Astro recorded q-o-q revenue growth to RM926mn, driven by strong Adex performance in 3Q that rose 27% to RM110mn. Normalised PATAMI was RM73 million impacted by higher unrealised forex loss due to transponder finance lease liabilities as the US Dollar appreciated.
Henry Tan CEO, said the group remained cash generative and proactive in its capital management. Given the macroeconomic conditions and foreign currency volatility, the Board has declared a third interim dividend of 0.75 sen per share.
Euan Smith, Group CEO-Designate of Astro said: “We continue to seize growth opportunities in the broadband space. We recently launched BIZfibre to offer our enterprise customers including SMEs one-stop connectivity and entertainment solution at greater value. BIZfibre offers faster, more reliable and stable connectivity and is the perfect complement to our commercial TV Packs, which feature live sports, the biggest TV shows, blockbuster movies, and breaking news. BIZfibre
will contribute to the growth of our broadband and enterprise customer base.
Key highlights include, over 730K homes are on the Ultra and Ulti Boxes, which can run on both satellite and broadband, while Astro GO has 562k monthly active users, up 6% y-o-y, with an average weekly viewing time of over 3 hours driven largely by sports and Astro’s own content. On Demand shows streamed grew 22% y-o-y to 473mn. Growth in Adex: In Q3FY23, total Adex rose 27% q-o-q to RM110mn, underpinned by TV Adex, Radex, Digital Adex, and Addressable Advertising.
Macroeconomic conditions including uncertain global growth outlook, rising interest rates, inflation, as well as global geopolitical events with ongoing implications to supply chains; are expected to have an ensuing impact on households and businesses. The Group maintains a cautious outlook and will monitor business conditions, whilst prudently managing costs. It expects market volatility to remain in the shorter term, both in terms of foreign currency volatility and interest rates and will be managing these with hedge instruments over time.
