Star Media enters second phase of transformation

PETALING JAYA: The Star Media Group would continue to expand its media platforms, taking into account its second phase of digital transformation.

The company said it would continue to provide more bundled products and creative buys to advertisers, as well as organise client-driven events, harnessing on its aggressive move into the digital business space.

Cityneon Ltd, a firm is in the virtual reality exhibition business with intellectual property rights, was Star Media’s first digital transformation initiative while dimsum.my, a video-on-demand service that focuses entirely on Asian content, was launched last year as the second wave.

Dimsum, in its next stage of expansion, will introduce more Malay and Indian content to complement its existing array of movies, dramas and news in three languages — Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin.

Star Media’s digital revenue grew by 42 per cent in the first quarter, compared with the corresponding quarter a year ago.

However, it could not mitigate the overall performance of the print and digital segment as profit-before-tax from this business division, which is the mainstay of Star Media, decreased to RM8.09 million in the first quarter, compared with RM27.16 million last year.

As a whole, Star Media recorded a revenue of RM183.10 million and a net profit of RM9.27 million for the first quarter ended March 31.

Poor market sentiments and weak advertising expenditure (adex) led to a decline of 19.5 per cent in the revenue of the print and digital segment.

However, Star Media’s performance is better, compared with the industry average, where adex fell by 22.6 per cent in the quarter.

The event and exhibition segment recorded a profit-beforetax of RM7.51 million in the quarter, compared with a loss before tax of RM1.76 million last year. Revenue was higher at RM54.13 million. The performance is mainly due to Cityneon.

Going forward, the company said the proposed disposal of its 52.51 per cent stake in Cityneon would allow it to unlock its investments in the subsidiary and concentrate on the expansion of its primary business.

The proceeds from the proposed disposal of S$115.61 million (RM360.18 million) would improve Star Media’s cash reserves and give it more leeway to look for new investment opportunities in its digital transformation.

The proposed disposal of its 52.51 per cent stake in Cityneon will allow the company to unlock its investments in the subsidiary and concentrate on the expansion of its primary business.