PublicInvest: Maxis to deliver resilient FY25 earnings on steady postpaid, fibre growth

New Straits Times

19-05-2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Berhad is expected to deliver resilient earnings in the financial year 2025 (FY25), underpinned by steady domestic demand for affordable postpaid mobile services and growing adoption of fibre connectivity to homes.
Public Investment Bank Bhd (PublicInvest) said the revenue came in flat in the first quarter of financial year 2025 (Q1 FY25) as the increase in fibre, postpaid and device revenue was offset by lower contribution from the prepaid segment.
The firm noted that postpaid subscriber base was 10.3 per cent higher, driven mainly by Maxis Postpaid and Hotlink Postpaid, despite a 4.4 per cent year-on-year decline in average revenue per user (ARPU) to RM71.80.
Consumer home connections were 5.1 per cent higher while ARPU declined by 3.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, the decline in prepaid ARPU outpaced the growth in its subscriber base, falling 8.4 per cent year-on-year compared to a 2.3 per cent increase in users.
On the company's investment in 5G wholesale network, PublicInvest said Maxis has recently proposed to acquire additional stake in Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) from U Mobile for RM33,333, after the latter was appointed as the second 5G network provider by the government.
Following the completion this by end-May, Maxis, CelcomDigi and YTL will hold an equal stake of 19.44 per cent (an increase from 16.3 per cent) each in DNB, with the remaining 41.67 per cent will be owned by the MoF.
"Although the proposed investment is not expected to have any material financial impact in the immediate term, this helps to remove concern of Maxis having to spend a sizeable capital expenditure commitment in order to build its own 5G network.
"While the three parties may have to explore infrastructure sharing arrangements that could complicate the rollout process, we believe this will be manageable as Maxis, Celcom and Digi have previously collaborated successfully to jointly develop and share fibre infrastructure," it said.
Despite the stable earnings outlook, PublicInvest have downgraded Maxis' stock rating from "Buy" to "Neutral," citing limited upside potential with the stock trading near its target price (TP) of RM3.90.