ZHULIAN operating cashflow is still negative for Q1/23. If company keeps losing monies, how can it continue to pay its high dividend of 3+3+3+3 + 5 special dividend. Eventually, that special dividend of 5 sen will get cut to zero. Then the table 3 sen quarterly dividend will get cut to zero eventually. Then what?

Basically ZHULIAN's business needs to make Operating Profit again to support its future dividends.

ZHULIAN high dividend yield is not sustainable by the business. Last FYE EPS is only 8.33 sen. The year before 9 sen. Whereas Total Dividend paid is 3+3+3+3+5 special dividend = 17 sen, more than earnings. For now, it has a cash chest but that cash chest is declining as the business doesn't support the dividend payout.

A long term dividend investor's fears is a dividend cut. Right now, at RM1.85, the Dividend yield is very high since 17 sen / 1.85 = 9%. However, if long term dividend is 8 sen, then, the Dividend can get cut by nearly 50%, dropping that down to 4.5%. Why take the risk? Keep your money in EPF and earn 5%-6% safely.

The business model that relies on emotional connections with individuals is at threat. Something seems broken, as economies have reopened, yet, last Q EPS is weak at only 1.49 sen. Extrapolating gives 6 sen EPS for the whole year, that's not good.

Even if one is optimistic that ZHULIAN can earn 9 sen going forward in EPS and assuming we require 6% dividend yield (to be better than EPF), price needs to drop to RM1.50 before I am interested.

The REIT pays 2x per year dividend. Last 2 dividends is 2.43 sen, giving a Dividend Yield of 7.3% at 33.5 sen.
7.3% is higher than EPF rate, but this dividend is more likely to reduce over the next 5 years than EPF. The reason is because if interest costs keep rising then, the dividend is likely to keep dropping.

So, to compensate shareholders, a price of 33 to 33.5 sen is needed to give 7-8% dividend yield.

The concern with this REIT is its high interest expense relative to its declining revenues. REIT still needs to make profits to deliver the high dividends to shareholders. At 31/3/23, the interest expense is 31.3m giving only 14.2m PBT. Whereas the year before, interest expense was lower at 26.8m. The weighted average cost of interest is now 4.42% vs 3.18% the year before. If rates keep rising and revenues don't improve, price and dividends will keep reducing. The gearing ratio is not too bad at 49% but other details like average cost of interest, revenues, etc. matters also. At the end of the day, this REIT is still a business and it needs to deliver the profits to shareholders.

With NAV of 1.17, the best way is for management to do its job i.e. consider ways to unlock and sell some of the assets to pay off debts, reduce its interest expense, and pay more profits to shareholders. Either Management is not competent, or the market values of these properties are not real i.e. just what's appearing on paper only and cannot be realized in practice. Management probably needs to change.

Since 2015, the yearly (taxable) dividend has dropped at nearly 9% per annum, instead of growing.
2015 dividend was 4.59 sen. Subsequent years dropped to 3.65 (2016), then rise a bit to 3.78 (2017), but dropped again to 3.6 (2018), 3.015 (2019), 2.538 (2020). In 2021, tries to go up to 2.718 (2021) but dropped again in 2022 to 2.43. The question is will this dividend keep dropping in future years? This REIT has lost a lot of trust with investors since 2015 and probably since peak at 2013 and before that.

Its 2 Cyberjaya Office properties (Prima 9 and 10) hasn't panned out well. Prima 9 is terrible occupancy. The optimist could say with below 50% occupancy, maybe the only way is up, but that Office property is not attractive. REIT is only as good as its ability to deliver revenue, profits and eventually dividends.

At current price of 0.32 to 0.335, stock is making new all time lows which attracts bargain hunters. I will make my first entries at 33-33.5 sen. At this price, it should have reflected most of the fears. Price is still downtrending - e.g. it still trades below the 200dMA, but the low price requires courage to enter when everyone else is fearful.

Tom Yam, the long term dividend yield of SPTOTO has probably dropped from the old days of paying 4 sen dividend 4 times a year or 16 sen per year. The lowest yearly dividend is 7 sen which is in 2022. The last 4 Quarter dividend sum is 9.5 sen. If SPTOTO can pay back dividends 4 times per year at 2.5 sen, total is 10 sen.

