BENGALURU: DB Corp, home to flagship newspapers Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, Dainik Divya Marathi and Saurashtra Samachar, announced solid financial results for the first quarter ended 30 June 2013 with a 74 per cent year on year (YOY) growth in PAT at Rs 76.1 crore in Q1-2014 against Rs 43.7crore in Q1-2013. Total consolidated revenues grew by 19 per cent in Q1-2014 to Rs 453.9 crore from Rs 381.5 crore in Q1-2014.

Its radio business revenues, which contributed less than four per cent to the overall revenues, increased from Rs14.1crore in Q1-2013 to Rs. 17.3 crore in Q1-2014, a 22 per cent growth, due to improved advertising revenues says the company.

Overall, the company reported a growth of about 21 per cent YOY from advertising revenues to Rs 344.7 crore in Q1-2014 from Rs 286.2 crore in Q1 of last fiscal. 

Lets? take a look at Q1 FY 2013-14 financial results:

As mentioned earlier, DB Corp?s overall PAT grew by a solid 74 per cent YOY with PAT margins expanded to approximately 17 per cent to Rs 76.1 crore in Q1-2014 against Rs 43.7 crore (11.4 per cent margin) in Q1-2013. The Q1-2014 PAT factors a one-time preoperative expense of Rs 87 lakh for the Akola edition launch of its Divya Marathi publication, as well as a Forex loss of Rs 3.664 crore.

DB Corp?s total consolidated revenues expanded by 19 per cent to Rs 453.9 crore from Rs 381.5 crore on account of:

The company reported a net increase in print business total revenue of Rs 68.8 crore in Q1 FY 2014 on YOY basis. Advertising revenues increased to Rs 325.3 crore from Rs 270.1 crore, reflecting a growth of about 21 per cent YOY basis.

Circulation revenues grew YOY to Rs 76.7 crore from Rs 65.6 crore, at 17 per cent YOY

Print business EBIDTA margins stood at 31.2 per cent at Rs 135.1 crore. (This figure factors marketing and launch related expenses of around Rs 87 lakh in Q1-2014 for Maharashtra launch which have been booked in the revenue account, instead of capitalising or deferring the outlay for future quarters, considering the long term impact of these expenditures says the company. The same also considers Forex loss of Rs 2.532 crore.)

Print business PAT for Q1-2014 stood at Rs 76.8 crore (17.7 per cent PAT margin) - print business mature editions EBIDTA margin stood at Rs 141 crore (about 36 per cent).

As mentioned earlier, the company had a net increase of Rs 3.1 crore in revenues from the radio segment in Q1-2014 on YOY basis.  Revenues increased from Rs14.1 crore (Q1-2013) to Rs 17.3 crore (Q1-2014) due to improved advertising revenues. Radio business EBIDTA expanded to Rs 5.1 crore (about 29.4 per cent margin) in Q1-2014. Radio business PAT expanded to Rs.2.4 crore (about 14 per cent margin) in Q1-2014.

DB Corp managing director Sudhir Agarwal said, ?We are happy to report a strong performance in the first quarter of this fiscal that has sustained our expansion momentum. We have maintained our brand equity and leadership position in all our legacy markets as we also continue to demonstrate good growth in our emerging editions. Our new edition in Akola - a city with great potential, widens our presence in Maharashtra which allows us to offer greater reach to our corporate partners and a much more customised media solution. This quarter we also directed our efforts to further strengthen our deep relationships and inroads with our agency partners who have identified us as their preferred media due to our growing all-India readership base. Additionally, our exclusive tie-ups with leading international publications like HBR and Time Magazine, undertaken to enrich the content quality of our product, are already showing great results making a meaningful impact in the readership base, especially of SEC A & B categories.?

?On a macro level, we continue to maintain a sharp focus on cost efficiency and operational controls that have again played an important role in this quarter?s performance. We are very closely mapping the growth potential of Tier 2 & 3 towns across India - the socio-economic structures, demographics, marketing trends of various categories, marketing spends of these regions and their growth prospects. The untapped existing potential continues to greatly excite us. We are confident of our business growth strategies to monetise these opportunities and truly create high value by being very active socio-economic change agents,? he added.