Weak rupee slashes PTCL’s profit by 45pc in six months

KARACHI: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited’s (PTCL) profit fell 45 percent to Rs2.138 billion for the six-month period ended June 30 as rupee devaluation hit its bottom line, the company said on Wednesday.

PTCL Group’s operating profit improved 57 percent in the January-June period. But, its net profit declined “mainly due to adverse impact of currency devaluation of Rs1.1 billion and positive one-offs of Rs1.3 billion of last year,” the telecom firm said in a statement. “Like-for-like net profit of PTCL Group would have been higher by 28 percent compared to last year,” it added.

PTCL, in a separate statement to Pakistan Stock Exchange, said the company recorded profit of Rs3.855 billion during the January-June. It announced cash dividend of Re1/share as an interim cash dividend for the quarter ended June 30. PTCL Group’s revenue grew four percent year-on-year to Rs60.7 billion in the six months as a result of positive contribution by all group companies. PTCL’s flagship fixed broadband service posted revenue growth of eight percent over 1st half of 2017. Corporate business has also shown a significant growth of 14 percent in January-June over the same period last year. Investments made in Charji/long-term evolution during the last years yielded positive results with double-digit revenue growth.

“There is, however, decline in domestic and international voice revenues due to continued conversion of subscribers to OTT (over-the-top) and cellular services resulting in declining voice traffic volumes,” the company said. Analyst Nabeel Khursheed at Topline Securities said increased competition in mobile subscribers by Zong would impact Ufone’s subscriber base. “Decline in number of digital subscriber line subscribers and decline in the core operations of the company which is the fixed line (are) key risks associated with PTC,” Khursheed said.