Mumbai: DB Corp Limited (DBCL), India’s largest print media company and home to flagship newspapers DainikBhaskar, DivyaBhaskar, DainikDivya Marathi and SaurashtraSamachar has announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2017.
The highlights of the Company’s operational and financial performance are as follows:
Performance highlights for Q2 FY 2017-18-Consolidated
- Consolidated Advertising Revenues grew by 6% YOY at Rs. 3966 million as againstRs. 3740 million during Q2 last year.
- Circulation revenue grew by 8% YOY at Rs. 1273 million from Rs. 1179 million during Q2 last year. 6.5% growth has come from Yield growth, largely from mature markets only. Efforts have been delivering excellent growth since start of initiative in July with copies at 50.41 lakh copies, significantly grown to 53.33 lakh copies in July end; 53.77 lakh copies in August end; 54.28 lakh copies in September end – adding 3.87 lakh copies since the initiation of the expansion drive i.e. 8% growth on a high base of circulation copies, along with cover price increase.
- Consolidated Total Revenues grew by 6% YOY at Rs. 5741 million, as against Rs. 5432 million during Q2 FY17, after taking into consideration of one-off income, in Qtr 2 last year of Rs. 103.8 million on account of profit booking on sale of Gitanjali gems share.
- DBCL EBITDA stands at Rs. 1456 million (margins 25%) from Rs. 1547 million (margin 28%); after factoring one-offs related to roll back of radio music royalty of Rs. 58 million, in Qtr 2 last year, as well as New circulation expansion drive in Bihar and other markets at Rs. 132 million, in Qtr 2 of current year
- Consolidated PAT stands at Rs. 787 million (margin 14%) from Rs. 885 million (margin 16%), after factoring one-off related to roll back of radio music royalty of Rs. 58 million, in Qtr 2 last year, as well as New circulation expansion drive in Bihar and other markets at Rs. 132 million, in Qtr 2 of current year
- Radio business grew by 17% YOY to Rs. 349 million from Rs. 299 million last year.
- Radio business EBIDTA stands at Rs. 92 million (margin 26.5%) from Rs. 152 million (margin 51%), after factoring, roll back of radio music royalty of Rs. 58 million, in Qtr 2 last year;
- Radio Business PAT stands at Rs. 40 million (11% margin), after considering roll back of radio music royalty of Rs. 58 million, in Qtr 2 last year
Performance highlights for H1 FY 2017-18 – Consolidated
- Advertising Revenues reported growth of 5.4% YOY to Rs. 8301 million in current period from Rs. 7876 million in H1 of last fiscal
- Circulation Revenue has increased 6.5% YOY to Rs. 2506 million from Rs. 2354 million, primarily due to yield driven growth, largely growth has come from mature market.
- Total Revenue reported growth of 4.8% YOY at Rs. 11753 million in current period from Rs. 11219 million in H1 last fiscal, after taking into consideration of one- off income, in H1 of last year of Rs. 145.4 million on account of profit booking on sale of Gitanjali gems share
- EBIDTA stands at Rs. 3390 million with strong EBIDTA margin of 29% for the first half; against EBITDA of Rs. 3400 million (margin 30%) H1 of last year, after factoring one- off related to roll back of radio music royalty of Rs. 58 million, in H 1 last year, as well as New circulation expansion drive in Bihar and other markets at Rs. 132 million , in H 1 of current year
- PAT stands at Rs. 1888 million (PAT Margin 16%), against Rs. 1925 million (PAT Margin 17%), in H1 of last year
- Radio business: Advertising revenues expanded by 14% YOY to Rs. 661 million in H1 of current period, against Rs. 579 million in H1 of last fiscal.
- Radio business EBIDTA stands at Rs. 149 million (23% margin), after factoring, roll back of radio music royalty of Rs. 58 million, in H 1 last year.
Commenting on the performance for Q2 FY 2017-18, Mr. SudhirAgarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp Ltd said, “We are happy to report another quarter of noteworthy progress and implementation of several growth-orinted initiatives. We moved ahead with the second phase of our product strengthening campaign focusing on the Knowledge Theme and now dedicate a full page of the most interesting utility- based facts that can enhance our readers’ daily lives. Supplementing our product campaign, we have adopted a circulation expansion strategy across all territories aimed at expanding reach, which is progressing well and has translated into good growth. The team has been putting best efforts and already achieved significant success of the targeted expansion, evident in the performance numbers. Our cost control initiatives implemented in the earlier quarters continue to deliver as in spite of the circulation expansion initiative we have successfully guarded the company’s profitability. Internally also, we have taken up several new efforts to strengthen and encourage more impactful communication across states / business units to review the business and make quicker decisions.
All our growth-led efforts undertaken during the quarter are reflective of our determination to further fortify our leadership position and build a futuristic, agile and competitive organisation. It demonstrates our confidence on the untapped industry potential and the role DainikBhaskar Group can play across India to bring about great socio-economic transformations. At a broader level, India’s GDP is gradually on an uptrend as the GST impact seems to be stabilizing slowly. With several progressive steps underway, we expect economy to improve and look forward to better growth.”
