SLT-Mobitel has reported moderate revenue growth for the first half of 2024.

The Group’s revenue for 1H24 reached Rs. 53.5 billion, marking a 1.6% increase compared to the same period last year.

Gross profit at Group level has also increased by 4% to Rs. 20.9 billion with the gross profit margin expanding to 39% from 38.1% in the previous year.

The Group’s EBITDA for the first half showed an increase of 17.1%, reaching Rs. 18 billion, while operating profit surged by 54.5% to Rs. 3.6 billion. The EBITDA margin improved significantly to 33.6% from 29.2% in 1H23.

Interest expenses decreasing by 19.5% at the Group level, primarily due to lower interest rates. This contributed to an improvement in the Group’s bottom line, with the net loss narrowing to Rs. 323 million compared to a loss of Rs. 1,159 million in 1H23.

At Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, the company level revenue growth was a marginal increase of 0.9% for 1H24 at Rs 35 billion.

Operating profit reported a growth of 2.9%.

The company experienced a 27.2% degrowth in finance cost mainly due to interest rate reduction. As a result, company posted a net profit of Rs. 272 million compared to a loss of Rs. 401 million in 1H23.

Moreover, Mobitel showed modest revenue growth of 3.6% year-on-year for 1H24 compared to 1H23 despite 3% increase in value added tax.

Steady revenue growth combined with reduction of cost led to a significant improvement in profitability, with a growth in EBITDA by 26% in 1H24.

Operating profit turned positive in 1H24 to Rs. 182 million from a loss of Rs. 895 million in 1H23.

Net loss reduced by 28.9% in 1H24 compared to the same period in 2023.

In addition to the on-going investment in network infrastructure, Mobitel’s newly acquired spectrum portfolio of 25MHz of 2.3GHz band and 5MHz of 850MHz band in Q2 will boost the capacity and coverage of the network.