TIME posts US$263.9mil revenue in FY2019 driven by wholesale and retail

• FY2019 revenues grew 13.3% year-on-year to US$263.9 million
• Growth recorded across all core customer groups, led by wholesale & retail

TIME dotCom  Bhd (TIME) closed the financial year ended 31 December 2019 with a consolidated revenue of US$263.89 million (RM1.11 billion), a 13.3% increase over the US$233.1 million (RM983.4 million) recorded in FY2018.

Revenue growth was recorded across all core customer groups, led by Wholesale and Retail customers. Excluding one-off revenues from non-recurring contracts, the data and data centre businesses recorded year-on-year growth of 16.6% and 2.4%, respectively.

In FY2019, profit before tax grew to RM328.1 million, representing a 7.6% increase over the same period for the preceding year (FY2018: RM304.8 million). On an adjusted basis, excluding the impact of foreign exchange and one-off items, FY2019 profit before tax grew 21% year-on-year.  The increase can be attributed to higher overall revenues, a higher share of profit from investments in associates and a higher interest income in the current reporting year.

[RM1 = US$0.24]

“2019 was another challenging year for the industry. However, by staying focused, we were able to deliver yet another year of healthy numbers to our shareholders,” said Afzal Abdul Rahim (pic, right), TIME’s Commander-in-Chief.

Outlook

The dynamics faced by the telecommunications industry in 2019 will likely be carried forward into 2020. While the main focus is a concerted effort in improving nationwide broadband connectivity, the industry has had to concurrently adjust to shifts in technology as well as enduring global macro-economic headwinds.

TIME remains steadfast in its strategy to face the rapidly evolving telecommunications environment and will continue to strengthen and improve its existing domestic fibre network infrastructure while intensifying efforts to expand its coverage footprint throughout the country.

On the regional front, TIME will continue working with its partners in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia to tap on increasing demand for cross border connectivity across the ASEAN region. TIME will also assess opportunities to further establish itself as a key regional data centre player and operator with the intention to unlock the long term potential of its data centre business.

Dividends

For the financial year under review, TIME declared an ordinary interim and a special interim tax exempt (single tier) dividend of 9.95 sen and 19.08 sen per ordinary share respectively, which will be paid out on 31 March 2020.