MUMBAI: HT Media has reported its radio broadcast business made an operating profit of Rs 23.8 million in the second quarter ended 30 September against operating loss of Rs 45.4 million a year earlier, on a sharp rise in revenues.

In the first quarter, the radio business had reported operating profit of Rs 14.5 million, after reporting operating loss of Rs 43.8 million for the year ended 31 March.

HT Media said revenues from radio broadcast business in the second quarter rose 27 per cent to Rs 199 million from Rs 157 million a year earlier.

The company‘s profit after tax for the second quarter declined 24 per cent to Rs 333 million from Rs 438 million a year earlier due to rise in raw material and employee costs.

The cost of raw materials increased eight per cent to Rs 1.95 billion from Rs 1.8 billion while the company‘s employee cost rose 22 per cent to Rs 1.03 billion from Rs 849 million a year earlier.

The media company‘s Ebitda declined by 13 per cent to Rs 809 million from Rs 932 million.

The company‘s total income rose 5 per cent to Rs 5.3 billion in the second quarter from Rs 5.1 billion a year earlier.

HT Media‘s advertising revenue from print business declined one per cent to Rs 3.64 billion from Rs 3.69 billion a year earlier. The subscription income from print business increased 11 per cent to Rs 563 million from Rs 507 million.

Commenting on the results HT Media Chairperson and Editorial Director Shobhana Bhartia said: ?We continue to operate in a tough macro-economic environment, with advertising revenues across our print businesses facing headwinds. This, combined with persistent inflation in costs, has put pressure on our profitability for the quarter.?
HT Media‘s businesses include English daily Hindustan Times, business daily Mint and radio station Fever 104 FM.

The company said it had invested Rs 31 million in compulsorily convertible debentures of HT Digital during the quarter. Its earlier investment of Rs 0.6 million in compulsorily convertible debentures of Rs 100 each of HT Digital were converted into six million shares of Rs 10 each as per terms of the debentures.

It also revealed that it had invested Rs 25 million in HT Mobile by way of Inter Corporate Deposit out of which Rs 15 million was repaid during the quarter itself and invested another Rs 85 million in another subsidiary Firefly by way of Inter Corporate Deposit.

MUMBAI: Fever FM, the radio arm of HT Media, has seen its operating profit shrink to a mere Rs 0.1 million for the quarter ended 31 December.

The private FM company had posted an Ebitda profit of Rs 39 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. In the trailing quarter, however, it had reported an operating loss of Rs 45.4 million.

Fever FM?s revenue saw a marginal decline to Rs 174 million, from Rs 180 million in the year-ago period.

HT Media has employed a capital of Rs 814.1 million in its radio business, according to data provided till 31 December 2011. Fever FM operates FM stations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata.

Meanwhile, HT Media, the publishers of Hindustan Times, has posted a net profit of Rs 482 million for the quarter under review, marginally higher over the year-ago period (Rs 478 million).

HT Media chairperson and editorial director Shobhana Bhartia said, "We are happy to report continued growth in a tough economic environment resulting in slowing advertising spend and a weakening rupee. We are confident that our strong and resilient business model, established brands and sustained cost optimisation will continue to create value and show good leverage as the macro economic environment improves."

Consolidated revenue went up 14 per cent to Rs 5.27 billion, from Rs 4.64 billion a year ago. The company said it has witnessed a 11 per cent increase in print advertising to Rs 4.07 billion (from Rs 3.69 billion in Q3 FY?11), while circulation revenue saw 7 per cent hike to Rs 503 million (from Rs 471 million).

Total expenditure jumped 20 per cent to Rs 4.41 billion, from Rs 3.75 billion a year-ago. The company said it suffered a 13 per cent increase in consumption of raw material, 23 per cent increase in employee cost and 25 per cent rise in other expenditure.

Consolidated Ebitda stood at Rs 945 million, compared to Rs 947 million.
 

MUMBAI: Fever FM, the radio arm of HT Media, has swung into operating loss. For the quarter ended September, it has reported an operating loss of Rs 45.4 million compared to an Ebitda profit of Rs 2.8 million a year ago.

Revenue, however, rose 12 per cent to Rs 157 million during the fiscal second-quarter, as against Rs 141 million in the earlier year.

HT Media has employed a capital of Rs 832.7 million in its radio business, according to data provided till 30 September 2011. Fever FM operates FM stations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. 

Meanwhile, HT Media, the publishers of Hindustan Times, has posted a net profit of Rs 468.9 million for the quarter under review, a 12.99 per cent increase over the year-ago period (Rs 388 million).

HT Media chairperson and editorial director Shobhana Bhartia said, "Higher advertising revenue on the back of expanding readership base has enabled us to post a healthy operational and financial performance despite a challenging macro environment. We are particularly pleased with the robust performance of our Hindi business in the quarter while the other print businesses continue to do well. The slowdown in the economy and adverse currency exchange rates are resulting in some headwinds. We will look to counter these challenges by leveraging our strong brand position to grow further while continuing our optimise costs."

Consolidated revenue went up 11 per cent to Rs 4.93 billion, from Rs 4.45 billion a year ago. The company said that it has witnessed a 13 per cent increase in print advertising to Rs 3.70 billion (from Rs 3.29 billion in Q2 FY?11), while circulation revenue saw 21 per cent hike to Rs 507 million (from Rs 418 million).

Total expenditure also rose to Rs 4.45 billion, as against Rs 3.88 billion in the prior year period. The company said that it was mainly because of a 13 per cent increase in consumption of raw material and 32 per cent increase in other expenditure.

Consolidated Ebitda stood at Rs 917 million, up 8 per cent from 852 million.

On a standalone basis, HT Media?s net profit came down to Rs 356.3 million, from Rs 452.5 million even as its revenues grew from Rs 2.98 billion to Rs 3.14 billion.