ITV

Tag: The Essel Group

  • Zeel hires Unilever’s Punit Misra to head domestic broadcast business

    Zeel hires Unilever’s Punit Misra to head domestic broadcast business

    MUMBAI: The Essel group owned Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) has filled the missing peg on its leadership roster: the CEO of its domestic broadcast business.

    Come 1 October 2016, former Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) senior executive and careerist Punit Misra will be stepping into those shoes at India’s leading media and entertainment major and will be directly reporting to ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka.

    In recent times, ZEEL has been strengthening its senior management team to help it achieve its ambitious targets.

    Last year, it brought in family member and Punit’s younger brother and technopreneur Amit Goenka to head its international broadcast business.

    Earlier this year, it spun off its broadcast network sales into another company called Zee Unimedia which is headed by COO Ashish Sehgal.

    Misra, the new senior joinee, has had a long association with HUL and was last serving as as executive director & vice president – customer development. His responsibilities included heading sales. He joined HUL as a management trainee in 1996.

    Since then, he has worked in leadership roles across customer development, brand building, brand development and general management within HUL, as well as in the global customer development team of Unilever.

    He was also the member of the management Committee at HUL. As head of sales of the largest FMCG company in India, he was responsible for the performance of HUL sales team – driving delivery of profitable and competitive top line growth for the organization.

    Misra is an Electrical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (formerly University of Roorkee) and has a PGDBM in Finance and Marketing from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

  • Zeel hires Unilever’s Punit Misra to head domestic broadcast business

    Zeel hires Unilever’s Punit Misra to head domestic broadcast business

    MUMBAI: The Essel group owned Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) has filled the missing peg on its leadership roster: the CEO of its domestic broadcast business.

    Come 1 October 2016, former Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) senior executive and careerist Punit Misra will be stepping into those shoes at India’s leading media and entertainment major and will be directly reporting to ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka.

    In recent times, ZEEL has been strengthening its senior management team to help it achieve its ambitious targets.

    Last year, it brought in family member and Punit’s younger brother and technopreneur Amit Goenka to head its international broadcast business.

    Earlier this year, it spun off its broadcast network sales into another company called Zee Unimedia which is headed by COO Ashish Sehgal.

    Misra, the new senior joinee, has had a long association with HUL and was last serving as as executive director & vice president – customer development. His responsibilities included heading sales. He joined HUL as a management trainee in 1996.

    Since then, he has worked in leadership roles across customer development, brand building, brand development and general management within HUL, as well as in the global customer development team of Unilever.

    He was also the member of the management Committee at HUL. As head of sales of the largest FMCG company in India, he was responsible for the performance of HUL sales team – driving delivery of profitable and competitive top line growth for the organization.

    Misra is an Electrical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (formerly University of Roorkee) and has a PGDBM in Finance and Marketing from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

  • Q2-2016: Siti Cable revenue up 6.8% at Rs 234.2 crore

    Q2-2016: Siti Cable revenue up 6.8% at Rs 234.2 crore

    BENGALURU: The Essel Group’s Subhash Chandra led Siti Cable Network Limited (Siti Cable) reported 6.8 per cent YoY growth in operating revenue (total income from operations, or TIO) for the quarter ended 30 September, 2015 (Q2-2016, current quarter) at Rs 234.21 crore from Rs 219.25 crore and a 2.7 per cent QoQ increase from Rs 228.09 crore.

     

    Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (2) All numbers in this report are consolidated unless stated otherwise.

     

    EBIDTA including other income in the current quarter increased 12.5 per cent YoY to Rs 51.53 crore (22 per cent margin) from Rs 45.79 crore (20.9 per cent margin) and increased 35.2 per cent QoQ from Rs 38.10 crore (16.7 per cent margin).

     

    The company reported a loss of Rs 22.92 crore (almost flat) YoY as compared to the loss of Rs 22.87 crore, but lower than the loss of Rs 27.71 crore in Q1-2016.

     

    Subscription numbers

     

    The company says that it added 3.30 lakh digital video subscribers in the current quarter as compared to two lakh additions in the immediate trailing quarter. Its digital cable subscriber base has increased 59 lakh from 56 lakh. Overall the company claims a cable subscriber base of 107 lakh, same as the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.

     

    Subscription revenue in the current quarter increased 2.6 per cent YoY to Rs 138.50 crore from Rs 135 crore and increased 7.4 per cent QoQ from Rs 129 crore. Carriage revenue in the current quarter increased 2.7 per cent YoY to Rs 60.30 crore from Rs 58.70 crore but reduced 17.3 per cent QoQ from Rs 72.90 crore. 

     

    Activation revenue in the current quarter increased 78 per cent to Rs 19.40 crore from Rs 10.90 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and increased 48.1 per cent from Rs 13.10 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    Siti Cable says that it has added 16,950 broadband subscribers in Q2-2016, taking its broadband subscriber base 91,450 from 74,500 in the previous quarter. Broadband revenue increased 50 per cent YoY in Q2-2106 to Rs 9.30 crore from Rs 6.20 crore and increased 3.3 per cent QoQ from Rs 9 crore.

