KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd, which posted a net profit of RM298mil in the first quarter ended March 31 (1Q22), has declared a first interim single-tier tax-exempt dividend of 5 sen.

       The ex-date for the dividend is on May 30 and payment on June 30, 2022.

       Its revenue for the quarter rose 7.4% to RM2.4bil against RM2.24bil in the period a year prior.

       “I am pleased with our strong start to the year and our resilient performance clearly shows that our convergence strategy is on the right track.

       “Our top priority is to continue to deliver a great converged network with an unmatched personalised experience across all channels for our customers. We are committed to building and connecting communities for the digital future of the nation,” CEO G？khan Ogut said in a statement.

       During the quarter, Maxis invested RM171mil with a substantial portion of this has gone into future-proofing its enterprise solutions as well as fulfilling Jalinan Digital Negara (JENDELA) targets.

       In the first quarter, Maxis’ service revenue rose to RM2.03bil, up 3.0% year-on-year (y-o-y), driven by postpaid, home connectivity and enterprise business.

       The telco’s consumer business revenue registered solid growth, increasing 2.4% to RM1.64bil, driven by Maxis’ convergence strategy which reaped rewards despite a weakening prepaid market.

       Its postpaid segment subscriptions was up 9.2% y-o-y while home connectivity recorded strong numbers with connections up 19.2% y-o-y an increase in service revenue by 21.2% to RM200mil.

       Maxis said its enterprise business revenue increased to RM388mil, up 5.4% as it continued to build a strong foundation of accounts in its journey to become the No. 1 ICT solutions provider.

       Meanwhile, its operating free cash flow (OFCF), normalised for RM185mil universal Service Provision (USP) payment, remained robust at RM669mil, up 11.3% y-o-y driven by a strong focus on working capital initiatives and cash flow management.