Viacom18 Q2 net loss narrows to Rs 198 mn on flat costs

MUMBAI: Entertainment broadcasting company Viacom18 has narrowed its fiscal-second quarter net loss to Rs 198 million from Rs 284 million a year earlier, as its operating revenues rose while costs remained flat.

The containment of operating costs helped Viacom18 earn an operating profit of Rs 126 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2012 against operating loss of Rs 77 million a year earlier.

The TV18 Broadcast subsidiary?s interest expenses on borrowings in the second quarter were up 50 per cent to Rs 247 million from Rs 164 million a year earlier, weighing on profitability.

Viacom18?s operating revenue in the second quarter was up 8.85 per cent to Rs 3.01 billion from Rs 2.76 billion a year earlier, while its operating expenses were flat at Rs 2.88 billion compared with Rs 2.84 billion a year earlier.

The entertainment broadcaster?s operating profit from continuing business, including broadcasting and motion pictures, grew about 23 per cent in the second quarter to Rs 214 million from Rs 174 million a year earlier.

The operating loss from new operations was Rs 75 million in the second quarter against Rs 29 million a year earlier.

TV18 group CEO B Saikumar said, "Our broadcast business across news and entertainment has turned in a steady performance in spite of continued softness in the advertising environment. Notably, our distribution venture, IndiaCast has had a very encouraging start and this positions us well as digitisation gets underway. The other highlight of the quarter was the motion pictures business breaking into positive territory."