Star Media’s event segment posts 10% revenue growth
In the events and exhibition business, the group said that Cityneon would continue to look for new opportunities and it would be complemented by VHE’s exhibitions on The Avengers and Transformers.
PETALING JAYA: Star Media Group Bhd’s event, exhibition, interior and thematic segment saw a 10.3% increase in revenue in the first quarter ended March 31, marking another milestone of it being a significant contributor to the media group.
The event, exhibition, interior and thematic segment of Star Media Group that comprises the businesses carried out by Cityneon Holdings Ltd and i.Star Ideas Factory Sdn Bhd (Perfect Livin’) saw its revenue rising to RM42.02mil compared with RM38.09mil in the first quarter of last year.
The media group attributed the performance of the segment largely to Cityneon’s Victory Hill Exhibitions Pte Ltd (VHE), a company with global rights to produce, exhibit and market characters from The Avengers and Transformers series.
With an ongoing show in Paris, VHE contributed to Cityneon and the segment’s performance.
The increased top line significantly cut the losses from the event, exhibition, interior and thematic segment from RM5.29mil last year to RM1.76mil in the current quarter.
Overall, Star Media Group saw its revenue decline by 8.6% in the first quarter to RM198.73mil compared with RM217.43mil in the similar period last year.
This resulted in profit attributable to shareholders decreasing to RM14.86mil from RM23.92mil last year.
The print and digital segment, which is the mainstay of the group, registered a lower revenue of 12.7% due to economic uncertainties and poor consumer sentiment, that resulted in overall newspaper advertising expenditure (adex) falling by 12.3% in the first quarter.
As a result, pre-tax profit for the print and digital segment declined to RM27.16mil in the first quarter compared with RM44.44mil last year.
The radio broadcasting segment recorded a loss before tax of RM360,000 on a lower revenue of RM855,000, while the television channel segment registered a loss before tax of RM1.98mil on a decreased turnover of RM2.02mil.
Going forward, the group expected adex to be soft for the rest of the year amid a sluggish global economy and weak commodity prices. Nevertheless, the group said it would continue to defend the print segment whilst building on other media platforms.
In the events and exhibition business, the group said that Cityneon would continue to look for new opportunities and it would be complemented by VHE’s exhibitions on The Avengers and Transformers.
