Astro affected by advertising and subscription decline

PETALING JAYA: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd’s began its financial year of 2021 (FY21) with a major dent in earnings as a decline in advertising and subscription as well as higher net finance costs slashed net profit by over 58% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the first quarter ended April 1.

The pay-TV operator said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia that its net profit in the February-April 2020 period dropped to RM73.84mil compared with RM176.2mil in the same quarter a year earlier.