ITV

Category: Financials

  • Balaji Telefilms’ financials: an improving picture in Q4 2013

    Balaji Telefilms’ financials: an improving picture in Q4 2013

    MUMBAI: Television production powerhouse Balaji Telefilms, (led by the dynamic duo of Ekta Kapoor and her mother Shobha Kapoor), which has recently made successful forays into the movie business, has posted an impressive 235 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 5.17 crore in the latest quarter ended 31 March 2013 as against Rs 1.5 crore in Q4-2012. It has done well even when one compares its performance against the previous preceding quarter ended 31 December 2012 when it recorded a net profit of Rs 4.94 crore. However, what looks disappointing is the 28 per cent dip in its net profit in FY 2013 to Rs 14.58 crore as against Rs 20.44 crore in FY 2012.

    The company recently ran into accounting troubles with the I-T Department, resulting in a dip of around 20 percent in its share price

    and it hit an all-time low of Rs 35.25 on 27 May.

    However, it has been moving northward since this morning‘s announcement of its financials and it closed at Rs 37.80.

    Let us look at the Q4-2013 financials as against Q4- 2012

    Q4-2013 financials report a healthy growth in its net profits at Rs 5.17 crore as against Rs 1.54 crore in the corresponding last year‘s Q4-2012. The massive surge is attributed to reduction in expenses especially if one looks at the staff costs which have halved in Q4-2013 at Rs 1.57 crore as against Rs 3.44 crore (Q4-2012).

    Expenses fell 13.5 per cent in Q4-2013 at Rs 34.72 crore as compared to Rs 40.16 crore in Q4-2012. The investments of the company have paid off well in the quarter with a reported Rs 7.05 crore pouring in as other income. (Through its other non-core operations considering its non current investments for the year FY-2013 have nearly doubled at Rs 31.72 crore (Rs 17.60 crore in FY-2012)).

    While net sales revenue has increased to Rs 31.77 crore in Q4-2013 as against Rs 27.88 crore in Q4-2012, the total revenue for the quarter has shrunk by 8 per cent to Rs 34.09 crore in Q4-2013 as against Rs 36.92 crore. Its major revenue source continues to be from commissioned programs amounting to Rs 32.7 crore, a rise from last corresponding quarter‘s Rs 25.88 crore.

    Let us look at the Q4-2013 financials as against Q3-2013

    When it reported Q4-2013 revenues of Rs 34.09 crore as against Rs 33.32 crore in Q3-2013, it was the first time in three quarters that it registered a positive uptick in revenues. Its Q4-2013 net profit at Rs 5.17 crore is an improvement over Q3-2013‘s Rs 4.94 crore.

    Let us now look at the consolidated year ending results of FY-2013

    Even after a euphoric performance maintained during Q4 and Q3 quarters, the financials for FY-2013 fail to show an impressive growth YoY. The consolidated revenues for FY-2013 at Rs 204.36 crore report a decrease as compared to Rs 221.66 crore in FY-2012, which also included Rs 6.62 crore from its discontinuing operations.

    Better and efficient production in FY-2013 saw its expenses fall to Rs 186.05 crore as against Rs 202.13 crore in FY-2012.

    PAT for the year ending 31 March 2013 stood at Rs 14.58 crore, as against Rs 20.44 crore in FY-2012, a disappointing 28.6 per cent drop YoY.

    In spite of the drop in profits, the Board has recommended a dividend of Rs 0.40 per equity share, considering a healthy growth momentum sustained in its last couple of quarters.

  • Zee News sees improvement in profits in FY 2013 financials

    MUMBAI: By the time Zee News Ltd announces its financials this time next year, it could well be sporting a new name Zee Media Corp. It could well also have merged its news broadcasting business with Essel group publication DNA as proposed by its board (see Zee News-DNA: merger on the cards?). Additionally, it could well also have news and infotainment channels in Rajasthan and Bihar/Jharkhand on air (it plans to launch them in the first half this year) adding to the roster it already runs in Zee News, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Punjabi, Zee News UP, Zee Tamil, Zee 24 Gantalu, and 24 Ghanta.

    That could well be good news for any Zee News watcher. But what is better news is the fact that the company has achieved a turnaround of sorts by reporting a profit in Q4-2013 of Rs 6.87 crore. That‘s despite a drop in ad and overall revenues in the quarter. Subscription revenues have, however, been buoyant in the period.

    Let us look at the Q4-2013 results as against corresponding Q4-2012

    Revenues for Q4-2013 stand at Rs 79.06 crore, a dip of 8.43 per cent from last Q4- 2012‘s Rs 86.34 crore. Of this, subscription revenues have increased to Rs 22.2 crore as against last quarter‘s reported Rs 20.8 crore. Ad revenues have declined to Rs 52.2 crore from Rs 56.3 crore.

    Operating costs have significantly dropped to Rs 14.15 crore as against last corresponding quarter‘s Rs 21.39 crore. However the overall expenses have surged to Rs 78.05 crore, a rise of over 9.6 per cent from Rs 71.02 crore of the last corresponding quarter especially with its employee benefit expenses rising to Rs 23.2 crore (a rise of 22 per cent annually).

