ASTRO - Malaysian Direct Broadcast Satellite Pay TV Service Provider

Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad operates as an integrated consumer media entertainment group in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. The company is primarily engaged in the creation, aggregation, and distribution of content over various delivery platforms comprising pay-TV, radio, publications, and digital media. It offers 171 TV channels, including 68 Astro-created and branded channels, as well as 39 HD channels delivered via direct-to-home satellite TV, IPTV, and OTT platforms. The company has a customer base of 3.9 million residential customers. Astro provides HD, 3D, PVR, VOD, catch-up TV, and IPTV services through Astro B.yond and Astro On-The-Go. It also offers Njoi, a non-subscription based DTH satellite TV offering 22 TV and 20 radio channels. The company's radio business comprises radio stations available over FM and DTH, as well as through online, social media, and mobile platforms consisting of the highest rated radio stations in various languages reaching approximately 12 million weekly listeners and 3 million unique visitors per month over its terrestrial stations and digital streaming services. Its digital arm is involved in digital publishing, applications, and platforms, as well as publication of entertainment and lifestyle magazines. The company was founded in 1996 and is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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For FY14, ASTRO recorded a 7.2% increase in earnings to RM448m on the back of a 12.3% rise in sales to RM4.79b. The higher earnings for FY14 was entirely attributed to lower tax expenses as ASTRO actually recorded a 1% decline in profit at the PBT level. The slightly lower PBT for FY14 was mainly attributed to the higher content costs attributable to introduction of additional channels, increase in license fees, increase in installation, marketing and distribution costs in relation to higher customer acquisition as well as higher depreciation of set-top boxes from Beyond box swap out and amortisation of softwares.

As at 31/01/2014, the Pay-TV residential subscribers of ASTRO stood 3,442,300, up by 166,600 subscribers, or 5.1%, from that a year ago. For the FY14, its Pay-TV residential ARPU rose by 3% to RM96 due to higher demand for value-added services such as HD, PVR, On Demand and SuperPack. 

The FY14 EPS rose to 8.62 sen from 8.04 sen in FY13. DPS for FY14 is 9.0 sen and DPS for CY15 is projected to increase slightly to 10 sen nett.

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AMBANK - The fifth largest banking group in Malaysia

AMBANK is one of the nine local anchor banks in Malaysia. Through its subsidiaries, it provides a range of financial products and services to corporate and individual customers in Malaysia. The company's retail banking products and services include loans and financing services comprising auto financing, and mortgage and personal loans; deposits; small business services; credit cards; priority banking services; and wealth management services, including unit trust and bancassurance, as well as remittance services. 

Its wholesale banking products and services consist of transaction banking services, including trade finance products, cash management services, e-commerce solutions, and gross payroll solutions; and investment banking services, such as capital market and asset management, equity derivative, broking, funds management, private banking, corporate advisory and fund raising, and debt financing services. 

The company also offers Islamic Banking services consisting of Shariah compliant products and services, and mobile and Internet banking services; general insurance solutions; various solutions in life insurance, wealth protection/savings, and health and medical protection services, as well as employee benefit schemes; and Shariah compliant family Takaful products. 

Its distribution network comprises 179 commercial bank branches, 4 regional business centres, 14 investment bank offices, 50 insurance offices, 26 MBF Cards branches, 884 automated teller machines, and 167 electronic banking centres. 

The company has strategic partnership with MetLife International Holdings, Inc. AMMB was incorporated in 1975 and is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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In FY14, AMMB delivered a seventh consecutive year of record performance. It posted a pre-tax profit of RM2,448.2 million (+14.5%), whilst profit attributable to shareholders grew by 10.0% to RM1,782.4 million. Return on equity improved by 0.2% to 14.1% and earnings per share (basic) lifted from 54.0 sen in FY2013 to 59.3 sen.

The growth in profit is mainly attributable to growth in net fund income, higher contributions from insurance business coupled with lower allowances for impairment on loans and financing. 

AMMB is also targeting a 40%-50% dividend payout ratio for FY13-FY15. DPS for FY14 is increased to 24.1 sen nett from 21.8 sen nett in FY13.

Over the longer term, the entry of ANZ as a strategic partner and investor of AMMB will enhance the group's expertise and product range. Overall, we expect an above average growth rate for AMMB over a long term.

DIGI - The BEST Telco Company in Malaysia

DiGi.Com Berhad, an investment holding company, provides mobile communication services and its related products in Malaysia. 

DiGi was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Shah Alam, Malaysia. DiGi is a subsidiary of Telenor Asia Pte Ltd. It operates retail and online stores. 

It offers prepaid services under the DiGi Easy Prepaid, DiGi Best Prepaid, and DG Prepaid SmartPlan brand names; postpaid services under the DiGi Postpaid Plus, DG SmartPlan, DG Postpaid Simple, iDiGi, and DG Family Postpaid brand names; and Internet services to smartphone users, PC/Mac users, and tablet users under the DiGi Internet brand name. 

It also offers other services, such as money transfer; tariff transparency; personal accident, travel protection, and mobile device insurance services; Blackberry world carrier billing services; and DiGi Visual Voicemail, which is an Android app for various voicemail services, as well as international and mobile number portability services. 

In addition, the company provides offers reward services comprising DIGI privileges, music, and DiGi priority services; and messaging, entertainment, info and alerts, Web services, and DiGi app services. Further, it provides business products and services under DiGi Biz Plan, DiGi M2M, and DiGi MPOS names. 

It is also engaged in the establishment, maintenance, and provision of telecommunications and related services; property holding business; and renting premises, as well as other related services. 

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For FY13, the earnings of Digi soared by almost 42% to RM1.706b on the back of a 5.9% rise in sales to RM6.756b. The sharply higher earnings for FY13 was mainly contributed to the higher mobile internet revenue coupled with a larger customer base. For FY13, Digi added a further 501k subscribers to bring its total mobile subscribers base to 11m at the end of the year 2013 with 84.54% comprising prepaid subscribers. On a y-o-y basis, both the prepaid and postpaid average revenue per user (ARPU) remain unchanged in 4Q13 at RM41 and RM83 per month, respectively while its blended ARPU rose by RM1.00 to RM48 per month for the same period. The FY13 EPS rose to 21.94 sen from 15.91 sen in FY2012. A higher fourth interim single-tier DPS of 7.00 sen nett was declared for 4Q13 compared to DPS of 2.5 sen nett in 4Q12. For FY14, we are forecasting a higher full year EPS of 24.0 sen. Similarly, DPS for CY14 is projected to increase to 24.0 sen nett from 21.3 sen nett in FY13.