Astro Q3 profit rises despite lower revenue

PETALING JAYA: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd’s net profit rose 11.5% to RM170.85 million for its third quarter ended Oct 31, 2019 against RM153.22 million in the same period a year ago, mainly due to lower net finance costs and tax expenses.

Revenue, however, fell 12.2% to RM1.22 billion from RM1.38 billion.

It has proposed declare a third interim dividend of 2 sen per share for the quarter under review.

According to the group’s Bursa filing, the television segment reported an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of RM419.6 million in Q3, a decrease of 3.4% from the same quarter a year ago, on the back of lower revenue, mitigated by lower content costs and marketing and distribution expenses.

As for its radio segment, Astro reported a 9.9% increase in ebitda to RM44.4 million, attributed to continuous strong listenership ratings and improved sales tactical offerings.

Meanwhile, its home shopping business reported a negative ebitda of RM2.5 million against an ebitda of RM1 million reported previously, primarily due to tax holiday in the corresponding quarter and muted consumer sentiment in the current quarter.

For the cumulative nine-month period, Astro reported a net profit of RM516.38 million, a 49.9% increase from RM344.52 million, but revenue declined 10.3% to RM3.69 billion from RM4.11 billion.

Commenting on the outlook, Astro said the market remains challenging with structural changes in the global content, media and advertising industries, including threats of piracy and streaming wars.

Moving forward, the group said its focus is to strengthen the core Pay TV and NJOI businesses by redefining customer value propositions, elevating customer service, refreshing and aggregating the best content and streaming services.

“The company will leverage on its customer base to build new revenue adjacencies in commerce, broadband, digital and OTT, whilst maintaining disciplined cost optimisation,” it added.