    EBITDA for the quarter was disappointing at Rs 4.68 crore as against Rs 18.4 crore reported in the last corresponding period, a dive of over 74 per cent.

    PAT for the quarter (Q4-2013) at Rs 6.87 crore is a massive surge of 300 per cent from a reported loss of Rs 3.95 crore in the last corresponding quarter- Q4-2012..

    Let us look at the consolidated annual FY-2013 financials vs FY-2012

    While total revenues have slipped to Rs 303.81 crore in FY-2013 as against FY-2012‘s Rs 307.22 crore, subscription revenues for the full year have surged by over 13.5 per cent to Rs 84.27 crore as opposed to last year‘s Rs 74.27 crore. Subscription revenues contributed to 27.7 per cent of the total revenues indicating stronger viewer demand for the channels, while ad revenues standing at Rs 202 crore contributed a majority to the total revenue stream.
    Expenses have risen 5 per cent to Rs 278.23 crore from last year‘s Rs 265 crore, with its employee benefit expenses at Rs 87.7 crore increasing by over 17.4 per cent. EBITDA for the full year is reported at Rs 37.54 crore a drop of over 29.6 per cent from last year‘s 53.35 crore.

    Net profit for FY-2013 has ballooned 109 per cent to Rs 24.17 crore as against FY-2012‘s Rs 11.55 crore. The major reason for this surge is the pouring in of funds through sources apart from its core operations including the Rs 4.8 crore dividends it received from its subsidiary Zee Akash News Pvt. Ltd. Its interest cost has narrowed to Rs 8.79 crore as against last year‘s reported Rs 10.66 crore. Also the taxation costs have reduced by 3 per cent over the year.

    Its online property Zeenews.com has been doing well and gaining traction. Even its microsite for the India Vs Australia series generated close to 2.9 million page views while its Union budget site knocked up 1.3 million page views.

    Says Zee News managing director Punit Goenka,” Our subscription revenues have shown a double digit increase and have partially compensated for the revenue constraints from a tepid advertising response in the backdrop of a muted period of growth. Out constant endeavour to bring innovative, quality and unbiased content to the viewer will remain the cornerstone of our programming. We aspire to be the one-stop destination for news in the country by building seamless synergy among the group‘s TV, print and digital platforms. Our company is redefining itself in tune with the changing times, laying emphasis on the digital medium and addressing broader viewer tastes.”

    Adds Zee News CEO Alok Agrawal,” The Zee bouquet of news channels reached the highest number of people across the country touching over a 100 million viewers the last quarter of the fiscal. The network also had the highest relative share in the same period. It is a testimony to the fact that our viewer oriented and innovative programming has shown results. Our differentiated offering to business news viewers has resulted in Zee Business being a leader in five out of 13 weeks of the quarter. Also we are seeing a significant swing of viewers from English business news to Hindi business news. In the last quarter we expanded our footprint by establishing our presence in burgeoning central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh with the launch of news and infotainment channel-Zee Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh.”

  • Zee Entertainment notches up stellar results in FY 2013

    MUMBAI: The folks at Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (Zeel) have been working with a lot of zeal, it would seem. Especially if one looks at its latest Q4-2013 financials and also its results for the financial year ended 31 March 2013. A big upward tick of 21.6 per cent in its net profit to Rs 718.2 crore on 31 March 2013 over the previous year‘s Rs 591 crore is a hallmark of the Zeel performance.

    As far as its Q4-FY-2013 results were concerned they were in line with various analysts’ bullish expectations. Commanding an astounding 670 million plus viewers worldwide, a scale of operations across 169 countries with 32 channels and over 100,000 hours of programming to its credit, it has maintained its leading position in most of its major business operations including television broadcasting, cable distribution, DTH services etc.

    Says Zeel chairman Subhash Chandra: “FY 2013 was a defining year for the media sector in many ways. The biggest transformation was the implementation of DAS in 42 cities nationally. There were 33 million DTH subscribers and 16 digital cable TV homes as fiscal 2013 ended as against 29 million DTH and 4 million DAS homes in the previous year. We believe we can continue to return meaningful amount of capital even as we strengthen our business and invest in the growth of our businesses. We will continue to pursue growth opportunities which would enhance long term shareholder value.‘

    “DAS phase 2 has been implemented across the country. Industry ARPUs on DTH seem to be growing with exciting consumer offers being provided by operators on premium channel subscriptions,” adds Zeel managing director and chief executive officer Punit Goenka. “We believe similar effort by digital cable operators will ensure a robust growth of the industry for all stakeholders. The improving economic outlook augurs well for the media and entertainment sector. We are hopeful that a steady growth in ratings will help Zee deliver better performance in the coming quarters. Our content focus approach combined with better monetisation of subscription revenues, especailly from digital markets, will contribute to the company delivering steady and sustainable returns in the year ahead.”

