BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra led content and broadcast player Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) reported a 19.8 per cent hike revenue for the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY-16, current year) as compared to the previous year. The growth was driven by a 28.9 percent growth in Zeel’s advertising (ad) revenue, supplemented by a 14.7 percent growth in subscription revenue. Zeel reported consolidated revenue (Total income from operations, TIO) of Rs 5,851.46 crore in FY-16 as compared to Rs 4,883.65 crore in FY-15.
Note: (1) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee - Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.
(2) All numbers in this report are consolidated unless stated otherwise.
Ad revenue in the current year was Rs 3,429.64 (58.6 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 2,660.30 crore (54.5 percent of TIO) in the previous year. Subscription revenue in the current year was Rs 2,057.87 crore (35.2 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 1,793,48 crore (36.7 percent of TIO) in FY-15.
Profit after tax (PAT) for the current year increased 5 percent to Rs 1,026.77 crore (17.5 percent margin) as compared to Rs 977.50 crore (20 percent margin) in FY-15.
Zeel’s Operating profit (EBITDA) for FY-16 stood at Rs 1,509.55 crore (25.8 percent EBITDA Margin) which was 20.4 percent higher than the Rs 1,253.70 crore (25.7 percent EBIDTA margin).
Total Expenditure in FY-16 increased 19.7 percent to Rs 4,425.95 crore (75.6 percent of TIO) from Rs 3,692.27 crore (75.7 percent of TIO).
Numbers for Q4-16
For the quarter ended 31 March 2016 (Q1-16, current quarter), TIO increased 13.7 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) to Rs 1,531.62 crore from Rs 1,347.05 crore, but declined 4 percent quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) from Rs 1,595.08 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.
Zeel reported 29.1 percent growth in y-o-y ad revenue to Rs 864.51 crore as compared to Rs 669.66 crore (47.7 percent of TIO). The current quarter’s ad revenue however declined 8.2 percent q-o-q from Rs 941.88 crore (59 per cent ofTIO).
Subscription revenue in Q1-16 increased 16.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 594.41 crore (38.8 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 510.77 crore (37.9 percent of TIO) in Q4-15 and increased 13.9 percent q-o-q from Rs 521.80 crore (32.7 percent of TIO) in Q3-16.
PAT in the current quarter increased 6.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 260.61 crore (17 percent margin) from Rs 230.77 crore (17.1 percent margin), but declined 5.2 percent q-o-q from Rs 275 crore (17.2 percent margin).
EBIDTA in the current quarter increased 52.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 413.57 crore (27 percent EBIDTA margin) from Rs 270.75 crore (20.1 percent margin), but declined 3.9 percent q-o-q from Rs 430.19 crore (27 percent EBIDTA margin).
Total Expenditure in Q4-16 increased 4.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 1,145.38 crore (74.8 percent of TIO) from Rs 1,093.70 crore (78 percent of TIO), but declined 3.3 percent q-o-q from Rs 1,185.01 crore (74.3 percent of TIO) in Q3-16.
Company Speak
Chandra added, “The results have once again shown that the Company is committed to the goal of profitable growth and enhancing shareholder wealth. The growth in the quarter has been satisfactory and the investment in the new channels has started showing results. We strive to seek out growth opportunities which will give sustainable long term growth. True to our philosophy of ‘World is one family’, we will continue to entertain the audience around the world with our content.”
Zeel managing director and CEO Punit Goenka, Managing said, “I am happy to announce that our sustained growth momentum through the year continued in the fourth quarter as well and we have ended the year on a strong note. Our growth has been ahead of the market growth trajectory which is being reflected in the improving viewership share of our network. We continue to see strong growth in both existing and new products.”
“In the last quarter we launched OZEE which is a one stop destination for all Zee content online. We understand that Digital will be a key part of our growth in the future and hence we are geared for expansion on that front as well. We also rebranded our sports channel portfolio in line with our vision to provide the consumer a superior viewing experience."
"We would continue to innovate on the content front to serve our audiences. With the growth in consumption on digital platforms the content production has been democratized and it will lead to increase in content variety for the consumer. Zee has a strong pedigree in the content creation business and we will continue to maintain and build on it,” added Goenka.
