DB Corp PAT remains flat in Q4 FY16; radio biz ad revenues up 11.2%

DB Corp, home to flagship newspapers Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, Dainik Divya Marathi and Saurashtra Samachar, has reported 6.3 per cent YoY growth on its total revenues to Rs 5,265 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 from Rs 4,953 million in Q4 of last fiscal.

Circulation revenue increased by15.3 per cent YoY to Rs 1,136 million in Q4 FY16 from Rs 985 million, primarily due to yield driven growth, largely coming from mature markets.

Advertising revenue in Q4 FY16 stood at Rs 3,600 million in current period from Rs 3,543 million in Q4 of last fiscal.

EBIDTA margin for the quarter came in at ~24 per cent at Rs 1,263 million, against margin of ~26 per cent and EBITDA of Rs ~1292 million in Q4 FY15, after factoring in Bihar pre-operative expenditure of Rs 3.74 million.

Profit after tax (PAT) remained flat at Rs 642 million (PAT margin 12.2 per cent), against Rs ~640 million (PAT margin 13 per cent) in Q4 of last year, after considering Bihar launch preoperative expenditure of Rs 3.74 million and forex loss of Rs 1.4 million.

Radio business

Advertising revenues for the group’s radio business (My FM) expanded by 11.2 per cent YoY to Rs 298 million in Q4 of FY16, against Rs 268 million in Q4 of the previous fiscal.

Radio business EBIDTA stood at Rs 115 million (38.5 per cent margin) in Q4 FY16. The radio business achieved PAT of Rs 61 million (21 per cent margin) in Q4 FY16.

Digital business revenue grew by 33 per cent to Rs 120 million from Rs 90 million in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.

For the financial year 2015-16, total revenues increased by 2.2 per cent to Rs 20,800 million, from Rs 20,353 million in FY15.

Circulation revenue grew by 16 per cent YoY to Rs 4,356 million in FY16 from Rs 3,755 million in FY15, largely driven by yield growth of 13 per cent YoY, primarily in legacy markets.

Advertising revenues in FY16 stood at Rs 14,812 million as against Rs 15,166 million during the corresponding period last year.

DB Corp achieved EBIDTA margins of 27.1 per cent in FY16 at Rs 5,627 million, from Rs 5,879 million (EBITDA margin ~29 per cent) of last year, after factoring Bihar launch preoperative expenditure of Rs 58.31 million and forex loss of Rs 25.5 million.

PAT stood at Rs 2,966 million (PAT margin 14.3 per cent), from Rs 3,163 million (PAT margin 15.5 per cent), after considering Bihar launch of preoperative expenditure of Rs 58.31 million and forex loss of Rs 58 million.

Commenting on the performance for Q4 and FY2015-16, Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp, said, “Our performance this quarter continues to reflect sustained efforts to engage strongly with readers and advertisers. We continue to undertake several key initiatives to propel the company on a growth trajectory, since we have already laid a very strong foundation for the business that now has extremely strong fundamentals. Our strategic areas of focus are at the core of our growth and expansion roadmap and way forward, being led by print, digital and radio segments.”

He further said, “This year we brought back the ‘Zidd karo’ campaign that resonates our operating philosophy – which has guided the group to report significant growth over the last few years. While we are implementing multiple efforts to increase reader engagement primarily driven through content, we are also focusing very intensely on advertiser engagement to help advertisers understand multiple ways of engaging with our readers since we know the preferences of our readers very well.”

“We continue to be excited by the development of the radio and digital segments that have great growth capabilities and are on course. On an overall basis, Indian language print media holds tremendous potential and as the largest player in the industry backed by strong competitive advantages, we look forward to leveraging future opportunities,” Agarwal added.