Despite Slowdown Star Media Group posts higher pre-tax profit

(Marketingmagazine.com.my) – Prudent cost management and lower operating expenses has allowed Star Media Group Bhd to post an 11% rise in profit before tax (PBT) to RM170.07mil for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2015 compared to the previous corresponding period. At the same time revenue increased by 0.5% to RM1.02bil. This was achieved despite a slowdown in the economy and a challenging business environment.

The company said in a stock exchange filing last Friday that PBT increased to RM60.35mil for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2015 compared to RM32.30mil a year ago while revenue remained almost the same at RM280.77mil due to lower revenue from the print segment.

Net profit for the quarter under review more than doubled to RM52.05mil while for the full-year, net profit rose 16.6% to RM130.61mil.

Meanwhile, it said on a full-year basis, the print and digital segment saw PBT increase to RM171.88mil from RM162.82mil compared to the previous corresponding period as prudent cost management helped the segment to maintain profitability despite revenue decreasing due to poor consumer sentiment.

The television segment posted a narrower loss of RM7.99mil compared with the RM19.13mil of the previous period while revenue increased to RM12.02mil from RM10.88mil. The radio broadcasting segment also recorded a smaller loss of RM1.04mil.

It said the economy “remains highly challenging and advertising expenditure for the upcoming year 2016 is expected to remain soft”. It added that the media-related segments would continue to extend their reach to wider audiences by providing more bundled products and creative buys to advertisers.

It said the aggressive expansion into the digital businesses such as StarTV and audience interest marketing would continue while Cityneon would continue to look out for opportunities to grow its revenue base. Cityneon had acquired VHE last year to diversify revenue stream and enhance its performance in the forseeable future.

“VHE is projecting to open a minimum of three exhibitions – Avengers Station in Las Vegas, United States, Avengers Station in Paris, France and the Transformers Exhibition in Las Vegas in 2016. On the other hand, I.Star Ideas Factory will also continue its efforts to strengthen its market position,” it said.

The company said the board would continue to focus and strengthen its key strategies in the media industry.

“We will continue to defend the print segment whilst building on our other media platforms and also continue our prudent cost management,” the board said.