    Let us look at the consolidated Q4-2013 financials as against the corresponding Q4-2012

    The Q4-2013 financials report a fair positive trend with the operating revenues for the quarter standing at Rs 964.3 crore, an increase of 11 per cent from the previous year‘s corresponding quarter’s (Q4-2012) which stood at Rs 869 crore. Q4-2013 ad revenues at 479.2 crore are up 15.5 per cent over Q4-2012‘s Rs 415 crore. Subscription revenues have surged to Rs 454.5 crore as against Q4-2012’s Rs 402.1 crore, a 13 per cent increase, courtesy the spread of digitisation and the fact that it was able to draw further benefits of its distribution joint venture with Star India – MediaPro. Of this, domestic subscription revenues rose to Rs 337.4 crore in Q4 2013 (its accounting treatment for MediaPro changed in Q4 2012 hence it says the figures can‘t be compared with Q4 2012). International subscription revenues climbed 11.7 per cent to Rs 117.2 crore in Q4 2013.

    Zeel has managed to tighten the screws on its total expenses, allowing these to rise by only 2.2 per cent over the previous corresponding quarter. As a result, its EBITDA skyrocketed 51 per cent to Rs 242.3 crore as against Rs 160 crore in the last corresponding fiscal quarter. At those numbers, its EBITDA margin is a fat 25.1 per cent. Even its PAT numbers are looking good. They are up 10.7 per cent in Q4-2013to Rs 180.35 crore as against the corresponding last Q4-2012’s Rs 163 crore.

    On the business front, Zeel‘s flagship Zee TV, the flagship Zeel channel had an average of 220 GRPs in Q4 and a 19 per cent market share, and was placed among the top six Hindi GECs.

    As far as its regional language offerings are concerned, all its channels including Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Telegu and Zee Kannada have reported good growths in average GRPs.

    While the sports business has yet to breakeven, an improving and promising trend is anticipated with various events and leagues lined up for telecast. The sports business revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 107.2 crore. Dish TV, the largest DTH service provider reported an ARPU of over Rs 159, significantly higher than its peers in the segment.

    Let us look at the consolidated results for FY-2013

    Thanks to the sharp rise in net profit in the full fiscal year and its net margin of 19.4 per cent, its earnings per share (EPS) too climbed up to a handsome Rs 7.51 as against last fiscal’s Rs 6.08.

    Zeel‘s total income for the year to 31 March 2013 (advertising sales and subscription revenues) registered healthy growth with FY-2013’s total revenues standing at Rs 3669.57 crore, up by 19.7 per cent from last year’s Rs 3040.56 crore.

    Its full year domestic subscription revenues were up to Rs 116.48 crore, and international subscription revenues were Rs 458.6 crore, a growth of 26.3 per cent and 14 per cent respectively, over the previous fiscal year‘s revenues. Overall ad revenues for the full year have shown a double digit growth of 24 per cent to Rs 1963.9 crore from the last fiscal’s Rs 1584 crore.

    The YOY expenses have sharply risen 19.4 per cent, with FY-2013’s expenses standing at Rs 2785.18 crore. This increase is majorly contributed by a 21.5 per cent increase in its operating cost and its employee benefit expenses rising over 19 per cent. The latter cost is justified for a conglomerate commanding an employee base of over 2050 employees.

    Zeel‘s EBITDA (operating profit) for the full year FY-2013 stands at Rs 954.3 crore, growing 29 per cent YoY as against Rs 739.6 crore in FY 2012.

    With this fiscal year marking the 20 years of Brand Zee in the industry, the Board has recommended a cash dividend of Rs 2 on a face value of Re 1 per share. In addition to this the board has also announced a distribution Rs 2,000 crore through a bonus issue of redeemable preference shares.

    The company’s share is currently being traded at Rs 241. Many analysts have predicted that the stock will cross Rs 270, as it starts deriving more and more subscription revenues courtesy cable TV digitisation.

    The outlook for the media conglomerate is extremely bright. It has a loyal viewer base for its GEC channels, it has a presence in cable TV through Siticable, then its DTH operation DishTV has a huge subscriber base of 13-14 million. It recently announced it would take a stab at the movies through its subsidiary Zee Motion Pictures which plans a couple of film launches in the near future. In the television space, Zee reported a decent market-share for the full year FY-2013, while revenues significantly poured in from its international operations, especially with the launch of Zee TV across several networks in Canada. Zee TV and Zee Cinema did well in the UAE and were the No 1 TV channel among south Asians for the March 2013 quarter.

    Meanwhile, Zeel’s board has said it would be approaching shareholders to approve its plan to increase the FII investment limit in the company to beyond the existing 49 per cent and to the maximum allowed under the government’s FDI norms for the media sector.

  • Sun TV Network shows brighter results for FY 2013; announces ad rate hike

    MUMBAI: The Sun TV Network is celebrating its twentieth birthday this year. And the sun seems to be coming out from the clouds at south India‘s strongest media company – involved in broadcasting and production with a bouquet of 32 channels – if one looks at its latest financials for FY 2012 and FY 2013. Both profits and revenues are up, despite the testing times it is facing in its markets with national broadcasters such as Star, Sony and Zee TV getting aggressive in the regional language space.

