KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): Star Media Group Bhd posted a net loss of RM15.71 million or loss per share of 2.16 sen for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 (4QFY20), from a net profit of RM230,000 a year ago, largely due to lower print revenue and an RM11.98 million impairment of assets.
In a bourse filing, the group said many businesses were shelving ad spend in favour of other priorities.
The group reported that its revenue fell 49.3% to RM50.95 million from RM76.06 million in 4QFY19.
Its radio and broadcasting segment posted RM6.27 million in revenue compared with RM7.19 million a year ago, whereas its event and exhibition segment top line fell to RM630,000 from RM930,000 in 4QFY19.
It did not specify revenue of its print and digital segment, only saying that “overall revenue was still down due to softness in the Malaysian economy, coupled by the effects of Covid-19”, but noting that digital revenue had risen by 17% from 4QFY19, mainly due to earnings from digital advertorial, branded content, programmatic and paywall subscription.
It did not declare any dividends for the latest quarter, compared with the two sen declared a year ago.
On a quarterly basis, Star Media Group’s revenue rose 5.68% from RM48.21 million posted in 3QFY20; however, the group also swung into the red from the RM26.92 million net profit or earnings per share (EPS) of 3.69 sen reported in the immediate preceding quarter.
For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020 (FY20), it posted a net loss of RM19.72 million or loss per share of 2.71 sen against a net profit of RM5.68 million or EPS of 0.77 sen. Revenue fell 37.83% to RM196.42 million from RM315.93 million.
It did not declare any dividends this year, compared with the two sen declared for FY19.
On its prospects, Star Media Group said it continued to make progress with its digital transformation initiatives to improve its cost and operational efficiencies.
Going forward, the group expects revenue from its digital segment to continue growing despite poor market conditions.
“The group will focus on using new technologies and analytics to improve, deepen and predict how our customers consume content with the end goal of increasing engagement and monetisation to drive new revenue streams beyond print.
Star Media Group has also embarked on various cost-cutting measures that include lowering headcount and “realignments in how we get back into the market”, especially after the movement control order (MCO).
It highlighted its strong balance sheet of over RM300 million with no borrowings as at Dec 31, 2020.
“This will act as a solid base for Star Media Group to capitalise on merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities during the market consolidation, and even penetrate into new businesses that have a promising outlook,” it said.
At the time of writing today, Star Media Group was down half a sen or 1.41% to 35 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM257.29 million.
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