At RM1.43:
- 10 sen dividend yield = 10/143 = 6.99% or nearly 7%. That's quite decent.
- 7 sen minimum historical dividend yield = 7/143 = 4.90% which still beats FD.

This assumes SPTOTO share price is near bottom, and it probably is based on its 20 year share price history.

Market questions if SPTOTO could go back to its glory days. One doesn't buy SPTOTO in order to break-it up as its NAV is only 72 sen, lower than current price. One owns SPTOTO because of its dividend paying ability, it's business and license to generate profits consistently. However, in past 3 years, its ability to generate consistent dividend is questionable, its future outlook less certain than 5 years ago. Nevertheless, the lower price compensates for that less certain outlook. IF it can relive its glory days, then, current price is a good investment. IF not, then, it should still beat FD rates although slightly less clear (still majority odds) it should edge out EPF returns.

I like AmInvest coverage of Astro end March 2023.
Investment Highlights
We downgrade Astro Malaysia (Astro) to HOLD with a lower DCF-derived fair value (FV) of RM0.68/share (vs RM1.02/share previously). Our FV ... implies a FY24F PE of 9x, near its 5-year low of 8x.
:
Astro did not declare a dividend for 4QFY23. DPS for FY23 amounted to 3 sen (FY22: 6.8 sen) in total. This translates to a pay-out ratio of 60% and is a departure from the minimum pay-out policy of 75%. Management intends to resume dividend payments in FY24F. Looking ahead, Astro offers FY24F-26F dividend yields of 6%-7% based on a pay-out ratio of 60%.
:
TV’s PBT halved YoY to RM266mil in FY23 due to decreased subscription and TV ad revenue, as well as higher broadband cost and content cost.

The only reason I haven't sold Astro is because getting 5% dividend yield is decent, if Astro is near bottom. One reason to think it may be near bottom is because Analysts have finally start to catch up with the declining price. The past few years, analysts are always constant calling Buy, Buy, Buy, with TP higher than current price. But we are now starting to see Analyst TP being lower than Astro's current price. May not be bottom yet, but one more push to the bottom. When majority of analysts starts to be negative on Astro, that's when the bottom is near.

In short, I own ASTRO, but I am not buying any more due to this silly rumour. I'm a value investor who loves high dividend yield stocks when nobody else wants them, I love stocks on the cheap, but I have enough cheap ASTRO and disappointed that they had to conserve cash desperately and stopped dividends for the first time in Astro's very long consistent paying dividend history. The new Kwailou CEO is probably the cause of this, they don't really care much about history, which means Astro is either going to go up in a big way, or go down in a big way when the CEO is desperate. Oh, he will get desperate - just give him time to hang himself. I think 12 months should do it. 12 months is also good for the private investor.

It is amazing how many gullible people are out there saying things like "no dividend this quarter because privatisation is coming". That is just silly and show zero understanding on how the Board and Senior Management works. Let's say Board and Senior management are fully aware of a privatization coming. They then inform Bursa that they have received nothing when Bursa asks a few days ago. If they stop there, and later a privatisation comes, all the Board members are probably unfit to become Board members and Senior Management will be put on a hot spot. Meaning, now that Bursa has clarified, any privatisation now have to wait for at least another 6 months so that the market forgets. it also benefits the private investor to wait another 6-12 months to let Astro die a slow death, especially after it falls below 60 sen in 1-2 months time when there's no privatisation ... LOL

The private investor is now frantically revising its offer after reading this ... LOL.

That new kwailou CEO won't be able to make any difference to the sunset industry anyway, so, wait for another 6-12 months, the stock goes no where, and the bidder eventually comes in and offer 20% higher when the new kwailou CEO keeps bleeding the company to death ....

How many bidders are there in the market today to privatise Astro? If there is only 1, why pay double when an offer like 20% higher should be enough?

