Robi sees robust growth in revenues, profitability in Q1

Robi Axiata Ltd has announced the first quarter financial results reporting a strong growth in revenues and profitability as the Company recovered from the dip in revenue, EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) and PAT (Profit After Tax) in Q4 2013.
Q1 2014, witnessed double digit growth in EBITDA and PAT resulting from revenue increase and disciplined cost management, despite heavy investment towards 2G network capacity enhancements and 3.5G-rollout. Data usage recorded a significant growth in line with Robi 3.5G network expansion, though voice continued to dominate revenue growth.
Comparing Q1 2014 vs Q4 2013, (QoQ) revenue rose 5.9% from BDT 11.0bn in Q4 2013 to BDT 11.7bn in Q1 2014 as the economy returned to normalcy in the post- general elections in January, 2014.
Robi Managing Director and CEO, Supun Weerasinghe said "The stable external environment has helped to deliver strong growth across most of the matrix. We are encouraged by the take-up of data services as we expand our 3.5G network; this gives us immense confidence to invest towards affordable data connectivity across the country to deliver Government's vision of Digital Bangladesh."
Robi Chief Operating Officer, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, said that Robi had introduced a number of attractive voice and data packages for its subscribers. "keeping the customers' requirements in mind, we have offered products with unified data tariffs and simplified plans to make it easier for our customers to adopt our services."
Commenting on the 3.5G network expansion, which now covers all major cities in Bangladesh with more than 1400 sites, the COO added that "through our enhanced 3.5G network coverage data usage has seen a healthy growth from last quarter."
SIM tax on every new connection and discriminatory corporate tax continue to be a concern for the industry, said the COO. In Q1 2014, the company has paid out more than BDT 4.3bn to the government exchequer representing 38% of Company revenues.
The Company reported a double digit EBITDA growth of 58.7% recovering from a dip to BDT 2.9 bn in Q4 2013. EBITDA has risen to BDT 4.7bn in Q1 2014. Growth from voice and data revenue is being attributed to the increasing popularity and acceptance of our simplified packages among our subscribers, and the wider 3.5G coverage.
PAT, which stood at a negative in Q4 2013 due to adverse external challenges, grew to BDT 1.0bn in Q1 2014, driven by improved EBITDA margins, in spite of an increase in depreciation and amortization charges due to 3.5G network rollout and spectrum fees.
QoQ subscriber base rose from 22.3mn to 23.9mn, recording a 7.1% growth. During Quarter 1, 2014, Robi aligned its definition on subscriber base as per guidelines of the Bangladesh Telecomm­unications Regulator Commi­ssion (BTRC).
On a year-to-date basis, comparing Q1 2014 to Q1 2013 (YoY), revenue increased by 8% from BDT 10.8bn in Q1 2013 to BDT 11.7bn in Q1 2014. EBITDA registered a healthy year on year double digit growth of 13.9% for the same period.
Although there has been a turnaround in QoQ PAT in Q1 2014, the YoY figure was still 7.7% lower than PAT reported in Q1 2013 due to increased depreciation resulting from network investments and amortization of spectrum/license fees.