ZEE India FY ’17: Strong revenues despite difficult year

ZEEL has reported a strong revenue growth in a difficult year that has seen slow down due to the impact of Demonetization that badly affected the Media and Entertainment.

The Company reported consolidated revenue of Rs 15,280 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) were at Rs 4,687 million. PAT for the quarter was Rs 15,142 million, which includes exceptional gain of Rs 12,234 million on account of sale of sports business. EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 30.7%.

Dr. Subhash Chandra, Chairman, ZEEL, commented, “The Indian economy has exhibited strong resilience with GDP growth of 7% in Q3FY17 despite demonetization of high value currency. Implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) would unify India into one market. This along with other reforms and push on infrastructure would accelerate growth from already healthy levels. A normal monsoon as forecasted by IMD could give a fillip to rural consumption.”

Mr. Punit Goenka, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, ZEEL, commented, “We are happy to deliver yet another quarter of strong financial performance despite the difficult economic environment. Our domestic advertising revenue grew by 8.1% despite the impact of demonetization. After a couple of quarters of weakness, advertising growth appears to be back on track. The GST roll-out could boost advertising spends as a part of potential tax savings might be reinvested. While there is uncertainty regarding the implementation of the new tariff regulation due to pending litigations, we have published the prices of our channels and bouquets. We are confident that with the strong competitive position of our channels in every genre, we will be able to drive subscription business.  

We have completed the first phase of sale of sports business during the quarter. While this had an impact on revenues, our focus is to strengthen national and regional channel portfolio, along with growing new businesses. We are exploring ways to extinguish preference share liability using the proceeds from the sale of sports business.”