NetLink NBN Trust has posted revenue of $100.9 million for 1QFY2025 ended June 30, 2.9% lower y-o-y. Ebitda during the quarter fell 2.4% yo-y to $73.4 million, while profit after tax fell 9.1% y-o-y to $25.7 million.
Regulated Asset Base (RAB) revenue remained stable as higher connection numbers offset the impact of lower prices for key services, which took effect from April 1.
Revenue for 1QFY2025 decreased by $3.0 million compared to 1QFY2024 primarily due to lower revenue from ancillary projects (non-RAB revenue).
Correspondingly, direct expenses were also lower.
EBITDA was lower by $1.8 million mainly due to lower non-operating income and higher operating expenses. In 1QFY2024, there was a $1.1 million one-off gain on disposal of assets included in the non-operating income.
As of June 30, the number of residential connections grew from 1,489,294 to 1,524,372 y-o-y.
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This growth was in part due to new connections from end-users switching to higher speed broadband plans but yet to terminate their existing connections for lower speed plans, says the trustee-manager in an Aug 2 announcement.
The number of non-residential connections grew from 52,522 to 53,382, Non-Building Address Points (NBAP) connections grew from 2,757 to 2,944, and segment connections grew from 3,003 to 3,646 when comparing 1QFY2025 with the corresponding period last year.
NetLink’s gross debt rose to $790 million as at end-June, up from $765 million as at end-March, while net debt over ebitda rose to 2.2 times from 2.0 times over the same period.
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Weighted average debt maturity fell to 2.1 years from 2.4 years and fixed-rate borrowings fell to 75.9% from 78.4%.
Effective interest rate fell to 2.69% in 1QFY2025 from 2.75% a year prior, while ebitda interest cover fell slightly to 13.8 times from 14.0 times over the same period.
Units in NetLink closed flat at 85 cents on Aug 2.
