This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 31, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Media Prima Bhd’s net loss widened to RM40.41 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 (1QFY19), from RM21.83 million for the previous corresponding period, as it continued to record declining advertising expenditure (adex) and newspaper sales.

Revenue fell 14.81% to RM239.1 million from RM280.67 million as it registered lower revenue across all but its home shopping segment. Loss per share for the quarter rose to 3.64 sen from 1.97 sen, its stock exchange filing showed yesterday.

Notably, its publishing segment saw a 40% slump in revenue as advertising sales fell 29% and newspaper sales dropped 30%. Lower advertising sales also affected its radio and television networks (a low take-up rate for its free-to-air television segment), which posted a 40% and 12% fall in revenue respectively.

Similarly affected was its digital media segment, which saw revenue contract 20% on lower contributions from digital advertising, as well as weaker social media and digital marketing revenue.

Its content creation segment recorded a 23% fall in revenue on lower sales of TV programme production and sales of programme broadcast rights, though these were partially mitigated by lower content production cost. Its out-of-home segment’s revenue also retreated, albeit by a marginal 4%, on lower occupancy on static roll-outs.

Only its home shopping segment saw a continued growth of 24% in revenue, contributed by greater exposure achieved through more hours dedicated to home shopping slots on NTV7 and TV9, which boosted sales.

The group said the first quarters had always been the weakest for the group, based on past trends.

In a separate statement, Media Prima chairman Datuk Mohd Nasir Ahmad said 1QFY19 was a challenging period not only for the media sector as unfavourable macroeconomic conditions such as weak consumer sentiment and lower gross domestic product growth had affected various industries.

However, the group believes its 1QFY19 results will not be reflective of the group’s performance for the entire financial year.

“Barring unforeseen circumstances, we anticipate a better performance in the next quarter of the financial year as we align our business with the economic recovery,” he said.

Meanwhile, Media Prima group managing director Datuk Kamal Khalid said structural changes in the media sector will continue to disrupt the group’s traditional segments, though its existing traditional brands “still command an extensive reach and strong monetisation opportunities”.

“While we will keep a close watch on our traditional businesses, digital and commerce revenue will remain our key focus areas in FY19,” he said, adding that the group is driven to become Malaysia’s leading digital-first content and commerce company.

Media Prima shares slipped one sen or 2.56% to close at 38 sen yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM421.5 million.