It'll be funny if a bidder waits for 6 months and then comes in and offer say 20% higher than the average market price over the past 12 months near 70 sen. Then, those speculators who jumped in on privatization news might have to dispose at a loss, causing Astro to fall back to 60 sen again.

At 69.5 sen, Astro is valued at RM3.6 billion. Pay TV contributes 90% of its total revenues. It supplies 5.7 million homes. So, each home has to roughly generate RM3.6 billion / 5.7 million homes = RM631 net profit over say next 10-20 years.

I suppose if there is a private investor who believe they can double that, then, they might offer something a little bit higher than 70 sen, but they won't offer RM1.40 because they have to do a whole lot of work and they need to be rewarded.

I think the market price of 70 sen is about right, but the "hope" is if/when a bidder comes in, then, for a short while, price might get frenzied and ridiculous and it's then time to dispose.

Privatisation is fake news. Why would anyone buy a sunset business at even 80 sen, when Net Assets is only 20 sen? Astro has huge debts, why would any private person buy that massive debt? What special thing can any private investor do to Astro that it couldn't do when it is public? Astro stops dividend payments because it has to conserve cash to simply survive. Privatisation here simply does not make any commercial sense at all! I wish Astro can rise to 80 sen but right now, it's hope at best. Anyway, here's "hoping" for privatisation, but seriously, why would anyone privatise this sunset business?

Astro's last quarterly earnings is so sad at 0.1 sen. Even if it earns 1 sen next year, the P/E at 50 sen is like 50 times. Due to high borrowing costs, and mistakes in hedging, 50 sen is too high a price to pay if you are a long term investor who plans to hold the stocks for several years as price can expect to keep going down long term, even with short term spikes up.

Astro can try to beautify its books for a while. Make it look like it gets its books in order for 1, 2 or even 3 quarters. But without genuine business improvement, that price spike is just going to get sold down again to make new lows.

If you keep selling at price spikes, you have an easy win with Astro.

So, all those brokers a few months back that says "Astro business model remains intact long term" failed to note the huge borrowings and the huge permanent negative impact on earnings arising from interest costs. Interest costs is real. It's a real drag and can bring business down to become insolvent if cannot pay. Banks wants their loans back regardless, even if it means dragging Astro to bankruptcy court in next few years if Astro cannot pay.

Astro revenue is like 4 billion a year. Losing 2% revenue each year is peanuts, when that's only 80 million and when profit margin is like 10%, that's only 8 million earnings loss a year.

That Finance cost in 1 quarter spiked up 100+ million.

Basically, Astro gambled in huge borrowings. Now, it's stuck and has to pay the price.

Funny thing is same time last year, dividend yield was also very high. 31/1/22 full 12m dividend is 6.75 sen. Now, 31/1/23 12m dividend is looking more like 3.75 sen. So, back then, dividend yield is high, but problem is price halved, so, when dividend halved, dividend yield still high but already lost 50% in capital loss.

Buying when dividend yield is high must be careful. The only way to protect oneself is don't buy too much and stop buying when wrong. Until you can see a positive catalyst in advance of the market. Not dreams or hope, but one that will bring in higher earnings. Very hard to do.

HLIB projected dividend yield of 10% is dreaming. There's no way 2023 or 2024 dividends is going to be 6 sen. Already YTD from last 3 quarters is only 3 sen and declining. It will be lucky if next quarter declares 0.75 sen. With downside price bias as it keeps reporting higher borrowing costs. Analysts are usually slow to adjust for stocks like this. 50 sen is very possible price target.

A year ago, broker house price targets were around RM1.50 or so. Today, the same broker house price targets are like 80 sen or halved. Moral of the story - broker houses cannot tell the future better than you or me. Most people saw the long term decline

ASTRO stock price crashed after 15 Dec after Quarterly announcement. It reflects the huge Finance cost arising from the permanent long term borrowing - USD loans increased by USD1 billion, attracting perennial high interest costs. Quarterly earnings fell from 106 sen last year in Qtr ending 10/21 down to 6 sen in Qtr ending 10/22. Future earnings could end up at single digit. No surprise because same time last year, Finance cost was only 27million, a year later 142 million per quarter. ASTRO is basically now bleeding in Finance cost every quarter by over 100 million, or nearly 500 million per year. Without earnings, without revenue growth, expect dividends to be cut. The Dividend yield will no longer be 10% for next 10 years. More like dividend trap.

