Dish TV has become the first direct-to-home company in India to turn a net profit.

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The service provider reported a net profit of Rs 35 crore for the January-March quarter as compared with a loss of Rs 149 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Net profit for full last stood at Rs 3.1 crore as against net loss of Rs 157.6 crore in the previous one.

Dr Subhash Chandra, chairman, Dish TV India Ltd, expressed contentment and congratulated the entire team at Dish TV for withstanding all odds and putting up a strong show against its worthy competitors in the Indian pay-DTH sector.

"The team has delivered on a difficult mandate of growth with profitability, something which I believe is essential for any commerce to be sustainable. Through this milestone to the next and thereafter, Dish TV remains committed to outperform the industry growth rate and create shareholder value while continuing to entertain its subscribers with rich content and compelling value-added services using updated modes of delivery," he said.

Company's operating revenues at Rs 754.7 crore during the fourth quarter increased 18.5% on-year while operating profit (Ebitda) at Rs 221.9 crore was up 72.1%. While subscription revenues increased 24.4% on-year at Rs 682.8 crore, average revenue per user (Arpu), on a sequential basis, grew to Rs 179 as against Rs 177 in the third quarter of fiscal 2015. The company also achieved a strong, sector-leading subscriber growth of 1.5 million net users during the year.

Around the same time last year, Dish TV had introduced its second brand, Zing, in the Indian DTH space, which met with a resounding success. According to the company management, Zing cemented Dish TV's supremacy in the digital addressable system (DAS) Phase III and IV markets with custom-made content, hardware and service packages for the regional audience.

Calling fiscal 2015 a satisfying year, Jawahar Goel, managing director, Dish TV, said a single-minded devotion to being the leader in the DTH industry along with uncompromised financial discipline, enabled to reach the net profitability milestone much ahead of the peers.

"With cost line items under control, the resultant Ebitda for the quarter increased by a strong 72.1% while Ebitda margin improved to 29.4%. The net profit of Rs 35 crore resulted in free cash flow (FCF) of Rs 70.2 crore for the quarter. Churn for the quarter was maintained at 0.7% per month," said Goel.

Post a successful absorption of higher pack prices in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata, Dish TV initiated another price change during the current month. In less than three months since it was first introduced, differential pricing – an industry first from Dish TV – was rolled out in the balance 38 cities covered under DAS Phases 1 and 2.

"As digitisation spreads far and wide, we continue to believe that there is sufficient headroom to further explore price differentials between key urban markets and their rural counterparts. All pack prices, for new as well as existing subscribers of Dish TV, have been moved by Rs 10 each in the 42 cities under Phase 1 and 2. We are confident that pack price hikes, higher HD uptake, as well as industry level developments such as initiation of packaging in cable will be key contributors to Arpu expansion going forward," said Goel.

With the Union Budget 2015 offering no respite with regard to multiple taxes levied on the DTH industry, all eyes are now on the timely roll-out of the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST). The Dish TV management is also hopeful that the DTH licence renewal matter shall be addressed in the near future.

Maintaining a 'buy' on the stock, Abneesh Roy, associate director - institutional equities - research, Edelweiss Securities Ltd, said, Dish TV sales for the fourth quarter came in line, while Ebitda and PAT exceeded estimates.

"Our confidence is anchored by the improved incremental market share, likely increase in Arpu, driven by HD offerings and differential pricing, and likely benefit of GST/new licence fee," Roy said in a company note.