This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 23, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Media Prima Bhd posted its fourth consecutive quarter in the red for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2017 (4QFY17), amid higher impairments as the group ramped up its kitchen-sinking exercise towards the end of 2017.

Net loss for the quarter stood at RM378.15 million, compared with a net profit of RM4.99 million in 4QFY16. Revenue declined 4% to RM306.19 million from RM318.63 million.

Based on its financial statements filed with Bursa Malaysia, Media Prima’s quarterly results were impacted by exceptional items — the impairment of investment in an associate, property, plant, equipment and intangible assets related to publishing rights.

Other items include road reserve occupancy fees payable to the Malaysian Highway Authority and provision for manpower rationalisation, bringing the total quarterly impact to RM302.71 million, accounting for 61% of RM497.39 million of exceptional items for the full-year period.

Media Prima saw its second consecutive year of full-year net loss in FY17, widening to RM650.61 million from RM59.2 million in FY16. Revenue fell 7% to RM1.19 billion from RM1.28 billion.

Most of its divisions — television (TV) and radio networks, print media and content creation divisions — saw a decline in revenue contribution.

The TV networks segment was affected by softer advertising expenditure take-up in the free-to-air segment, leading to a lower revenue and a loss of RM112.9 million.

The lower performance of the print media segment was attributed to lower newspaper advertising and circulation revenue, along with impairment losses and manpower restructuring expenses.

Media Prima’s divisions that performed positively were the digital media segment with a 71% jump in revenue amid higher internal shared service and digital advertising revenue, and the home shopping division recording a strong revenue of RM129.5 million.

Media Prima managing director Datuk Kamal Khalid said the group accelerated its business transformation plan in 2017, to better equip itself in capitalising on opportunities and confronting challenges due to the rise of digital media.

"We are taking the opportunity to make the necessary changes and deal with legacy assets and practices, so we can live up to our vision of being a leading digital-first content and commerce company," he said in a statement.