DB Corp Q4 net rises 22.4% on strong ad show

DB Corp Ltd, print media company, has reported a 22.4% rise in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31 at Rs45 crore as against Rs36.7 crore in the year-ago period on strong advertising performance.

Total revenues during the reporting quarter rose 23.4% to Rs317.4 crore as against Rs257.2 crore year on year.

Consolidated advertising revenues grew by 30.6 % to Rs249 crore in fourth quarter of the last fiscal as compared to Rs190.7 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.

This growth, company officials said, was on account of impressive performance of all major sectors of Indian economy like automobiles, education, lifestyle, banking and financial sector industries and, healthcare. The company’s earnings per share stood at Rs2.47 for the fourth quarter and Rs14.22 for the last fiscal.

Its overall earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation (Ebidta), or operating profit, also increased by 14.4% on a year on year basis to Rs79.6 crore.

Radio business advertising revenues grew by 41.7% to Rs`13.31 crore during the fourth quarter. The radio business division was demerged from subsidiary Synergy Media Entertainment Ltd and merged with DB Corp in the same quarter.

On a full year basis, the company’s consolidated total revenues during fiscal 2011 increased by 19% at Rs1,265.2 crore yoy. Consolidated advertisement revenue jumped 24% at Rs1,001.6 crore. Consolidated net profit was up 41.4% at Rs258.5 crore from Rs182.8 crore in fiscal 2010.

“On identical parameter excluding onetime net election billing last year of approximately Rs22.5 crore, our advertising revenue grew by 27.5% in FY10-11 on year-on-year basis,” company officials said.

Sudhir Agarwal, managing director, DB Corp, said, the management has focused on maintaining the growth momentum in the last quarter of fiscal 2011. “We launched Dainik Bhaskar’s Dhanbad edition in April 2011 and have now successfully completed our foray in Jharkhand that had begun with the launch of Ranchi in August 2010 and Jamshedpur in December 2010.”

“We also announced Bhaskar’s foray in Maharashtra —a region we believe that holds strong economic potential and is under-penetrated in terms of readership. We have already made strong progress in the region and are now set to launch the first edition of Dainik Divya Marathi newspaper on May 29, 2011, from Aurangabad,” he said.

DB Corp continues to maintain leadership as the largest print media group, with 17.9 million readers across India’s fastest growing markets. The company has 59 editions and 135 sub-editions across 13 states. Its readership growth has been significantly driven by Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Chhattisgarh.

Disclaimer: The promoters of DB Corp are also co-promoters of Diligent Media Corporation that publishes the DNA