BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra led content and broadcast player Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Zeel) reported a 17.4. per cent increase in advertising revenue in Q1-2015 to Rs 622.10 crore (57.3 per cent of total operating revenue or TOR) as compared to the year ago revenue of Rs 530.07 crore (54.5 per cent of TOR) and 6.8 per cent higher than the Rs 582.36 crore (50.3 per cent of TOR) reported for the immediate trailing quarter.
However, the company’s Q1-2015 PAT at Rs 210.57 crore (19.4 per cent of TOR) was 6.3 per cent lower than the Rs 224.64 crore (23.1 per cent of TOR) in Q1-2014 and 3.2 per cent lower than the Rs 217.58 crore (18.8 per cent of TOR) in Q4-2014. Despite lower operating cost in Q1-2015, the company has reported higher employee benefit expense, other expenses, depreciation, amortisation expense, higher tax payment and lower subscription and other income for the period as compared to Q4-2014.
Notes: (1) The results mentioned in this report are consolidated results of Zeel and its subsidiaries.
(2) 100,00,000=100 Lakhs = 1 crore = 10 million
Let us look at the other figures for Q1-2015 reported by Zeel
Lower subscription and other revenue in Q1-2015 has resulted in a drop of 6.3 per cent q-o-q TOR from operations to Rs 1085.70 crore from Rs 1158.81 crore in Q4-2014. TOR in Q1-2015 was however 10.4 per cent more than the Rs 973.35 crore reported in Q1-2014.
Zeel reported 4.5 per cent lower subscription revenue for Q1-2015 at Rs 422.77 crore (40.8 per cent of TOR) as compared to the Rs 463.54 crore (40 per cent of TOR) in Q4-2014 and 9.3 per cent more than the Rs 424.07 crore (43.6 per cent of TOR) in Q1-2014.
Other Income in Q1-2015 was less than a fifth (down by 81.6 per cent) at Rs 20.83 crore as compared to the Rs 112.91 crore in Q4-2014 and 9 per cent more than the Rs 19.11 crore in Q1-2014.
The company’s Total Expenditure (TE) for Q1-2015 at Rs 796.1 crore (73.3 per cent of TOR) was 8.1 per cent less than the Rs 866.15 crore (74.7 per cent of TOR) in Q4-2014 and 15.3 per cent more than the Rs 690.42 crore (70.9 per cent of TOR) in Q1-2014.
Zeel’s Q1-2015 employee benefit expense at Rs 111.71 crore (10.3 per cent of TOR) was 11.9 per cent more than the Rs 99.84 crore (8.6 per cent of TOR) in Q4-2014 and 16.8 per cent more than the Rs 95.63 crore (9.8 per cent of TOR) in Q1-2014.
Zeel reported Q1-2015 depreciation and amortisation expense of Rs 19.57 crore (1.8 per cent of TOR) which was 3.4 per cent more than the Rs 18.92 crore (1.6 per cent of TOR) in Q4-2014 and more than double (2.26 times) the Rs 8.66 crore (0.9 per cent of total income) in Q1-2014.
The company’s other expense in Q1-2015 at Rs 230.80 crores (21.3 per cent of TOR) was 13.7 per cent more than the Rs 202.97 crore (17.5 per cent of TOR) in Q4-2014 and 31.6 per cent more than the Rs 175.37 per cent (18 per cent of TOR) in Q1-2014.
Zeel’s tax expense in Q1-2015 at Rs 116.35 crore (10 per cent of TOR) was 36.5 per cent more than the Rs 85.26 crore (7.4 per cent of TOR) in Q4-2014 and 9.8 per cent lower than the Rs 128.94 crore (13.2 per cent of TOR) in Q1-2014.
Zeel chairman Subhash Chandra said, “Our performance during the quarter reflects the investments that Zeel is making to grow its business and market share. In a highly competitive space, Zeel continues to build its media assets and in the process create value for shareholders.”
Zeel managing director and CEO Punit Goenka said, “The network share is up as compared to the corresponding quarter last fiscal which has translated into a strong performance on the advertising front, outpacing the industry growth once again. On the subscription front, pursuant to the change in content aggregator regulation, we have discontinued the distribution of our channels through the joint venture MediaPro and the channels are now distributed by Taj Television Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zeel.”
Added Goenka, “Digitisation will lead to fragmentation of audiences as consumers will have more options. At Zeel, we believe that this provides a huge opportunity to create new products for specific segments. Advertising spends on television are expected to grow in healthy double digits over the next many years. Rollout of BARC and change in advertising currency from CPRP to CPT is expected to give it a positive fillup. Creation and acquisition of excellent quality content remains core to our business and we continue to channelize investments to strengthen this core.”
