MUMBAI: Listed media company ETC Networks has posted an income of Rs 103.49 million for the first quarter ended June 2003 as compared to Rs 127.90 million for the period ended June 2002. The net profit for the same period was Rs 24.63 million as compared to Rs 62.26 million for corresponding period ended June 2002.
The Indian film distributors' strike and the hangover of the World Cup cricket seem to have affected the Q1 FY 2003 results.
The board of directors of the company at its meeting, held on 21 June 2003, approved the unaudited results for the first quarter ended 30 June 2003.
A press release says that the company continued on its path of growth and profitability. It adds that the financial results of the first quarter of 2003 showed marked improvement over the previous quarter ending 31 March 2003. The total revenue and EBIDTA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) during the current quarter, has registered an increase of 17 per cent and 57 per cent over the previous quarter, Q4 FY 2003.
Q1 FY2003 (ended June 2003)
Q4 FY2002 (ended March 2003)
Q1 FY2002 (ended June 2002)
Total Income
Rs 103.5m
Rs 88.2m
Rs 127.9m
EBITDA
Rs 45.87m
Rs 29.2m
Rs 62.6m
PBT
Rs 32.46m
Rs 19.3m
Rs 50.2m
EPS (not annualised)
Rs 1.77
Rs 4.65
Rs 10.5
The profit before tax (PBT) during first quarter have been Rs 32.4 million as compared to Rs 50.2 million achieved during the exceptional first quarter of previous year.
The release says that current quarter performance has been affected by the Indian film distributors’ strike that happened during the period under review. The strike had curtailed the release of new films thereby resulting in substantial reduction in film music promotion related revenue on the channel. In the month of April 2003, the revenues were also constrained due to the hangover of the very large ad spends during the cricket world cup season.
However, the release adds that the company is confident of achieving its growth target for the current financial year and expects the next quarter to be free from the extraordinary effects of the previous quarters’ performance, as listed above.
In order to provide greater liquidity to the investors the equity shares of the company were got listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India under the symbol of ‘ETCNETWORK-EQ’. On the NSE, the ETC Networks scrip opened the day at Rs 55.20; gained 1.60 per cent and was last traded at Rs 58.10 (as of 12:30 pm on 22 July 2003).
On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the scrip opened at Rs 56.45; gained 2.10 per cent and was last traded at Rs 57.60 (as of 1:00 pm on 22 July 2003).
The release also maintains that the two ETC channels continued to maintain their leadership status in their respective markets. It claims that ETC Punjabi is commanding 60-70 per cent market share among all Punjabi channels and etc music has 35-40 per cent market share among the music channels (as per TAM).