KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 26): Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd, which reported its third-quarter net loss widened by 45%, said it is exploring fund raising proposals to address the capital requirements to venture into other businesses.

"We will constantly focus on strengthening our internal structure to ensure a solid foundation for the group to embark on our future plans," Utusan said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

However, there were no details given.

The publishing company, which is 49.77%-owned by Umno and publishes the Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo! newspapers, has been loss making since 2012.

It saw net loss rise to RM8.29 million or 7.49 sen loss per share for the three months ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15), from RM5.72 million or 5.16 sen loss per share a year ago, due to lower contribution from its publication, distribution and advertisement segment.

Revenue for 3QFY15 fell 18.4% to RM61.06 million, from RM74.82 million in 3QFY14.  

For the cumulative nine months period (9MFY15), the group’s net loss also increased 21.4% to RM44.39 million or 40.09 sen loss per share from RM36.57 million or 33.03 sen loss per share in 9MFY14.

Revenue for 9MFY15 dropped 15.7% to RM180.93 million, from RM214.69 million a year ago.

Going forward, Utusan expects to continue to face challenges in 2015, given the on-going issues that are affecting consumer sentiment, such as the implementation of  the goods and services tax, and the weakening of the ringgit against other major currencies.

"We will continue to strengthen our core business, amidst strategies to seek new revenue streams to expand our business portfolios," it said.

"Newspapers’ content improvements are undertaken and creative packages for advertisements are offered in our effort to increase readership and revenue," it added.

Utusan shares closed 6.15% or 4 sen lower at 61 sen today, bringing it's market capitalisation to RM67.55 million.

(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.)