Taiwan Mobile Co., Ltd. (3045) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the conference call. Our chairperson today is Mr. Jamie Lin. Mr. Lin, please begin your call, and I'll just stand by for the question-and-answer session. Thank you.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Taiwan Mobile's 2024 Results Conference Call. Before I start our presentation, please do refer to our safe harbor notice on this page. Now let's take a look at our business overview. Please turn to Page 4 for highlights of the quarter. In 2024, mobile and home broadband, our 2 main growth engines, delivered robust revenue performance. Mobile service revenue increased by 23%, driven not only by the addition of T Star users but also by a healthy 7% organic top line growth from Taiwan Mobile's existing user base. As a result of our sustainable growth foundation strategies, consolidated revenues rose by 9% reaching a historical -- reaching a historic high. In addition to the top line growth, cost savings from faster-than-expected T Star network integration, which we completed in 3Q, drove significant synergies on profitability. Consolidated EBITDA reached a record high of TWD 42.5 billion growing at 19% year-over-year, which far exceeded our guidance of 11% to 13%. Operating income also reached an 11-year high while net income achieved over 10% growth for the second consecutive year. So let's take a look at our mobile business on the next page. So for our core telecom business, we are focused on building a sustainable growth foundation through long-term ARPU growth and enhance customer loyalty. On a blended basis which includes the dilution from T Star users, ARPU has seen sequential rise for 3 consecutive quarters. It has turned to Y-o-Y growth since December as the team effectively executed our SGF strategies. In 4Q '24, mobile service revenue rose by 16% Y-o-Y. On top of revenue contribution from T Star, Taiwan Mobile's existing smartphone postpaid ARPU grew organically by approximately 4%, thanks to continuous 5G conversion and solid gaming momentum. 5G's contribution to our mobile service revenue further rose to 64% in the quarter. 5G penetration in our smartphone postpaid user base reached 41% by the end of 2024, which is 5 points higher than a year ago. Since 5G service was launched in mid-2020, we've seen continued improvement in overall monthly fee uplift when users renew their contracts, and this is mainly driven by 4G users upgrading to 5G rate plans. The conversion rate has been stable and the uplift has risen to close to 50% in 2024. Next, let's turn to Page 6 for updates on our home broadband business. Our broadband business maintained good momentum, achieving double-digit Y-o-Y revenue growth in 4Q '24, driven by a 4% increase in subscribers and an 11% ARPU improvement during the quarter. This growth reflects sustained demand for faster connectivity and the popularity of our bundled offerings, which include cable TV, broadband, mobile and OTT services such as myVideo, Disney+, MAX and YouTube Premium. Notably, broadband subscribers with speeds of 300 megabits or higher, including double-play bundle users, rose by 37% Y-o-Y this quarter. The Y-o-Y decline in CATV revenue was mainly due to the content reduction following Disney's exit from the cable TV channel market in Taiwan early 2024. But overall ARPU -- I'm sorry, overall EBITDA showed solid growth Y-o-Y supported by the strength of our broadband business. Next, let's turn to our e-commerce on the next page. So in order to accelerate growth as online shopping continue to soften, momo has been boosting its third-party listing so-called 3P as well as advertising business with the launch of its own retail media network or our a.k.a. RMN in 2024. This strategic move resulted in an 11% Y-o-Y increase in active users and a healthy growth in gross merchandise value in 4Q '24. Momo's EBITDA margin slightly increased in 4Q '24, thanks to stable 1P take rates and expanding revenue from the new business I just mentioned. Now let me pass the virtual mic to our CFO, George Chang, for a financial overview.

