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Tag: Essel

  • Zee Learn reports lowered results for Q3-2015

    Zee Learn reports lowered results for Q3-2015

    BENGALURU: The Essel group’s education company Zee Learn Limited (Zee Learn) reported lowered results for Q2-2015. Total Income from operations (TIO) for Q3-2015 at Rs 19.84 crore was 12.8 per cent less than the Rs 22.76 crore in Q2-2015 and 12.6 per cent less than the Rs 22.70 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter. For 9M-2015, Zee Learn’s TIO at Rs 79.90 crore was 0.3 percent less than the Rs 80.13 crore in 9M-2014.

     

    Note: 100,00,000 = 100 Lakhs = 10 million = 1 crore

     

     PAT for Q3-2015 at Rs 1.09 crore (5.5 per cent of TIO) was 4 per cent less than Rs 1.14 crore (5 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015). In Q2-2014, the company had reported a loss of Rs 3.38 crore. For 9M-2015 PAT at Rs 5.8 crore (7.3 per cent of TIO) was more than 14 times (14.4 times) the PAT of Rs 0.40 crore (0.5 percent of TIO) in 9M-2014.

     

     Let us look at the other Q3-2015 and 9M-2015 figures reported by Zee Learn

     

     Zee Learn’s Total expenditure (TE) in Q3-2015 at Rs 16.91 crore (85.2 per cent of TIO) was 11.8 per cent less than the Q2-2015 TE at Rs 19.18 crore (84.3 per cent of TIO) and was 29.6 per cent lower than the Rs 24 crore (105.7 per cent of TIO) in Q3-2014. 9M-2015 TE at Rs 62.76 crore (78.6 per cent of TIO) was 18.8 per cent less than the Rs 77.27 crore (96.4 per cent of TIO) in 9M-2014.

     

     The company’s marketing, advertisement and publicity expense (marketing expense) in Q3-2105 at Rs 1.41 crore (7.1 per cent of TIO) was 11.1 per cent less than the Rs 1.58 crore (6.9 per cent of TIO) in the immediate trailing quarter and was 28.3 per cent less than the Rs 1.95 crore (8.6 per cent of TIO) in Q3-2014. Marketing expense in 9M-2015 at Rs 5.45 crore (6.8 per cent of TIO) was 26.7 per cent lower than the Rs 7.44 crore (9.6 per cent of TIO) in 9M-2014.

     

    Employee Benefit Expense (EBE) for Q3-2015 at Rs 6.33 crore was 8.4 per cent more than the Rs 5.84 crore (25.7 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015 and was 14.4 per cent lower than the Rs 7.4 crore (32.6 per cent of TIO) in the year ago quarter.  EBE for 9M-2015 at Rs 18.91 crore (23.7 per cent of TIO) was 18.6 per cent lower than the Rs 23.22 crore (32.6 per cent of TIO) in 9M-2014.

     

    Operating cost in Q3-2015 at Rs 0.75 crore (3.8 per cent of TIO) was 47 per cent more than the Rs 0.51 crore (2.2 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015 and was 8.4 per cent lower than the Rs 0.82 crore (3.6 per cent of TIO) in Q3-2014. In 9M-2015, operating cost at Rs 1.94 crore (2.4 per cent of TIO) was 19.8 per cent lower than the Rs 2.42 crore (3 per cent of TIO) in 9M-2014.

     

    Depreciation and amortisation expense (depreciation) in Q3-2015 at Rs 1.51 crore (7.6 per cent of TIO) was 10.1 per cent lower than the Rs 1.67 crore (7.4 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015 and was 13.1 per cent lower than the Rs 1.73 crore (7.6 per cent of TIO) in Q3-2014. 9M-2015 depreciation at Rs 5.13 crore (6.4 per cent of TIO) was 2.2 per cent more than the Rs 5.02 crore (6.3 per cent of TIO) in 9M-2014.

     

     Other expense in Q3-2015 at Rs 4.31 crore (21.7 per cent of TIO) was 21.4 per cent less than the Rs 5.49 crore (24.1 percent of TIO) in Q2-2015 and was 27.4 per cent lower than the Rs 5.94 crore (26.2 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2014. Operating cost in 9M-2015 at Rs 15.78 crore (19.7 per cent of TIO) was 8.8 per cent lower than the Rs 17.30 crore (21.6 per cent of TIO) in 9M-2014.

  • Essel to pump in Rs 1 billion into UNI over next 2 years

    Essel to pump in Rs 1 billion into UNI over next 2 years

    NEW DELHI: Essel Group chairman and media baron Subhash Chandra today challenged those criticising his buying of a 51 per cent equity in news agency United News of India (UNI) to put their money where their mouth is.

    “If anybody else, including the government, feels that he can work towards revival and expansion of UNI, then I’ll be happy. I will gladly give up majority shareholding too in that person’s favour,” Chandra told journalists here.
    As an indication of his genuine interest in reviving the financially beleaguered news agency, Chandra gave an assurance that the Essel group would pump in Rs 1 billion over the next two years into UNI to upgrade infrastructure and acquire cutting edge technology.

