Astro posts net profit of RM196mil

PETALING JAYA: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd posted a 3% drop in net profit for the first quarter ended April 30 to RM195.82mil compared with the same quarter a year ago on lower earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and increase in net finance costs.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the pay-TV operator said the lower net profit was also offset by lower depreciation of property, plant and equipment.

“Higher net finance cost was due to lower unrealised foreign exchange gain arising from unhedged non-current balance sheet liabilities comprising finance lease liabilities and vendor financing.”

Revenue in the first quarter dropped marginally to RM1.33bil from RM1.36bil a year earlier. Astro said this was mainly due to a decrease in licensing, subscription and advertising revenue.

“The decrease in licensing revenue was due to loss of content recovery for sports channel. The decrease in subscription revenue was mainly due to lower package take-up.

“Lower advertising revenue in the current quarter owing to Chinese New Year advertisement spending recorded in the corresponding quarter.”

The company remains cautiously optimistic on the prospects for the rest of the financial year, despite subdued consumer sentiment.

“Our combined TV viewership, radio listenership and digital users are uniquely placed to assist advertisers to engage with consumers across all demographics, which will continue to drive monetisation and advertising expenditure performance.

“We continue to actively manage our key operating expenses, particularly content costs which are substantially dollar denominated, and optimising our cost to serve.”

Astro said the company’s board believed the business would remain cash generative and would focus on investing in growth strategy. The company did not give any profit forecast.

Separately, the pay-TV operator also declared a first interim single-tier dividend of three sen per share, to be paid on July 14, 2017.