Thank you, Jamie. Good afternoon. Let's start with the performance by business. For the full year 2024, revenue contribution from telecom business increased to 43% and accounted for majority of the Y-o-Y price in consolidated revenue. Even without the merger impact, telecom revenue posted decent growth in 2024. As for profitability, telecom's EBITDA contribution rose to almost 80% for the year. The Y-o-Y EBITDA increase of TWD 6.7 billion was mainly driven by telecom while cable TV and momo also delivered Y-o-Y growth. In terms of net income contribution, about 11% was from momo in 2024. Let's go to results summary. In 4Q '24, consolidated revenue and EBITDA both hit record levels, posting 5% and 15% Y-o-Y growth, respectively, thanks to the merger with T Star and solid telecom performance. Operating income reached an 11-year high with a growth rate accelerating to 22% Y-o-Y on the back of the rental expense savings from base station consolidation. Excluding the one-off disposal gains both in 4Q '23, net income would have increased by 20% Y-o-Y. For the full year, EBIT contribution from T Star and our relentless efforts to upsell existing mobile users contributed equally to the overall annual EBIT growth and drove operating income to an 11-year high. This helped offset the higher financing expenses at the nonoperating level and EPS dilution from the issuance of new shares to T Star shareholders. As a result, net income and EPS increased by 13% and 6% Y-o-Y, respectively. Let's move on to balance sheet. The Y-o-Y increase in cash balance at the end of 2024 was primarily due to momo's allocation of excess cash into money market instruments, which led to an increase in other current assets. Long-term investments was Y-o-Y driven primarily by the TWD 4 billion strategic investment in Systex during 3Q '24. The completion of network integration and the resulting termination of T Star base station leases led to Q-o-Q and Y-o-Y decreases in right-of-use assets. Long-term contract assets increased, reflecting the growth in mobile bundle plans extending beyond 30 months. Our strong free cash flow growth enabled us to reduce gross debt level Q-o-Q and Y-o-Y. For gross debt, the short-term portion increased Y-o-Y in 4Q '24 as we plan to repay TWD 14 billion in corporate bonds in the first half '25. To maintain the company's financial stability, we have just successfully raised TWD 10 billion convertible bond issuance this month. Net debt to EBITDA declined to 1.89x. The Q-o-Q change was driven by lower net debt while the Y-o-Y decrease was due to the EBITDA growth. Lastly, let's look at the cash flow. In 4Q '24, operating cash flow rose Q-o-Q and Y-o-Y on the back of consolidated EBITDA expansion and stable working capital changes. Investing cash outflow increased Y-o-Y in 4Q '24, primarily driven by our investment in network consolidation with T Star to realize cost savings. Finance income cash outflow decreased Y-o-Y mainly due to the repayment of some short-term and long-term borrowings. For the full year 2024, both the e-commerce and telecom business recorded significant increases in free cash flow driven by momo's TWD 2.4 billion increase in operating cash flow and the strong growth in telecom EBITDA from 5G migration and T Star acquisition. Although cash CapEx peaked in 2024, our full year free cash flow reached TWD 19.4 billion (sic) [ TWD 19.74 billion ], marking a 20% Y-o-Y growth and a free cash flow yield of 5.7%. Let me turn the presentation back to Jamie for event updates and key message.

Thank you, George. I think you meant to say TWD 19.74 billion when we mentioned our full year free cash flow.

Right. Right.

