Web18 Breaks Even; Records Revenues Of Rs 85Cr For FY11

Network18 group's Internet and mobile division Web18 Software Services Ltd has recorded a 16 per cent increase in revenue to Rs. 85 crore in the year ended March 31, 2011, up from Rs. 73 crore in FY10.

The company, which runs financial news portal Moneycontrol.com, general news and entertainment site In.com and ticketing and event booking site Bookmyshow.com, has broken even in FY11, the company reported. It has reported an operating profit of Rs 1 crore in the fiscal, compared to losses of Rs 9 crore in FY10.

The traffic to Moneycontrol.com peaked in February 2011 with over 17.9 million total visits as per comScore.

Network18 Group is calling itself "the largest Indian digital media company globally" quoting a comScore World Report dated March 2011. Raghav Bahl, Managing Director, Network18 said that, "2010-11 was a decisive year for the group. I am delighted to report to our stakeholders that we returned to profitability, signaling the onset of a new growth phase in the group‟s journey with our Television and Digital businesses performing to our expectations. The 'Scheme of Arrangement' that we announced during the year, aimed at optimization of our group companies was recently approved by the Honourable High Court. This will allow us to further consolidate our leadership position and continue on our strong profitable growth trajectory. "

Quarterly Results

Web 18 has reported revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 of Rs. 25 crore, up from Rs 23 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Operating profits have risen to Rs 3 crore for the quarter, compared to Rs 2 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. Expenses have also risen to Rs 22 crore compared to Rs 20 crore over the year and the operating margin is at 12 per cent.

Network18 Group Consolidated Revenues For Fiscal 2011

The group has registered an operating profit (EBITDA) of Rs. 48 crores for the year, compared to an operational loss of Rs. 61 crores in the last year.

It has posted consolidated revenues of Rs. 1,484 crore for the year ended March 2011, up 21 per cent compared to Rs.

Quarterly revenues stood at Rs. 406 crore, up 15 per cent year on year.

Haresh Chawla, Group CEO, said,"FY 2010-11 was a great year and our various businesses – News, Entertainment and Digital; performed well on all parameters – advertising revenues, profit margins and market share. We expect our growth to be further strengthened over the next year by an expected uptick in our subscription revenues and increased momentum in our emerging digital businesses. "

Other Network18 Businesses

HomeShop18 registered a 33 per cent rise in the number of orders executed during the fiscal 2011. Revenues were up from Rs 51 crore in fiscal 2010 to Rs 71 crore in the year ended March 2011. For the quarter ended March 31, 2011, revenues fell to Rs 13 crore from Rs 16 crore recorded in the same quarter last fiscal.

Over 1,000 new products were launched in the fiscal. Initiatives focused on delivering customer service excellence and an integrated marketing campaign to enhance reach and brand salience were initiated in the quarter.

At Newswire18, Network18's wire services for media houses, operating profits stood at Rs. 2 crores for year ended March 2011. Its revenues grew 20 per cent to Rs. 39 crores in FY11 compared to Rs. 33 crores in FY10.

Print division InfoMedia18 registered a fall in revenues for the fiscal to Rs 160 crore from Rs 174 crore.

News operations division of Television Eighteen India Ltd witnessed a rise in revenues to Rs 306 crore in the year ended March 2011. Subscription revenues currently stand at approximately 10 per cent of the total revenues for FY10-11.

Network18's joint venture Viacom18, which runs Colors, MTV, Nick and The Indian Film Company turned profitable with an operating profit of Rs. 120 crore, compared to a loss of Rs. 31 crore in FY10. The net profit rose to Rs. 85 crore for FY2011. Viacom18 Motion Pictures made its debut with the release of 'Tanu Weds Manu' in the quarter.

Revenues for the year were up 32 per cent to Rs. 1104 crore, from Rs. 834 crore in FY10. In the quarter, the division's profits were at Rs 21 crore, over revenues of Rs. 271 crore.

Kids channel Nick launched in two additional languages -Tamil and Telugu in April 2010.

English news channel CNN IBN witnessed a 17 per cent growth in revenues for the year to Rs. 244 crore, from Rs. 210 crore in FY10.

Quarterly revenues stood at Rs. 69 crore, up from Rs. 55 crore in the same quarter last year. Hindi news channel IBM Lokmat's revenues rose 19 per cent yearly.

The consolidated revenues of portfolio companies of Capital18, Network18's investment division, rose to 38 per cent over the previous fiscal to reach Rs. 142 crore (excluding revenues from cable operator DEN).