Reliance Industries delivered a record quarterly EBITDA and earnings, supported by a one-off gain from the sale of Asian Paints. Offsetting that, underlying earnings were still up strongly (+25% YoY) as O2C, Retail and Jio posted better margins. Crucially, Reliance Jio now claims to be the largest FWA provider globally supporting our view that FWA is following an S-curve development
India’s mobile sector sustained mid-teen growth again, though we expect a slowdown to high single digits from 2QFY25 onwards once last July’s tariff increase is lapped. Margin expansion remains a theme too. We stay constructive on India with Bharti Airtel as our preferred pick, but would continue to see Singtel as having more upside.
The easiest way to make money in EM Telcos in the last 3-4 years has been to buy the consolidation plays. XLSmart is the latest in a long line. Synergies are probably worth more than the current market cap and we therefore see substantial upside. However, with an auction coming, and capex likely to remain elevated near term, we think this will take time to play out. In a separate note out today we discuss the outlook for the Indonesian telco market more broadly.
GREATER CHINA Economics A New Round of Policy Support Positive for the economy, but mostly priced in. Results BeiGene (6160 HK/BUY/HK$141.00/Target: HK$220.00) 1Q25: Results beat; reaches profitability with adjusted net earnings of US$136m. INDONESIA Results XLSMART Telecom Sejahtera (EXCL IJ/HOLD/Rp2,180/Target: Rp2,400) 1Q25: EBITDA down 3% yoy. Downgrade to HOLD. MALAYSIA Results SD Guthrie (SDG MK/HOLD/RM...
Reliance Industries closed off FY25 with strong Retail and O2C topline growth, alongside continued strength in Jio’s profitability. The company has also proposed a INR 5.5 dividend per share, which was in-line with expectations.
Indian FWA net adds continue to accelerate and reached roughly c. 2.1m in the December quarter. India is probably therefore now accounting for around 50% of global shipments. We continue to think this is a critical development, and likely to drive an S-curve of adoption in Global EM.
Reliance Industries posted strong results yesterday, backed by the turnaround in Retail during the festive period and recovery in O2C margins. Jio remained the bright spot as ARPU accelerated and crossed the INR 200 mark. Momentum continues to build for broadband as Jio AirFiber reached 4.5m.
XL Axiata and Smartfren have announced their merger to form “XLSmart”, with a combined Enterprise Value of over IDR 104tn (US$ 6.5bn), implying a 4.6x LTM EV/EBITDA. The news is welcoming as it marks the final move in Indonesia’s mobile consolidation from a peak of eight players down to three.
GREATER CHINA Strategy Alpha Picks: December Conviction Calls Add Desay, Meituan, Mengniu, Tencent, and Trip.com to our BUY list. Take profit from CATL. Update CR Mixc Lifestyle (1209 HK/BUY/HK$29.20/Target: HK$32.15) Takeaways from reverse roadshow in Shenzhen. China Resources Land (1109 HK/BUY/HK$23.25/Target:HK$32.40) Takeaways from reverse roadshow in Shenzhen. Small/Mid Cap Highlights Regina Miracle (2199 HK/Not Rated/HK$2....
GREATER CHINA Sector Automobile Weekly: PV sales up wow; NDRC indicates support for ICE-cars. Maintain MARKET WEIGHT. Top BUYs: Geely, Fuyao Glass and Desay SV. IT Hardware Blackwell production ramp accelerating; brace for another year of robust growth. Maintain OVERWEIGHT. Results Baidu Inc (9888 HK/HOLD/HK$83.85/Target: HK$90.00) ...
Reliance Industries posted results yesterday. Jio remained the bright spot as it benefited from the tariff hike effective since July. However, weaker O2C and Retail saw revenue decelerate whilst EBITDA was lower due to the fall in O2C product margins. Notwithstanding this, momentum is building up for Jio AirFiber as FWA additions accelerated and commentary suggests that Retail sales is picking up in October leading up to the festive period.
What's New: At Reliance Industries’ AGM last week, Jio announced 2 key things, and did not announce a 3rd: What was announced: 1. A doubling of Jio’s profitability in 3-4 years 2. Target of 1m FWA adds per month What was not announced: 1. A time line for Jio IPO Our thoughts and implications for the Indian & Global telco markets below
Indonesian telcos returned to a more sustainable pace of revenue growth, with EBITDA ahead of topline for XL and Indosat again. As a result, Indosat recorded its highest ever EBITDA margin whilst XL’s margin remained well ahead of guidance. For Telkomsel, enterprise accelerated with strong Indihome net additions but was marred by continued mobile revenue share dilution (although easing) as peers grabbed shares in ex-Java.
GREATER CHINA Economics Trade May exports grew 7.6%; imports moderated. Sector Property Property prices further drop after 17 May 24 policy combo; effective implementation of policies crucial for market stabilisation. INDONESIA Sector Telecommunications Pos...
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