GP posts 6pc higher profit in Jul-Sep

Grameenphone Ltd's profit rose 6 per cent year-on-year to Tk 907 crore in the July-September quarter of 2022, driven by higher revenue. 

The profit was Tk 856 crore during the same three-month period of 2021, according to the leading mobile phone operator's financial statements.

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Thus, earnings per share came at Tk 6.72 in July-September against Tk 6.34 last year.

The EPS for January-September of 2022 was Tk 19.54, up 1.6 per cent from Tk 19.23 a year earlier.

This gives the operator a profit of Tk 2,638 crore between January and September, which was Tk 2,596 crore in the same nine-month period in 2021.

Grameenphone reported revenues of Tk 11,286 crore in the first nine months of 2022, registering a growth of 5.7 per cent from the same period last year.

"Grameenphone's growth momentum continued in the third quarter driven by strong market execution aided by higher revenue and usage in the midst of several external challenges," said Yasir Azman, chief executive officer of the operator, in a press release.

"We continued investment in our network rollout and spectrum deployment to meet the demand for high-speed internet connectivity and improving customer experience."

The operator witnessed 52.1 per cent year-on-year higher data usage from last year and 15.9 per cent in 4G users, which reached 3.2 crore.

Net operating cash flow per share was Tk 37.29 for January-September, an improvement from Tk 33.87 during the identical nine-month period of 2021.

"Grameenphone registered six consecutive quarters of topline improvement driven by higher contribution from voice, data and bundle segments," said Jens Becker, chief financial officer of Grameenphone.

Total revenue for the third quarter registered a growth of 6.7 per cent, reaching Tk 3,864 crore, while subscription and traffic revenue grew by 6.9 per cent from last year, said the press release. 

Grameenphone's investment in network rollout and spectrum deployment resulted in a higher data usage of 52.1 per cent year-on-year supported by a higher 4G active user base.

The net asset value per share was Tk 31.48 on September 30 this year and Tk 30.82 on the same day last year.

Shares of the operator were unchanged at Tk 286.60 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday.

It lost 29 lakh subscribers owing to the regulatory ban on SIM sales citing the quality of service in July-September.

The third quarter was adversely affected by a regulatory ban on SIM sales from the end of June, resulting in a 3.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter decline in the subscriber base, said Azman.

"As we continue to engage with our regulator to overcome this restriction, we received a partial withdrawal of the embargo from mid-September, allowing us to resume SIM sales immediately."

At the end of September, the subscriber base stood at 8.18 crore, of which 55.6 per cent use internet services.