During the period, the company’s total revenues grew 6% year-on-year at Rs 5,896 million, as against Rs 5,574 million. Circulation revenue increased year-one-year 18% to Rs 1,141 million from Rs 969 million, primarily due to yield-driven growth, largely coming from mature markets. Meanwhile, advertising revenues grew by 2% year-on-year at Rs 4,356 million as against Rs 4,283 million, in Q3 last fiscal.

DBCL achieved EBIDTA margins of 32.3% at Rs 1,906 million from Rs 1,876 million of last year, after factoring forex loss of 2.62 million and Bihar launch related preoperative expenditure of Rs 3.3 million. PAT margin stands 18.1%, at Rs 1,068 million against Rs 1051 million, after factoring forex loss of 9.1 million and Bihar launch related preoperative expenditure of Rs 3.3 million.

Among the highlights of the company’s operational and financial performance, DB Corp remains the highly recognised Indian language news daily by 19.8 million readers across India’s fastest-growing markets.

The flagship Dainik Bhaskar maintains its position as the largest circulated national daily of India as per the Audit Bureau of Circulations results for the six-month period (Jan 2015-Jun 2015). Over the last two years, including last fiscal (Apr-Dec 2015), DBCL has been recording over 16% growth in circulation revenues. Meanwhile, Dainik Bhaskar retains its leadership position in legacy markets and continues to strengthen its presence in emerging regions. According to the company, over the past fiscal, matured markets of MP- CG and Rajasthan have seen a steady growth despite an increase in the cover price.

Commenting on the performance for nine months and the third quarter of the financial year 2015-16, Sudhir Agarwal, managing director, DB Corp, said, “The success of our yield strategy has begun delivering encouraging results as we make aggressive efforts to gain back volume growth across our legacy and emerging markets.”

He said the company has taken every step to maintain its leadership position and it continues to be the largest circulated newspaper for the last three years, while it is the 4th largest circulated newspaper in the world.

“Our focus on stronger operating efficiencies and better expense management has ensured our financial health while softened newsprint costs have also protected our profitability. Our non-print businesses are well on course as our digital business continues to gather momentum and our radio business strategy maintains commendable progress as we prepare to commence operations of the newly acquired stations over four to six months,” he added.

Considering the company’s non-print business, DB Digital maintains its growth focus through events, brand activation campaigns and new adaptations for better user experience. With growing page views and unique visitors, dainikbhaskar.com is still dominating the Hindi digital space while Divya Bhaskar leads the Gujarati genre. According to the company, dainikbhaskar.com continues to be the No 1 Hindi news site, as well as the No 1 website in Hindi. Similarly, divyabhaskar.com is the No 1 Gujarati news site, as well as the No 1 website in Gujarati. DBCL’s other websites are in Marathi (divyamarathi.com) and in English (dailybhaskar.com).

On the way, the company has also collected awards and accolades. As per the World Press Trends 2015, Dainik Bhaskar has been ranked 4th largest globally circulated newspaper. The other top three news dailies are The Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan), The Asahi Shimbun (Japan), and USA Today (the US) respectively.

The company was ranked 57th biggest employer of the year 2015 by Business World in its annual list of Business World’s 500 special ranking. According to Business world rankings, Dainik Bhaskar Group is the biggest employer in the media and entertainment sector.

DB Corp publishes six newspapers including Dainik Bhaskar (40 editions), Divya Bhaskar (seven editions), and Divya Marathi (seven editions), with 206 sub-editions in four languages (Hindi, Gujarati, English and Marathi), across 14 states. The flagship Dainik Bhaskar (in Hindi), established in 1958, Divya Bhaskar and Saurashtra Samachar (in Gujarati) have a combined average daily readership of 19.8 million, making us one of the most widely read newspaper groups in India with presence in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu. DBCL is the only media conglomerate that enjoys a leadership position in multiple states, in multiple languages and is a dominant player in its major markets.