Malaysia’s Astro in “resilient” shape
March 26, 2021
By Chris Forrester
Malaysia’s pay-TV operator Astro Malaysia, in its latest financials, says that its Q4 performance remained strong despite the recent lockdown.
The company said that its balance sheet “continued to be robust, cash generative, cost disciplined and proactive in its capital management.”
Henry Tan, Group CEO at Astro said: “With 3 consecutive quarters of recovery, Astro ended FY21 with revenue and PATAMI (Profit after tax and minority interests) resilient at RM4.4 billion (€ 0.9bn) and RM540 million respectively.”
“With the latest ‘Cloud Recording’ and ‘Play from Start’ features, our connected 4K-UHD Ultra Box installs recorded a 5-fold increase to 230,000 and On Demand videos streamed have tripled to 222 million in FY21. We also recently introduced Ulti Box, a HD variant STB to bring connected features to more households. To deliver a higher quality viewing experience, all Standard Definition channels are being upgraded to HD. Astro GO, enhanced with ‘Pre-Access’ and ‘download-to-go’ features, saw an increase in its monthly active users by 13 per cent y-o-y to 1.3 million while its average weekly viewing time rose 8 per cent to 187 minutes,” he added.
Astro says it remains cautious on uncertainties relating to Covid-19, even as Malaysia commences its national vaccine rollout. Any re-imposition or tightening of movement control orders to curb Covid-19 outbreaks may impact advertising and commercial revenues.