DB Corp Q1 FY17 revenue up 19% on back of strong ad & circulation growth

DB Corp, home to flagship newspapers Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, Dainik Divya Marathi and Saurashtra Samachar, has reported 19 per cent growth in its Q1 FY2017 total revenue at Rs 5,745 million from Rs 4,812 million in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.

Advertising revenues reported growth of ~21 per cent YOY to Rs 4,136 million in the current period from Rs 3,423 million in Q1 FY16, primarily through volume recovery and market share recovery.

Circulation revenue increased 15 per cent YoY to Rs 1,176 million from Rs 1,022 million, primarily due to yield driven growth, 13.3 per cent growth has come from mature market, while ~ 1.7 per cent growth is from new centres. DB Corp has reported a consistent circulation growth of 15 per cent CAGR for the last five years.

EBIDTA grew by 46 per cent YOY at Rs 1,853 million with strong EBIDTA margin of 32 per cent for the quarter, against margin of 26.5 per cent and EBITDA of Rs 1,274 million in Q1 FY2016 after factoring forex loss of Rs 8.1 million and also includes losses for new editions of Bihar, which was not there in Q1 of last year.

Profit after tax (PAT) grew by 62 per cent YOY at Rs 1,040 million (PAT margin 18.1 per cent), against Rs 643 million (PAT margin 13.4 per cent) in Q1 of last fiscal, after considering forex loss of Rs 28.7 million as against 18.4 million forex loss in Q1 FY16.

Radio business

Radio advertising revenues expanded by 30.5 per cent YOY to Rs 281 million in Q1 FY17, against Rs 215 million in Q1 FY16.

Radio business EBIDTA stood at Rs 98 million (35 per cent margin). Radio business maintains highest EBIDTA margin amongst all major radio companies.

Radio business achieved PAT of Rs 50 million (18 per cent margin).

Meanwhile, digital business revenue grew by 22 per cent to Rs 123 million from Rs 101 million in Q1 FY16.

New Initiatives

Real estate portal: DB Corp is all set to launch homeonline.com, a real estate portal with many new features from August 1, 2016. The company has been investing in the portal since last one year with the aim towards integrating its strategy of protecting and covering its markets towards ensuring that its real estate market segment remains strong and protected.

Post Pickle English website: The company has also invested through its English language website – Post Pickle – aimed at youth and women audiences. It’s a general interest English website, and has reached almost 1 million visitors in a very short time.

13 radio frequencies: My FM acquired 13 new radio frequencies and the company is all set to roll them out one-by-one starting August 1, 2016. This will give My FM large coverage in Maharashtra with 10 cities.

Commenting on the performance for Q1 FY17, Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp, said, “Our stellar performance this quarter is testimony to the effectiveness of our business growth and execution strategies which have been implemented very successfully by our teams. Over the past few quarters, we undertook several key initiatives to propel the company on a growth trajectory, which have started delivering results.”

He further said, “We continue to be excited by the development of the radio and digital segments that have great growth capabilities and are on course.”

Agarwal also mentioned that DB Corp would simultaneously also continue to develop a high quality talent pool through Dainik Bhaskar School for Media Education to ensure a steady supply of quality editorial resource.

“On an overall basis, the second phase of economic reforms indicates an optimistic way forward. Developments, including the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission and good monsoons, will provide further impetus to the economy as well as the domestic consumption story,” he concluded.

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