    In an earnings release filed with the BSE earlier today, it stated that ad revenues maintained momentum up 15 per cent in the quarter ended March 2013 and DTH subscription revenues rose 16 per cent quarter on quarter and 12 per cent year on year. It also said that FM radio operations posted a strong around with its revenues rising 26 per cent year on year and reported profits.

    And it is looking at even better times in the year ahead the Sun Group CFO SL Narayanan told CNBC TV 18 earlier today. It announced that it was hiking ad rates for Sun TV for its weekday prime time slots by 19 per cent and also looking at hiking the slot fees it charges TV producers. This would be its first increase after 24 months, and it would look at raising advertising tariffs for the other channels under its umbrella in the coming months.

    But for now let‘s take a look at the standalone results for Q4 FY 2013 vs Q3 FY 2013

    Net profits fell by 6.5 per cent to Rs 177.50 crore on a quarterly basis as compared to Q3 FY 2013; however there has been a notable increase of 11.6 per cent when compared to the corresponding Q4 FY 2012 net profit of Rs 159.03 crore showing a clear positive trend.

    Its operational income of Q4 FY 2013 witnessed a slight decrease by 2.71 per cent to Rs 472.67 crore as compared to the numbers in Q3 FY 2013 but a positive upward trend of over 10.6 per cent is witnessed from the corresponding Q4 FY 2012 which stood at Rs 427.01 crore promising a decent growth and expansion.

    The operational expenses have increased by over 5.5 per cent to Rs 225.79 crore for Q4 FY 2013 as against Rs 213.90 crore for Q3 FY 2013, while the corresponding Q4-FY 2012 ‘s operational expenses stood at Rs.205.63 crore, implying an annual 9.8 per cent increase in expenses. Although the operational expenses overall have increased, the employee remuneration and benefits seem to have dipped to Rs 444.50 crore in Q4 FY 2013 from the preceding quarter‘s Rs 476 crore.

    Let‘s take a look at the annual consolidated results for FY 2013 vs FY 2012

    The overall net profits seem to show a decent positive trend. FY 2013‘s net profits stand at Rs 709.56 crore as compared to FY 2012‘s net profits of Rs 692.91 crore, a minimal increase of 2.4 per cent.

    The operating expenses over the year seem to have significantly increased to Rs. 955.59 crore for FY 2013 as against FY 2012‘s Rs. 906.40 crore year ending, a notable 5.42 per cent. A major contribution to these expenses is from ‘cost of revenue‘ which has shown a drastic 39 per cent increase. Also the operational revenues show an increasing trend of around 4 per cent standing at Rs 1923 crore for FY 2013 from Rs 1847.17 crore of FY 2012.

    The revenues have shown a better trend since the early quarters of the financial year 2013, considering the deal of Sun TV Network with AIADMK‘s Arasu Cable that was sealed in same year, leading to better advertisement and subscription revenues for its Tamil channels. However with Chennai, the city that gathers significant revenues in terms of subscriptions, resisting digitisation, the fruits of a digitised ecosystem have yet to accrue to its financials.

    The deferred tax liability in the balance sheet has positively shrunk and stands at Rs 28.44 crore for FY 2013 from Rs 33.78 crore for FY 2012. The long term loans too been clipped by around 54 per cent which seems to be a positive.

    The current liquidity ratio stands at 0.38:1 as compared to last fiscal year‘s ratio of 0.33:1, a slight improvement in its short term solvency position.

    On the assets side, Sun TV shows an increase in its fixed assets to Rs 1335.89 crore in FY 2013 from Rs 1205.54 crore in FY 2012.

    The meeting of the board of directors held on the 17 May has recommended a final dividend of Rs 2 (40 per cent) on a face value of Rs 5 per share. This is apart from the interim dividend of Rs 2.50 per share declared earlier in January 2013.

    The board has also announced an update on its allocation of its IPO proceeds totalling up to Rs 571.94 crore. Out of this a major part amounting to Rs 355.77 crore shall be used in capitalisation of its subsidiaries.

    The share price is at 427.90, down by 3.42 per cent (15.15 points)

  • Network18 Media on a turnaround trail

    MUMBAI: The Network18 group is doing very well, thank you. The group’s media holding company Network18 Media & Investments has reported results which show that the management led by managing director Raghav Bahl and group CEO B. Saikumar is slowly but surely driving it back to profits.

    The company has reported revenues of Rs 679.5 crore in Q4 FY 2013 as against Rs 697.4 crore in Q3 FY 2013. Revenues for the full financial year ending 31 March 2013 are at Rs 2400.8 crore as against Rs 1943.8 crore – a jump of 23.51 per cent. This was driven primarily by an almost doubling in revenues from its digital content and ecommerce vertical to Rs 400.9 crore (from Rs 233.8 crore) for the whole year. Its television and motion picture vertical too leaped ahead 36.62 per cent in revenues to Rs 1725.5 crore (Rs 1262.9 crore).

    The company shaved off its operating expenses for Q4 2013 to Rs 666.8 crore from Rs 686.8 crore in Q3 FY 2013. For the whole year ending 31 March 2013, its operating expenses rose to Rs 2440.1 crore (Rs 2239.9 crore).

