DB Corp Limited (DBCL), India’s largest print media company and home to flagship newspapers – Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, Divya Marathi and Saurashtra Samachar, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2021.
The highlights of the Company’s operational and financial performance are as follows:
Key Developments and Initiatives:
Despite the strong pandemic led headwinds, the Dainik Bhaskar group’s carefully calibrated Editorial, Circulation and Ad revenue strategies have continued to help it outperform the industry performance in both Circulation as well as Ad revenue fronts.
The continued efforts of the circulation teams have yielded strong results with the Group managing to salvage a challenging year. The circulation registered almost 300-bps growth on a q-o-q basis in Q4FY21, enabling the Group to reach more than 90% of pre-Covid circulation numbers. The on-ground calibrations done by local teams have helped Dainik Bhaskar achieve almost 95% of pre-Covid levels in select cities and towns. The recoveries have been significant in the key states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat.
On the advertising front, the Dainik Bhaskar Group philosophy of converting adversities into opportunities continues, with the Group being at the forefront of innovation in the print industry and crossing several milestones. During the year, the Group published over 20 ‘Mega Editions’ across its major markets, despite challenging fiscal, with overwhelming response from advertisers, thereby re-affirming our strategy of operating in the Tier-II, Tier-III cities and beyond.
As a result of these efforts as well as cost rationalisation measures and soft newsprint prices, the EBITDA for the Print Business in Q4FY21 came in at Rs. 1122 million (with an EBIDTA margin of 26%) as against Rs.715 million (EBIDTA margin of 16%) million last year quarter and helped end the year FY 21 at Rs. 3582 million (with an EBIDTA margin of 25%) as against Rs. 4821 million (margin of 23%) in FY20.
The statement by the company read, “The coverage of the ground realities of the healthcare infrastructure as well as the treatment of the departed struck a chord with the readers. Further, the entire Dainik Bhaskar group has been putting its best foot forward in curating the best content for its readers on a daily basis while maintaining its high standards of journalistic integrity and ethics.”
The advertisers look for credibility and reach amongst key audiences and it is a well-known fact that Print holds a commanding lead over all other forms of news delivery in both these parameters. The Covid-19 led lockdown accentuated this position further which has been also confirmed by the Ormax News Credibility Index 2020 in September, the Kantar Trust in News Study in November 2020 and the ASCI Trust Study in December 2020.
Performance highlights for Q4 FY2021 –Consolidated [All Comparisons with Q4 FY2020]
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PAT grew by 158% YOY at Rs. 619 million as against Rs. 241 million
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EBIDTA grew by 52% YOY at Rs. 1047 million (23% margin) as against Rs. 690 million (margin of 14%),
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Advertising Revenue stood at Rs. 3084 million as against Rs. 3303 million
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Circulation Revenue stood at Rs. 1104 million as against Rs. 1200 million
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Total Revenue came in at Rs. 4601 million as against Rs. 4898 million
Radio business:
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PAT stands at Rs. 132 million versus PAT of Rs. 34 million in Qtr 4 last year
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Advertising Revenue at Rs. 278 million versus Rs. 326 million
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EBIDTA stands at Rs. 93 million versus Rs. 96 million
Performance highlights for FY2021 – Consolidated [All Comparisons with FY2020]
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Circulation Revenue stood at Rs. 4146 million as against Rs. 5122 million
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Advertising Revenue stood at Rs. 10084 million as against Rs. 15640 million
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Total Revenue came in at Rs. 15222 million as against Rs. 22363 million
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EBIDTA stood at Rs. 3193 million as against Rs. 4940 million
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PAT stood at Rs. 1414 million as against Rs. 2750 million
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The Board has considered and recommended the final Dividend of Rs. 3 per share on the face value of Rs. 10 per share.
Radio Business:
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Advertising Revenue at Rs. 831 million versus Rs. 1391 million last year
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EBIDTA at Rs. 167 million versus Rs. 431 million
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Net Profit came in at Rs. 74 million versus Net profit of Rs. 198 million
Commenting on the performance for FY 2020-21, Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp Ltd said, “While we look back at Fiscal 2021, it has been an extremely unprecedented year by all accounts. For the Print Industry, it has also been a year of reaffirmation of the fact that the Indian reader is extremely discerning and values good editorial ethos. This also validates our core principle that we have been following for the last many decades – Courageous Journalism is difficult and if done well is the most sustainable path for the future.
It has also reaffirmed the changing dynamics of the Print Industry with Indian language newspapers doing significantly better than our English counterparts and outstripping them not only in circulation numbers, but in advertising revenues as well. We are happy to reiterate that the un-metro path chosen by our Founder and solidified by the Company over the past few years is continuing to fructify. Our digital efforts are also beginning to see traction and we are confident that we will continue to deliver quality journalism through all medium.
The local and relevant content that we continued to deliver to our readers has further strengthened our franchise and has ensured that we have emerged stronger. On the back of this, we believe we are well- positioned for long-term growth, and it grounds our conviction that we can continue to substantially and profitably scale up our business albeit steadily.”
