BENGALURU: The Jitendra Kapoor-Shobha Kapoor-Ektaa Kapoor-led Balaji Telefilms Ltd reported 33.1 percent y-o-y growth in revenue from its Commissioned Programmes (CP) segment for the quarter ended 30 June 2019 (Q1 2020, quarter or period under review) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter. The company also reported more than doubling (up 113.1 percent) of revenue from its Digital segment (ALT Balaji) in the quarter under review as compared to Q1 2019. Revenue for Balaji Telefilms CP segment for Q1 2020 and Q1 2019 was Rs 93.17 crore and Rs 70.01 crore respectively. Revenue from ALT Balaji was Rs 12.33 crore and Rs 5.78 crore for Q1 2020 and Q2 2019 respectively. The company reported less than one-fortieth operating revenue (down 97.5 percent) for Q1 2020 at Rs 1.67 crore as compared to Rs 68.04 crore from its films segment

Overall, on a consolidated basis, Balaji Telefilms reported 26.7 percent y-o-y decline in operating revenue for Q1 2020 at Rs 90.52 crore from Rs 123.44 crore. The company explained that there were no film releases during Q1 2020, as compared to 1 film that was released in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Consolidated EBITDA for Q1 2020 was an operating loss of Rs 33.24 crore as compared to an operating loss of 27.98 crore in Q1 2019. The company reported a consolidated loss of Rs 41.54 crore for the quarter under review as compared to a consolidated loss of Rs 27.03 crore in Q1 2019.

The company reported an operating profit (result) of Rs 9.67 crore for Q1 2020 as compared to a loss of Rs 2.12 crore in Q1 2019 from its CP segment. Commissioned programming hours in Q1 2020 increased 15 percent y-o-y to 195.5 from 170.5 in Q1 2019. Revenue from commission programmes increased 21 percent y-o-y to Rs 69.6 crore in Q1 2020 from Rs 57.3 crore in Q1 2019. Net realisation per hour increased 5 percent in Q1 2020 to Rs 0.36 crore from Rs 0.35 crore in Q1 2019.  

For ALT Balaji, the company reported a higher operating loss (result) of Rs 36.83 crore for Q1 2020 as compared to a loss of Rs 28.76 crore for Q1 2019.  The company reported 25.3 million subscribers at the end of Q1 2020 as compared to 3.4 million subscribers at the end of Q1 2019. As on 8 August 2020, Balaji Telefilms claims that it had 27.3 million subscribers. (100 lakhs = 10 million = 1 crore)

For its Films segment, Balaji Telefilms reported an operating loss (result) of Rs 0.10 crore for the quarter under review as compared to an operating profit of Rs 8.91 crore in Q1 2019.

On a standalone basis, Balaji Telefilms operating revenue in Q1 2020 declined 38 percent to Rs 82.85 crore from Rs 133.65 crore in Q1 2019. EBITDA for Q1 2010 was Rs 10.56 crore as compared to an operating loss of Rs 0.88 crore for Q1 2019. The company reported standalone profit after tax of Rs 2.53 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 1.20 crore for Q1 2019.

Balaji Telefilms managing director Shobha Kapoor said, “Operationally this was a good quarter with strong performance across all business and the two deals in our movie and digital business dramatically improves our financial profile going forward and will allow us to pursue our growth ambitions. I also take this opportunity to thank Sunil Lulla our Group CEO who has decided to pursue other opportunities after a brief period with us. Sunil leaves Balaji Telefilms in a very strong position for future growth and the rest of the leadership team will continue to drive the business forward.”