Extreme state's decisions like this is what's spooking overseas investors. Outcome is eventual total Bursa under-valuation, not just limited to legal gambling stocks. Why invest in extremist states?

https://www.thestar.com.my/starpicks/2023/01/14/what-happens-when-you-buy-illegal-4d-in-malaysia - examples of issues from illegal gambling. Not only is it bigger than legal gambling, there's also the loss of tax revenues too. Making something illegal, other things equal, is more likely to attract associated illegal activities. The average person who earn RM5,000 a month and bet RM10 in Sport Toto isn't going to then steal things because that is just entertainment, probably no different than spending on a packet of cigarettes. Or are we banning this too?

""With this addiction, there is often involvement in criminal activities such as theft and robbery, which can lead to further mental health problems.""
Wow - is there even any scientific, statistical or even any academic research evidence that shows that Sports Toto players are involved in theft, robbery which then led to mental health problems? Or is this done to encourage more illegal, underground gambling?

"The market is obviously mispricing Genting Bhd with an unjustifiable discount." -- No. Market never mispriced. The discount is justifiable as it cannot return cash to shareholders given in a few years times, PAS takes over Malaysia and Genting business suffers again. Over the past decades, the Islamic trend in Malaysia is unmistakeable, and this trend will only get worse for Genting in the coming decades. Noone can stop this trend in Malaysia.

Genting is a perpetual laggard when it comes to global gaming stocks, so, no point comparing against non Malaysia gaming stocks. So, now Anwar wins but who knows when before PAS takes over - global long term investors simply don't want to have that Malaysia uncertainty when there's so many other great choices globally.

Sure it's hugely undervalued on that metric, but until Genting disposes its Singapore holdings, it can never unlock that value and market doesn't believe Genting will ever dispose its Singapore holdings, so, what good is it to Genting investors if it never disposes completely - it assume such disposal fetches current market price, which is also a question mark too.

Hence, Genting will forever trades at a huge discount. It's just the way it's located (in Malaysia) and structured permanently like that.

Looks like fund managers are now picking up value stocks as their outlook for new Malaysia government is net positive. ASTRO is beaten down too much. If the new government doesn't screw up, we will have seen the bottom for ASTRO.

Market now realizes that LCTITAN NTA is 5.6x. When it was trading at 1.2x, market forgot that its cash holdings were greater than that. In other words, Market was so pessimistic that LCTITAN won't reward its shareholders, that it only saw the 2 quarterly losses and forgot that there's so much cash in the coffers. And LCTITAN could pay out its cash more than RM1.2x if it wanted to. And now, with just 13.98 sen dividend, market changes its mind that LCTITAN could pay shareholder more than RM1.2x and still not need to take up debts immediately (but eventually will have to to fund for Indonesia capex expansion) but even then, its NTA of 5.6x speaks of a lot of buffer there, where Debt / Equity, even if add another RM1 is still healthy. This stock got beaten so badly, when foreigners come back to Malaysia, they will look at this stock and realize how cheap it was trading just a month ago ...

Nice Special Dividends, nearly 13.98 sen, roughly 50% of PATAMI. Good that this stock takes care of its shareholders with its dividend policy. Otherwise, its expansion that consumes cash with no payouts to shareholder looks wrong. This will be my biggest dividend to be collected. I'm glad I averaged down again at 1.31, but average cost is still 1.62xx.

MAXIS flies! 4.11 high at the time of writing. Took 20% partial profits as I averaged down to lower my average cost down to 3.88. Hope the last 2 digit will bring more good luck to come!

Sorry, the RM12-14 price target is maybe in 2-4 years time rather than next 12 months. 12 months is possible but may not be likely unless sentiment really changes in the market. The reliable and high dividend yield though is very nice at this juncture especially after we’ve seen bottom.

