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Tag: DB Corp

  • Dainik Bhaskar launches edition in Patna

    Dainik Bhaskar launches edition in Patna

    MUMBAI: DB Corp Limited (DBCL), one of India’s leading print media companies and home to flagship newspapers Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar and Divya Marathi today announced the highly successful launch of Dainik Bhaskar’s new edition from Patna, Bihar. With this launch, DB Corp Ltd now publishes 8 newspapers with 67 editions across 14 states across India, strengthening its position as India’s largest print media company. With the launch of Dainik Bhaskar in Bihar, the media conglomerate has stormed Patna city with its awe-inspiring and impressive presence reinforced by a well strategized marketing and sales campaign that has once again proved its exceptional execution strength. Even in the presence of other formidable competitive news dailies, the people of Patna have whole heartedly embraced the publication’s offerings with rave reviews of the product that has made very deep positive first impressions with new readers, all of which have contributed to another landmark launch success story.

     

    Commenting on Dainik Bhaskar’s successful Bihar foray Mr. Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp Limited, “We are thrilled and excited with a tremendous start to the new year and an overwhelming response to our launch in Bihar. This was truly an exciting challenge in a region with formidable peers. We have been studying the Bihar market for long which has a literacy rate of 64%. In line with our market identification criteria; we sensed and explored the opportunity in Patna that revealed impressive demographic features and high market potential – being the 15th most developed city in India as per GDP, high per capita consumption, and a key agricultural hub with rapid infrastructure growth. It is also the 5th fastest growing city in India and the 21st in the world. 

     

    Our intensive on-ground study exposed an exciting prospect where we could establish a leadership position and create a marked impact in terms of readership and circulation. Once again the results have reiterated our execution capabilities, meticulous pre survey planning and thorough pre-launch strategies until seamless final roll-out. We unveiled our marketing campaign with bolder creative outdoor branding and a firm goal of igniting the Bhaskar brand in Bihar. Our product has already achieved wide acceptance and we are delighted that Dainik Bhaskar has emerged as a product with very powerful, unbiased content appealing to diverse readership categories. We are committed to making it the most preferred vehicle to participate in and look forward to actively participating in the region’s socio-economic progress.”

  • DB Corp y-o-y PAT up 53 per cent; radio business revenue up 25 per cent

    DB Corp y-o-y PAT up 53 per cent; radio business revenue up 25 per cent

    BENGALURU: DB Corp Limited (DBCL), home to flagship newspapers Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, Dainik Divya Marathi and Saurashtra Samachar reported good standalone results for Q3-2014 (Quarter ended December 31, 2013). Its overall PAT for Q3-2014 at Rs 94.83 crore grew by a healthy 30.7 per cent from the Rs 72.55 crore for the corresponding quarter of last year and grew by 52.7 per cent as compared to the Rs 62.12 crore during the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    Consolidated PAT for Q3-2014 grew by about 34 per cent y-o-y at Rs 94.5 crore (PAT margin 18 per cent) against Rs 70.6 crore (PAT margin 15.9 per cent) in Q3 of last year. This increase in PAT factors onetime pre-operative expense of Rs 4.47 crore for Patna-Bihar new launches as well as forex gain of Rs 1.302 crore.

     

    DBCL radio business revenue for Q3-2014 at Rs 23.82 crore was 24.85 per cent higher than the Rs 19.08 crore for Q3-2013 and was 38.8 per cent more than the Rs 17.09 crore for Q2-2014. The segment showed almost double  (1.84 times) the positive result at Rs 8.51 crore for Q3-2014 as compared to the Rs 4.62 crore for Q3-3014 and more than triple (3.34 times) the Rs 2.54 crore for Q2-2014.

     

    DBCL’s radio business advertising revenues have expanded by about 25 per cent y-o-y to Rs 23.9 crore in Q3-2014, against Rs 19.2 crore in Q3 of 2013.

     

    The company has shown reduced Capital Employed (Segment assets – Segment liabilities) for its radio business during Q3-2014 at Rs 48.14 crore which was 20.3 per cent lower than the Rs 57.92 crore in Q3-2013 and almost flat as compared to the Rs 47.83 crore for Q2-2014.

     

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by DBCL for Q3-2014

     

    The main major contributor to revenue in the case of DB Corp is Printing and Publishing of Newspaper and Periodicals. This segment showed revenue of Rs 488.63 crore for Q3-2014, up 17.2 per cent as compared to the Rs 416.83 crore y-o-y and up 17.4 per cent q-o-q as compared the Rs 416.16 crore for Q2-2014. This segment showed improved positive results for Q3-2014 at Rs 135.7 crore for Q3-2014, 25 per cent more than the Rs 108.2 crore for Q3-2014 and a whopping 42 per cent more than the Rs 95.6 crore for Q2-2014.

