KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd’s net profit eased to RM539.85 million in the financial year ended January 31, 2021 (FY21) from RM655.30 million in FY20, mainly due to the decrease in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA).
The satellite television provider said its EBITDA margin for FY21 decreased by 1.3 per cent compared to FY20, mainly due to higher merchandise costs and staff-related costs, but this was mitigated by lower content costs as well as license, copyright and royalty fees as a percentage of its revenue.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, it said the lower net profit for the financial year was offset by lower tax expenses, amortisation of software, depreciation of property, plant and equipment and net finance costs.
Meanwhile, revenue declined to RM4.36 billion in FY21 from RM4.91 billion year-on-year (y-o-y), mainly due to the decrease in subscription revenue and advertising revenue, offset by higher merchandise sales.
“Revenue during the year was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Astro.
Net profit for the fourth quarter of FY21 rose to RM167.83 million from RM138.92 million y-o-y, while revenue went down to RM1.11 billion from RM1.23 billion previously.
Despite the restrictions in January 2021, Astro’s advertisement expenditure (Adex) recovered, underpinning a commendable FY21 Adex of RM428 million, while television viewership share was stable at 73 per cent.
“Radio expenditure, television expenditure and digital Adex’s share stood at 76 per cent, 41 per cent and 3.0 per cent, respectively,” it said.
Following its performance for FY21, Astro has declared a fourth interim dividend of 1.5 sen per share and proposed a final dividend of 2.5 sen per share, rewarding its shareholders with a full-year dividend of 8.0 sen per share, higher from the dividend of 7.5 sen per share in FY20.
“The dividend represents 77 per cent of Astro’s FY21 profits, above our dividend policy of paying out 75 per cent of profit after taxation and minority interests,” it said.
In a separate filing, Astro announced that a Nomination, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee will be established on April 1, 2021 in substitution of the existing Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee and the Remuneration Committee.
