KUALA LUMPUR (June 26): Berjaya Media Bhd (BMedia), which publishes the Sun newspaper, narrowed its net loss to RM6.03 million in the fourth financial quarter ended April 30, 2018 (4QFY18) from RM14.01 million a year ago, as it no longer has to incur impairment loss on publishing rights. In 4QFY17, the group incurred RM12 million in impairment loss.

This resulted in a lower loss per share of 2.56 sen for 4QFY18 from 5.96 sen for 4QFY17.

Quarterly revenue fell 28.4% to RM6.5 million from RM9.07 million a year ago, mainly due to lower advertising income reported by Sun Media Corp Sdn Bhd.

For the full FY18, however, BMedia saw its net loss narrow to RM12.5 million from RM21.13 million as its revenue fell 22.2% to RM33.27 million from RM42.75 million in FY17.

On prospects, BMedia said the group is operating in a difficult business environment and is of the view that its business for the next financial year will remain challenging due to the prevailing economic conditions that will impact the advertising and promotion budgets of most corporate clients and advertisers.

"In view of the group’s current financial condition, more marketing efforts are being initiated to improve the group’s financial position and to preserve the shareholders’ equity funds," said the group in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

It pointed out that the board has been exploring other options including diversifying into new businesses outside the media sector, to strengthen the financial position of the group with the primary objective of regularising its Practice Note 17 (PN17) condition.

"At this juncture, the group is looking at proposals and seeking for an extension of time from Bursa to submit its regularisation plan," it added.

On June 22, 2017, BMedia slipped into PN17 status as its shareholders’ equity fell to less than RM40 million or less than 25% of its issued capital.

BMedia shares were untraded today. It last closed at 22.5  sen, for a market capitalisation of RM52.89 million.