufone’s 3G subscriber share and stagnancy in company’s legacy business, that is fixed line, as key risks,” Khursheed added.

In 3Q, the group’s profit rose to Rs1.48 billion with EPS of Re.29 as compared to Rs876.37 million with EPS of Re0.17 in the same period a year earlier.  Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited  upgraded further exchanges in the July-September quarter, expanding outreach of high-end data services. 

“As quality content demand is increasing day by day, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited is providing local and international entertainment content to its high data package broadband customers through its partnership with Iflix,” the company said in a statement.

 “Charji/LTE services are showing growth in Azad Jammu Kashmir and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited  is now extending these services to KhyberPakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, along with other major cities.”

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited’s partnership with IBM Cloud is also showing good adoption and growth in corporate sector, while Asia Africa Europe is now contributing towards resilience of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited submarine infrastructure and also catering to the growing internet bandwidth needs of the country.