Astro second quarter net profit down 8.6%

PETALING JAYA: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd’s net profit for the second quarter ended July 31, 2016 decreased by 8.6% to RM125.43 million from RM137.24 million a year ago mainly due to lower subscription revenue and higher content costs, particularly EURO 2016 and the impact of weakening ringgit.
Revenue was up 4.3% at RM1.43 billion from RM1.37 billion in the previous corresponding quarter due mainly to an increase in advertising, home-shopping and other revenue.
The board has declared a second interim dividend of 3 sen per share.
Astro group CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan said it is now serving 5 million or 69% of Malaysian households (3.5 million pay-TV and 1.5 million NJOI) with growth primarily driven by its subscription-free TV service, NJOI.
“We will focus on getting to know our customers better by deploying data analytics and increasing our marketing efforts to raise customer awareness. We now offer including On Demand, Download to Go, mobile broadband plans, seamless access to multiple devices and more same day date content, among others. Viewership has increased with real-time, second-screen engagement via Astro On The Go, content mobile apps and through integrating social media onto our content delivery platforms,” she said in a statement.
Content costs have benefited from renegotiation of contracts with key content suppliers, resulting in significant savings and increased new media rights. These have helped in mitigating the impact of currency depreciation and a dual sporting year.
For the six months period, net profit increased by 7.2% to RM327.60 million from RM305.54 million a year ago mainly due to lower depreciation of property, plant and equipment and lower net finance cost.
Revenue at RM2.79 billion was higher by 3.4% compared with RM2.70 billion in the previous year.