    Operating profits for the group during Q4 2013 were at Rs 12.8 crore against Rs 10.6 crore during Q3 FY 2013 keeping its operating margin at 2 per cent. During Q4 FY 2013, there was a drop in the company’s television and motion picture unit’s operating profits to Rs 34.6 crore (from Rs 48.1 crore). The operating losses for its digital content and e-commerce vertical fell to Rs 24.3 crore from Rs 31.3 crore in this period. The operating margins for its television and motion picture business in Q4 FY 2013 decreased to seven per cent (nine per cent in Q3 FY 2013).

    For the whole year, there has been a drastic reduction in its operating losses to Rs 39.2 crore (Rs 296 crore). Its television and motion picture business which reported operating profits of Rs 107.1 crore (Rs 1.6 c rore) and allied businesses (publishing), which saw a decrease in losses to Rs 46.9 crore from Rs 118.8 crore, helped staunch the red ink. Its digital and e-commerce business continued to lose money operationally with an operating loss of Rs 125.4 crore (Rs 126.3 crore). The operating margins for its TV and motion pictures have improved from 0 to 6 per cent for the full year.

    Network18‘s consolidated debt as on 31 March 2013 stood at Rs 211 crore, down 90 per cent from Rs 2130 crore at the end of FY12.

    Interest costs for Q4 FY 2013 were reduced to Rs 38.9 crore (Rs 53.1 crore in Q3 FY 2013). For the whole year it managed to keep its interest cost under control at Rs 272 crore (Rs 270.7 crore in FY 2012).

    It managed to report a net profit of Rs 50 lakh in Q4 FY 2013 (Rs 6.8 crore in Q3 Fy 2013). For the full year, it managed to improve its bottomline with a reduction in losses to Rs 105.5 crore (Rs 392.7 crore).

    During the year, Network18 profitably sold its entire stake in Newswire18, divested its Yellow Pages and Askme businesses and diluted its majority stake in Book My Show. These transactions, in line with the strategy to exit non-core businesses, added Rs 180 crore to the annual profit and raised Rs 235 crore for the Network18 Group.

    Says Bahl: “We are delighted to inform our investors and stakeholders that at both Network18 and TV18, we have successfully deleveraged our balance sheets and have delivered strong operating performances. Network18s and TV18s net debt now stands at less than one-fifth of the peak levels and our interest payments have come down sharply. We are confident that we are now entering a sustained value creation phase in our journey as we continue to strengthen our existing operations and consolidate our regional acquisition.”

    Adds B. Saikumar: “We are extremely pleased that our digital and broadcast operations have turned in a sustained and healthy operating performance during the year despite softness in the advertising environment. Our e-commerce businesses have turned in another stellar year and our digital content businesses continue to grow steadily. We are now on a solid net distribution income trajectory and while our flagship channels like CNBC TV18/Awaaz, Colors and CNN IBN continue to perform admirably, we are also enthused by the performance of recent launches and the motion pictures business. Inspite of near term challenges given the macro-economic headwinds, we are hopeful of delivering a strong year ahead.”

  • DD’s Q1 revenues see spike thanks to new primetime programming

    NEW DELHI: With new initiatives that have helped to add spice to the national prime time telecasts, Doordarshan managed to push up its gross quarterly revenue from just over Rs 322.4 million in the last quarter of 2012 to above Rs 503.4 million in the first quarter of 2013.

    The monthly revenue for this time slot shot up from just Rs 9.21 million in October last year to more than Rs 197.1 million in March this year.

    Doordarshan additional director general Raj Shekhar Vyas told Indiantelevision.com that this had been achieved by adding variety to the programmes and not necessarily getting stuck to the same series from Monday to Friday as most private television channels tend to do.

    He said DD was set to break new ground with the telecast of Hollywood blockbusters in English from midnight onwards daily from mid-May. He said negotiations were on with the American studio Lionsgate Films. It was expected that the films would initially be offered without any payment. This slot was until now reserved either for old films or repeat telecasts, he said.

    However, on account of a decline in national mid-day prime time slots between noon and 3.00 pm, the quarterly revenue went down from Rs 177.9 million in the last quarter to just about Rs 156.7 million.

    Asked about this, Vyas said he was currently concentrating on re-vamping the evening prime time but would also overhaul the mid-day prime time since around 240 proposals had been received for various programmes.

    Following an initiative by Prasar Bharati chief executive officer Jawhar Sircar, DD had for the first time decided to go in for out-of-home publicity and also advertised in newspapers, Facebook and Twitter about its new programmes. An initial sum of Rs 20 million had been set aside since Republic Day this year for this. Advertising in cinema houses will form the second phase of the advertising binge.

