Grameenphone’s Q2 profit drops 4.5%

Despite solid growth in subscriber-base and data use, the net profit of the country's largest mobile operator Grameenphone dropped 4.5% in the April-June quarter of 2021.

The net profit stood at Tk850 crore, down from Tk890 crore in the January-March quarter of this year.

At the end of the second quarter, its earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk6.30 which was Tk6.6 in the previous quarter.

Grameenphone, which is popularly known as GP, also reported a 3.44% profit loss in the first half of this year compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

The company's half-yearly profit stood at Tk1,740 crore.

But the market leader's revenue jumped 2.87% to reach Tk3,580 crore in the April-June quarter from the previous quarter, reads its financial results released on Thursday.

Yasir Azman, chief executive officer of Grameenphone, credited its new subscribers and digital recharge for the revenue growth.

"4G data users increased by 23 lakh, growing by 56.5% YoY while digital recharge increased by 14.5%. Grameenphone marks its return to top line growth in the second quarter of 2021 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic," said Yasir Azman.

But the largest digital telecommunication service provider did not comment on why it has reported a fall in net profits.

Market insiders said the company's investment in the network expansion and spectrum could have impacted the profit.

In the April-June quarter, Grameenphone invested Tk518 crore, which was Tk360 crore in the first quarter of 2021.

As per the financial report, the company acquired 13 lakh new subscribers in the second quarter and a total of 29.88 lakh in the first half of 2021, ending the period with 8.20 crore subscribers.

Some 4.37 crore subscribers, or 53.3% of its total subscribers, are using internet services.

The company has declared a 125% interim cash dividend based on the financial statement of the first half of this year. For the entitlement of the shareholders, the company has set the record date for 9 August.

But investors did not show much interest in Grameenphone's interim dividend. As a result, its share price slightly increased by 0.39% to Tk356.60 each on Thursday at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

On that day, only 1.66 lakh shares were traded and the total trade value was Tk5.93 crore.

As per the securities rule, there will be no price limit for trading shares on the next trading day of the dividend declaration date of any company.

Generally, companies' share prices can increase or decrease a maximum of 10% in a single trading day.

Grameenphone was listed on stock exchanges in 2009 and its paid-up capital is Tk1,350.30 crore.

As per the DSE website, as of 31 May, sponsors and directors held 90%, institutional investors 4.66%, foreign investors 3.16% and general investors 2.18% of shares of the company.