ZEE reports improved Q3 2013 revenues

Advertising revenues were also up 28.8% YOY at Rs 5,094 million

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | January 24, 2013

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE) has reported third quarter fiscal 2013 (ended December 31) consolidated revenue of Rs 9,388 million, up 26.3% YOY. The consolidated operating profit (EBITDA) for the quarter stood at Rs 2,611 million and PAT was Rs 1,933 million. The EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 27.8% and the PAT margin was 20.6%. It reported advertising revenues of Rs 5,094 million, up 28.8% YOY.

Subhash Chandra, Chairman, ZEE, stated, “The Indian economy has been in a vicious circle of slowing growth, high inflation and stalled capex. Though high interest rates and fuel prices continue to remain a concern for the overall economy in Q3, inflation momentum has now turned a corner. Hopefully, the policy shift towards growth will follow and the vicious cycle can turn into virtuous cycle. Advertising spends in India have been impacted this year due to this slowdown.”

“The last few months have been hugely significant in the evolution of the television media sector in India. At the conclusion of Phase 1 of digitisation, a significant percentage of subscribers have been digitized in the four metros, especially in Delhi and Mumbai. The industry is now looking forward to the successful and speedy implementation of the remaining  phases. We continue to believe that digitisation will be a transformational change for television in India that will benefit all the stakeholders,” he continued.

Commenting on the third quarter results, Chandra said, “The first three quarters of this fiscal have been good for ZEE with a strong performance relative to the industry and competition. With one quarter to go, we are looking forward to a strong growth this year. The highlight of this quarter is the strong growth momentum in advertising revenues, despite subdued spends. The performance illustrates that our investments in the content are yielding good returns. We continue to invest to create compelling content across genres.”

Punit Goenka, Managing Director and CEO of ZEE, commented, “We are experiencing good growth momentum across the network. The subscription revenues during the quarter is the highest ever and with digitisation rollout, will improve in the medium term. Our network viewership saw a successful mix of new and returning shows. Overall I am confident about the next 12 months and continue to make further investments in new content and channels. While these new investments will have an impact on our operating margins in the short-term, they will enhance our performance in the medium term.”

“Further strengthening our position in the niche/ special interest genre, this quarter saw the launch of ZeeQ, India's first edutainment channel, aimed at children in the age group of 4 to 14 years. The channel will address the educational need gaps through an engaging mix of home produced and acquired content. ZeeQ is the 32nd channel from ZEE, which will manage ZeeQ's broadcast operations, while Zee Learn will look after the content and channel management,” he continued.

Commenting on the outlook for the business, Goenka added, “Though advertising spends have been Subdued for the media sector, we have yet again outperformed the industry. The economic outlook is much better today than it was at the start of the year. We are hopeful that this will have a better impact on the ad spends in the next year. The rollout of digitisation would have a positive impact on the entire value chain including broadcasters, distributors and consumers. I am confident that our focused investment approach combined with better monetisation of subscription revenues will enhance shareholder value in the years ahead as well.”

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