Astro Malaysia presents results for quarter ended 30 April 2024

KUALA LUMPUR — Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (“AMH” or “the Company”) has presented unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the first quarter ended 30 April 2024.

For management purposes, the Group is organised into business units based on their services and has two key reportable segments based on operating segments as follows:

(i) The television segment is a provider of television services including television content creation, aggregation and distribution, talent management, multimedia interactive services and digital media;
(ii) The radio segment is a provider of radio broadcasting services and media sales services; and
(iii) Other non-reportable segments.

Television

Revenue for the current quarter of RM727.1m was lower by RM83.5m or 10.3% against the corresponding quarter of RM810.6m, mainly arising from the decrease in subscription revenue and advertising revenue.

Television EBITDA decreased by RM33.4m or 15.1% against the corresponding quarter. This is due to decrease in revenue, as mentioned above, and higher broadband costs, offset by decrease in content costs, staff related costs, marketing expenses, professional and consultancy fees and impairment of receivables.

Financial Highlights – Television

                      Quarter  Quarter
                        Ended    Ended    %
--------------------  -------  -------  ---
Subscription revenue    623.6    648.5   -4
Advertising revenue      41.3     57.2  -28
Other revenue            62.2     61.8   +1
Total revenue           727.1    767.5   -5

EBITDA                  187.3    202.1   -7
EBITDA margin (%)        25.8     26.3   -1
Profit before tax         6.0     20.0  -70

All amounts in RM’m unless otherwise stated

FY25 YTD overview

                                           1Q FY24  1Q FY25    Change
-----------------------------------------  -------  -------  --------
Total TV households in Malaysia ('000)[1]    7,942    8,051        1%
TV household penetration[2]                    69%      66%  (3 p.p.)
TV customer base ('000)                      5,458    5,309      (3%)
Pay TV ARPU (RM)                              98.7     99.4        1%
Astro TV viewership share[3]                   69%      70%    1 p.p.
Connected STBs ('000)[4]                       781      822        5%

1. TV household data sourced from the Department of Statistics Malaysia and Media Partners Asia
2. Household penetration comprises residential Pay-TV customers and NJOI customers
3. Viewership share is based on DTAM deployed by Kantar Media DTAM
4. Connected set-top boxes (STBs) are internet-ready with recording functionality and have access to Astro’s On Demand content library

1Q FY25: Key highlights

• Pay-TV ARPU +RM0.70 YoY to RM99.40 as bundling gains traction.
• >1mn Ultra and Ulti boxes deployed, as gateway to the new Astro experience.
• Launched sooka TV stick, a portable media streaming device for seamless access on any TV, in time for UEFA EURO 2024.

Astro: Serving Malaysians via 3 distinct video services