B4U CEO Ravi Gupta told indiantelevision.com that the operating profit the company had achieved this year was significant when compared to the $ 600,000 it closed with last year. The company showed a revenue growth of 14 to 15 per cent, Gupta said, which is much lower than last year's 35 per cent.

Gupta also admitted that his target of declaring net profits by the end of the fiscal had had not realised. "We have fallen short of breakeven," he said.

B4U continues to garner a major part of its revenues from international operations. It was 65 per cent from overseas and 35 per cent out of India last year. However, after having making B4U Movies pay in the second half of 2002, this ratio is expected to have come down further to 60:40.

Among its international markets, B4U garners its highest revenues from the UK, Gupta said. Asked about any recent initiatives the network had done, Gupta, said there had been nothing major since joining hands with iDream to be co-producer in all its films last year.

iDream, by far the largest film fund that has emerged in India in recent times, is promoted by SSKI and has already produced / funded / distributed some well received independent movies of directors such as Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) and Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham).

iDream has backed off beat cinema with films such as Mitr (which has won 3 National Awards), as well as big star cast films like Agnivarsha with Raveena Tandon, Jackie Shroff, Sonali Kulkarni, Milind Soman playing lead roles in it. iDream also funded the recent moderate hit 16 December, as well as India’s biggest special effects film, the soon to be released Janantram Manantram and has in the pipeline, several other productions.

Gupta said that films like Agnivarsha and 16 December, which were telecast recently on Zee TV as part of its Thursday Premiere slot were first shown on B4U Movies.

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B4U ties up with iDream; to be co-producer in all its films