KUALA LUMPUR (May 24): Media Prima Bhd posted a net profit of RM3.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023, on the back of RM210.84 million in revenue.

Earnings per share stood at 0.36 sen, according to its filing to Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday (May 24).

The media group had changed its financial year end to June 30, from Dec 31, hence there is no comparative financial information for the latest quarter.

However, it compared its performance against the immediate preceding quarter ended Dec 31, 2022, noting that revenue had declined 17% from RM252.7 million due to the softer advertising market that had affected its media platforms.

The lower revenue had also pushed its profit before tax and profit after tax down by 62% and 80% respectively, to RM14 million and RM5.4 million.

Revenue across all of its segments fell quarter-on-quarter, led by digital media with the highest percentage drop of 28%.

Media Prima had attributed the declines in this quarter to the stronger seasonal ad spending in the Dec 31, 2022 period.

Meanwhile, for the 15 months ended March 31, 2023, the group reported a net profit of RM55.8 million and a revenue of RM1.2 billion.

Earnings per share stood at 5.03 sen.

The group said revenue for the period " was affected by the soft advertising market conditions, impacted by the local and global economic challenges and intense competition in the commerce segment, following the reopening of the economy in April 2022".

Its Omnia segment was the highest earner, with a revenue of RM908.9 million, thanks to encouraging overall advertising revenue from the group's out-of-home and digital media platforms.

The group said it expects the remainder of 2023 to be challenging due to fierce competition for audience share across the conventional media and social media landscape, which will affect advertising expenditure that is already weighed down by macroeconomic challenges such as higher inflation and interest rates.

"The group remains committed to facing these headwinds and shall continue to produce and deliver compelling content for audiences across its wide-reaching media platforms, while concurrently offering premium advertising inventory for advertisers.

"The group also sees opportunities in further monetising its large content library and dedicated audience base, through its growing video streaming service, Tonton," it said.

At the time of writing, Media Prima was up 10 sen or 2.35% to 43.5 sen. It had a market capitalisation of RM482.5 million.