DB Corp Q2 PAT Drops Sequentially, Y-o-Y; Digital Biz Sees 110M Page Views In September

Media firm DB Corp has reported 37 per cent drop in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 30, over the year ago period, to Rs 40.25 crore as revenue growth trailed rising cost of operations led by sharp increase in employee costs besides raw material(newsprint) during the quarter. Net revenues rose 16 per cent to Rs 344.8 crore during the second quarter.

Consolidated advertising revenues rose 16 per cent to Rs 273.5 crore during the quarter over Q2 FY'11.

But on a sequential basis, consolidated net revenues declined over 1 per cent from Rs 348.9 crore during the quarter ended June 30. Sequential net profit also declined by a third.

DB Corp share price dropped almost 4 per cent to close at Rs 221 at BSE on Friday in a flat Mumbai market.

The digital media business of DB Corp, that runs media properties such as Dainik Bhaskar newspaper, crossed the milestone of 100 million page views in a month in September, clocking 110 million page views.

The radio business saw 26 per cent rise in revenues Y-o-Y to Rs 12.7 crore with EBITDA of Rs 1.14 crore during the quarter.

Last quarter the firm launched operations in Maharashtra with three editions. Last quarter it also acquired a specialised printing unit from one of its own subsidiaries Writers & Publishers Pvt Ltd for Rs 35 crore.

Early this month DB Corp had acquired majority ownership in Divya Prabhat Publications that publishes 'Prabhat Kiran', an afternoon newspaper from Indore (Madhya Pradesh) from one of its own promoters.

In August, private equity major Warburg Pincus had completely exited its investment in DB Corp by selling its 3.6 per cent stake in the market for Rs 157 crore. Warburg Pincus, which invested in the firm in 2006, is estimated to have made around 1.82x on this exit according to VCCircle estimates.

Warburg Pincus had also made a partial exit during the company's initial public offering in late 2009, selling shares for Rs 115.5 crore. The issue was heavily subscribed at 39.54 times and the company was listed at the upper end of the price band of Rs 185-212 per share.