Zee Entertainment Enterprises Q2 revenues

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Q2 revenues at Rs 398.6 cr

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) today reported second quarter consolidated revenues of Rs 398.6 crore representing a 14% growth over the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. The consolidated operating profit stood at Rs 132.1 crore. These are higher by 508% as compared to the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Profit before tax for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 was Rs 140.5 crore while Net Profit was Rs 97.1 crore, recording a growth of 362% over the corresponding period last year. The numbers as published are after consolidating the financials of Taj TV Limited (Taj) and ETC Networks Limited (ETC). The Board of Directors in its meeting held today, has taken on record the unaudited consolidated financial results of ZEEL and its subsidiaries for the quarter ended September 30, 2007.

Subhash Chandra, Chairman, stated, "We had a commendable second quarter performance, with operating profit growth of 508% over corresponding quarter of the last fiscal year, this substantial growth has been led by robust increase in advertising revenues. Over the years, we have put in sincere efforts towards content initiatives, which are now being reflected in our results. Our flagship channel Zee TV gained leadership in the last few weeks of this quarter and the support of other channel's rising GRPs will provide the requisite momentum for growth in advertising revenues."

"The Indian television industry is going through a very interesting phase of transformation from analogue to digital, which has positive implication for all the players in the media value chain. We are confident that the Zee Entertainment would be a big beneficiary of this change through unlocking of its revenue potential." Chandra added.

Punit Goenka, Whole Time Director, commented, "This quarter our flagship channel – Zee TV has been successful in not only bridging the gap with the genre leader substantially, but also has surpassed the leader in prime time. Zee TV, during the quarter, averaged a channel share of 30% in all day's viewership ratings, up from 25% in the previous quarter. The channel's rating has grown across all time bands and has averaged 310 gross rating points (GRPs) in the recent weeks up from average 234 GRPs in the previous quarter. Because of our key shows like Betiyaan, Saath Phere, Kasamh Se, Teen Bahuraniyan & Dulhan leading their own respective slots, we have now become a leader in the time band from 5 pm to 10 pm in the weekdays. During weekends, our musical show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa became the top programme in the 'Hindi GEC' segment despite fierce competition. As a result we now have around 20 programmes in the Top 50 which is growing by 3-5 programmes every quarter."

"Zee Cinema has maintained its leadership position through constantly launching new properties – the latest being Showman Show, a tribute to India's leading filmmaker's (Raj Kapoor & Subhash Ghai). KLUB (targeted at the youth through relevant movies) & Cinema Hall (movie viewing experience for the Family at home) have also enabled us to further consolidate appointment viewing. On the English GEC front, the focus was to strengthen our prime time in the relevant audience segment. Zee Caf? is currently the leading channel in the English GEC space, both in allday & prime time. To further capitalize on this lead, last month we announced launch of 11 new programs of which most shows are 'Current Season' episodes from the US. Zee Caf?, today, is the first channel in the country to run popular sitcoms simultaneously with their launch in the US thereby realizing its core proposition to its viewer. In sports, Zee Sports and Ten Sports combined are leaders with 52% relative channel share, which is more than twice that of the closest competitor." Goenka added.

Pradeep Guha, CEO said, "With GRPs on a continuous rise, across all channels we have introduced a slew of ad sales initiatives, focusing on improving inventory utilization, attracting higher yielding categories of business and increasing Effective Rates across all time bands – with special focus on prime time, all of which have resulted in a revenue growth rate that is much faster than that of the industry."

Zee's advertising revenues was Rs 219.5 crore, a 28% growth as compared to the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Overall subscription revenues at Rs 162.5 crore, registered an increase of 10% over the corresponding quarter last fiscal. New revenue streams coming from Direct to Home (DTH) services and digital cable have started reflecting in the subscription revenues. Other sales and services was Rs 16.6 crore down by 46% as compared to the corresponding quarter last fiscal. The domestic subscription revenue stood at Rs 77.5 crore and international was Rs 85 million. The revenues from DTH stayed at 12.5 crore for the second quarter.

The sports business revenues during the second quarter was Rs 42.2 crore and the EBITDA for the second quarter stood at Rs 0.35 crore in comparison to a EBITDA loss of 0.3 crore during the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The second quarter of FY 08 has seen Zee Sports and Ten Sports reinforce their positions in both football and cricket. Zee Sports produced and telecasted the hugely successful ONGC Nehru Cup football tournament from Delhi, which India won to gain the biggest international success for the national side for many years and an audience of 0.16 crore for the final against Syria. More importantly, the new floodlit stadium in Delhi was packed for the final. Since then Zee Sports has also hosted the Hero Cycles Federation Cup with audience of over 600,000 for two of the final games.

Ten Sports meanwhile has acquired more cricket rights in the shape of the South African and Zimbabwe boards to add to the Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies boards they currently feature. Also on screen, the two channels have been sharing the UEFA Champions League and other international football while the Noida production facilities are now supplying Ten Sports with a nightly sports news half hour show. In addition, Zee Sports has rebranded its own news and magazine shows to provide a nightly Hindi sports news show called Sports Planet and a series of five other weekly shows on the major sports.

Coming quarters of FY08, Zee Sports will showcase the launch of "Indian Cricket League" and the re-launch of the "National Football League". The Football league will re-brand as the "I League" and in the seasons to come, the plan is to increase the size of the "I league" first division, from ten to sixteen clubs and that should mean several more metros being represented in the top tier of Indian soccer.

During the quarter, Zee Interactive Learning System Ltd. (ZILS) ceased to be a subsidiary of the company. Subsequently when ETC Networks Limited (ETC) another subsidiary of the company has entered into Scheme of amalgamation for merger of ETC into ZILS pursuant to section 391 and 394 of the companies act, 1956. Board of ETC and ZILS had approved the scheme on August 6, 2007. Pending approval of the respective shareholders/Hon'ble High court, no effects are given for this in the consolidated results.