PTCL profit up 14pc to Rs5.465bln in Jan-Sep 2019

Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited profit increased 14 percent to Rs5.465 billion for the nine months period ended September 30, 2019, translating into EPS of Rs1.07, a bourse filing said.

PTCL earned Rs4.779 billion with EPS of Rs0.94 in the corresponding period last year. The company did not announce any interim cash dividend for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, the PSX notice showed.

The group’s revenue for the nine months has grown by 4.5 percent to Rs. 98 billion YoY. Ufone revenue has increased 6.0 percent YoY, UBank, a microfinance banking subsidiary of PTCL, has shown significant growth of 50 percent in its revenue over last year.

Operating profit and net profit for January-September decreased by 15 percent and 32 percent, respectively, as a result of high inflation, significant devaluation of rupee against USD and higher power tariffs.

PTCL revenue of Rs53.8 billion for the nine months is slightly higher than last year by 0.4 percent. The company’s flagship fixed broadband services posted revenue growth of 5.0 percent, a statement issued by the company said.

Corporate, wholesale, and international businesses continued their growth momentum from 2018 and achieved 7.0 percent overall revenue growths. PTCL has entered into strategic partnership with a local telecom operator for its network expansion, with edotco to enhance Pakistan’s connectivity capabilities and Irdeto for Wi-Fi management and parental control functionalities.

Wireless revenue for the period has declined on YoY basis due to strong competition by the cellular companies providing wireless data services. There is continued decline in voice revenues due to continued conversion of subscribers to OTT, cellular services and illegal/grey traffic termination resulting in declining voice traffic volumes.