Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd continues to be affected by weakness in subscription revenue in the first quarter of the 2024 financial year.
For the first quarter ending April 30, 2023, Astro's net profit declined 84% to RM15.9 million from RM100.02 million a year earlier as earnings were affected by high unrealized foreign exchange losses.
Meanwhile, revenue for the quarter decreased by 7.38% to RM891.3 million from RM962.09 million a year ago following a decline in revenue from subscriptions, advertising and merchandise sales.
When compared to the previous quarter, the group's net profit fell 70.97% from RM54.75 million, while revenue fell 10.05% from RM990.67 million.
Astro in its statement said that households and businesses will continue to be impacted by macroeconomic challenges, including slowing global growth, high interest rates and moderate but rising inflation.
Following that, it maintains a cautious outlook and will closely monitor business conditions while better managing costs.
In the meantime, Astro declared the first interim dividend of 0.25 sen per share, which will be paid on 18 July.
At the time of writing, Astro shares were down 4.55% to 63 sen with a market value of RM3.26 billion.