     

    Capital Employed (Segment assets – Segment liabilities) by the Printing and Publishing of Newspaper and Periodicals segment at Rs 1394.62 crore during Q3-2014 was 18 per cent higher than the Rs 1181.51 crore for Q3-2013 and 4.3 per cent more than the Rs 1294.46 crore for the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    The other revenue segments in the case of DBCL are events, internet and power, with all the three showing a combined revenue of about Rs 6.47 crore and combined negative segment result of Rs 2.53 crore.

     

    Total standalone expense for Q3-2014 at Rs 373.04 crore was 13.7 per cent more than the Rs 328.41 crore for Q3-2013 and 9.8 per cent more than the Rs 340.3 crore for the immediate previous quarter with two expense heads showed a major increase as compared to the other expense heads.

     

    The company saw a 19.6 per cent rise in raw material consumption to Rs 172.41 crore in Q3-2014 as compared to the Rs 144.13 crore y-o-y and 14.7 per cent more than the Rs 150.34 crore q-o-q.

     

    Other expense for Q3-2014 at Rs 1,126.4 crore was 12.8 per cent more than the Rs 99.81 crore for Q3-2013 and 9.9 per cent more than the Rs 102.49 crore for Q2-2014.

     

    The company’s total consolidated revenue has shown a growth of about 19 per cent y-o-y to Rs 525.4 crore in Q3-2014 against Rs 442.9 crore of Q3 of last fiscal.

     

    The company reported a growth in revenue from advertising by 18.2 per cent y-o-y Rs 403.5 crore in Q3-2013 from Rs 341.2 crore in Q3 last fiscal. DBCL says that excluding barter and private treaty, its billing in Q3-2014 of both years, ad growth is 20.5 per cent.

     

    DB Corp managing director Sudhir Agarwal said, “We are pleased with the good start to this year as we report a healthy performance in the third quarter. As we continue to maintain a pragmatic approach towards operational controls and higher efficiency, we have also been closely focusing on studying the marketing strategies of niche brands in Tier 2 and 3 cities that have echoed our confidence in the potential of these regions. This quarter we have seen strong focus from brands of FMCG, apparels, real estate, automobiles & government that have ramped up their respective marketing thrusts in these regions.

     

    While, we have achieved commendable growth in legacy markets, due to our relentless focus and ability to provide a differentiated product, we are excited with our progress in newer regions of Jharkhand, Maharashtra and now Bihar. We are set to launch in Patna- State of Bihar on 18th January ‘2014 which is of strategic importance for DBCL – the region being one of India’s most dynamic and developing states.

     

    Click below for:

     

    DB Corp’s Financial Results

    DB Corp’s Financial Release

  • Zee Media brings DNA under its fold

    Zee Media brings DNA under its fold

    MUMBAI: It was in early 2012 that the Subhash Chandra owned company Essel Group bought out its Joint Venture (JV) partner D B Corp’s 50 per cent stake in the English national newspaper DNA, cementing the media baron’s presence in the print media. Now, it has taken a long leap again. In a recent announcement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) announced its intention to venture into the print media business with the amalgamation of Essel Publishers that brings out DNA and itself.

     

    Following a postal ballot held between 30 October and 28 November, 95.46 per cent or 652 people out of 683 shareholders were in favour of the amalgamation.

     

    “Having already built a nationwide largest television news network with its varied news channels, with an object of creating a news powerhouse in the country, Zee Media aspires to expand its product offering across multiple platforms, regions and languages,” read the document to investors on the amalgamation scheme.

     

    And it was in keeping with Zee group chairman Subhash Chandra statement in a release a while ago that the company is on a mission to consolidate its broadcast, print and internet content under one umbrella.

     

    According to ZMCL CEO Alok Agrawal, the merger process has just begun and will take a year to complete. And the net result (says the document sent out to shareholders following which they gave the fusing of the two firms the nod) will be that : “Zee Media will be in a position to leverage the combined network of resources, working in an integrated newsroom through multiple platforms as well as providing a bouquet of services to advertisers which would strengthen its market reach.”

     

    “Stories will be shared across the two mediums thus allowing English, Hindi and other regional languages to benefit from each other,” says Agrawal. With this move, ZMCL employees will be also be multi-tasking just like in other efficiently run media organisations the world over.