All right. So there's our correction there. So let's turn to Page 14. Talk about our 2024 earnings distribution. So on February 27, which is today, Taiwan Mobile's Board approved the proposal to distribute TWD 13.6 billion in cash dividends, translating to approximately 4% yield to shareholders. Dividend per share increased to TWD 4.5 on 3.025 billion shares, excluding treasury shares held by 100% owned subsidiaries. Next, let's take a look at our 2025 guidance on Page 15. So for the full year, we are guiding consolidated revenue to grow by 8% to 10%, with telecom-related revenue growing at 5% to 7% and consolidated operating profit growing at 7% to 9%. And for 2025 CapEx budget, a total of TWD 8.58 billion was approved by the Board, of which TWD 6.87 billion will be allocated to telecom. The mobile CapEx for 2025 will mainly focus on further enhancing 5G network download speed, including putting to use the 40 megahertz 3.5 gigahertz spectrum we acquired in the TST merger, with the goal of attracting and better serving high-value 5G users. Next, let's take a look at our awards and ESG recognitions on Page 16. So we are very excited to share Taiwan Mobile's latest milestones reflecting our commitment to sustainability, innovation and operational excellence. In 2024, Taiwan Mobile's IDC achieved 100% renewable energy, so-called RE100, 6 years ahead of our IDC RE100 commitment. Our partnership with Taijiang National Park and National Chung Hsing University on the Taiwan Blue Carbon Mangrove Restoration Project is transforming fish farms into carbon sinks contributing to carbon reduction and ecosystem health. For the eighth consecutive year, we ranked among top 3 in the telecommunication services industry in the DJSI World Index and maintained our listing in the DJSI Emerging Market Index for 13 years. Our recent M&A success with Taiwan Star was also recognized with the Deal of the Year M&A Award and Most Influential M&A Deal Award at the 2024 Taiwan M&A and Private Equity Council, Taiwan M&A Awards. The only telecom operator to earn these honors. Additionally, we were honored to -- with the Corporate Sustainability Award and CEO of the Year Award at the IDC Future Enterprise Awards for Taiwan market. Our commitments to community and service excellence are also recognized in awards this year. The achievements highlight our dedication to sustainability, strategic growth and shareholder value. All right, finally, to wrap up our presentation for today, here is the key message we would like for you to take away with. Key message, Taiwan Mobile delivered a record breaking 2024, achieving all-time highs in consolidated revenues and EBITDA, along with robust growth across all key financial metrics. This success was fueled by our merger with Taiwan Star, sustained organic expansion and our Telco+Tech strategy. Full year free cash flow increased by 20%, demonstrating our strong financial foundation and commitment to maximizing shareholder returns. Customers are also reaping the benefits of significantly enhanced network quality, driven by a 67% increase in our 5G spectrum holdings following the merger. Looking forward to 2025, we are confident in achieving our guidance by focusing on 3 key drivers: number one, unlocking merger synergies, continue to drive cost savings through network integration and operational efficiencies while capitalizing on cross-selling and upselling opportunities to further boost profitability. Number two, strengthening our core, accelerate ARPU growth and minimize churn to Telco+Tech strategies, unique bundles and superior network quality. Number three, scaling enterprise and SMB, leveraging our cutting-edge AI capabilities and strategic partnerships, including Systex, to capture growing demand for our solutions across private and public sectors. With that, let's open the floor for questions. [Operator Instructions] We will begin by addressing the telephone line questions before moving on to the web. So operator, please go ahead.

[Operator Instructions]

Operator, if there's no question from the telephone line, we did receive a question from the online chat box. Maybe we can address that first.

Yes. Mr. Lin, there's no question from audio lines.

Okay. So on the web chat box, we received a question from an analyst. The question, I'll repeat here. Congrats on the great results. Just a question on the guidance. Could you help us break down our telecom revenue growth outlook, especially the mobile ARPU outlook and tell us a bit more on the progress with converting the T Star users. So thank you for your question. So in terms of our guidance, we're guiding telecom-related revenues to be growing at 5% to 7%. And from this point on, it's mostly going to be organic, meaning that mostly coming from ARPU lift from our existing users. And the progress of cross-selling and upselling T Star users has been rather successful and about 15% of T Star subs have been converted to Taiwan Mobile rate plans with over 10% monthly fee uplift. I hope that answers your question. All right. Operator, we can continue to see if there's more questions coming from the telephone line.

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Rajesh Panjwani with JPMorgan.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

So can you talk a bit about there was a significant cost reduction in 2024 after the merger. Can you talk a bit about how much more room for cost reduction is still there?

Sure. So Rajesh, that's your only question?

Yes, please.

Okay. So in terms of cost reduction, as you can see, we did deliver pretty significant result during 2024, and we do foresee 2025 to be a year that we continue to reap that benefit, both on network consolidation and also on other cost savings. And sort of if you need a ballpark figure, we are looking at around a 60-40 split between '24 to '25.

[Operator Instructions]

So operator, if we don't have any questions coming from the telephone line, nor are we seeing any questions on the web chat. I think we can call it a day.

Yes. Mr. Lin, there seems to be no further question at this point in time. Thank you.

Great. Thank you, everybody, for dialing in. We look forward to seeing you again at our next quarterly results conference call.

Thank you for your participation. This concludes the conference. You may now disconnect. Goodbye.

Thank you. Bye-bye.