Launch of UEFA EURO 2016 on ASTRO........ Sam Tham/Star Publication
PETALING JAYA: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd
’s net profit surged 20.12% to RM202.17mil for the first financial quarter to April 30, 2016, compared to the same quarter a year ago on the back of lower depreciation of property, plant and equipment and finance cost.
Its revenue jumped 2.46% to RM1.36bil mainly due to an increase in advertising and home-shopping of RM14.1mil and RM27.4mil, offset by a decrease in subscription revenue of RM11.2mil.
Earnings per share increased to 3.88 sen from 3.23 sen previously.
Astro also declared a first interim single-tier dividend of three sen per share. This is higher than the 2.75 sen it had declared in the same quarter of the previous year.
The company has a cash position of RM553.1mil compared to RM595.7mil for the period.
On its higher net profit, this increase was due to lower depreciation of property, plant and equipment by RM19mil and lower net finance cost by RM34.2mil due to a higher unrealised foreign exchange gain arising from unhedged finance lease liability of RM31.4mil and unhedged vendor financing of RM9.8mil. This was offset by an increase in the transponder’s lease interest of RM6.3mil and offset by higher tax expenses by RM15.2mil.
The decrease in subscription revenue was due to a decrease in pay-TV residential subscribers by 1,000 (from 3,504,500 to 3,503,500), while the average revenue per user for pay-TV residential subscribers remained at RM99.
Radio’s revenue for the current quarter of RM72mil was higher by RM10.2mil compared with the previous corresponding quarter of RM61.8mil. The higher revenue performance was driven by continuous strong listenership ratings.
Compared to the first quarter of its financial year ended Jan 31, 2016, its average revenue per user remained the same at RM99, while its churn rate reduced slightly to 10% from 10.3% previously.
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