Perhaps we’ve seen the bottom for BAT already after Khairy lost. GeG was always too ambitious and Khairy seen as the face of it. Market should be pricing in for at least 4-5 year delay which should translate another RM2-4 rise over next year once government is stable and GeG is indefinitely deferred;) I am glad I averaged down at RM 10, lowering my average cost at 10.4, now one of my biggest holdings. My actual cost lower from past dividends collected.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/astro-invest-more-local-content-streaming-services-%E2%80%94-group-coo.

1.5 months ago, Euan keeps trying to change market perception of ASTRO, talking about "transformation plans", "further invests in global streaming services", "reimagine business model", "making ASTRO an incredible effective machine", "partnering with global OTT players like Netflix, Disney+, ...", "aggregate streaming services", etc. ... - but ...

1. Obviously, market doesn't believe him, as price drops hugely after that.
2. Does ASTRO management really know what to do to arrest that subscriber decline, or are they just grasping at straws with beautiful conceptual market words, where 3 months later, subscriber revenue keep falling i.e. Marketing BS with no real positive impact result?
3. Would be good to see a real analyst who projects declining revenue, declining profits and then put a number to the price, even if lower than current price. That may then set the floor to the price.
4. ASTRO management needs to plan for declining revenue, cut costs, keep a lean team and prepare for a sunset company. Otherwise, keeping costs high when revenue declines will drive this company to zero eventually. No point throwing more $$$ into a sunset industry. They now have a tough choice - spend and revenue keep declining, or reduce spending substantially and revenues decline faster but may give higher profits. When ASTRO first started, nobody saw how fast Netflix, Disney+ etc. will grow nor how fast illegal TV boxes will grow, but we are here now, the new reality is here now, and the question is will ASTRO do the right thing to shareholders i.e. recognize this is a sunset industry, keep costs down to only necessary activities, look to sell itself to newer growing players i.e. do the right thing for its shareholders.

cheeseburger, if you haven't got any exposure in ASTRO yet, then, I agree there's no rush to enter into ASTRO as the long term decline in subscriber revenue is a real one and that decline is still the case even for its most quarter reports.

And yes, there is no catalysts for growth in sight yet to arrest this decline. ASTRO relies so much on subscriber growth to generate its earnings, any new investor into ASTRO should wait to see a real catalyst, a real "inflexion point" to positively turn around ASTRO's business model.

For this kind of business, ASTRO making all time price low, etc. is not a real reason to enter for long term investment, because many times in the past, when it first made new lows, wait and price keeps making new lows. And investing for high current dividend yield also doesn't make sense when it keeps cutting its dividends, meaning what looks like high dividends can become smaller and smaller dividends in the future. The combined effects of long term declining price and long term reduction in future dividends doesn't justify entry.

As for me, I'm stuck with my small % holding. I am now at a stage where I am praying for short term price volatility to reduce my position at a smaller % loss. I am hoping for price volatility in the next 6 months to retest 80-82 sen and there I plan to reduce my position. There is no guarantee price will get there. In any case, I'm not in a rush but every lousy quarterly report earnings that keeps showing declining revenue growth will probably press the price down even further and further. As they said, support once broken becomes resistance, so, I'm going to join these sellers to sell at each resistance and try to reduce my losses, as it is really very hard for ASTRO to positively turn around its business model. All the BUY call analysts are hoping too much, when the positive catalyst - the real change - and the real result - is still not there yet.

Hmmm ... if anyone had followed both "trading" calls on LCTITAN and NCT, that would be 2 out of 2 losses. I suppose the next trade might win or lose.

If technical trading profits is only a coin toss (50/50), isn't this a losing game after commissions? All that "technical analysis", time spent - isn't that just a waste of time?

Where's the LONG TERM proof that these "technical analysis" really makes monies, really grow your account after 5, 10 years?

H1/2022 revenue is only RM90 million, so, they won't make that big jump in revenue to catch market attention. So, maybe 2023 might be their luckier year ... investors must be super patient with this stock. If not patient, then sell so that price finds bottom faster :-)

And sadly, the revenue picture is not good.
- 2019 to 2021: ranges around 200-250 million per year.
- 2016 to 2018: ranges around say 250-300 million p.a. (volatile)
- 2012 to 2015: typically above 350 million p.a.

