Robi's profit grows 12 times in Dec quarter

Robi Axiata Limited – the country's second largest mobile telecom operator – posted a staggering 1,100% growth in profits in the October to December quarter of 2022, compared to the same quarter of the previous year. 

In the quarter, the company's earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk0.24, which was Tk0.02 during the same period of 2021, according to the information published on Robi's website on Thursday. 

Robi's Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer Mohammed Shahedul Alam told The Business Standard, "We will officially explain our quarterly financial performance through a press release on 19 February."

The company's business has not been this smooth throughout the whole 2022 though. In the April to June quarter, it had to count losses. The company then adopted a cost minimisation strategy which helped it to make stellar profits in the last quarter of 2022. 

But Robi's annual profit only inched up by 3% and the EPS stood at Tk0.35 at the end of 2022, from Tk0.34 in 2021. 

In 2022, the number of subscribers of Robi increased by 2% to 5.44 crore. 

At a board meeting held on Thursday, the company declared a 7% cash dividend – Tk0.7 against each share held – for the year that ended on 31 December 2022. 

Out of the Tk0.7 dividend, Tk0.35 will be paid from the profit, and the rest from the company's reserve fund.

For shareholders' approval of the declared dividend and annual financial statement, Robi has scheduled an annual general meeting on 25 April, and set the record date on 13 March. 

Out of the total shares of Robi, the Axiata Group of Malaysia holds 61.82%, Bharti Airtel of India 28.18%, and the general public 10%.

On 24 December 2020, the company made its debut on the Dhaka and Chattogram stock exchanges with the largest ever IPO.

It commenced operations in 1997 as Telekom Malaysia International (Bangladesh) with the brand name "Aktel".

In 2010, it was rebranded as "Robi" and the company changed its name to Robi Axiata Limited. The company also merged with Airtel.

Currently, its shares are stuck at the floor price of Tk30 each since August last year at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

Meanwhile, the market leader Grameenphone witnessed a 54% year-on-year decline in profits in the October to December quarter of 2022. During the quarter, its EPS stood at Tk2.75. Its annual EPS also fell by 12% to Tk22.29 in 2022, from Tk25.28 a year ago.

Grameenphone declared a 95% final cash dividend to its shareholders for 2022, while it had already paid a 125% interim cash dividend. The total dividend stood at 220% cash which was 98.72% of its total profit.

Its number of subscribers reduced by 4.49% to 7.92 crore in 2022 owing to a regulatory ban on sales of new SIM cards.