Asian Pay Television Trust posts Q1 DPU of 1.625 S cents

ASIAN Pay Television Trust (APTT) posted unchanged distribution per unit (DPU) of 1.625 Singapore cents for the fiscal first quarter ended March 31, 2018, to be paid on June 28, 2018.

The trust also reaffirmed distribution guidance of 6.5 Singapore cents per unit for the year ended Dec 31, 2018, unchanged from 2017.

The trust clocked a 6.8 per cent fall in revenue to S$77.01 million, down from S$82.59 for the corresponding period a year ago, dented by "challenging operating and economic conditions" in Taiwan.

In constant Taiwan dollar terms, revenue for the quarter was 5.6 per cent lower than the previous corresponding quarter.

Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) came in at S$45.47 million, a 7 per cent fall from Q1 2017.

Foreign exchange contributed to a negative variance of 1.2 per cent for the quarter compared to the previous year-ago period, the trust said in an exchange filing.

"Although the trust had a slow start in 2018, our Ebitda for the full year is expected to be at the same level as 2017. This would be driven mainly by broadband, which has showed reasonable progress in the quarter given the increase in RPUs (revenue generating units) and a stable ARPU (average revenue per user)," said chief executive Brian McKinley.

Overall, Mr McKinley said, the trust remains cautiously optimistic regarding its progress throughout 2018 and will continue to monitor market dynamics, along with enhancing service offerings to drive growth.

APTT is a business trust in Asia focused on the pay-TV business, and has an investment mandate to acquire controlling interests in and to own, operate and maintain pay-TV and broadband businesses in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.