Asia Media Annual Report 2018

8 | P a g e 4. LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS On behalf of the Board of Directors (“Board”, “BOD”), I am pleased to present the Annual Report and Audited Consolidated Financial Statement (“AR”) of Asia Media Group Berhad (“AMGB” or “Company”) and its subsidiary companies (“Group”) for the financial year ended 31 December 2018 (“FYE 2018”). ECONOMIC AND GROUP PERFORMANCE REVIEW The Malaysian economy achieved a Gross Domestic Product (“GDP”) growth of 4.7% in 2018, transitioning considerably well under the governance of the new government. Despite the strong external headwinds as a result of the intensified China-US trade war, the government has managed to deliver on its GDP growth. The government has projected another 4.7% growth in GDP in year 2019, underpinned by the sound fundamentals which include strong and trustworthy public institutions, a healthy labour market, low and stable inflation, comfortable current account surplus and a well-diversified economy. Year 2018 had been an extremely difficult and challenging year for the Group as the performance continued to deteriorate under the previous Management. The Group’s performance was further affected since early 2019, culminated in the change of BOD whereby five out of seven Board members were voted out by the shareholders in the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 25 July 2019. Subsequently, the new Management was formed on 1 August 2019. The new Management and current BOD has been working tirelessly to finalize the long outstanding AR for FYE 2018, which was delayed due to the gross negligence of the previous Management. The new Management finally completed the AR for FYE 2018 and the Quarterly Report for the Financial Period Ended 30 June 2019, both were submitted to Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (“Bursa”) on 25 October 2019. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE The Group recorded a Revenue level of RM13.4 million in FYE 2018, a decline of 12.7% compared to the same period of last year. However, the Group’s profitability had declined significantly to a Loss After Tax (“LAT”) of RM26.6 million, compared to a Profit After Tax from Continuing Operations of RM3.0 million in the same period of last year. The LAT suffered in FYE 2018 was mainly contributed by the impairment losses on property, plant and equipment and bad debts written off as well as provision for litigation claims for a combined value of RM22.9m.