BENGALURU: The Tapas Chakravarti led DQ Entertainment (International) Ltd, (DQE) reported an almost six fold increase (up by 5.76 times) in its first half-2014 (half year ended Sept 30, 2013 – H1-2014) financial result at Rs29.4 crore as compared to the Rs 5.1 crore for the corresponding period last year, albeit the revenue reported by the company was lower.
The Hyderabad based company reported foreign exchange gain of Rs 14.4 crore for Q2-2014 and Rs 18.4 crore for Q1-2014, totalling Rs 32.8 crore for H1-2014. During the corresponding period last year, the company reported a foreign exchange loss of Rs 7.98 crore.
DQE reported revenue for H1-2014 of 2014 at Rs 87 crore as compared to the Rs 95.3 crore for H1-2013.
Let us look at the Q2-2014 results reported by DQE
The company reported a consolidated net income from operations for Q2-2014 at Rs 56.68 crore, 12 per cent lower than the Rs 64.34 crore for Q2-2013 and almost double (up by 86 per cent) the Rs 30.43 crore for Q1-2014.
PAT for Q2-2014 at Rs 22.72 crore was up 60.22 per cent as compared to the Rs 14.18 crore during the corresponding period last year and more than triple (3.44 times) the PAT of Rs 6.6 crore during Q1-2014.
Expenditure without accounting for forex gain/loss and transfer of expense to capital account for Q2-2014 at Rs 41.77 crore was 5.8 per cent higher than the Rs 39.48 crore for Q2-2013 and 12 per cent higher than the Rs 37.3 crore for Q1-2014.
Segment Results
Two segments contribute to DQE revenue – animation and distribution.
Animation reported revenue of Rs.41.51 crores, 1.4 per cent lower than the Rs 42.09 crore for Q2-2013 and 50.6 per cent higher than the Rs 27.57 crore for Q1-2014. The segment reported positive result of Rs 27.32 crore for Q2-2014, more than double (2.38 times) the Rs 11.46 crore for Q2-2013 and 25.7 per cent more than the Rs 21.73 crore for Q1-2014.
Distribution reported 32.6 per cent drop in revenue to Rs 15 crore in Q2-2014 as compared to the Rs 22.25 crore for Q2-2013. Distribution revenue for Q1-2014 was Rs 2.85 crore. Distribution returned positive result of Rs 9.44 crore, 40.4 per cent lower than the Rs 15.86 crore for Q2-2013. DQE’s distribution segment had returned negative figures of Rs (-1.86) crore for Q1-2014.
DQE CMD and CEO Chakravarti said, “The global entertainment industry is developing at an unprecedented pace. Mobility and portability of content will, in my opinion, have a profound impact as viewers consume programming outside their homes and want to control what they watch, when they watch, and on what device. So many opportunities are evolving and we recognise that in so far as content production is important, even more vital will be the distribution technologies that are emerging.”
“Recognising and serving this need with regards to distribution technology, we have made substantial and focused progress in licensing and distribution of our Intellectual Properties not only for television broadcast, but other VOD (Video on Demand) and SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) and OTT (Over the Top) platforms as well. Our flagship global property Jungle Book Series is on Netflix, Vudu and Hulu - the famous OTT platforms in the USA,” added Chakravarti.
“New associations with leading networks and licensees globally are paving the way to monetise our IPs and co-produced content. New deals across our portfolio of properties in recent months are with best-in-class partners such as France Television, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel Productions, Sky Italia, Universal Music, Discovery Kids, Rai TV, Italy etc. The promotional deal for The Jungle Book with Burger King Worldwide has been immensely successful and will be extended for second promotion,” revealed Chakravarti.
“We have successfully completed deliveries while new productions are in development. Our foray into theatrical production of ‘The Jungle Book’ is gathering momentum, and we hope to conclude announceable distribution deals in the near future. We remain confident that the global entertainment industry has excellent growth prospects, while our business remains well placed for projected growth in the current year,” concluded Chakravarti.
