TUESDAY, March 19, 2024
nationthailand

Record revenue lifts True’s Q4 profit to Bt5.4 bn

Record revenue lifts True’s Q4 profit to Bt5.4 bn

TRUE Corporation recorded a net profit of Bt5.4 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, driven by record revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA).

The company also gained from cost and productivity initiatives and asset divestment to the Digital Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (DIF), True said.
Its board of directors yesterday approved a dividend of about Bt1 billion (Bt0.031 per share), subject to approval by shareholders at the annual general meeting in April.
 Consolidated 2017 service revenue grew more than 10 per cent year on year to Bt97 billion due to significant growth of both the cellular and broadband businesses while EBITDA surged 59 per cent to reach Bt39.9 billion in 2017.
 Excluding the effect of the asset divestment to DIF, EBITDA grew 36 per cent year on year to Bt34 billion. This, combined with corporate-wide cost and productivity initiatives as well as the asset divestment to the DIF, resulted in a net income of Bt2.3 billion in 2017, paving the way for True to achieve sustainable profitability and dividend payments.
Co-president for operations Vichaow Rakphongphairoj said that its ongoing commitment to improving customers’ service experience and building the best telecommunications networks nationwide “utilising world-class standards and cutting-edge technologies” have been important factors contributing to the group’s solid revenue and subscriber growth. 
“We have also put relentless efforts on cultivating a digital mindset and creativity within the company which will enable us to always keep pace with changes in consumers’ behaviour and advancements in technology,” he said. “All these developments, together with the Group’s wide range of cost and productivity initiatives, lay a solid foundation for us to continue growth in 2018 and beyond.
Kittinut Tikawan, the group’s co-president for commercial, said: “Our determination to provide high-value convergence offerings and digital services to consumers enhances their engagement and matches their needs toward digitalisation.”
He said that in 2017, the group’s cellular business significantly outgrew peers as it was the only operator recording positive net adds of 2.7 million while the other two major players reported combined net subscriber loss of 2.8 million.
 This drove TrueMove H’s service revenue up 17.3 per cent year on year while the industry’s revenue grew 5.7 per cent, the highest yearly growth rate since 2014, he said.
 TrueOnline’s broadband business also grew well with consumer broadband revenue and subscriber base increasing at a solid double-digit rate resulting from its focus on upgrading speed and services through fibre campaigns, he said.
“All of our broadband customers are now on our FTTx network,” Kittinut said. “TrueVisions continues to provide high-quality content, which can be enjoyed across multiple platforms, reinforcing the Group’s convergence leadership. As we continue to add more value to consumers while emphasizing on digital content and privilege programs through TrueID, IoT and other innovative offerings, we are well positioned to amplify growth and stay at the top of consumers’ mind in the Thailand 4.0 era.
 “TrueMove H’s network strength particularly 4.5G/4G service fulfils consumers’ constantly-growing demands for data and streaming usage. Its attractive device-bundling and data campaigns continued to receive overwhelming response from both postpaid and prepaid segments.”
 The business gained 2.7 million net subscribers during the year and expanded its total subscriber base to 27.2 million, of which 20.3 were prepaid and 6.9 were postpaid users. 
TrueMove H’s non-voice revenue growth of 24.7 per cent year on year drove its service revenue up 17.3 per cent in 2017 and acted as a catalyst to push the overall industry revenue to grow 5.7 per cent from the previous year. This contrasts with service revenue growth of TrueMove H’s major competitors combined which was only 2.1 per cent year on year. The positive growth trend will continue as data consumption keeps rising, the company said.
 TrueOnline accelerated expansion of its fibre footprint both in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area (BMA) and upcountry while adding more value for consumers with speed and technology upgrades to meet their rapidly growing demand for faster online transmission.
“The business continues to support the national broadband rollout initiative and bridge the digital divide within the country by increasing its broadband network to reach over 13 million homes passed nationwide,” the company said.
“These resulted in solid double-digit broadband revenue and subscriber growth and sealed its leadership in the broadband internet market. TrueOnline achieved 385k net adds in 2017 and expanded its broadband subscriber base to 3.2 million, all of which were on FTTx network.
 “TrueVisions remains committed to enhancing its offerings through a comprehensive range of high-quality content, live broadcasting and HD viewing experience while developing its own-produced channels to match Thai consumers’ preferences. This strength and the Group’s value-driven bundled packages boosted TrueVisions’ subscription revenue and paying subscriber base.
“The business ended 2017 with a total customer base of 4 million households.” 
 

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