Amortization to CAT Causes DTAC ฿4.3bln. of Loss in 2018, Boards Sack Annual Dividend

Total Access Communication Public Company Limited (DTAC) has announced its 2018 yearly consolidated financial statement through the Stock Exchange of Thailand as follows:

DTAC reported a net loss of ฿4,369 million for FY2018 due to the recognition of the disputes settlement with CAT by signing an agreement to pay a total of ฿9.5 billion compensation to CAT, separating into two transaction. The amount of ฿6.8 billion will be transferred as an initial payment, while the remaining ฿2.67 billion will be paid once the relevant court cases are withdrawn from the court.

The Disputes Settlement Agreement would take effect only if and when the Company has obtained the approval from the general meeting of shareholders for the year 2019.

In FY2018, total revenue amounted to ฿74,980 million, decreased 4.2%YoY due to lower service revenues and handset sales. Service revenues excluding IC decreased 2.8%YoY to ฿63,014 million as prepaid revenues continued to decline while international revenues were impacted by alternative services and competition.

In addition, DTAC implemented stricter activation process on external content providers aiming to improve the experience of our customers, resulted in lower revenues from content. IC revenues decreased 32%YoY because of interconnection (IC) rate reduction in Q118 and lower traffic. In Q418, service revenues excluding IC amounted to ฿15,275 million, declined 5.9%YoY and 2.5%QoQ.

 

EBITDA amounted to ฿28,391 million, decreased 6.7%YoY mainly due to the temporary cost of remedy, the roaming cost of TOT’s 4G-2300MHz, the cost for infrastructure and equipment service, as well as the amortization of upfront payment, to CAT, and lower service revenues.

As a result, reported EBITDA margin declining from 38.9% in FY2017 to 37.9% in FY2018, in line with our Guidance. Please note that EBITDA herein does not include expenses related to the disputes settlement with CAT. In FY2018, DTAC reported a net loss of ฿4,369 million due to expenses related to the disputes settlement with CAT.

 

The Board of Directors also resolved the approval on proposing to the 2019 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to consider approving no distribution of the annual dividend payment for 2018 due to the fact that DTAC has the accumulated loss in the Company’s separate Financial Statement totaling ฿852 million.