Astro off to a good start with a 14 per cent jump in Q1 revenue

Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd registered a 14 per cent revenue growth for the first quarter ended April 30, 2013, mainly helped by its growing subscriber base as well as rise in average revenue per user (ARPU).

The company's subscriber base saw a year-on-year increase of 15 per cent to 3.58 million, comprising 3.12 million pay TV customers and 264,000 NJOI customers.

During the period, it also posted a year-on-year growth of 58 per cent in terms of customers who are on the Astro B.yond platform -- which is now at 2.18 million.

Out of the 2.18 million subscribers on Astro B.yond, 1.4 million are on HD service (Q4FY13: 1.26 million), 343,000 are on Personal Video Recording (PVR) (Q4FY13: 299,000), 245,000 are on Multiroom (Q4FY13: 218,000) and 784,000 are on Superpack bundle (Q4FY13: 727,000).

Astro First and Astro Best, which offer the latest movies on demand, have registered over 6.2 million buys since launch.

“We are off to a good start in this financial year where we continue to strongly execute on our key strategic imperatives.

"This quarter, we achieved a 14 per cent growth in revenue, underpinned by higher number of pay-TV and NJOI subscribers, increase in ARPU and growth in Adex," said Astro chief executive officer Datuk Rohana Rozhan in a statement on Wednesday.

For the fiscal first quarter, the company posted a net profit of RM114.14 million, versus RM122.28 million same period last year.

“This is our peak reinvestment year. As such, we are encouraged by the strong demand for our comprehensive suite of value-added products and services. This positions us well for growth in earnings going forward.

"Our net profit for the quarter of RM114 million is as planned,” added Rohana.

The company registered 11 per cent growth in its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to RM380.9 million.

It also rewarded its shareholders with an interim dividen of 2 sen per share.

“The company is committed to delivering total returns to shareholders, combining a progressive dividend policy with investment in the business to generate capital appreciation.

"The strong cash flows generated from operations have enabled the Board of Directors to increase the level of interim dividends to 2.0 sen per share, 33 per cent higher than the 1.5 sen per share interim dividend paid in the last two quarters,” said chairman Tun Zaki Azmi.

Astro shares on Bursa Malaysia rose 1 per cent or 3 sen to RM3.03 per share yesterday, with more than 1.7 million shares changed hands.

Meanwhile, the company said it will continue to execute on its product roadmap planned for the year.

In March 2013, Astro On-the-Go (AOTG), which enables viewing of Astro content on PCs, tablets and smartphones, was commercialised. To enhance the value proposition for Superpack subscribers, AOTG has been included in the package for free. For other Astro subscribers, the AOTG content package is priced at RM25 per month. For non-Astro subscribers it is RM30 per month.

In April 2013, it launched Astro B.yond IPTV powered by Maxis fibre optics network. Together with TIME’s network, Astro now has the widest fibre-to-home broadband coverage of 1.4mn homes passed in Malaysia. The collaboration with high speed broadband providers allows us to deliver the best in TV content, bandwidth, experience and value to our customers.

In conclusion, Rohana said, “We continue to execute strongly on our strategic imperatives of achieving growth in customers, ARPU and Adex by providing more choices, compelling content and value for consumers.”