M1's net profit jumped 19.4% to $40m

Will it keep its momentum until end-2013?

In a release, M1 Limited today announced the unaudited group financial results for the nine months ended 30 September 2013.

Third quarter net profit after tax increased 19.4% to S$40 million, bringing nine months net profit after tax to S$120 million.

For the nine months of FY2013, service revenue grew 6.1% year-on-year to S$612.8 million, driven by growth in customer base and higher revenue from mobile data.

Free cash flow for the nine months was S$171.1 million.

With the majority of customers now on smartphones, data usage continued to grow and revenue from non-voice services for the quarter rose 4.3 percentage points year-on-year to 42.3% of service revenue.

Compared to a year ago, M1 added 73,000 mobile and 33,000 fibre customers. This brings the mobile customer base to 2.13 million and fibre customer base to 77,000 as at end September 2013.

“We remain committed to enhancing customer experience, by investing in networks and improving our service offerings.

Our network upgrade projects are on schedule and when the first phase is completed in the fourth quarter, we will have an advanced network utilising the latest technology that enables dynamic allocation of network resources,” said Ms Karen Kooi, Chief Executive Office of M1.

Based on current economic outlook and barring unforeseen circumstances, M1 estimates moderate growth in net profit after tax for the year 2013.