Country’s leading cellular phone operator Grameenphone has reached the landmark of revenue earning BDT 102.7 billion in 2014 with 6.3 percent growth rate from the previous year buoyed by growth in customer equipment, service and market share.
Service revenue, mainly driven by data and VAS, in year to year (YoY) grew by 5.9 per cent along with 14.1 per cent (YoY) growth in customer equipment and other revenues, according to financial statement released by the operator at a press conference in a city hotel on Monday.It registered BDT 19.8 billion as net profit after taxes for 2014 with 19.3 per cent margin compared to BDT 14.7 billion with 15.2 per cent margin in 2013.
“We achieved two monumental milestones of crossing 50 Million subscriber base and BDT 100 billion revenue in 2014 for the company”, said Rajeev Sethi, newly appointed CEO of Grameenphone (GP), while releasing the report.
“We managed to consolidate our position as leading operator and have taken ambitions to excel further in 2015. . . Structured approach of building on our strengths, applying the right mindset and executing our strategy will further contribute to adding value for our shareholders,” added Sethi.
During the year, GP acquired 4.4 million new subscriptions, taking the year-end subscription base to 51.5 million. With this 9.3 per cent growth in subscriber against industry growth of 5.8 per cent, GP managed to improve its market share by 1.4 percentage point to 42.8 per cent.
Besides, EBITDA grew by 11.2 per cent, improving the margin to 53 per cent from 50.7 per cent of 2013. Earnings per share (EPS) for 2014 stood at BDT 14.67 compared to BDT 10.89 of 2013. This prompted a 34.7 per cent growth in earnings, however normalizing GPIT sale gain on 1 September 2013 and increase of corporate tax rate by 5 per cent, the revised rate stands at a healthy 12 per cent.
On the other hand, the Board of Directors of Grameenphone have recommended final dividend for the year 2014 in cash at the rate of 65 per cent of the paid up capital (BDT 6.5 per share of BDT 10 each) based on the decision taken at the Board Meeting held on 8 February 2015.
With this, the total cash dividend stands at 160 per cent of paid up capital (BDT 16 per share of BDT 10 each) for the year 2014 (including 95 per cent interim cash dividend BDT 9.5 per share). – BSS