    “We have identified gaps (read shortcomings) in UNI and are trying to address them along with the other shareholders of the organisation,” Chandra said.

    Essel’s picking up of 51 per cent shareholding in UNI by Mediavest India Pvt Ltd, an investment vehicle floated by Chandra, last month has been greeted by howls of protest from political parties, journalists and the UNI employees’ union.
    Chandra paid approximately Rs 320 million for a majority stake in the news agency. Other shareholders of the agency include media companies like The Times of India Group, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Hindustan Times, The Statesman, Dainik Bhaskar and Indian Express.

    Chandra also assured some journalists from UNI present at the press conference and others in general that there would be “no forced retrenchment.”

    However, a proper human resources development department will be put in place to work out voluntary retirement schemes and other initiatives related to employee redeployment and employment.

    “We have hired a techno commercial person today only to upgrade and strengthen the technology available to UNI employees,” Chandra said, adding that the hunt was on for professionals in other departments of the news agency too.

    According to him, “My interest in UNI is not to make money (the structure of UNI is such that all the revenue earned is to be ploughed back into the organisation itself), but to uphold the objectives of the founding fathers of UNI, which includes having plurality of information in the country from credible platforms.”

    Pointing out that his vision is to turn UNI into a global and competitive news agency providing a spectrum of services, Chandra said Essel Group (owners of Zee Telefilms amongst a host of other media and entertainment related companies) will “leverage” its global media contacts to work for the betterment of UNI.

    Scotching rumours that Zee Telefilms and his other media companies would end up having a direct synergy with UNI, Chandra said, “In life there comes a time when a person looks beyond earning money and doing things for personal satisfaction. I’m doing that. If somebody feels he or she can do better than me, then such people are most welcome to take charge of UNI’s revival.”

    Mediavest was amongst the three bidders for unsubscribed shares of UNI whose other shareholders agreed to bring on board the Essel Group in early September.

    To a specific question whether Mediavest would mop up some remaining preferential shares in case other shareholders shy away, Chandra replied in the affirmative.

    “If nobody else subscribes to those shares, then we’ll pick them up,” he said, adding that such a move would take Mediavest’s holding in UNI up to approximately 58 per cent.

    Chandra also made it clear that “mis-informed people” with vested interests are undertaking a “disinformation campaign” dubbing his company’s arrival on the scene as a total sale of the news agency to one single entity.

    “We have just joined the board of directors and are ready to discuss across the table any issue with anybody from UNI. But I cannot help it if some people continue to hallucinate,” he said.

    UNI was launched in March 1961. Today, it claims to be serving more than 1,000 subscribers in more than 100 locations in India and abroad. They include newspapers, radio and television networks, web sites, government offices and private and public sector corporations.

    UNI has collaboration agreements with several foreign news agencies, including Reuters and DPA whose stories are distributed to media organisations in India through the Indian agency.

    UNI’s wire service is available in three languages, English, Hindi and Urdu. While the Hindi service Univarta was started in 1982, the Urdu service debuted in 1992.

  • Essel, Intel partner on digital content

    Essel, Intel partner on digital content

    NEW DELHI: The Subhash Chandra-promoted Essel Group has launched DMCL (Digital Media Convergence Ltd) as a company that will facilitate the availability of digital content in India.

    Infotech major Intel will partner the Essel Group in this digital venture, according to senior Intel company executives at the ongoing FICCI Frames event in Mumbai.

    DMCL, to be headed by Zee Telefilms president Abhijeet Saxena, will concentrate on acquiring, digitising and making available on various platforms a wide variety of content.

    This content could be special interest content sourced from outside India for the Indian audience as well as Indian/Bollywood content for use in India and outside.

    DMCL will also engage in creating special interest /niche content that will be of immense value to select audiences in India.

    Announcing the initiative, Saxena said, “We have always been very conscious of offering the best in entertainment to our consumers. Keeping our sights on the future of entertainment in the digital new media scenario, we will be at the forefront of providing both new and existing content across various consumer gadgets.”

    Dwelling on shaking hands with Intel, he added, “While selecting the technology and partner for implementation, performance and expertise in successful implementation was given prime consideration. As Intel is a domain specialist, we are very happy to collaborate with them for this effort. We are confident that we will have mutually beneficial partnership with Intel for this gigantic strategic initiative.”

    Intel Corp launched its Intel Viiv technology platform for home entertainment devices at the CES show California in January 2006.

    The Intel Viiv technology is designed to make it easier for people to download, view, manage and share digital entertainment on a variety of viewing screens and networked devices such as portable media players, digital TVs and routers.

    The company is working to bring the Intel Viiv platform to India in the near future.

    DMCL and Intel will work towards offering digital content over the Intel Viiv platform in India. DMCL will offer an agnostic platform, by being an aggregator (including doing re-purposing) for other content owners, starting with Zee Telefilms Ltd.’s content.

    Intel will work with other players in the industry to introduce DMCL as an Intel Viiv content service provider in India. This joint industry supporting effort means that the consumers who procure Intel Viiv will get a ready service available on the platform for them to access information, entertainment and other services.

    Essel Group has diverse national and global business interests, encompassing media programming, broadcast and distribution, specialty packaging, entertainment and trading.