BENGALURU: The largest private DTH services provider in the country Dish TV India Ltd’s (Dish TV) operating profit for the year ended 31 March 2019 (FY 2019, year or period under review) jumped 55.3 percent as compared to the numbers it had reported for the previous fiscal FY 2018. Revenue from operations grew 33.1 percent during the period as compared to the previous year.
It must be noted that on March 22, 2018, Videocon D2h Ltd had merged with and into Dish TV India Ltd with the appointed date of the merger being October 1, 2017. Financials of Dish TV India Ltd for the year ended 31 March 2018 thus represent 12 months financial performance of Dish TV India Ltd and 6 months financial performance of Videocon d2h Ltd. Financial numbers for fiscal 2019 are thus, not comparable with the corresponding period last year. However, the company says in its investor release that presuming that the financials for fiscal 2018 had represented 12 months each of Dish TV India Ltd and Videocon d2h Ltd, Adjusted EBITDA would have been Rs 1969 crore with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 31.6 percent. All numbers in this report are consolidated unless stated otherwise.
EBITDA for FY 2019 was Rs 2,044.27 crore (32.9 percent margin of operating revenue) versus EBITDA calculated from actual reported numbers of Rs 1,316.02 crore (28.1 percent margin of operating revenue) in FY 2018. Operating revenue for the period under review was Rs 6,166.13 crore versus Rs 4,634.16 crore in the previous fiscal.
The company could have reported a profit (before tax) of around Rs 399 crore, but for exceptional charges which included impairment charges to the extent of Rs 1,562.54 crore for FY 2019. These impairment charges included impairment of goodwill, impairment of loans/advances to a subsidiary company and impairment of certain other recoverable amounts. Due to exceptional charges, Dish TV, Dish TV has reported a net loss of Rs 1,163.41 crore for FY 2019 as compared to a net loss of Rs 84.99 crore for FY 2018.
Revenue breakup
The company says that it closed the financial year under review with 2.37 crore subscribers. Subscription revenue for FY 2019 was 34.3 percent higher at Rs 5,663.8 crore as compared to Rs 4,216.7 crore in FY 2018. Advertisement revenue during the year grew 66 percent to Rs 111.3 crore from Rs 67 crore in FY 2018. Bandwidth charges (income) grew 5.2 percent in FY 2019 to Rs 144.6 crore from 137.5 crore in the previous year. Other income increased 15.7 percent in FY 2019 to Rs 246.4 crore from Rs 212.9 crore in FY 2018.
Let us look at the other numbers reported by Dish TV
Total income for FY 2019 increased 32.6 percent to Rs 6,218.28 crore from Rs 4,688.28 crore in the previous year. Total expenditure in FY 2019 increased 29.4 percent to Rs 6,191.53 crore as compared to Rs 4,786.23 crore in FY 2018.
Operating expenses in FY 2019 increased 36.6 percent to Rs 3,382.80 crore from Rs 2,476.60 crore in FY 2018. Employee benefit expenses in FY 2019 increased 18.1 percent to Rs 246.51 crore in the previous fiscal. Finance costs increased 58.6 percent in FY 2019 to Rs 628.65 crore from Rs 396.37 crore in FY 2018. Other expenses reduced 22.3 percent to Rs 482.53 crore from Rs 620.03 crore in FY 2018.
Company speak
Dish TV Group CEO Anil Dua said, “FY 2020 started on a strong note with the general elections keeping viewers hooked on to their television. The soon to start Cricket World Cup should further engage the television viewing masses bringing revenue growth to the business. The year is also going to be the first full year seeing the positive impact of the now well in place tariff order. We strongly believe that the new regulatory regime will bring the much needed transparency in the industry thus helping distribution platforms like Dish TV command a premium for its nationwide reach.”
“The current year should be a landmark year for Dish TV with market-leading revenue and EBITDA growth. The new regulatory regime along with continuing synergies should further help us increase our EBITDA per subscriber during the year,” added Dua.
