BENGALURU: Indian publishing group Jagran Prakashan Limited (JPL) recently signed a share purchase agreement subject to regulatory approvals for 100 per cent acquisition of Music Broadcast Private Limited (MBPL, Radio City) through an all cash deal that JPL says will get it into the high growth and profitable radio segment
The company reported a 3.6 per cent y-o-y increase in revenue in Q3-2015 (current quarter, quarter ended 31 December, 2015) to Rs 470.46 crore from Rs 453.9 crore in Q3-2014 and 7.8 per cent more than the Rs 436.3 crore in trailing quarter Q2-2015. Profit after Tax (PAT) for the current quarter fell slightly by 1.5 per cent to Rs 66.7 crore (14.2 per cent of TIO) as compared to the Rs 67.7 crore reported for Q3-2014.
Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore
Radio City’s all numbers in Q3-2015 up
As per JPL’s investor presentation, Radio City reported 38 per cent y-o-y growth in revenue to Rs 59.7 crore in the current quarter as compared to the Rs 42.5 crore in Q3-2014. Radio City’s expense was up 21 per cent in the current quarter at Rs 37.1 crore as compared to the Rs 30.5 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.
Radio City reported more than double the PAT (up 2.49 times) in Q3-2015 at Rs 17.1 crore (29.1 per cent of Radio City’s revenue) as compared to the Rs 6.9 crore (16.1 per cent of Radio City’s revenue) in Q3-2014. Cash profit almost doubled (up 1.99 times) in Q3-2015 at Rs 21 crore (35.8 per cent of Radio City’s revenue) as compared to the Rs 10.6 crore (24.8 per cent of Radio City’s revenue) in the corresponding year ago quarter.
Let’s look at the other Q3-2015 numbers reported by JPL:
JPL’s advertising revenue in Q3-2015 at Rs 388.4 crore (71.9 per cent of revenue) was 5.6 per cent more than Rs 320.4 crore (70.6 per cent of revenue) in Q3-2014 and 10.3 per cent more than the Rs 306.9 crore (70.3 per cent of revenue) in Q2-2015.
The company’s circulation revenue went up 8.2 per cent in Q3-2015 to Rs 100 crore (21.3 per cent of revenue) as compared to the Rs 92.4 crore (20.4 per cent of revenue) in Q3-2014 and was 3.6 per cent more than the Rs 96.5 crore (22.1 per cent of revenue) in Q2-2015.
JPL’s major revenue comes from its publication Dainik Jagran (DJ). DJ reported 8.6 per cent higher revenue of Rs 361.12 crore in Q3-2015, as compared to the Rs 332.53 crore in Q3-2014 and 7.5 per cent more than the Rs 336 crore in Q2-2015. It has reported operating margin in Q3-2015 for DJ at Rs 129.12 crore, 18.9 per cent more than the Rs 108.62 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year and 17.1 per cent more than the Rs 336 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.
JPL’s total expenditure in Q3-2015 was down 0.2 per cent at Rs 364.53 crores (77.5 per cent of JPL revenue) as compared to the Rs 365.09 crore (80.3 per cent of JPL revenue) in Q3-2014 but 10.6 per cent more than the Rs 329.5 crore (75.5 per cent of JPL revenue) in Q2-2015.
A major component of total expenditure is raw materials consumption (RMC). JPL’s RMC in the current quarter fell 2.6 per cent to Rs 158.5 crore (33.7 per cent of JPL revenue) from Rs 162.7 crore (35.8 per cent of JPL revenue) in Q3-2014 and was 1.1 per cent lower than the Rs 160.3 crore (36.7 per cent of JPL revenue) in the previous quarter.
Operating profit for the current quarter at Rs 132.5 crore (28.2 per cent of JPL revenue) was 20.6 per cent more than the Rs 109.9 crore (24.2 per cent of JPL revenue) in the corresponding year ago quarter and was 24.8 per cent more than the Rs 106.2 crore (24.3 per cent of JPL revenue) in Q2-2015.
The group is engaged primarily in printing and publication of newspaper and magazines in India. The other activities of the company comprise outdoor advertising, event management services and digital business. Among JPL’s subsidiaries include Midday Infomedia Limited, Suvi Info Management (Indore) Private Limited, Nai Dunia Media Limited, Shabda-Shikar Prakashan- Firm, Leet OOH Media Private Limited and X-pert Publicity Private Limited.
