Sun TV Q2 net dips 16%, rev down 6%

MUMBAI: Southern media conglomerate Sun TV Network Ltd. has seen a small fall in revenue, leading its standalone net profit to drop 15.80 per cent to Rs 1.52 billion in the fiscal-second quarter as expenses have grown 7 per cent.

The Kalanithi Maran-owned Sun TV, which recently acquired the Hyderabad IPL team for Rs 4.25 billion, had a net profit of Rs 1.8 billion in the second quarter of last year.

Advertisement revenue stayed muted in a year of slowdown and a fall in audience share by the leading regional broadcaster. Ad income grew 4 per cent to Rs 2.44 billion in the second quarter from Rs 2.35 a year earlier.

The broadcaster?s total income in the second quarter was Rs 4.4 billion, down 5.7% from Rs 4.7 billion a year ago. The company?s Ebitda margin for the quarter stood at 76 per cent.

Its expenses in the second quarter grew 6.88 per cent to Rs 2.18 billion from Rs 2.03 billion a year ago.

Sun had taken a hit in its income in the first quarter due to non-carriage of its channels by the Tamil Nadu government-owned Arasu Cable network.

Sun had said its subscription revenues will start "falling in place" following the conclusion of an agreement with Arasu which saw the cable network carrying its channels beginning 1 August.

On the utilisation of IPO proceeds, the company said against the total projected utilisation of Rs 5.72 billion from the public float, Rs 3.56 billion was utilised towards capitalisation of subsidiaries.

Sun said Rs 1.28 billion was used towards launch of new channels, purchase of new equipment and upgradation of existing equipment. For construction of the corporate office, Rs 623.4 million was utilised.

Sun TV Network operates 32 satellite television channels in four languages -- Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam and presently airs 43 FM radio stations across India.

Sun TV?s shares fell 1.43 per cent to close Friday at Rs 327.05 on the BSE.