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HIGHLIGHTS
*Subscription revenue was Rs 1,318 million for the fourth quarter,
an increase of 54 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter
last year.
*Domestic subscription revenue was Rs 501 million, 39.6 per cent
more than last year and 32.5 per cent higher than Q3.
*International subscription revenue has grown by 43 per cent over
corresponding quarter last fiscal.
Financial analysts that indiantelevision.com spoke to said that
the subscription revenues, especially from the international markets
were encouraging.
*Term Debt in Zee Telefilms Limited reduced by Rs 1,130 million.
*Ad revenue was Rs 1,695 million, down 15.7 per cent from the corresponding
previous quarter.
The analysts said that the ad revenue drop was not to the extent
predicted by Zee officials in their guidelines.
Analysts were heartened by the fact that the transmission and programming
costs had declined quarter on quarter. The company had also curbed
employee-related costs (350 people were offloaded between September
and March).
The effective tax rate on the company had reduced to 21 per cent
as compared to 27 per cent in the earlier corresponding quarter.
In trading today, the Zee scrip closed at Rs 69.95 on the Bombay
Stock Exchange, up 2.94 per cent from its previous close of Rs 67.95.
Zee's CMD Subhash Chandra was quoted by CNBC India as saying that
the results are a clear reflection that viewers are responding to
the company's programming initiatives. "Advertisers are also accepting
that programming is working," he said.
Chandra also pointed out that ad-revenues have recovered in the
last couple of quarters, with the World Cup being the sole exception.
Though the company expects a challenging advertising environment
next year, Chandra said, "But, as a network, we feel that we will
have a growth on a YoY basis."
On the CAS rollout, Chandra said that there might be drop
of 15-20 per cent in viewership consisting of those people who might
not want to watch any pay channel.
CONSOLIDATED RESULTS:
The group has posted a net profit of Rs 539.3 million for the
fourth quarter ended 31 March, 2003 as compared to the net profit
of Rs 528.3 million for the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Total
revenue has increased from Rs 3388.4 million in the March quarter
of 2002 to Rs 3922.9 million in the March quarter of 2003.
The group has posted a net profit of Rs 2,270.3 million for FY-03
as compared to the net profit of Rs 1,946 million for FY-02. Total
revenue, meanwhile, has increased from Rs 11,554.5 million in FY02
to Rs 12,765.9 million in FY03.
BUSINESS OUTLOOK
In an outlook issued to the BSE, Zee has said that the business
environment continues to be challenging for advertising revenues
for the next year, which is dependent on macro economic factors
and business confidence of the major advertisers.
Zee remains confident of continued expansion in subscription revenues.
The company does not anticipate any lasting impact of the Cricket
World Cup on advertising revenues, which is evident in the few weeks
since the culmination of the event.
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