Shares of Star Publications wilt on weaker Q3 earnings report

Kuala Lumpur

THE shares of Star Publications declined 1.3 per cent on Thursday to RM2.27 (87 Singapore cents), following the Malaysian newspaper publisher's report of weaker third-quarter earnings for its 2014 financial year, which closes at end- December.

Star's reported earnings of RM34 million for its third quarter brought its nine-month earnings to RM90 million, 68 per cent of the full-year consensus forecasts. Even so, that included a one-off RM11.1 million expense for layoff benefits.

The performance of Star, Malaysia's largest publisher of English newspapers in both print and digital editions, might be symptomatic of a larger malaise ailing the newspaper industry in the age of the In…