Subhash Chandra's Zee Telefilms today announced a revenue growth of 10 per cent, EBITDA growth of 30 per cent and profit after tax growth of 16 per cent for the year ending March 2002.

Zee has reported consolidated net profit of Rs 599.1 million for the fourth quarter ended 31 March, 2002 compared to Rs 307.8 million in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Total income during the January-March quarter rose to Rs 3.24 billion from Rs 3.19 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.

On a standalone basis, the company's net profit during the three months to 31 March 2002 was Rs 211.30 million compared to Rs 472.90 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Total income during the reporting quarter was Rs 1.26 billion as against Rs 1.36 billion in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.

For the fiscal year ended 31 March, 2002, the company has posted a net profit of Rs 1.04 billion compared to Rs 1.38 billion in the fiscal year ended 31 March, 2001. Total income for the fiscal year 2001/02 was Rs 4.70 billion as against Rs 4.35 billion in 2001.

Zee declared consolidated revenues of Rs 11.409 billion, 10 per cent over FY2001. The increase in revenues it ascribed largely to subscription revenues, which recorded a sharp jump of 65 per cent to Rs 3.369 billion.

AD REVENUES: On the ad revenue front, Zee declared a decline of 7 per cent to Rs 6.402 billion. It's still far better than what one may have assumed would be the case considering that Zee's ad revenues are still facing a hard time as its programming, some of which has been appreciated as being of high quality has still to make a major mark on the ratings charts. Referring to its efforts to refurbish the content side of its operations, Zee said that during the quarter, the overall programming cost of the network went up due to write-offs on old inventory.

PAY REVENUES: Zee went pay last year. Zee TV and Zee News, two of the leading channels of the networkwent pay in June 2001. The Joint venture with Turner also became operational during the quarter. As a result, the domestic pay revenues of the network increased to Rs 359 million during the quarter.

The investments in regional pay channels under brand "Alpha" is an important strategic building block for the network, since regional language channels will be a significant growth area in the future, targeting a new, yet complimentary market segment that is currently not being addressed by other major broadcasters, the company says.

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