    Vyas claimed that following directions from DD director general Tripurari Sharan, he had given the national prime time a youthful look with programmes like ‘Bharat ki shaan‘, ‘Yahan ke hum Sikandar,‘ ‘Ek Kiran Roshni ki‘ and ‘Yeh hai India Meri Jaan‘ by the renowned Saeed Akhtar Mirza remembered for the path-breaking ‘Nukkad‘ series. The channel also had its share of interpretation of classics like ‘Krishna Kali‘, ‘Gora‘ and ‘Sarsaswati Chandra‘, apart from old favourites like ‘Byomkesh Bakshi‘ and ‘Ek tha Rusty.‘

  • Inventory increase jacks Sahara One profit for Q2-2014 despite 31.1 per cent revenue drop

    Inventory increase jacks Sahara One profit for Q2-2014 despite 31.1 per cent revenue drop

    BENGALURU: Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited (Sahara One) reported increase in inventory of Rs 3.64 crore for Q2-2014 (90.8 per cent of the total PAT) as compared to reduction in inventory of Rs 1.39 crore for Q2-2013 and a reduction in inventory of Rs 1.73 crore for Q1-2014.

    Sahara One reported a PAT of Rs 4.1 crore, 8.1 per cent higher than the PAT of Rs 3.79 crore for the corresponding period of last year and more than triple (3.38 times more) the Rs 1.21 crore for the immediate trailing quarter.
    Despite a 31.1 per cent drop in Income from operations for the current quarter to Rs 22.61 crore as compared to the Rs 32.80 crore for y-o-y and a reduction of 17.5 as compared to the Rs 27.42 crore q-o-q, the company reported an increase in PAT. The company reported a PBT of Rs 6.15 crore which was 8.8 per cent higher than the Rs 5.65 crore for Q2-2013 and more than triple (3.47 times) the Rs 1.77 crore for the immediate preceding quarter.

    News Headline
    Inventory increase jacks Sahara One profit for Q2-2014 despite 31.1 per cent revenue drop
    26 November 2013 07:30 pm | Indiantelevision.com Team

    BENGALURU: Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited (Sahara One) reported increase in inventory of Rs 3.64 crore for Q2-2014 (90.8 per cent of the total PAT) as compared to reduction in inventory of Rs 1.39 crore for Q2-2013 and a reduction in inventory of Rs 1.73 crore for Q1-2014.

    Sahara One reported a PAT of Rs 4.1 crore, 8.1 per cent higher than the PAT of Rs 3.79 crore for the corresponding period of last year and more than triple (3.38 times more) the Rs 1.21 crore for the immediate trailing quarter.

    Despite a 31.1 per cent drop in Income from operations for the current quarter to Rs 22.61 crore as compared to the Rs 32.80 crore for y-o-y and a reduction of 17.5 as compared to the Rs 27.42 crore q-o-q, the company reported an increase in PAT. The company reported a PBT of Rs 6.15 crore which was 8.8 per cent higher than the Rs 5.65 crore for Q2-2013 and more than triple (3.47 times) the Rs 1.77 crore for the immediate preceding quarter.

    Let us look at the other results for Q2-2014 recorded by Sahara One

    Other income for Q2-2014 at Rs 2.54 crore was less than half (43.8 per cent) of the Rs 5.79 crore for Q2-2013 and 12.5 per cent lower than the Rs 2.9 crore for Q1-2014.

    Total Expenditure reported for Q2-2014 at Rs 18.99 crore was 57.7 per cent of the expenditure of Rs 32.94 crore for Q2-2013 and 33.6 per cent lower than the Rs 28.54 crore for Q1-2014. However, if one were to neglect the effect of the above mentioned increase in inventory of Rs 3.64 crore for Q2-2014 total expense was Rs 22.63 crore.

    For Q2-2014, the company reported lower expenditure towards purchase of content at Rs 17.51 crore, as compared to the Rs 27.41 crore (36.1 per cent lower y-o-y ) and 19.4 per cent lower than the Rs 21.73 crore for Q1-2014.

    The company has reported revenues from three sources – Television and Movies segments and unallocated revenue.

    Television segment reported a 30 per cent drop in revenue to Rs 23.46 crore for Q2-2014 as compared to the Rs 33.53 crore for Q2-2013 and 17 per cent lower than the Rs 28.26 crore for Q1-2014. This segment reported operating profit at Rs 7.29 crore that was more than double (2.52 times) the Rs 2.90 crore for Q2-2013 and almost triple (2.93 times) as compared to the Rs 2.49 crore for Q1-2014.

    Income from the movies segment was nil for the current and the corresponding quarter of the last quarter, and just Rs 0.0134 crore for Q1-2014. This segment reported a loss of Rs (-0.1969) crore for Q2-2014 as compared to a loss of Rs (-31.07) crore for Q1-2013 and Rs (-0.1573) crore for Q1-2014.

    Sahara One reported unallocated income of Rs 1.68 crore for Q2-2014, a little less than one third (33.13 per cent) of the Rs 5.07 crore for Q2-2013 and 17.7 per cent lower than the Rs 2.04 crore for Q1-2014. For Q2-2014, this revenue source reported a 68.6 per cent higher loss at Rs (-0.94) crore as compared to the loss of Rs (-0.55) crore for the corresponding quarter of last year. Unallocated source of income reported a positive Rs 3.08 crore for Q1-2014.

