BENGALURU: Essel Group company SITI Cable Network Limited (Siti Cable), the erstwhile Wire and Wireless (India) Ltd (WWIL) reported 42.1 per cent growth in Total Income to Rs 177.26 crore in Q3-2014 from Rs 124.71 crore in the third quarter of last year and was 8.8 per cent higher than Rs 162.94 crore in the previous quarter.
The company reported 72.8 per cent higher earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBIDTA) at Rs 35 crore in Q3-2014 as compared to the Rs 20.25 crore in Q3 of last year and 6.1 per cent more than the Rs 32.98 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.
Siti Cable Chairman Subhash Chandra said, “The ongoing digitisation is providing new impetus for growth and value in India though we are still early in the value creation process. Digital Cable Television is a major engine of growth for SITI Cable across all geographies. Our sustained investment in this segment will further enhance customer television viewing experience”.
“Our results for the quarter reflect the overall stability of our operations, and demonstrate the potential for growth. SITI Cable is EBITDA positive in this quarter as well,” added Chandra.
Let us look at the other figures reported by SITI Cable for Q3-2014:
Operating revenue in SITI Cable's case is primarily generated from subscriber related income, especially from digitisation, income from bandwidth charges, ad income, STB activation charges and other operating revenues. Total Income figures have been mentioned above.
Operating cost for Q4-2014 at Rs 142.26 crore was 36.2 per cent more than the Rs 104.46 crore for Q3-2013 and 9.5 per cent higher than the Rs 129.96 crore for Q2-2014.
The company’s Selling and Distribution expense in Q3-2014 almost quadrupled (was up 3.92 times) to Rs 12.91 crore from Rs 3.29 crore in Q3-2013 and was four per cent more than the Rs 12.42 crore in the immediate preceding quarter.
Its staff cost at Rs 9.91 crore for the current quarter was 23.7 per cent more than the Rs 8.01 crore in Q3-2013 and 5.5 per cent more than the Rs 9.39 crore in Q2-2014. Administrative expense for Q4-2014 at Rs 16.88 crore was down by 3.8 per cent to Rs 16.88 crore in Q3-2014 from Rs 17.55 crore in Q3-2013 and (33.65) per cent lower than the Rs 25.44 crore in Q2-2014.
Depreciation in Q3-2014 was up by 61.8 per cent to Rs 22.99 crore from Rs 14.21 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year, but was (14.6) per cent lower than the Rs 26.91 crore in Q2-2014. The company paid 24.3 per cent more towards finance charges in Q3-2014 at Rs 31.22 crore than the Rs 25.11 crore in Q3-2013 and was 2.3 per cent more than the Rs 30.52 crore in Q2-2013.
The company reported a loss of Rs (22.51) crore in Q3-2014, which was 20.1 per cent more than the loss of Rs 18.75 crore in Q3-2013 and three per cent more than the Rs 21.85 crore in Q2-2014.
SITI Cable CEO VD Wadhwa said, “We have gained further momentum in the third quarter of fiscal 2014. Our total revenue and EBITDA grew to Rs 1773 million and Rs 350 million respectively, a healthy growth of 42 per cent and 73 per cent respectively over corresponding quarter of last fiscal. We have maintained our margins through operational efficiency improvements despite stiff challenges faced at market place on account of DAS billing. We have made the healthy progress in collection of DAS subscription revenue which is way ahead of competition.”
He further added, “We are now in exciting phase of our journey as we strengthen our existing operations and expand our digital subscriber base in phase-3&4 towns. We have started digital cable services in strategic markets of Vijayawada, Hissar and Rohtak in this quarter. We have also reinvented the company website making it more interactive and user- friendly”.