So, over past 10 years, their revenue has been on a downtrend.

They probably need to make a jump to around 260-270 milllion per year revenue and market will wake up and pay attention.

Looking closer at the 8 segments, they are not shrinking industry but looks to be enduring for a very long time (except perhaps for LED where one day, there will be newer and better ways).

However, the industries is not the problem per se - they are very competitive, and how GTRONIC executes, relative to their competitors, is probably the key. And the measure of execution success will go back to revenues and margins, especially over the long past, say past 5-10 years.

So, I keep coming back to the past - were they successful, what's the trend, how well do they execute, ... because that's probably going to be a very good indicator of their future success.

And with the new young CEO, suddenly, another question mark is thrown into the picture.

Anyone knows how much revenue they get for each of these segment?
1. integrated circuits,
2. chip carrier quartz crystal products,
3. optoelectronic products,
4. LED lighting system,
5. LED components and modules,
6. small outline components,
7. sensors and optical products and
8. technical plating services

Not sure of categorization. They lump all 8 together into 1 group, suggesting volatile revenues between groups. Not clear which carries higher margins but in H1/2022, total revenue drop vs H1/2021, but margins rise, so, probably more shift towards higher margin segments.

At the end of the day, this is a small / micro cap, so, performance will be super volatile (when it drops, it can drop hard, and vice versa) - need. a strong stomach
.

They sound cautious and prudent, pointing out challenges and how management has responded to those challenges - results were there - despite lower revenues in H1/2022 vs H1/2021, margins were better, so, that's good management. They think 2022 should be satisfactory, and if you trust them, then, that's probably true.

Personally, I like to invest in decent companies facing temporary problems where we have good chance of knowing that in 1-5 years time, they will solve their temporary problems and turnaround. Mr Market is emotional.

My only uncertainty is I don't really know their business, their people, their culture, the new young CEO, what proven experience does she have to turn around. But she's the daughter. And she has a lot to prove I guess. So, we'll see. I own < 2.5%, I may add when I see bottom but I plan to keep it small % because if I'm wrong, hopefully it doesn't hurt. But I'm optimistic.

Latest Q2 Prospects (Coy's own words):
The Group's operations may continue to be impacted from the highly infectious Omicron variant of Covid-19.
In addition, the semiconductor industry continues to experience challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical
issues resulting in supply chain disruption, uncertain end demand, rising inflation and manpower shortages.
The Group has taken measures and shall continue to strive to minimize any potential exposures or disruptions
arising from these challenges.
The business outlook is challenging with the unpredictable market conditions. The Group cautiously expect
the financial performance to remain satisfactory for Year 2022 amidst the uncertainties ahead.

Their business:
The Group’s operating segment comprises of only one key business activities, which is the manufacture,
assembly, testing and sales of integrated circuits, chip carrier quartz crystal products, optoelectronic products,
LED lighting system, LED components and modules, small outline components, sensors and optical products
and technical plating services for the semiconductor and electronics industries.

Their business prospects published in Annual Report (over 6 months old):

Prospects - The current pandemic did not end in year 2021 despite the introduction of vaccines globally, with demand and use of electronic gadgets, connectivity, cloud and virtual meetings continuing to be strong. The acceleration in the progress of 5G, artificial intelligent (“AI”) and IoT together with the adoption of electric vehicles (“EV”) are the technology themes that continue to create demand for chips and other components that help to proliferate the enabling of these technologies.
We continue to leverage our experience in miniaturized sensors to explore new product development exposure in the areas like bio sensing, 5G and advanced packaging that is poised to reap the benefits of these technology rollout. We also expect our existing product of laser headlamp components to show healthy growth while complementing the growth from adoption of EV and satisfying the hunger for new power efficient technology.
The continued US-China trade tensions would also provide outsourcing opportunities for companies like us in Malaysia as our potential customers assess the viability of shifting and diversifying their supply chains.
All these new opportunities are expected to fall nicely in place where our new factory expansion project of creating an additional 25,000 square feet of additional manufacturing space would be completed by Quarter 1 2022, thus ready to take on these new opportunities.

