Balaji Telefilms Q3 net up as programming realisation sees growth

MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms Limited?s (BTL) net profit for the fiscal third quarter has jumped to Rs 49.4 million from Rs 11.23 million in the third quarter of previous fiscal as expenses remained under control.

The company?s net sales for the quarter grew to Rs 324.8 million from Rs 311 million in the corresponding quarter.

Expenditure decreased to Rs 334.1 million from Rs 370.7 million as staff cost saw a fall to Rs 18.32 million from Rs 36.34 million. Cost of production saw a minor increase to Rs 254 million from Rs 250.7 million.

In the quarter under review, the company posted a positive Ebitda of Rs 18.47 million compared to an Ebitda loss of Rs 18.8 million in the previous fiscal.

Balaji said it has realised revenues only from commissioned programming amounting to Rs 318.1 million against Rs 239.5 million a year ago.

There was no revenue from the sponsored segment during the quarter as the company has completely exited from this segment while partial revenues from the Sponsored programming was at Rs 30.8 million in the previous fiscal.

Hours of Hindi commissioned programmes stood at 146 compared to 120 in the trailing fiscal.

Balaji said that the share of commissioned programming in revenues during the quarter has improved both in terms of volume and realisation.

Balaji Motion Pictures Limited, the motion pictures subsidiary of BTL, posted a net profit of Rs 53 million on revenues of Rs 132.5 million. The expenses for the quarter stood at Rs 74.69 million.

Significant revenues came from the sale of satellite rights of ?Kya Super Kool Hain Hum? and ?Shootout at Lokhandwala.

Additionally, in line with the company?s strategic focus on de-risking its financials and limiting exposure to the volatility of the environment, it has already committed a sale of rights for music, overseas and home video for five of its movies to be released in 2013 though the paperwork is yet to be formalised.

BMPL said it is also in the process of entering into agreements to license the satellite rights of three of its upcoming films.

On a consolidated basis, Balaji increased its net profit to Rs 102.4 million compared to Rs 33.8 million in the preceding fiscal.

However, net sales declined to Rs 457.3 million from Rs 658.2 million while expenses stood at Rs 408.8 million compared to Rs 694.8 million.