Will newspapers get their groove back?

But with the exception of Hindustan Media Ventures, leading publication houses; HT Media, Jagran Prakashan and DB Corp saw a dip in net profits. 

 

Hindustan Media, the publisher of Hindustan newspaper and Nandan and Kadambini magazines, has increased its yearly profit by 43.11% in FY15. HT Media's net profit has dipped by 55.65%, the highest percentage, followed by Jagran Prakashan's 14.5% and D B Corp's 8.17%.

 

Hindustan Media Ventures

Hindustan Media has increased its yearly profit by 43.11% in FY15. The EBITDA reported at Rs 44.45 crore is up by 32.53%.

 

The very healthy balance sheet shows the sales figures up by 10.30%, compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.

 

The chairperson, Shobhana Bhartia said, "We grew faster than the industry in terms of both revenue and profits. We did this despite an increase in our structural costs and a difficult operating environment. Our robust performance, coupled with expected improvement in the macro- economic environment, gives us confidence that we will continue to outperform the market in the coming year."

 

According to reports, the board has recommended a dividend of Rs 1.20 per equity share of Rs 10 each for the financial year ended March 31, 2015.

 

HT Media

Incorporated in the year 2002, HT Media has reported a 55.65% reduction in its yearly profit for the fiscal year 2014-15. Compared to the net profit reported in the previous quarter ended 31 December 2014, the net profit at Rs 18.06 crore has reduced by 58.59%.

 

This is in spite of the 3.98% increase in sales when compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The EBITDA reported at Rs 9.67 crore has declined by 81.69%, when compared to the previous quarter and by 78.86% when compared to Q4 of the previous year.

 

The revenue segments of HT Media include income from advertisement, which contributed Rs 1150.15 crore to the sales value, airtime sales, which contributed Rs 85.80 crore, news print/ maplitho/ glaze paper, which contributed Rs 78.88 crore, job work, sale of services, scrap, and other operating revenue for the year ending 31-Mar-2014.

 

Jagran Prakashan

The publishers of 12 titles across 15 states in five different languages, Jagran Prakashan announced a net profit of Rs 49.69 crore for the financial year 2014-15. This is a 14.57% decrease from the previous year's financials and a 19.72% decrease from the quarter ended 31 December 2014.

 

For the quarter ended 31 March 2015, the company has reported a standalone sales of Rs 385.95 crore. down by 9.91% from the last quarter Sales of Rs 428.41 crore and up by 1.50% from the same quarter last year

 

 

DB Corp

Media firm DB Corp reported a 5.71%t decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 63.99 crore for the financial year ended 31 March 2015. The reason, the company attributes this is its higher tax expense. 

 

While the EBITDA and sales figures have increased over the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal area, the quarter ended 31 December 2014 has seen a decline of 35.10% in the reported EBITDA and 12.83% in the sales figures.

 

The company's Board has recommended a dividend of Rs 4.25 per equity share for the 2014-15

 

DB Corp publishes newspapers in Hindi, Gujarati, English and Marathi. They include Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar and Saurashtra Samachar. It has presence in the FM Radio segment through 'My FM'.

 

With tepid balance sheets of the newspaper publishers, there is anticipation about the overall growth, including reaching out to new markets and new strategies.

 

As Rajiv Lochan, MD and CEO, The Hindu group of publications said at the IAA Debates. “Mobile has 900 million plus subscribers. 163 million of these are smart phones. 70 million of these users are either on 3G or 4G. Compare this to television; 170 million households have TVs, which means there are about 700 million viewers. Newspapers have a readership of 500 million."

 

The newspaper industry is intriguingly poised. Will newspapers get their groove back?