Astro received MSWG Industry Excellence award for corporate governance

KUALA LUMPUR: Astro has received the Industry Excellence Award for Corporate Governance (CG) Disclosure for the Telecommunications & Media category at the MSWG-ASEAN Corporate Governance Award 2021, organised by the Minority Shareholders Watch Group (MSWG).

This was the second consecutive win for Astro after being awarded Industry Excellence in the same category at the MSWG-ASEAN Corporate Governance Award 2020.

Other winners in the Telecommunications & Media category for the 2021 include Axiata Group Bhd, Media Prima Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd.

Astro also made the list of of Top 100 Companies for CG Disclosure 2021, rising from 30th to 11th place.

2021 marks the 10th year that MSWG has undertaken the corporate governance assessment project. In total, 864 Malaysian public-listed companies (PLCs) were assessed based on disclosures in the latest annual report , CG report and sustainability report for the financial year ended April 30, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

Based on its assessment, the CG scorecard which follows the Asean CG Scorecard (ACGS), rose 5.4% to 83.58 points in 2021 from 79.28 points in 2020 out of a maximum attainable score of 130 points, showing CG levels improved despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

MSWG’s chief executive officer Devanesan Evanson noted in a statement that consistent improvement in the average CG scores over the last five years suggested more companies are aligning their CG best practices with international and regional best practices, beyond the requirements of national legislation.

For 2021, MSWG awarded 44 trophies to 34 PLCs under the Excellence Award for CG Disclosure and Industry Excellence Award for CG Disclosure.