Astro said the strength of the US dollar had continued to impact multiple cost lines in its business.
PETALING JAYA: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd
maintains a cautious view on its prospects for the financial year ending Jan 31, 2025 (FY25) amid a challenging operating environment.
As such, the pay-TV operator said it would carefully monitor business conditions and ensure effective cost discipline in the year ahead.
Astro said the strength of the US dollar had continued to impact multiple cost lines in its business while local economic conditions, exacerbated by geopolitical factors, and softening customer sentiments, including the impact of the recent service tax revision, presented challenges to the industry.
In softening the impact of these challenges, Astro said it had introduced more affordable entry points on both PayTV and sooka to drive affordability during the last quarter to further enhance the value of its products and services.
Group chief executive officer Euan Smith said the delivery of world-class content and services, accelerating growth in new businesses, and transforming legacy cost base to reflect the new realities of the pay-TV landscape would continue to be the group’s focus.
“Despite a rather turbulent economic landscape and the challenges of reinvention faced by pay-TV operators globally, Astro remains resilient, implementing multiple initiatives that broaden our technology accessibility and convenience as well as diversifying our business,” he said.
Astro posted a lower net profit of RM44.38mil for the fourth quarter (4Q) of FY24 on revenue of RM819.85mil compared with RM54.75mil on revenue of RM949.26mil in 4Q23.
For the full year, net profit was RM36.88mil compared with RM259.04mil in FY23, while revenue stood at RM3.34bil in FY24 as compared with RM3.62bil previously.
The dividend declared in respect of FY24 amounted to 0.25 sen per share, or a 31% payout ratio for the full year.
Astro said its average revenue per user improved RM1.50 year-on-year to RM99.70 in 4Q24.
Amid ongoing macroeconomic headwinds and foreign currency volatility, Astro’s 4Q24 revenue was resilient quarter-on-quarter at RM820mil.
Normalised profit after tax and minority interests (Patami), which excluded unrealised foreign exchange losses on transponder lease liabilities, closed at RM35mil.
The group generated free cashflows of RM134mil, 3.8 times of its normalised Patami.
