ITV

Tag: FM radio business

  • TV Today Q1 operating profit from news biz shrinks 9.8%

    TV Today Q1 operating profit from news biz shrinks 9.8%

    MUMBAI: TV Today Network‘s first quarter operating profit from the television news business has shrunk 9.81 per cent due to a slowing growth in revenue and a surge in staff expense, while the radio segment has reported a 60 per cent jump in turnover.

    The company, which runs news channels that include Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, has posted an operating profit of Rs 44.24 million from the TV broadcasting business, down from Rs 49.05 million a year ago.

    Revenue from this segment grew 7.5 per cent to Rs 689.80 million for the first three months ended June 2011, compared with Rs 641.39 million in the earlier year.
            
      Overall, TV Today Network has reported a net loss of Rs 2.82 million during the first quarter of the fiscal, dragged down by its losses from the FM radio business. In the same quarter last year, the company had earned a net profit of Rs 203.92 million.

    For the first time, however, it is not just the losses in the radio business that has affected the bottom line of the company but also a 27.32 per cent increase in the employee cost.

    TV Today Network’s expenses surged to Rs 713.34 million, compared to Rs 454.35 million a year ago. The spend on staff salary was Rs 246.8 million, up from Rs 193.84 million. The company said that the year-ago period does not include the value of increments for the period given subsequently.

    TV Today’s income from operations stood at Rs 703.70 million, 8.25 per cent up from Rs 650.08 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

    The radio business posted an operating loss of Rs 47.71 million on an income of Rs 13.90 million. In the earlier year, operating loss stood at Rs 43.32 million on an income of Rs 8.69 million.

    TV Today shares fell 0.55 per cent to close Friday at Rs 63.40 on the BSE.
     
     

  • IDBI, Bank of Baroda pick up 20 per cent in B.A.G Infotainment

    IDBI, Bank of Baroda pick up 20 per cent in B.A.G Infotainment

    MUMBAI: The appetite of Indian banks for investing in private FM radio business has begun. IDBI Bank and Bank of Baroda have picked up 10 per cent each in B.A.G Infotainment, the subsidiary company under which B.A.G Films operates its radio business.

    “We have offloaded 20 per cent in our radio company to the two banks for Rs 40 million. We are issuing the shares to them on par value,” B.A.G Films managing director Anuradha Prasad tells Indiantelevision.com.
    B.A.G Infotainment will also be diluting an additional 20 per cent to a foreign private equity investor at a higher valuation. The promoters of B.A.G will keep the remaining 60 per cent with them.

    “We are in advanced negotiations with private equity investors for parting with 20 per cent equity at a higher premium. We hope to finalise the deal soon,” says Prasad.

    The government regulation makes it mandatory for the promoter of private FM radio stations to have at least 51 per cent holding in the company. “We could have diluted a further nine per cent but have decided to keep it with us,” says Prasad.

    B.A.G has earmarked an investment of Rs 480 million for its radio business. The company has already pumped in Rs 140 million including Rs 50 million towards licence fee for the 10 radio stations it plans to operate in.

    The company will kick off its first radio station in March, says Prasad. The stations it has successfully bid for include Patiala, Hissar, Karnal, Simla, Ahmadnagur, Jalgaon, Dhule, Ranchi, Jabalpur and Muzaffarpur.

    “We have already lined up 1000 hours of programming. We have ordered for the equipment and are on track to launch the stations as per schedule,” says B.A.G Infotainment chief operating officer Rajiv Mishra.

  • Balaji’s V Devarajan joins Adlabs Films as CFO

    Balaji’s V Devarajan joins Adlabs Films as CFO

    MUMBAI: Anil Ambani is busy poaching executives from rival media organisations. The latest to join Adlabs Films Ltd is Balaji Telefilms chief financial officer V Devarajan.

    “We are taking in Devarajan as our CFO. He willl be joining us soon,” says a senior executive in Adlabs Films.

    Devarajan joined Balaji Telefilms as CFO in 2002 and was responsible for putting in place processes that resulted in operational cost efficiencies.

    Devarajan’s resignation as Balaji CFO was effective 9 May and India’s leading soap factory moved swiftly to put in a replacement. Sandeep Jain takes over from the departing Devarajan as the new Balaji CFO with immediate effect.

    Adlabs is in a major expansion spree and is ramping up its film exhibition and production businesses. The company recently bought out the entire stake of Mukta Arts in a joint venture company for digital distribution of movies.

    Adlabs Films’ board recently approved the proposal for demerger of its FM radio business to a wholly owned subsidiary, Adlabs Radio Pvt Ltd. Adlabs plans to list the new entity on the stock exchange.

  • Adlabs board to meet on FM radio demerger on 22 April

    Adlabs board to meet on FM radio demerger on 22 April

    MUMBAI: Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises (ADAE) controlled Adlabs Films is holding a board meeting on 22 April to discuss the demerger of its FM radio business.

    As reported last month by Indiantelevision.com, ADAE has sought government clearance for bringing all the radio business under a division — Adlabs Radio Pvt Ltd.

    The company has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that the board will “consider the proposal for the reorganisation of the Company and demerger of its FM Radio business pro-rata to all the shareholders, pursuant to a scheme of arrangement under sections 391-394 of Companies Act, 1956.”
    According to a recent PTI report, ADAE had further increased its stake in Adlabs Films to 54.91 per cent after the acquisition of an additional 3.8 million shares.

    Reliance Land Private Limited, along with Reliance Capital Limited acquired these shares on 12 April, Adlabs Films has informed the stock exchanges.
    The mode of acquisition has been preferential allotment (conversion of warrants to equity), it said. With this latest acquisition, Reliance Land and Reliance Capital now own 21,855,000 shares aggregating to 54.91 per cent of the total paid up capital of the company.

    Reliance Land, a part of the Reliance Capital Group, last year had acquired 51 per cent controlling stake in Manmohan Shetty’s Adlabs Films, a leading motion picture processing laboratory which also runs a chain of multiplexes.