Astro records 35pct increase net profit in H1FY18

Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad recorded a net profit of RM442 million for the first half of the 2018 financial year, a 35 percent increase from the same period last year.

However, revenue dropped two percent to RM2.75 billion.

H1FY18 revenue was lower primarily due to the end of a one-off sports channel sub-licensing, marginally lower contribution from subscriptions and e-commerce.

But this was partially mitigated by higher contribution from advertising revenue (adex), NJOI and production revenue.

Astro Group CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan said diversified revenue streams across the TV, radio and digital platforms, adex and e-commerce continued to show resilience.

"Margins and profits in Q2FY18 benefited from lower cost to serve and one-off savings arising from content secured on more favourable terms.

"We continue to expand our reach by serving 5.3 million or 72 percent of Malaysian households and increase our customer engagement with the 21 million individuals in these homes," she said in a statement today.

She said Astro's home proposition achieved net growth of 288,000 driven primarily by NJOI net adds, and is on track for 90 percent reach within 5 years, reinforcing a strong base to serve.

"Our connected PVRs increased by 62 percent year-on-year to 639,000, with cumulatively 7.1 million on demand videos watched. We are also encouraged by the reduction in Pay TV churn with ARPU at RM100.8."

Rohana said the singular focus now is to expand Astro's household reach onto individual devices and developing meaningful personal relationships.

"Viewing across multiple screens and on demand consumption are gaining momentum. Astro GO grew its registered users to 1.3 million with an average of 235 minutes viewing time per week among active users," she said.

Meanwhile, Astro Chairman Tun Zaki Azmi said: "In a challenging market, Astro is focused on delivering sustainable growth over the long term. Our businesses continued to be cash generative and the Board is pleased to declare a second interim dividend of 3 sen per share."

Astro is committing significant resources in investing and building a second to none individual relationships both in Malaysia and ASEAN. The company is continuously enhancing and evolving its products, delivery networks and customer experience.

Its regional online video streaming service, Tribe has 1.9 million registered users in Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore, and continues to gain steady traction with users watching 160 minutes of content weekly.

Tribe was also recently soft-launched in South Thailand, catering to the Malay speaking Thais by offering Astro’s own content in Malay dramas, variety shows and movies.

Go Shop, Astro's e-commerce service, has to date 1.2 million registered users in Malaysia and Singapore.

Go Shop continues to grow from strength to strength with live shows featuring key talents and branded content resonating with customers.

In addition, there has been an increasing number of customers shopping via the Go Shop app, which to date has garnered a total of 680,000 downloads.

Said Rohana: "We will continue to play and build on our strengths leveraging off new technologies to address a larger ASEAN market, thus delivering growth in reach and scale as an ASEAN digital-first content and consumer company, creating value for our shareholders."