Robi Axiata showed a 17.6 per cent year-on-year increase in profit in the first quarter through March this year to Tk 1.25 billion despite a 7 per cent year-on-year reduction in revenue.
Selling expenses, finance expenses and income tax expenses were down in the quarter from the corresponding period last year.
The earnings per share (EPS) rose to Tk 0.24 for the first quarter of 2025 from Tk 0.20 for the same period a year ago, according to the price sensitive information published on Saturday.
Robi has nearly a 30.27 per cent market share, with 56.36 million subscribers, acquiring the second position in the country's telecom sector after Grameenphone that has 84.9 million subscribers and a 45.59 per cent market share.
Robi witnessed a 7 per cent year-on-year decline in revenue in the January-March quarter this year to Tk 23.41 billion, for which it has blamed data price reduction and inflationary pressure.
Data shows that Robi lost 1.7 million subscribers in Q1 this year, compared to the same period last year.
"Sustained data price reduction has taken its toll on Robi's financial performance in the first quarter of the ongoing year (Q1'25). Meanwhile, prolonged economic downturn continued to cast its shadow on Robi's financial performance in line with telco industry's overall financial performance," said Robi in its earnings note.
The market leader, Grameenphone also experienced revenue slowdown in its first quarter and it put the blame on a sharp drop in data pricing.
However, despite lower revenue, Robi managed to have its net profit grow as it had nearly 28 per cent less selling and administrative expenses in the quarter to March compared to the same period last year.
Also, finance cost was 7.7 per cent down year-on-year and interest tax expenses were cut by 36 per cent year-on-year in Q1 this year.
Meanwhile, the stock fell 0.81 per cent to Tk 24.40 per share on Saturday on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
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