Eros International reports PAT up by 39.5% & Income by 17.1%

 Eros International Media Ltd. (BSE Script Code: 533261; NSE Script Code EROSMEDIA) a leading global Indian Film and Digital Studio, today announced unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2018.

 Key Business Highlights & Announcements:

• Eros’ investments are focused on enhancing its position as a premium content owner of Indian film and digital content while maintaining a conservative balance sheet - Performance during the period was driven by the theatrical releases of Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi, the critically acclaimed Manmarziyan, Patakhaa, Saakshyam (Telugu), Tc.Gn - Take Care Good Night (Marathi) amongst others. Healthy overseas releases of Batti Gul Meter Chalu and Nawabzaade  also contributed to the overall performance, reinforcing the portfolio and film mix strategy
• Revenue growth driven by a stronger release slate: Eros released 17 films (4 medium budget, 13 small budget) & 1 Digital Series in Q2 FY2019 as compared to 7 films (2 medium budget, 5 small budget) in Q2 FY2018

• Margin expansion driven by content - driven films, strong pre-sales strategy and catalogue monetization
• Capital structure and coverage ratios improve further and are well within the prescribed norms
• Contribution from the television and others segment stood healthy at 48.2%, including satellite sales of Saakshyam (Telugu)
• Eros Music’s Manmarziyaan music album ranks first on AirCheck (RCS) India Rating Chart. The music of the movie ranked number one in the Top Twenty Albums (Movie/Music) on Radio in India as per the AirCheck (RCS) India Rating
• Eros International’s Marathi Superhit Boyz 2 shines at the box office collecting INR 130 million within 10 days of release
• In this quarter, the Company released “Side Hero”, an Eros Now original series on Eros Now, parent Eros International Plc’s OTT platform. With new series “Smoke” being launched today, there are a host of other new launches including short form web series, short films, as well as digital films on Eros Now

o   Side Hero trailer generates over INR 10 million views in less than a week – Most watched trailer of any Indian original series. This 8-episode series that released on 24^th September has been widely appreciated by the audiences

o   Eros Now’s Original ‘SMOKE’ premiered at MIPCOM 2018 in Cannes under ‘Made in India Originals’ category

Commenting on the performance of Q2 & H1 FY2019, Mr. Sunil Lulla, Executive Vice Chairman & MD of Eros International Media Ltd. said: “We continue to be a pioneer in industry innovations in catering to the changing tastes and preferences of the audiences and are happy to report a strong performance during the Q2 and H1 FY2019 which has been a result of our continuous focus on building a portfolio of deeply researched, content driven films that appeal to a wide cross-section of audiences, produced at optimum costs and marketed around the world across diverse entertainment platforms. During Q2 FY2019, we had a tremendous response from the audience for our releases - a total of 17 films & 1 Digital series comprising of the hit franchise ‘Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi’, the critically acclaimed ‘Manmarziyan,’ Vishal Bharadwaj directed ‘Patakhaa’, Saakshyam (Telugu), Tc.Gn - Take Care Good Night (Marathi) amongst others. Overseas releases of Batti Gul Meter Chalu (Hindi) and Nawabzaade (Hindi) supported to deliver margin enhancing performance again in this quarter.

With our strategy of being a leading producer in digital content, we released an ErosNow 8-episode original series directed by Rohan Sippy, “Side Hero,” which was received very well by the global audiences. Going forward, we have a refreshing slate of high-potential ErosNow originals with crime drama “Smoke” releasing today. We believe with the roll-out of our digital original series, we will be able to capture the attention of the fast growing millennial and post-millennial audiences, while spurring the growth with subscriber addition and penetration in other cities for Eros Now”.

He further added, “H2 FY19 has begun well for us with the successful release of “Boyz 2” (Marathi), “Tummbad” as well as “Andhadhun” (overseas), “Helicopter Eela” (overseas) and “Namaste England” (overseas) at the box office. Further, we have a growing and compelling line-up for the remainder of FY 2019 and FY2020. As we look forward, our proven content acquisition and co-production model, our strong partnerships with Colour Yellow Production, Reliance Industries and the latest partnership with V. Vijayendra Prasad as well as our Indo-China collaborations will be the key differentiator in the forthcoming quarters.”

Partnerships and Other Developments:

• Eros and V. Vijayendra Prasad agreed to partner and jointly develop scripts, greenlight projects, produce & distribute films and web-series across Hindi, Telugu and Tamil languages; 10 stories already in pipeline
• Eros teamed up with producers Dheeraj Wadhawan, Ajay Kapoor, Ishant Saxena, Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj and released Pataakha in India, a Rajasthan-set drama about two warring sisters and the yet untitled Hindi remake of Kannada blockbuster Kirik Party, worldwide starring Kartik Aaryan and Jacqueline Fernandez

Achievements:

• Eros International senior management bag prestigious awards at ‘Pride of India Awards’ 2018. Kishore Lulla and Rishika Lulla Singh receive ‘Most Responsible Leader’ and ‘India’s most Trusted CEOs’ Awards at ‘Pride of India Awards’ 2018 by WCRC Leaders Asia
• Kishore Lulla was awarded the Game Changers of India at the ET Global Business Summit, London Edition
• Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO, Eros Digital honored at BW Business World 40 Under 40 Awards and Summit
• Ridhima Lulla appointed as the Head of the ICC Western India Expert Committee on Media & Entertainment by the ICC Board
• Team Eros Now won two awards at the 'Times National Awards for Marketing Excellence'. Rishika Lulla Singh won 'Women Leadership in Industry Award' and the social media team won 'Best Social Media Campaign' for Munna Michael