KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 8): Higher finance costs has led Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd to post a fall in third-quarter earnings.

The country's largest pay television provider reported a net profit of RM106.01 million or 2.04 sen a share for the three months to Oct 31, 2015 (3QFY16), down 6.5% from RM113.41 million or 2.18 sen a share in the same period a year ago.

It attributed the lower net profit to an increase in net finance costs of RM84.2 million due to unrealised foreign exchange impact arising from unhedged finance lease liability of RM63.7 million and unhedged vendor financing of RM8.3 million, as well as an increase in transponder’s lease interest of RM6.6 million.

Revenue for 3QFY16, however, rose 7.4% to RM1.37 billion, from RM1.28 billion in 3QFY15, due to an increase in subscription, advertising, as well as merchandise sales from home-shopping business.

Astro's average revenue per user (ARPU) for 3QFY16 grew to RM99.30, from RM98.50 in 3QFY15, supported by the take-up of value-added services.

The group also declared a third interim dividend of 2.75 sen per share for the financial year ending Jan 31, 2016 (FY16), payable on Jan 7, 2016. It was 22% higher, compared with the same period last year.

For the nine months period (9MFY16), Astro saw its net profit grow 8.5% to RM411.55 million or 7.91 sen per share, from RM379.4 million or 7.3 sen per share a year ago; while revenue increased 4.9% to RM4.07 billion, from RM3.88 billion in 9MFY15.

In a statement today, Astro's chief executive officer Datuk Rohana Rozhan said the group added 218,000 new television customers during 3QFY16, underpinned by strong response for its prepaid NJOI segment.
 
“This has resulted in a customer base of 4.7 million or 66% television household penetration in 3QFY16, from 62% in 3QFY15,” she added.

Meanwhile, the group's share of advertising expenditure and radio expenditure grew to 34% and 60.5% respectively, supported by higher TV viewership and radio listenership.
 
Astro (fundamental: 1.1; valuation: 1.7) shares closed unchanged at RM2.86 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM14.89 billion.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)