Mumbai: The Board of Directors in its meeting held today, has taken on record the unaudited consolidated financial results of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) (BSE: 505537, NSE: ZEEL.EQ) and its subsidiaries for the quarter ended December 31, 2016.
ZEEL reported consolidated revenue of Rs 16,391 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2017. Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) was at Rs 5,158 million. PAT for the quarter was Rs 2,549 million. The EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 31.5% and the PAT margin was 15.6%.
Dr. Subhash Chandra, Chairman, ZEEL, commented, “Government’s decision to demonetize high value currency had an impact on businesses across sectors. Notwithstanding the short term disruption caused by demonetization, we believe that it is a step in the right direction. Demonetization along with implementation of GST and push towards cashless economy would help country’s long term growth.”
Commenting on the results of the Company, Dr. Chandra added, “The result once again demonstrates our commitment towards profitable growth and enhancing shareholders’ wealth. Despite the impact of demonetization, we have delivered growth in advertising revenues and growth in subscription revenues remained strong. We believe the adverse impact of demonetization is transient and with a strong portfolio of national and regional channels we are confident of delivering sustainable growth.”
Mr. Punit Goenka, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, ZEEL, commented, “We are happy to deliver another quarter of strong profit growth in a challenging environment. Despite the impact of demonetization on our advertising revenues, we have improved our EBITDA margins. This highlights our ability to manage costs to drive profitable growth on a consistent basis.
Acquisition of broadcasting business of RBNL is in line with our strategy to expand our offering in key genres and focus on regional space. BIG Magic, a comedy channel, will complement our Hindi GEC portfolio. BIG Ganga, the leading Bhojpuri channel, will give us entry into the attractive Bhojpuri market. We are confident that these two channels will benefit immensely from the strength of our network.
The deceleration in our advertising revenue growth during the quarter is largely attributable to demonetization. Advertisers’ willingness to invest in their brands remains intact. However, the timing of spends has been re-calibrated to an extent to suit the change in dynamics due to demonetization. As economic situation is normalizing, ad spends have already started moving up from December levels.”
