Mobile company declares 35pc interim cash dividend
Telecom giant Grameenphone earned Tk 1,934 crore in revenue in the third quarter, up 17
percent from the same period last year.
Increased subscription through subsidisation of SIM tax contributed to the leap in revenue earnings.
The top mobile phone operator reported Tk 5,515 crore revenues for the first nine months of 2010, which is a 14 percent increase from the same period a year ago.
The company has also declared a 35 percent interim dividend in cash for this year based on its half-yearly performance, its officials said.
The Telenor subsidiary maintained its lead in the market by adding 54 lakh subscribers during the nine-month period, with 22 lakh of that coming during the third quarter.
The total number of GP subscribers now stands at 2.87 crore, which is 44 percent of the country’s total of 6.51 crore.
“Our growth in terms of subscription and revenue has been consistent over the first nine months of this year,” said Chief Executive Officer of GP Oddvar Hesjedal at a press conference in Dhaka yesterday.
“This is mainly due to attracting new subscribers through subsidising SIM tax, cost optimisation and solid growth in voice and data traffic.”
The company logged a net profit of Tk 774 crore during the first nine months of 2010, compared to Tk 652 crore during the same period last year.
GP has also pushed its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margin to 52 percent during the third quarter, compared to 59 percent of the same period of 2009.
“Revenue growth and subscription acquisition cost attributed by subsidy related to SIM tax are driving the EBITDA margin,” said Raihan Shamsi, chief financial officer of Grameenphone.
“As a result, the company’s earnings per share for the first nine months of 2010 stood at Tk 5.73 compared to Tk 5.37 during the same period last year,” he added.
GP invested Tk 446 crore during the nine-month period, including Tk 134 crore in the last three months, to improve its network quality and data capacity.
GP paid Tk 2,800 crore to the state coffers and Tk 525 crore as SIM tax subsidies during the January-September period.
