BENGALURU: Videocon d2h Limited (Videocon d2h) led by executive chairman Saurabh Dhoot reported 16.8 lakh net subscriber additions during the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY-16, current year). The company reported a subscriber base of 118.6 lakh at the end of the current year as compared to 101.8 at the end of the previous fiscal (FY-15), hence a growth of 16.5 percent in FY-16 as compared to FY-15. Gross subscribers increased by 26.5 lakh in FY-16. Incremental subscriber churn in the current year reduced by 7 basis points to 0.73 percent as compared to 0.80 percent in FY-16.The company claims to have added the largest number of subscribers amongst its peers in India for the sixth year in a row in FY-16.

Videocon d2h reported simple EBIDTA (Operating Profit, Earnings before Interest-Depreciation-Tax-Amortisation) of Rs 789.52 crore (EBIDTA margin of 27.6 percent) for FY-16 which was 32.5 percent more than the Rs 595.64 crore (25.5 percent EBIDTA margin) in FY-16.

Revenue in the current year increased 22.2 percent to Rs 2,855.86 crore from Rs 2,337.71 crore in the previous year. Subscription and Activation revenue in FY-16 grew 26.4 percent to Rs 2,607 crore compared to Rs 2,063 crore in FY-15.

Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee - Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

Average Revenue per User (ARPU) in FY-16 increased by Rs 11 from Rs 196 in the previous year to Rs 207 in FY-16.

The DTH major reported a lower loss in FY-16 at Rs 92.21 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 272.66 crore in FY-15.

Total Expenditure (TE) in FY-16 increased 17.8 percent to Rs 2,675.19 crore (93.7 percent of revenue) from Rs 2,270.75 crore (97.1 percent of revenue) in FY-15.

Videocon d2h reported higher content costs for FY-16, which increased to 37.8 percent of revenue as compare to 36.2 percent of revenue in the previous year.

Fourth Quarter of 2016 numbers

The fourth quarter - quarter ended 31 March 2016 (Q4-16, current quarter), has been a great quarter for the company in terms of financial and operational performance.

For Q4-16 Videocon d2h added 5.9 lakh net subscribers. The company reported 5.2 percent quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) growth in subscribers for Q4-16 at 118.6 lakh as compared to 112.7 lakh in the immediate trailing quarter Q3-16. Gross subscribers increased by 7.9 lakh in Q4-16. Incremental subscriber churn in Q4-16 increased 16 basis points to 0.58 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) from 0.42 percent but declined 15 basis points q-o-q from 0.73 percent.

Simple EBIDTA in the current quarter increased 33.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 216.20 crore (28 percent EBIDTA margin) from Rs 161.71 crore (25.9 percent margin) and increased 9.4 percent q-o-q from Rs 197.71 crore.

Subscription and activation revenue in the current quarter grew 20.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 706 crore and grew 6.2 percent q-o-q from Rs 665 crore. SAC in the form of hardware subsidies at Rs 1,776 per subscriber during Q4-16 was higher than the Rs 1,726 in the immediate trailing quarter. SAC in FY-15 averaged Rs 1,984

ARPU in the current quarter increased by Rs 12 y-o-y from Rs 202 in the corresponding year ago quarter to Rs 214 in Q4-16. ARPU in Q4-16 increased q-o-q by Rs 3 from Rs 211 in Q3-16.

Videocon d2h reported lower y-o-y and q-o-q loss in Q4-16. Loss in the current quarter declined to Rs 21.18 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 75.74 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and a loss of Rs 22.05 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

TE in Q4-16 increased 19.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 721.77 crore (93.6 percent of revenue) from Rs 605.55 crore (96.7 percent of revenue) and increased 5.4 percent q-o-q from Rs 684.58 crore (93.6 percent of revenue)

Content cost in Q4-16 was lower in terms of percentage of revenue at 37.5 percent as compared to 38.4 percent in Q4-15 and 38.5 in Q3-16.

Company speak

Videocon d2h executive chairman Dhoot said, “Fiscal 2016 has been a landmark year for Videocon d2h, as it was the first fiscal year after our NASDAQ listing, and it has been a great journey. I am delighted to share that our strong net subscriber additions, rising revenue realization and operating leverage benefit resulted in 31.5 percent Adjusted EBITDA growth for fiscal 2016, in spite of increases in service tax rates and the implementation of a new ‘clean India initiative’ tax during the year.”

“During the year, we accomplished numerous technological advancements, such as the development of HD Smart Connect Set Top Box, our new connected set-top box which allows customers to view normal DTH services as well as internet and over-the-top content and applications. This development demonstrates our expertise and innovation in creation, delivery and execution of technologically advanced products,” revealed Dhoot.

Speaking on the business outlook for the DTH sector, Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera said “There have been a series of industry developments in fiscal 2016, which we believe will provide for growth opportunities in the DTH sector in India. The implementation of Phase III digitization of the Digital Addressable Cable TV System program of the government of India that began in January 2016 was an example of such a development. It led to a surge in new subscriber additions for various distribution platforms. While the momentum slowed down as many state high courts issued a temporary stay order against digitization, we are still seeing higher subscriber additions from Phase III markets as compared to previous years.”

“In addition, the deadline for Phase IV digitization is December 31, 2016, which we believe covers approximately 80 million (8 crore) television homes,” added Khera.