Star to leverage on new, fast-growing businesses

PETALING JAYA: Despite the continued challenging environment for the traditional print newspaper industry, Star Publications (M) Bhd will leverage on its new and fast-growing businesses to burnish its position as Malaysia’s top integrated media group.
“The Star is still the No 1 English paper in Malaysia, while The Star Online commands the largest audience among the local news portals. But expanding our digital presence is key.
“We are selling our content on a multimedia platform,” executive director and group chief editor Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai said, adding that The Star Online was set for a revamp on July 1.
Executive deputy chairman Datuk Vincent Lee
also told newsmen after the company’s AGM yesterday that LiTV, for
instance, had made inroads into the region, becoming Malaysia’s first
high-definition TV channel to do so.
LiTV is available in six countries - Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore.
Lee
declined to reveal if Star Publications was embarking on any fresh
mergers and acquisitions, but he said parties from the United States had
expressed interest in being shareholders of LiTV.
“The Star is diversifying into non-print media and hopes to see increased contribution from this segment in the years to come,” he said.
Lee said the company’s strategies were working, reflected in the higher circulation and readership.
The Star’s circulation rose during the April-May election season to 350,000 from the usual 300,000, according to Wong. The ePaper, meanwhile, enjoys some 50,000 subscriptions.
“We
are in the business of selling news. At the same time, we are
introducing many new features to keep the paper fresh,” he said.
“As
far as the print business is concerned, we are defending our market
share. Our display ads are doing better, although the classifieds have
taken a hit.
“This is normal for most print media organisations worldwide,” Lee said.
Nonetheless, he said a rebranding of The Star’s online classifieds, including StarProperty and StarJobs, was underway, giving them new exposure to Internet-based markets.
Star
Publications posted a 19.6% decline in its net profit for the first
quarter ended March 31, 2013, to RM26.09mil from RM32.45mil in the same
period last year.
In a note to the stock exchange, Star
Publications said its revenue fell 4.1% to RM220.62mil against
RM229.98mil, while earnings per share was lower at 3.53 sen, compared
with 4.39 sen previously.
The company said its print and new
media revenue dipped 2.9% and 14%, respectively, to RM176.82mil and
RM5.85mil on general election-related uncertainties, which had led to
caution among advertisers.