My thoughts: (1) They lost a major client last year, and scrambling to cover the gap created - that's a permanent loss, unless they can really cover. Pandemic didn't make it easy. (2) For their remaining business, continued demand means stability and maybe a little bit organic growth when business recover, so, near bottom. (3) They try to leverage on their sensor experience in new projects, but market is pessimistic and doesn't seem to be convinced - so, Company need to prove by launching and collecting monies. (4) New factor, creating extra 25,000 when just lost 1 big client is usually not convincing to market. So, market reacts by falling, which is typical short term mentality.

The key question is - are these permanent or temporary set backs? My guess is when they eventually cover their lost business, market will have forgotten the old loss and suddenly the share price can rise - so, if you buy, it means you must be confident that they will be able to turn around their business eventually. My problem is (4) - the timing is not so good. Maybe too ambitious? But no big mistake.

Price falls to RM1.04. Clear downtrend, not yet over. No rush to average down, but looking for some landing ground before adding. Won't chase as Price is fairly valued today relative to recent performance - compare to last year, this year's Operational Cash Flows has halved, their cash balance reduces slightly, suggesting challenges to monetize their products. But the reduced earnings still covers dividends very well. There's obviously large business fears here, so, has definite risks (it can go lower) but also potential future rewards too (it can go higher eventually). In a downtrend, it is risky to average down, so, better to just wait and watch until some stabilization.

Past couple weeks, YTL prints lower lows and possibly lower highs (although today is still not yet finished). If indeed lower highs, maybe got decent chance to get in at 55 sen.

Pinky, no need to be defensive ... welcome others to point out the Risks, because without Risks, there is no reward.

1. To me, you don't invest in REIT completely ignoring its NAV too. I too look at Definitely Dividend income as higher priority.
2. I don't see how you will get more than 100% occupancy. Sometimes, depending on price, yes, less than 100% occupancy. It's all about future price gains and future drivers to price growth.
I'm happy to hear you have a good laugh!

To keep the story short, comparing Q1 to Q2:
- Revenue shrunk -9% and further shrunk -11%: ASTRO needs to grow its future revenue.
- Lease on MEASAT3 transponders non-current loans grow USD900m. ASTRO is very serious to grow its future revenue.
- Price at 0.665 is all time low since inception.
What's your take? Is this company accepting its death? Or is this company fighting back extremely hard?
I am taking a bet it is fighting hard for its survival with its new Group CEO.

After earnings announcement on 26 Sep, the share price has broken support near 83.5 sen and crashed. I averaged down at 0.665, as it looks over-extended. That announcement showed increase in USD borrowings by nearly USD900m vs prior report. That's a massive increase in borrowings, equal to Astro's entire market cap of around RM3.5n. This is around the announcement change in Group CEO from Mr Henry Tan to Euan. As I look deeper, it's to lease more transponders on MEASAT3 satellite. My guess is ASTRO is not taking the price fall lightly but digging deeper to turnaround their business, looking for high future growth? If you are pessimistic about ASTRO's future, then, I guess this is getting to their grave faster with even bigger debts, if the business plan fails. ASTRO really need to explain better the future growth in their business plans, and I like to see Analysts comments to ASTRO management future business plans. As the price fall is over-extended to 0.665, I bought more. Let's see if this is a correct decision or not over the next few years. As usual, this is high risk, keep it a small % of one's diversified portfolio.

My one consolation is that ASTRO's dividend yield is high and is extremely well covered by their Operating Cash Flow. For 6m to 31/7, Operating cashflow is 665m vs Dividend bill of 182m; H1 earnings is 190m also covers it. So, near term dividends should be alright. But ASTRO manages its dividends soundly - if earnings fall, they'll reduce dividends which I like because that's a good sign of a soundly managed company. At RM0.665, the valuations are not demanding at all. A market cap of 3.5 billion generating 0.7m of Operating Cashflow over 6 months is very undemanding valuation.