BENGALURU: Hindi newspaper ‘Hindustan’, Hindi socio cultural magazine ‘Kadambini’ and children’s Hindi magazine ‘Nandan’ publishers Hindustan Media Ventures Limited (HMVL - not to be confused with HT Media Limited of Hindustan Times, Mint and Fever FM fame) reported a 9.7 per cent growth in Income from operations (TIO) at Rs 206.87 crore as compared to the Rs 188.65 crore in Q3-2014 and 3.7 per cent more than the Rs 199.54 crore in Q2-2015.

For 9M-2015, TIO at Rs 616.49 crore was 12.9 per cent more than the Rs 545.84 crore in Q2-2015. The company’s Total Revenue grew 12.1 per cent in Q3-2015 to Rs 223 crore from Rs 199 crore during the year ago quarter.

Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

The company says that y-o-y advertising revenue grew 10.7 per cent to Rs 152.2 crore in Q3-2015 from Rs 137.5 crore in Q3-2014 and circulation revenue grew 11.1 per cent to Rs 51 crore from Rs 45.9 crore in Q3-2014. Other revenue grew 26.9 per cent to Rs 19.8 crore in Q3-2015 from Rs 15.6 crore in Q3-2014.

HMVL’s PAT in the current quarter at Rs 36.58 crore (17.7 per cent of TIO) was 16.3 per cent more than the Rs 31.46 crore in Q2-2015 and 27.1 per cent more than the Rs 28.79 crore ( 15.3 per cent of TIO) in Q3-2014. PAT in 9M-2015 at Rs 101.92 crore (16.5 per cent of TIO) was 21.3 per cent more than the Rs 84 crore (15.4 per cent of TIO) in 9M-2014.

Let us look at the other figures reported by HMVL:

The company’s total expenditure (TE) in Q3-2015 at Rs 172.91 crore (83.6 per cent of TIO) was up 3.6 per cent from Rs 166.88 crore (83.6 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015 and was 9.9 per cent more than the Rs 157.3 crore (83.4 per cent of TIO) in Q3-2014. For 9M-2015, HMVL has reported 15.4 per cent higher TE at Rs 513.11 crore (83.2 per cent of TIO) versus Rs 444.46 crore (81.4 per cent of TIO) in 9M-2014.

A major component of HMVL’s TE is cost of raw materials (RM). In Q3-2015, HMVL’s RM cost at Rs 86.69 crore (50.1 per cent of TE) was 2.3 per cent more than the Rs 84.8 crore (54.9 per cent of TE) in Q2-2015 and was 7.3 per cent more than the Rs 80.63 crore (51.3 per cent of TE) in Q3-2014. 9M-2015 RM cost at Rs 258.26 crore (50.3 per cent of TE) was 17.6 per cent more than the Rs 219.68 crore (50.3 per cent of TE) in 9M-2014.

The company’s employee cost in Q3-2015 at Rs 24.87 crore (14.4 per cent of TE) was 3.5 per cent less than the Rs 25.77 crore (15.4 per cent of TIO) and was 14.1 per cent more than the Rs 21.80 crore (13.9 per cent of TE) in Q3-2014. Its 9M-2015, employee cost at Rs 80.28 crore (15.6 per cent of TE) was 23.8 per cent more than the Rs 64.63 crore (14.6 per cent of TE) in 9M-2014.

HMVL chairperson Shobhana Bhartia said, “We are pleased to report another quarter of revenue growth and higher profitability on the back of lower raw material costs. After establishing ourselves as a strong player in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand while retaining our dominance in Bihar and Jharkhand, we are now focusing on operational efficiencies to ensure revenue growth is also accompanied by profit growth. We derive confidence from our performance and we will continue to strive to deliver value to our shareholders.”