Media Prima Posts RM51.6M Net Earnings In Its First Full-Year Profit Since 2018
Its group managing director Rafiq Razali said what was thought to be the company's most challenging year has turned into its best performing year over the past six years.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 23 Feb 2022, 05:30 PM
Media Prima Bhd posted a net profit of RM51.6 million for the financial year ending 31 December 2021 (FY21), reversing a net loss of RM18.1 million for its previous financial year
According to New Straits Times, the earnings made in FY21 marks Media Prima's first full-year profit since FY18.
The group — which owns a complete repertoire of media-related businesses, such as television, print, radio, out-of-home advertising, content creation, and digital media — said despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, its group revenue increased 8% to RM1.1 billion against RM1 billion in FY20.
It cited stronger advertising revenue to the increment, which was supported by the group's sales arm, Media Prima Omnia.
"FY21 was an outstanding year for us at Media Prima," said group chairman Datuk Seri Dr Syed Hussian Aljunid in a statement today, 23 February.
"We are extremely proud of the progress we made as we exceeded many of our FY21 targets ahead of schedule."
"Our digital and commerce segments remained strong against greater competition and fast-changing media trends. All this fuels our confidence in Media Prima's future and establishes a much-needed foundation to grow."
Syed Hussian added that with more economic sectors reopening in 2022, the group will strive harder to achieve higher milestones and will do more for its audience and advertisers.
Meanwhile, group managing director Rafiq Razali said what was thought to be the company's most challenging year has turned into its best performing year over the past six years
"We posted our first full-year profit since FY15 with the exception of FY18 which recorded a one-off gain from the sale of the group's property assets," he said.
"Our fourth quarter (Q4) FY21 results not only represent our sixth consecutive quarterly profit, but also our best quarterly normalised net profit since Q4 FY15."
Additionally, Rafiq revealed that Media Prima remained Malaysia's number one choice for mobile content against bigger competitors.
"We are also pleased to see signs of recovery for our publishing business which is seeing an improvement in printing and distribution revenue," he added.
"This is a huge achievement for us and we are extremely proud of the hard work of our team."
The group's strong advertising revenue was supported by its broadcasting business, which reported a 38% revenue growth against the previous year
"Content sales revenue tripled in FY21 against the previous year, underscoring the successful execution of our content distribution and programming strategy," New Straits Times quoted the group as saying.
"As one of Malaysia's largest content houses, Media Prima is poised to be the most strategic partner for existing and new over-the-top media players in the local market."
The group's publishing business, the New Straits Times Press (NSTP), also recorded profits in FY21 thanks to its optimal cost structure and growth in newspaper printing and distribution revenue of more than 20% for the year as compared to the same period of 2020.
"NSTP's online news portals myMetro (hmetro.com.my) and BH Online (bharian.com.my) ranked as the most read online news portals in Malaysia with eight million and 7.4 million total average unique visitors, respectively," it added.
The group said it will continue the growing momentum by accelerating revenue-generating initiatives in its advertising, digital, and commerce businesses.
It also said it will look out for collaboration to grow further and build on a competitive edge.
New Straits Times reported that Media Prima declared a first and final dividend of 1.5 sen per ordinary share for FY21.
