Eros International PAT up by 17.4%; FY2019 revenues grew 12.8%

Eros International Media Ltd has reported yearly income at Rs 11,397 million, an EBIT at Rs 3,951 million with an EBIT margin at 34.7 per cent. Profit after Tax (PAT) surged by 17.4 per cent to Rs 2,691 million in the year ended March 31, 2019. Eros’ total income increased by 12.8 per cent from FY2018, which was at Rs 10,100 million. 

The quarterly income stood at Rs 2,632 million, an EBIT at Rs 988 million with an EBIT margin at 37.5 per cent. PAT grew by 14.6 per cent to Rs 697 million. Q4 FY2019 total income increased by 2.1 per cent from the corresponding period of last year, which was Rs 2,578 million. 

Revenue growth was driven by a healthy mix of release slate: Eros released 72 films (7 medium budget, 65 small budget) and 11 Digital Series in FY2019 as compared to 24 films (1 high budget, 4 medium budget and 19 small budget films) in FY2018. Eros’ strategy of moving away from films that rely on box office performance and expand presence in digital content creation is getting recognised. 

The revenue split across segments for FY2019 was:
Theatrical – 28.0%
Television and Others – 53.5%
Overseas segment – 18.5% 

Commenting on the performance of Q4 & FY2019, Sunil Lulla, Executive Vice Chairman & MD of Eros International Media Ltd, said, “Our investments are focused on enhancing our position as a premium content owner of Indian film and digital content while maintaining a conservative balance sheet. We have a strong focus on films that don’t just rely on box office performance and, therefore, we invested on expanding our presence in digital content creation. In this quarter, we released 7 original series – ‘Operation Cobra’, ‘Meri Khoj Mere Haath’, ‘Flip’, ‘Ennaya’, ‘Metro Park’, ‘Tum Se Na Ho Paayega’ and ‘The Investigation’ on Eros Now, parent Eros International Plc’s OTT platform and a total of 16 films across languages. A mix of film content across languages and an increase in digital content creation, together with catalogue revenues contributed to the quarterly performance and definitely enhanced the year-on-year growth.” 

He further added, “Our margin is expanding with content-driven films, strong pre-sales strategy, catalogue monetisation and now with additional presence and focus on digital it will only enhance our offerings. We hope to take entertainment to the audience, which is no longer bound by geographical boundaries, and for that, content creation with strong distribution will definitely strengthen our balance sheet and margins for shareholders in the future.”