Asian Pay Television Trust's Q2 DPU falls to 1.625 Singapore cents

ASIAN Pay Television Trust's (APTT) distribution per unit (DPU) for the second quarter ended June 30, 2016, fell to 1.625 Singapore cents from two Singapore cents in the same quarter a year ago.

Total revenue slipped 5.4 per cent to S$78.21 million from S$82.68 million previously.

"Foreign exchange contributed to 3.7 per cent of the negative variance for the quarter compared to the prior corresponding period," said APTT in a press release on Friday.

Equity attributable to unitholders of the trust inched up to S$1.343 billion from the earlier S$1.339 billion.

APTT said that while growth in subscriber numbers is anticipated across Taiwan Broadband Communications' (TBC) service offerings, it warned that total revenue for 2016 is anticipated to be influenced by a number of factors.

It said: "These factors include the continued weakness in the Taiwanese economy, marginally lower Basic cable TV rates in three of TBC's five franchise areas and the non-recurrence of revenue generated in 2015 as a result of one-off items including higher advertising airtime sales generated in the lead-up to the Presidential and Legislative Yuan election.

"Consequently, TBC's overall EBITDA is expected to be marginally lower for full year 2016 compared to prior corresponding period."