     

    At the same time, it means additional work as well. “Employees will get cross exposure now. Those who accept the challenge will prosper and those who don’t will falter. That’s the law of the land,” remarks Agrawal.

     

    Since 2009, the management of DNA has been handled by the Essel Group with Malcolm Mistry as the current CEO. The integrated newsroom will take some time to evolve. Initially, the focus will be on evaluating the requirement for separate offices for the two media entities, consolidating the teams wherever possible in various cities nationally, and in the process generate savings.

     

    ZMCL has its eye set firmly on expanding DNA by launching new editions in newer towns in phases. DNA is currently published from Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Indore and Bengaluru. Delhi would be the next target;however, Agrawal says it will take some time as Delhi is a very competitive market with The Times of India and The Hindustan Times fiercely battling each other.

     

    According to the Indian Readership Survey 2012 Q4 topline findings the circulation of DNA was 972, 000. The number may well have gone up significantly since then.

     

    Was it easy to convince shareholders about the expansion plans? “The overwhelming response we got was surely a bit of a surprise but they saw the good opportunity. As a TV channel, our reach was limited and the amalgamation makes it more holistic and well rounded,” explains Agrawal. ZMCL claims that its bouquet of six channels in the news space reach out around 130 million viewers.

     

    The deal proposed to shareholders was that for every 11 shares of Re 1 each held in Essel Publishers, 2 shares of Re 1 each from ZMCL would be issued and allotted. But no shares would be given for fractional entitlements. Post the announcement, the market value of ZMCL’s share saw a spike and at the time of filing this report it was quoting at Rs 14.04 on the BSE.

     

    The authorised share capital of Essel Publishers and ZMCL put together has been enhanced to Rs 170 crore with Rs 70 crore from Essel Publishers and Rs !00 crore from ZMCL.

     

    The amalgamation scheme became effective from 3 December and thus Essel Publishers now stands dissolved without being wound up. And all the newspaper staff have henceforth become ZMCL employees.

     

    ZMCL’s financial result for Q2 2014 showed that advertising and subscription revenues were higher than the previous quarter. Total revenue for Q2 2014 was Rs 160.7 crore with ad revenue at Rs 52.92 crore and subscription revenue at Rs 24.9 crore. PAT stood at Rs 2.8 crore while EBIDTA stood at Rs 74.8 crore.

  • DB Corp Expands Maharashtra Presence Launches 7th Edition of Dainik Divya Marathi from Amravati

    DB Corp Expands Maharashtra Presence Launches 7th Edition of Dainik Divya Marathi from Amravati

    Mumbai, August 12, 2013: DB Corp Limited (DBCL), India's largest print media company today announced the launch of its 7th edition of Dainik Divya Marathi from Amravati. With this launch the Company has expanded its presence into 7 cities in Maharashtra, with 7 editions in the region and 66 editions across India. In keeping with the Company's new market launch trend, in Amravati, Divya Marathi was introduced amidst great jubilation and emerged as the most popular newspaper in the city from the first day of its launch. In its new region Divya Marathi was greeted with the same anticipation and excitement as when introduced earlier in Aurangabad, Nashik, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Solapur and Akola.

    Commenting on the successful launch at Amravati, Mr. Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp Limited said, "Another milestone has been created as we expand our presence in the state of Maharashtra with our 7th edition of Divya Marathi. In line with our launch strategy which we adapted to the Amravati market, we focussed on expanding the readership base in the region which is significantly under penetrated.

    Amravati is the second largest city of the Vidarbha region after Nagpur and over time has emerged as the second most prominent education centre of Maharashtra after Pune. Although the launch planning was similar to that of other regions, our booking strategy did not only focus on self – generated responses but also targeted the Vidharba region and areas around Amravati. The region has a high literacy rate of over 93% and a rapidly developing workforce supported by a growing and active business environment comprising large markets and retail formats, factories, hospitals, educations institutes, banks, telecom providers and is a business centre to some of India's most reputed companies. Our study of Amravati reveals a significant potential for DBCL to participate in as a growth partner and play a dynamic role to propel Amravati's socio-economic progress."

    DBCL's Amravati launch has once again revalidated the company's execution capabilities. The launch was conducted in 3 broad phases beginning with initial introductory branding through seeking views and feedback, crystallisation of feedback to develop and design product and finally explore pricing and placing strategies of the product in the market. Corresponding to these phases, respective teams were mobilised to form the survey teams, visibility teams and the final

    implementation teams that were vigorously trained in communication skills, presentation skills, direct marketing skills, sales techniques and personality grooming.