    Capital employed (Segment assets minus segment liabilities) by the television segment rose 80.6 per cent to Rs 78.09 crore for Q2-2014 as compared to the Rs 43.25 crore for Q2-2013 and 34.8 per cent higher than the Rs 57.95 crore for Q1-2014.

    Capital employed by the movies segment at Rs 86.27 crore for Q2-2014 was 3.1 per cent more than the Rs 83.71 crore for Q2-2013 and almost flat as compared to the Rs 82.17 crore for Q1-2014.

    Unallocated capital employed for Q2-2014 at Rs 133.62 crore was 19.5 per cent lower than the Rs 165.99 crore for Q2-2013 and 10.8 per cent lower than the Rs 149.77 crore for Q1-2014.

  • STBs apart, industry feels left in the cold

    STBs apart, industry feels left in the cold
     

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: While the 2008-09 budget has largely left the media and entertainment industry untouched, Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced some measures that are expected to benefit the cable, direct-to-home (DTH) and IPTV growth in the country.

    Mixed bag for DTH, Cable

    Dish TV MD Jawahar Goel feels the DTH industry has something to feel positive about. “At present there is zero duty on import of set top boxes. Now the Finance Minister has also removed duty on import of specified parts of STBs. This will provide leverage and opportunity for DTH players to evaluate the option of manufacturing STBs locally,” he says.

    Tata Sky MD and CEO Vikram Kaushik, however, doesn’t agree that there is too much for the sector. “The benefits are so insignificant that the impact will be almost homoeopathic,” he says.

    There is only a relaxation on some of the components for manufacture of the STBs. “We had expected much more, especially significant reduction on excise duty, which has been denied us,” Kaushik adds.

    The issue of double taxation, with the entertainment industry having to pay both entertainment as well as service tax, has been left unchanged.

    Goel, however, gives a more detailed rationale behind being upbeat. He argues that since the CVD (countervailing duty) is reduced from 16 per cent to 14 per cent, the cost of the Consumer Premises Equipment (CPE) will go down and will benefit the DTH operator who are already providing considerable subsidies to consumers.

    The new provision introduced by FM in Service Tax, stating that any item being provided under the “Right to Use” to the customer but not covered under VAT, will now be covered under ‘right to use.’ This is a move towards the Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime, Goel points out.

    He says this will partly address the issue of multiple taxation on the DTH industry, where presently along with the service tax, VAT was also being charged on the CPE, though these were being given on rental or lease models.

    “This will help the DTH industry to give more options to the consumers to acquire the CPE on rental, which has been stipulated by Trai in its Quality of Service requirements. It will benefit the industry by taking the CENVAT credit of the service tax paid, thus positively impacting the cash flow of the capital intensive businesses,” Goel says.

    The multi-system operators (MSOs) are more cautious. Says Hathway Cable and Datacom MD and CEO K Jayaraman, “It is too early to see how the STB vendors respond to the duty waiver of some components and set up manufacturing bases in India. This will succeed only if the foreign vendors start producing here. Local manufacturers will also feel encouraged but they have to comply with the conditional access vendor.”

    The MSO Alliance is not happy with the way the demands of the industry have been ignored, especially on the issue of rationalisation of taxes.

    Says MSO Alliance secretary Avnindra Mohan, “There is marginal benefit on some STB components; it would be of some use only when Indian companies start producing STBs on a large scale. As it is, 90 per cent of the STBs are being imported today,” he holds.

    The Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) is deeply dissatisfied with the budget, saying there is nothing in it for the local cable operators.

    Says COFI president Roop Sharma, “There is no provision of making digital headends cheaper. The marginal help to STB manufacturing would only be good for the DTH players and also of IPTV. But there are only 500000 STBs in the Cas (conditional access system) notified areas. So it hardly makes any difference to us. What the cable industry needed was incentives for digital headends.”

    Broadcasters feel digitalisation should get the push

    Broadcasters, on the other hand, feel the budget is positive in what little it has to offer. Says Star India CEO Uday Shankar, “The incentives provided for STB manufacture is a welcome sign. In fact, anything that goes towards digitalisation is good because this country is a victim of choked distribution pipes on analogue systems.”

    Agrees Global Broadcast News joint MD Sameer Manchanda, “The government has done something for the STBs and also for the convergence equipment. Since this is good for digitalization, it is also good for us as broadcasters.”

    Sums up INX Media founder and CEO Indrani Mukerjea: “The budget has provided an impetus for growth to the Digital revolution – by reducing the duty on certain specific components of STBs to nil. I am also happy that duty on convergence products related to the media and entertainment industry has been halved. Of course, I wish there had been a reduction in corporate tax rates for the industry too.”

    Film industry feels left in the cold

    The film industry has mixed feelings. Speaking for the multiplex operators, E-City Ventures MD Atul Goel has this to offer. “The impact on the entertainment industry would be limited, except for the customs duty reduction on equipment from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. However, we are happy to note, from the Cenvat reduction, that there is a direction towards convergence of indirect tax rates from the existing inefficient regime. We sincerely hope that the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers recommend a substitution of entertainment tax levied on cinemas with GST (to be rolled out by 2010).”

