Thursday, November 17, 2011

YTL Corp posts lower 1Q earnings on mobile broadband division

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): YTL CORPORATION BHD []'s earnings fell 9.7% to RM251.8 million (US$80.5 million) in the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2011 from RM278.9 million (US$89.1 million) a year ago.

It said on Thursday the lower earnings due to loss incurred in the nascent 'Yes' mobile broadband division. The group revenue grew 3.1% to RM4.543 billion from RM4.405 billion but pretax profit declined 15% to RM530.1 million from RM623.8 million.

YTL Group managing director Tan Sri Francis Yeoh Sock Ping said: 'The 2012 financial year has shown a promising start, with revenue increasing marginally over the same period last year, owing predominantly to the group's multi-utility businesses.'

He said the lower net profit was due to a loss reported in the nascent 'Yes' mobile broadband division operated by a subsidiary of YTL Power, which started commercial operations about a year ago.

'This is not unexpected given the nature of the business and the front-end loaded capital outlay required to build our nationwide network, and we expect our 4G operations to continue to pick up steam and begin recording a profit once the necessary scale has been reached,' he said.

Yeoh said the group's cement and other utility divisions continued to perform steadily.

YTL Power's revenue grew 4.4% for the quarter to RM3.636 billion due mainly to better performance of its merchant multi-utility businesses.

Its net profit attributable to shareholders fell 9.7% to RM246.2 million from RM272.9 million last year, due mainly to the loss incurred in the group's mobile broadband operations.

As for YTL Cement, its revenue increased 17.6% to RM544.7 million from RM463.0 million. Its earnings rose 4.4% to RM75.8 million from RM72.6 million last year, although higher production costs and the increase in electricity tariffs impacted the division's profit.

YTL Land reported a fall in revenue to RM3.4 million from RM14.0 million last year, whilst net profit fell to RM2.9 million from RM3.2 million, attributing the decline'' from timing differences of project launches by subsidiaries and increased operating expenses.

It said that it had on Nov 4 completed the acquisition of shares in eight companies and parcels of land in Bidor as part of the restructuring exercise of the YTL Group's property development business.

As for YTL e-Solutions, revenue increased to RM20.8 million from RM9.2 million while net profit rose to RM9.0 million from RM2.2 million last year, with the improvements arising mainly from fee income derived from a spectrum sharing agreement in relation to the Group's 2.3GHz Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access spectrum.

Starhill REIT recorded revenue of RM8.0 million and realised income of RM15.4 million in the quarter.

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