This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on June 26, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd’s first-quarter (1Q) net profit grew a marginal 0.84% to RM176.20 million or 3.38 sen per share, from RM174.73 million or 3.35 sen per share a year ago, thanks to lower marketing and distribution costs as well as finance costs. Revenue for the quarter ended April 30, 2019 fell 5.84% to RM1.23 billion, from RM1.31 billion previously.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the group said its marketing and distribution costs declined 27.7% during the quarter to RM92.4 million, from RM127.8 million a year ago. Finance costs decreased 12.53% to RM64.9 million, from RM74.2 million. Astro has proposed a first interim single-tier dividend of two sen per share, payable on July 25.

Astro said the market is becoming increasingly challenging, with ongoing structural changes in the global content, the media industry and the piracy threat.

“We remained focus on strengthening [our] core pay-TV (television) and NJOI businesses by redefining customer value propositions and refreshing content.

“By leveraging our customer base, we will build new revenue adjacencies in broadband, OTT (over-the-top), regional content co-production, data-driven marketing network and commerce, as well as elevating customer service to drive customer engagement,” it added.

Astro shares closed six sen or 4.14% higher at RM1.51 yesterday, with a market capitalisation of RM7.87 billion.