Malaysia’s Astro group CEO Rohana to step down on Jan 31, 2019

Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd group CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan will step down from her role Jan 31, 2019 and will be succeeded by group chief content and consumer officer Henry Tan.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Astro said Rohana, 55, will resign to pursue other goals. She will remain on the board of directors as a non-executive director following her resignation.

“Rohana has been an inspirational leader to all at Astro, having led the team in setting many firsts and milestones for the media industry in Malaysia. We respect her decision to step down as group CEO and wish her all the very best and a bright future ahead,” said Astro chairman Tun Zaki Azmi.

Rohana who has been with the group since 1995, is the principal architect of the company’s growth strategies which includes growing its presence in Southeast Asia.

Under her tenure, Astro saw its customer base grow from two million to 5.5 million, while revenue grew RM1.79 billion to RM5.53 billion for the financial year ended Jan 31, 2018.

“The business that we built at Astro over the years is attributable to one thing: the passionate, committed and talented individuals that make up Team Astro. It is my honour to have been part of this amazing team, moving as one, to achieve far more than I ever dreamt possible in a fast-evolving and dynamic industry. As Team Astro, our passion has always been to better serve our customers, which has been our privilege and our continued responsibility,” said Rohana.

Her successor, Tan, has been with the group for more than 10 years.

Yesterday, the group reported a 10.77% drop in net profit for the first quarter ended April 30, 2018 to RM174.72 million from RM192.35 million a year ago due to higher net finance cost. Revenue for the quarter fell 1.1% to RM1.31 billion from RM1.32 billion due to a decrease in subscription revenue.

At 11.09 am, Astro’s share price fell 4.92% to RM1.74 with some 5.29 million shares done. Trading of Astro’s securities was temporarily halted between 9.39 am and 10.39 am.