TIME dotCom Berhad (“the Group”) benefited from consistent data and data centre demand over the course of the year as it saw a 12.2% year-on-year revenue growth (FY2017: RM860.7 million | FY2016: RM766.9 million) for the financial year ended 31 December 2017 (FY2017).
Excluding one-off revenues from IRU sales and non-recurring contracts, the Group would have seen a consolidated revenue increase of 13.2% year-on-year when compared to similarly adjusted revenues in the preceding year. Improvements in recurring revenue contributions were recorded across TIME’s core customer groups, led by Retail, which nearly doubled at 85.2% amidst intense competition.
Core pre-tax profit for the year stood at RM193.1 million. This 8.5% reduction from FY2016 pre-tax profit (excluding a realisation of fair value gain of RM157.4 million) was mainly due to foreign exchange losses and lower pre-sale gains in FY2017. Adjusted for these and other non-recurring items, FY2017 pre-tax profit would have increased by 10%.
“2017 was challenging on several fronts but we are pleased to have been able to deliver a decent set of numbers with all things normalised,” said Afzal Abdul Rahim, TIME’s Commander-in-Chief.
“We are geared to face 2018 head-on and are looking forward to what it has in store for us,” Afzal concluded.
Domestically, demand for the Group’s TIME Fibre Home Broadband offerings continues to persist and the Group will intensify efforts to extend its coverage footprint throughout the country. On a regional front, the Group is working closely with Symphony Communication Public Company Limited (SYMC) in Thailand.
TIME dotCom expects the adoption of new IT architecture to provide growth for its data centre business and has plans to upgrade its existing data centre assets to cater to the needs of its customers while remaining environmentally conscious.
The telecommunications industry will remain competitive and challenging in 2018. TIME dotCom will continue to leverage on its existing assets to deliver a fast, reliable and unparalleled quality network experience to its customers, it said.
For the financial year under review, TIME declared an interim ordinary (single tier) dividend of 5.30 sen per ordinary share and a special interim (single tier) dividend of 11.90 sen per ordinary share, which will be paid out on 28 March 2018.
