PETALING JAYA: Despite being surrounded by unique industry and external challenges, Star Media Group Bhd
(SMG) remains cautiously optimistic of its medium-term prospects, buoyed by recent investments.
At its AGM yesterday, SMG group chief executive Chan Seng Fatt outlined that the group’s recent investment of RM100mil into TrustCapital Australian Office Fund No 3 would be providing the company with an internal rate of return of 10% over eight years.
TrustCapital Australian Office Fund No 3 is a Singapore-constituted, private closed-end unit trust that targets investments in prime commercial office assets across major Australian cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, and Perth.
While acknowledging that the print industry is facing a difficult environment worldwide, Chan said SMG’s other business segments such as radio, event management, property development and digital media have been profitable.
“Research is showing that media houses are leveraging approximately 25% on non-core businesses to meet bottom lines, and we are also heading in that direction.
“As such, we need to reinvest our resources, although we have also seen demand returning for print, mainstream media, and trusted portals for verification of facts, and we hope this trend can continue,” he told shareholders.
He added that SMG is targeting to meet two or three more viable investment opportunities, which he anticipates would put the group in a better position compared to its peers and improve its bottom line further.
Reporting on further property development endeavours, Chan said SMG has decided to develop the piece of land adjacent to its printing plant in Shah Alam into four units of semi-detached factories.
He said SMG is in the midst of subdividing the titles to the land, foreseeing development works to begin early next year. Moreover, he reported that the current occupancy rate for the group’s Menara Star 2 in Section 13, Petaling Jaya is at 23%, with an average lease tenure of three years.
Chan said the firm had not experienced any material disruptions or significant additional costs arising from the war between the United States and Iran, adding that the group is managing its operations through solid supplier relationships, a diversified vendor base and forward planning.
With Chan emphasising that the industry is going through a contraction in terms of advertisement placements, Kenanga Research has maintained its “underweight” call on the media sector, citing persistent migration of advertising budgets to digital-native platforms and rising operating costs among legacy media players.
It said free-to-air television and radio remained the main contributors to growth during the quarter, rising 6% and 13% respectively, while newspapers and digital advertising expenditure declined 19% and 38% for the first quarter of 2026.
After announcing a single-tier dividend of 1.5 sen per ordinary share for the year ended December 2025, Chan said SMG does not have a defined dividend policy, but is constantly working towards rewarding shareholders whenever appropriate, subject to its financial position, capital requirements and availability of distributed profit.
The dividend payment was one of seven proposals tabled for shareholders’ approval at the AGM, all of which have been sanctioned by the end of the meeting.
