Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd's shares on Bursa Malaysia went up in early session today, supported by its strong performance in the first half of its financial year ended July 31, 2017.

As at 11.21am, the counter rose nine sen to RM2.72 with 2.17 million shares changing hands.

In a research note today, Kenanga Research has maintained its "outperform" call on the counter with unchanged discounted cash flow-driven target price of RM3.00.

"Although the group's subscription revenue is likely to face some challenging time ahead, the shortfall is expected to be largely offset by higher advertising revenue," it said.

Astro's pre-tax profit increased to RM608.716 million for the six months ended July 31, 2017 from RM448.985 million in the corresponding period in 2016, due to lower-than-expected content cost. -- BERNAMA

READ: Astro records 35pct increase net profit in H1FY18