BENGALURU: Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Limited (AsiaSat) revenue of HK$ 1,272.39 million for the year ended 31 December 2016 (FY-16), down 2.9 per cent compared to HK$ 1,310.99 million for 2015 primarily due to reduced short-term revenue from AsiaSat 3S says the company. If excluding the short-term non-recurring AsiaSat 3S revenue, revenue grew by about three per cent it adds in an earnings release.
The company’s operating profit at HK$ 511.33 declined 16 per cent in FY-16 as compared to HK$ 608.69 million reported for the previous year. Profit before tax declined 14.1 per cent for FY-16 to HK$ 456.98 million from HK$ 532 million in FY-15. However, FY-16 profit attributable to owners was maintained at HK$ 430 million (2015: HK$ 440 million), as a result of lower income tax charges following the reversal of a provision made in previous years. The AsiaSat board has proposed dividend of HK$0.20 per share for the year.
The satellite communications company says that combined new and renewed contracts during the year were valued at HK$ 1,870 million (2015: HK $1,310 million). As at 31 December 2016, the value of contracts on hand increased by 16 per cent to HK$ 4,067 million (2015: HK$ 3,517 million).
On the operational front, the company says that utilisation of AsiaSat 4, AsiaSat 5, AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 7 as of 31 December 2016 stood at 67 per cent (99 transponders utilised), with AsiaSat 8’s entire Ku-band payload fully leased at 4 degrees West and AsiaSat 3S operating in inclined orbit to provide service in Asia.
AsiaSat 9, a replacement for AsiaSat 4 and planned for launch in late 2017, will offer additional capacity serving new markets for Direct-to-Home (DTH), regional video distribution, private networks and broadband services
The company claims that it continued to lead the industry in advanced technology through advocating Ultra HD (UHD) broadcasting in Asia with its free-to-air UHD channel ‘4K-SAT’ on AsiaSat 4, and evaluating opportunities to develop its High Throughput Satellite (HTS) Ka-band capabilities.
Company speak
AsiaSat’s Chairman, JU Wei Min, said, “In the coming year, the Board of Directors is cautiously optimistic on the economic prospects for the region, which, despite relatively flat indicators for some markets continues to invest in new telecommunications and media infrastructure, as well as renewing and updating existing facilities. New DTH platforms focused on smaller emerging markets remain attractive, especially given the need for relevant local-language services.”
“In order to address the ever-increasing, long-term demand for new data transmission capacity AsiaSat will continue to evaluate opportunities to develop its HTS Ka-band capabilities, carefully monitoring and benefiting from the technical and commercial progress of deployments of IoT, UHD and other consumer driven services,” JU added.
