Kuala Lumpur – Astro has announced its financial results for the first six months of the financial year ending January 31, 2014, that saw the company achieving a double digit revenue growth of 13% to RM2.3bn, compared with RM2.1bn in the previous corresponding period. In addition, EBITDA growth of 12% to RM785.5mn was also achieved.
Dato’ Rohana Rozhan, Chief Executive Officer, Astro
Q2FY14 saw the pay-TV customer base increase by 43k to 3.36mn and NJOI customers increasing by 50k to 314k, bringing Astro’s total customer base to 3.67mn, i.e. 54% (Q1FY14: 53%) of Malaysian TV households.
The number of customers on Astro B.yond increased by 290k to 2.47mn, representing 74% (Q1FY14: 66%) of total pay-TV customers.
Tun Zaki Azmi, Chairman of Astro said, “The Company continues to deliver against its strategies of growth and strong cash flow. The Company is committed to its progressive dividend policy and the Board of Directors is pleased to declare a second interim dividend of 2 sen per share, bringing the total dividend for the first six months of the current financial year to 4 sen per share, and 8 sen per share since the IPO in October 2012.”
Dato’ Rohana Rozhan, Chief Executive Officer of Astro said, “Astro is executing well against plan and our focus remains to deliver relevant content, value and an increasingly comprehensive customer experience. Today Astro is an integrated cross media platform, providing our customers with access to content wherever they maybe, and our advertisers with an increasing reach to consumers.
We have a wide range of products and services to serve both the pay and free TV segments. Astro offers customers the best viewing experience with HD, PVR, Over The Top (OTT), Astro On-The-Go (AOTG) and broadband. We offer a suite of packages like AstroSuperpack, Astro Valuepack, and NJOI’s prepaid and top up to meet our subscribers’ budget and viewing needs.”
ARPU increased to RM94.9 (Q1FY14: RM94.2), as more customers subscribed to Astro’s value-added products and services. 1.52mn customers are enjoying Astro channels in HD clarity (Q1FY14: 1.40mn), 414k are able to record their favourite shows with Personal Video Recording (Q1FY14: 343k), 268k are Multi-room customers (Q1FY14: 245k), 823k are enjoying Astro Superpack (Q1FY14: 784k), and 107k have taken up Astro Valuepack (Q1FY14: 35k).
Dato’ Rohana said, “Astro continues to be THE destination for sports. This coming year, we will be bringing ALL the 2013/14 Barclays Premier League matches, 2014 FIFA World Cup, 2014 Asian Games and 2014 Commonwealth Games. Our Sports customers may experience all live matches at home as well as on any smart device, wherever they maybe. Our local content will go from strength to strength with signature programmes such as Maharaja Lawak Mega 2013, Akademi Fantasia 2013, Kilauan Emas 3, Cin Cai Pun Hua Hee and Gala Gala Vaanavil. We are also excited to embrace all content windows from two weeks post cinema release through Astro First, six to twelve weeks through Astro Best to an increasingly comprehensive VOD library. This is in addition to more HD channels as well as the very best of international and regional content. This is our peak reinvestment year as we migrate our customers onto the Astro B.yond platform and to prepare for more capacity coming online next year. With more capacity, our customers can look forward to even better content choices, value and experiences with us.”
