GP's net profit falls
Grameenphone logged in Tk 1,970 crore in net profit in 2015, a decline of 0.51 percent from a year earlier.
The operator's net profit would have crossed the Tk 2,000-crore mark for the first time had it not needed to deposit Tk 100 crore to the National Board of Revenue as application fee to resolve the SIM replacement tax issue.
Depositing the flat amount was part of the appeal procedure for the SIM replacement tax dispute involving about Tk 1,000 crore with the NBR. In 2012, the NBR claimed about Tk 3,000 crore from four mobile operators, arguing that they had resold SIM (subscriber identification module) cards and dodged taxes between July 2009 and December 2011.
Refuting the claim, all four operators went to court, which returned the issue to the NBR for settlement. Rajeev Sethi, chief executive officer of Grameenphone, said the company continued with the performance momentum after the challenging start to the year.
Data went on to be the primary growth driver, while voice was under stress from competitive offers, he said, adding that the momentum will continue in the coming years.
“Going forward, we have to set out an ambition of growth and value creation by taking the position of our customers' favourite partner in digital life,” he said at a press conference at Lakeshore Hotel in Dhaka.
“Earnings were stable despite higher depreciation and amortisation as well as the one-time appeal payment related to the SIM replacement tax dispute,” said Dilip Pal, chief financial officer of Grameenphone.
As net profit declined slightly, earnings per share also came down to Tk 14.59 from Tk 14.67 in 2014.
Grameenphone also declared 60 percent final cash dividend to take the total dividend to 140 percent for the year. After the second quarter, the operator distributed 80 percent interim cash dividend.
With a 2 percent year-on-year growth, Grameenphone's revenue stood at Tk 10,480 crore in 2015.
Revenue from data, however, rose 66 percent to Tk 850 crore in 2015, and revenue from value added services increased 31 percent -- which were the main contributors to the total revenue, Sethi said.
Data subscribers grew 45 percent to 1.57 crore and data volume almost grew three times.
Referring to the 22-day closure of Facebook and other social media platforms during the last quarter of 2015, he said: “At that time we lost around Tk 9 crore to Tk 10 crore.”
With a 10 percent year-on-year growth, Grameenphone acquired 52 lakh new subscriptions last year to take its total subscriber base to 5.67 crore at the end of December.
The operator holds a 42.5 percent share of the SIM market.
“We found significant growth last year and especially last quarter was tremendous to us,” Sethi said.
Grameenphone invested Tk 1,930 crore during the year to expand its coverage of both 3G and 2G networks, enhance capacity for catering to higher volumes of data and voice as well as enhance IT infrastructure.
The country's lone listed mobile phone operator, Grameenphone paid Tk 5,110 crore to the national exchequer, making it the largest contributor during the year.
On the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday, each Grameenphone share traded between Tk 254.9 and Tk 260, before closing at Tk 257.9.
Sethi said they found a very strong position in the market and now plans to make the customers' life digital by 2020.
“We want to make a strong position in agriculture, health, education and entertainment services as well,” he added.
Comments