DB Corp, a print media company and publisher of Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, Divya Marathi, and Saurashtra Samachar, has released its financial results for the quarter and year ending 30th June, 2023.
In Q1 FY2024, advertising revenue witnessed growth of 17.2 pc, reaching INR 394.6 Cr as compared to INR 336.8 Cr in Q1 FY2023. Total revenue also showed an increase of around 15 pc, reaching INR 573.6 Cr from INR 499.4 Cr in the previous year. Circulation revenue saw a modest growth of approximately 4 pc, reaching INR 119.9 Cr as compared to INR 115.6 Cr.
The company’s EBIDTA recorded a surge of 84.2 pc, reaching INR 135.9 Cr in Q1 FY2024, compared to INR 73.8 Cr in Q1 FY2023. This growth was attributed to stringent cost control measures and the favorable impact of softening newsprint prices. Furthermore, the EBIDTA margin expanded by 900 basis points, reaching 24 pc from 15 pc in the previous year.
The net profit for Q1 FY2024 witnessed growth, surging by 154 pc year on year, reaching INR 78.8 Cr compared to INR 31.0 Cr in the same period last year.
In addition to its print media performance, DB Corp’s radio business also performed well during the quarter. The radio segment’s revenue increased by 16.2 pc year on year, reaching INR 37.2 Cr compared to INR 32.0 Cr in the previous year. Moreover, the radio business’s EBIDTA grew by 23 pc, reaching INR 11.5 Cr in Q1 FY2024, compared to INR 9.4 Cr in Q1 FY2023.
Commenting on the performance for Q1 FY2024, Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp, said, “As global economies are making a slow recovery from their inflationary pressures, the Indian Economy, especially the non-metro markets continue to see rapid growth. The print sector has been on the uptrend for the past few months and this is likely to continue. Reputed agencies such as CRISIL peg this growth at about 15-17 pc on the back of strong advertising revenues, driven by Elections, Government Spending, Consumer Demand across traditional and digital sectors. While English language print has been struggling with sluggish demand, Regional newspapers seem to be faring better.”
“We attribute this to our continued editorial excellence, high reader engagement and omni-channel delivery mechanism. Along with ad revenue growth we have been focused on cost optimisation and over the last 4-6 months have also been helped with easing newsprint prices. This has helped us deliver our fifth quarter of consistent growth across all segments and are confident of continuing this trend in the forthcoming quarters,” added Agarwal.