    Prime Focus CFO Nishant Fadia feels the Indian film and entertainment industry should have liked special tax concessions and a reduction in corporate tax. But, on the positive side, he says, reduction of CENVAT in import duties and customs duty on equipments are steps in the right direction.

    Nothing for FM radio

    FM broadcasters feel the budget has nothing specific to offer to spur the sector’s growth. Says Big FM COO Tarun Katial, “The service tax needed to reduce, especially since the radio industry is at its infancy and has great employment and media opportunities in the semi-urban and rural markets.”

    Radio City CEO and AROI president Apurva Purohit believes reduction in base rate of excise duty from 16 to 14 per cent is positive for the industry overall. But there is little for the sector. She says, “Development and supply of content for use in advertising purposes has been brought under service tax net. This is likely to see an increase in advertising cost bringing a slowdown in advertisement revenues to broadcasters and print media which will ultimately be passed on to the consumer.”

  • STB duties waived, duty on convergence products cut to 5%

    NEW DELHI: In the 2008-09 budget, the Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has no major giveaway to the media and entertainment sector except in the areas of convergence and digitalisation.

     

    The budget has waived duties on the set-top boxes, giving a boost to the cable TV, direct-to-home (DTH) and IPTV operators. Chidambaram has also reduced duty on convergence products from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.

    Presenting the budget, Chidambaram said specific parts of STBs and specified raw materials for use in IT and electronic hardware industry have been fully exempted from customs duty.

    The minister also announced that to establish parity between devices used in the information/communication sector and the entertainment sector, he was reducing the customs duty on convergence products by half.

    While the announcement partly meets the demand by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation relating to STBs, it has failed to meet the long-standing demands of the film industry articulated through various organisations including Ficci and representations to the Information and Broadcasting ministry.

    Noting that India‘s music, literature, dance, art, cuisine and especially films are attracting huge interest around the world, Chidambaram announced a provision of Rs 750 million to the Indian Council of Cultural Relations to design and implement a programme to project these in a sophisticated and subtle manner. He described this as the ‘soft power‘ of India.

    In a move that may help the printing and newspaper industry, Chidambaram announced reduction of the excise duty from 12 to 8 per cent on “paper, paper board and articles made therefrom manufactured out of non-conventional raw materials by units not having an attached bamboo/wood pulp making plant.” There would be a further reduction on clearances up to 3,500 tonnes from 8 per cent to nil. Furthermore, the excise duty on certain varieties of writing, printing and packing paper will be reduced from 12 per cent to 8 per cent.

  • Prasar Bharati gets Rs 3.3 billion loan to set up broadcast centre for Commonwealth Games

     

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati is to get a loan of Rs 3.26 billion towards setting up an ‘International Broadcasting Centre’ and other facilities as a host broadcaster for the Commonwealth Games 2010.

     

    This is in addition to the grant-in-aid to the tune of Rs 11.42 billion, according to the Union Budget for 2008-09 presented to Parliament today by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

    The loan will also be aimed at meeting the capital expenditure of the public service broadcaster.

    In a major decision taken during the presentation of budget for 2000-2001, the then Government had announced that since Prasar Bharati was an autonomous organisation, it would only receive grants-in-aid and loans from the total budget of the Information and Broadcasting ministry.

    This year’s loan is almost two times the revised estimate of Rs 1.67 billion (as against the allocation in the budget of Rs 2.17 billion) in the Budget for 2007-08. Similarly, the grant-in-aid last year was Rs 10.87 billion.

    The total budget allocation for the I&B ministry in the Budget for 2008-09 is Rs 19.10 billion as against Rs 16.10 billion in the revised estimates for 2007-08.

    There is a marginal increase in the allocation for films from Rs 718.5 million in the revised estimates for 2007-08 to Rs 848.5 million in the Budget presented today. In addition, there is an allocation of Rs 46.6 million for film certification. The budgetary allocation for films is aimed at covering the Films Division, the Directorate of Film Festivals that organised national and international film festivals, the Children’s Film Society, India, and the training institutes in Pune and Kolkata.

    The National Films Development Corporation, which recently resumed investment in film production, is to receive a loan of Rs 80 million.

    While the ministry had only used Rs 501.4 million of the budgetary grant of Rs 848 million on advertising and visual publicity during 2007-08, the allocation has been raised to Rs 743.6 million in the new budget.

    Interestingly, the allocation of Rs 358.5 million for Press Information Services includes funds for a subsidy for running India’s news pool desk of non-aligned news agencies pool through the Press Trust of India despite the fact that the news pool has been non-existent for several years.

    Though Chidambaram said the Northeast would continue to receive special attention, the lumpsum provision for projects/schemes for development of the region and Sikkim has come down from the Rs 190.2 million (as against the Rs 205.2 million in the budget for 2007-08) to Rs 179.6 million in the new budget.

    There is a provision of Rs 30 million to the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre for monitoring TV channels and radio stations for violation of programme and advertising codes. The provision in the budget had been Rs 59 million but the EMMC had used only Rs 30 million, according to the revised estimates for 2007-08.