Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad | Result highlights for the first quarter of the financial year ending 31 January 2023 (Q1FY23) [All comparisons refer to the fourth quarter of FY22 (Q4FY22): quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) comparison, except as noted]:
· Revenue -7% q-o-q to RM962mn
· EBITDA +3% q-o-q to RM315mn
· NormalisedPATAMI* -9% q-o-q to RM119mn
· First interim dividend of 1.25 sen pershare
Tun Zaki Tun Azmi, Chairman of Astro, said: “The expected recovery in consumer sentiment and spending from the full reopening of economic activities has been dampened by rising inflation and disruptions in global supply chains, arising from heightened geopolitical events and COVID-19restrictions. Forex volatility impacted Astro’s Q1FY23 PATAMI. Excluding unrealised forex losses, normalised PATAMI* in Q1FY23 stood at RM119mn. The Group remained cash generative, cost disciplined and proactive in its capital management. The Board has declared a first interim dividend of 1.25 sen per share.”
Henry Tan, Group Chief Executive Officer of Astro said: “Despite the headwinds, we remained steadfast in executing our transformation plan and our streaming aggregation strategy. Our ARPU improved to RM97.40, as customers migrate to the new and better value packages we launched last November.”
“In March, we launched Astro Fibre, our own internet service, so consumers can opt for either broadband-content bundles or standalone broadband. In June, we became the first in Southeast Asia to pioneer Addressable Advertising, an audience-based targeted video advertising platform across TV, Video on Demand and digital.”
“In addition to Netflix, we have integrated Disney+ Hotstar app onto our Ultra Box, further strengthening Astro as the go-to streaming destination for Malaysians. We currently have 6 streaming services - Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, HBO GO, Astro GO, TVBAnywhere+ and iQIYI, with more coming including Zee5, BeIN and BBC Player.”
“Over 600k homes are already on Ultra and Ulti Boxes, which run on both satellite and broadband. Astro GO has 867k monthly active users with average weekly viewing time of over 3 hours. On Demand shows streamed grew 48% y-o-y to 148mn. In Q1FY23, our broadband base increased by 50%y-o-y as more customers bundled broadband with content for convenience and value.”
Key Highlights
· Pioneering Addressable Advertising: Astro is reinventing its advertising proposition by merging the best of TV’s emotional persuasive power with smart data, presenting advertisers with new opportunities for a better and more personal TV experience. Leveraging Astro’s first party data, advertisers will be able to show different advertisements to different households who are watching the same programme.
Buoyed by the full reopening of economic activities, Q1FY23Adex increased 2%y-o-y to RM112mn. Radex, TV Adex and Digital Adex share stood at 75%, 32% and 2% respectively. Astro Radio brands continued to rank No.1 across all languages, reaching a new record of 18.2mn weekly radio listeners (FM and digital).SYOK, Malaysia’s most popular audio entertainment app, saw its podcast monthly listens increase by 40% y-o-y to 1mn. Astro digital brands registered over 11.3mnmonthly unique visitors.
· Secured Premier League Broadcast Rights for 3 More Seasons until 2024/25: Continuing its successful, long-standing partnership with the Premier League, Astro offers all 380 matches in HD, with selected matches in 4K UHD
· More Edgy Astro Originals: Premiered Kuasa and Histeria as well as rating winners including:
o Reality show, Big Stage (Season8) with 1.5mn TV Viewership and500k OD views
o The Masked Singer Malaysia(Season 2) with 1.2mnTV Viewership and 683k OD views
o Astro First remained the No.1 platform for local movies
- Kampong Pisang Berbuah Dua Kali achieved RM2.3mn collection to emerge as the top movie on Astro First to date
- Upin & Ipin Edisi Ramadan Raya, featuring its best episodes and new stories, collected over RM630k
o During Raya, Astro was the undisputed entertainment destination. Our Malay channels were the most watched channels during prime time
- Jangan Menangis Cinta was the No.1 programme with 1.4mnTV Viewership
- 2022 Thomas & Uber Cup was the most watched live event on Astro GO with over 5.4mn minutes consumed
· sooka Winning Over Millennials: our streaming service, sooka achieved 1.5mn app downloads, 556mn minutes watched to date with 71% users on mobile. In partnership with Smart TV brands, sooka launched a new VIP TV plan for users to enjoy content on big screens
· Positive ESG Impact: Astro continued to strengthen its sustainability pillars in championing education for all, being the voice for good, community development and caring for our environment through these initiatives:
Outlook
Tan said, “We are committed to further enhance the all-new Astro experience, in realising our vision to be The Entertainment Destination for Malaysians encompassing:
• our ambition to be Malaysia’s No.1aggregator of the best streaming services;
• enhancing local content with more premium Astro Originals;
• seizing opportunities for adjacencies in digital, broadband and commerce; and
• leveraging on digital, data and technology to reimagine our business models.”
“The Group will continue to invest in its transformation plans, in particular content, broadband, streaming, customer experience, data, addressable advertising and technology infrastructure to simplify our processes and most importantly, to better serve our customers.”
“The Copyright (Amendment) Act 2022, which was gazetted in February 2022, is a major step forward in addressing digital piracy, resulting in criminalisation of the sale of Illegal Streaming Devices (ISD); and the distribution or sharing of unauthorised copyright content through applications, websites, and hyperlinks by any party through messaging applications or social media platforms.”
Having transitioned into the endemic phase, the nation’s economy is expected to recover. However, recovery is expected to be uneven with headwinds from intermittent COVID-19 waves, supply chain disruption leading to cost-push inflation, further interest rate hikes, and near term market volatility resulting from current geopolitical events. The Group remains cautiously optimistic and will continue to monitor business conditions, whilst prudently managing costs.
*Normalised PATAMI excludes post-tax impact of unrealised forex gain/(loss) due to mark-to-market revaluation of transponder-related lease liabilities.
Click here to download this press release (Available in English | Bahasa Malaysia | Chinese | Tamil)
