Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 22): Media Prima Bhd, owner of the TV3, 8TV, ntv7 and TV9 channels and publisher of the New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro newspapers, reported its second straight quarterly loss during the second quarter ended June 30, 2019 (2QFY19), on lower contribution from the traditional revenue segment such as publishing and television networks.

It posted a net loss of RM8.83 million compared with a net profit of RM31.95 million a year ago. This resulted in a loss per share of 0.8 sen for 2QFY19 compared with an earnings per share of 2.88 sen for 2QFY18.

Revenue for 2QFY19 dropped 14% to RM296.77 million from RM342.37 million a year ago.

The poor quarterly performance dragged the media group down to post a net loss of RM49.23 million in the cumulative six months (1HFY19) compared with a net profit of RM10.13 million in 1HFY18. The net profit for 1HFY18 was also contributed by a one-off gain on sale of shares in an associate amounting to RM45.3 million.

Revenue for 1HFY19 declined 14% to RM535.87 million from RM623.04 million in 1HFY18.

This was partly offset by the home shopping business, which has continued its revenue growth.

"CJ WOW SHOP remains on the upswing, with revenue rising 19% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM114.3 million in 1HFY19," said Media Prima in a bourse filing today.

In a separate statement, Media Prima group chairman Datuk Syed Hussian Aljunid said the group’s first-half results reflect the challenges affecting media companies worldwide.

"Amid unfavourable economic conditions that increasingly affects advertising expenditure (adex), particularly for our traditional businesses, the group improved its second-quarter results against the immediate preceding quarter. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group expects to keep this momentum in the remaining quarters of FY19,” he added.

On prospects for 2019, Media Prima said the impact of the first quarter was quite significant to the overall performance of the group for 1HFY19.

"The current quarter saw the group improve its performance although it was unable to recover from the deficit recorded in 1QFY19.

"Nevertheless, even though the decline can still be attributed to the continued shift of advertising spending to digital platforms, the group is confident of still maintaining strong market presence which will enable it to compete in the adex market for the remaining quarters," it added.

Media Prima said it has revisited several initiatives in its transformation journey and identified areas of improvements.

"The group is also reviewing its existing business-as-usual processes to further improve revenue generation efforts. The group’s existing and new brands either on traditional or digital platforms still command extensive reach and strong monetisation opportunities," it noted.

Media Prima group managing director Datuk Kamal Khalid said managing costs will remain a priority for the group going forward. Operating expenses fell 11% y-o-y in 1HFY19.

At noon break, Media Prima's share price was down 0.5 sen or 1.02% to 48.5 sen. The stock saw 172,100 shares traded.

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