KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd’s pre-tax profit rose to RM55.932 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2013 from RM43.795 million posted in the same period last year.

Revenue increased 3.1 per cent to RM264.22 million from RM256.38 million.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, the company said the increase in revenue was mainly due to higher revenue in its event, interior and thematic segment amounting to RM54.19 million against RM43.83 million posted in the same quarter last year.

It said the better performance was also due to a slight increase in advertising revenue.

Star Publications said in the media sector, advertising expenditure remained soft but was expected to gradually pick up in the last quarter of the financial year as sentiment improves with the seasonality effect.

“We expect the business environment in the industry to remain highly challenging this year and will strive to achieve a satisfactory performance for the financial year ending December 31, 2013. — Bernama