     

    Let us look at some of the other numbers reported by Siti Cable:

     

    The company’s Total Expenditure in the current quarter increased 9.2 per cent YoY to Rs 228.09 crore (97.4 per cent of TIO) from Rs 208.89 crore (95.3 per cent of TIO) and was flat (declined 0.05 per cent) QoQ as compared to Rs 228.21 crore (100.1 per cent of TIO).

     

    Pay channel costs in the current quarter increased 5.8 per cent to Rs 124.01 crore (52.9 per cent of TIO) as compared to Rs 117.23 crore (53.5 per cent of TIO), but declined 8.6 per cent QoQ from Rs 135.70 crore (50.5 per cent of TIO).

     

    Other expenses increased 4.8 per cent in the current quarter to Rs 50.07 crore (21.4 per cent of TIO) as compared to Rs 47.77 crore (21.8 per cent of TIO) and increased 15.6 per cent from Rs 43.32 crore (19 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2016.

     

    Siti Cable’s finance costs in the current quarter increased 15.8 per cent YoY to Rs 34.27 crore (14.6 per cent of TIO) from Rs 29.58 crore (13.5 per cent of TIO) and increased 1.1 per cent QoQ from Rs 33.90 crore (14.9 per cent of TIO).

     

    Company Speak

     

    Siti Cable executive director and CEO V D Wadhwa said, “A focus on improved operational performance resulted in EBITDA growth of 35.2 per cent and EBITDA Margin at 21.2 per cent, an expansion by 467 bps sequentially. We are looking to further streamline our Broadband operations to provide stellar customer experience. Our commitment to digitisation of Phase 3 areas remains and we expect this to gain further momentum in the coming quarter.”

  • Subhash Chandra to address Bombay Chamber

    Subhash Chandra to address Bombay Chamber

    MUMBAI: Essel Group of Industries chairman Subhash Chandra Goel will address the Bombay Chamber’s Managing Committee members on 10 October. The topic that he will throw light on through his own experiences and insights is ‘Leadership in Media and Entertainment Business’.

    Subhash Chandra is a business leader, also known as the media Czar, the founder chairman of Essel Group of Industries having a market capitalisation of approx US $1.7 billion. The Essel Group of Industries is into diversified businesses like, entertainment parks, satellite television, cable TV distribution, movie production, multiplexes, education, animation, publishing, packaging, satellite and latest online Lottery.

    His distinguished audiences will include leading corporate honchos and business tycoons, informs an official release.

    This talk is the part of the series of meetings planned by the Bombay Chamber with the aim of bettering the business environment and to equip its established members to conquer newer heights.

  • ‘Fanaa’ no show: Fun Cinemas deny rift with Yash Raj

    ‘Fanaa’ no show: Fun Cinemas deny rift with Yash Raj

    MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra promoted Fun Cinemas (the multiplex brand of Fun Multiplex Pvt Ltd), which along with Inox are the only two cinema chains not screening the Aamir Khan blockbuster Fanaa, has categorically denied any differences with producer Yash Raj Films.

    A statement issued today by E-City Ventures (the corporate brand representing the Essel Group’s out-of-home leisure interests) made the following clarifications:

    a. There exist no differences between The Essel Group or E-City Ventures and Yash Raj Films (the producers and distributors of Fanaa). All such indications prevailing in the entertainment industry are being spread out of malafide intent, through parties that could have vested interests in this matter.

    b. The revenue model of film exhibition works in a way that films with assured commercial success pay for films that do not justify the exhibitor’s overheads. It is therefore necessary for the exhibitor to price both of them in a way that is acceptable to the audience. This assures a longer shelf life for the given film and ultimately benefits the producer and distributor.

    All the points that The Essel Group and E-City Ventures brought to the table while negotiating terms with Yash Raj Films, were motivated by this strong belief.

    c. The Essel Group and E-City Ventures currently have exhibitory control over 70 single screen cinemas and 40 movie multiplexes. The repercussions of the terms negotiated between Fun Cinemas and Yash Raj Films were to affect all these cinemas. It is not that the exhibitors respect the premium value offered by the producer any less – but they care more for the purchasing power of their audience.

    Thus, the fact that both the parties could not agree on common terms, is a pure business deadlock and not a confrontation of any kind.

    The statement concludes by saying that any subsequent releases from India’s most powerful studio would be “negotiated as an independent premise”. This is a significant point because for the remainder of 2006, Yash Raj Films has a virtual lock on all the big Hindi blockbusters that are slated for release. The A-list movies in its kitty include home productions Dhoom 2 and Kabul Express, as well as the year’s other two biggies – Rakesh Roshan’s Krrish and Dharma Productions’ Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna.