MUMBAI: Wire and Wireless (India) Limited (WWIL) has narrowed its second-quarter consolidated net loss to Rs 141.81 million compared to Rs 203.20 million a year ago and expects to break-even within the next few quarters.
WWIL, which had sunk into losses due to the investments it made towards Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS), is already profitable at the operational level for the last six quarters.
"We should be profitable at the net level in the next few quarters. We are positive at the Ebitda level for six consecutive quarters," said WWIL CEO Sudhir Agarwal.
The Subhash Chandra-promoted cable TV company reported an operating profit of Rs 72 million for the three-month period ended September compared to Rs 30.7 million in the earlier year.
WWIL repaid a loan of Rs 700 million in the fiscal second-quarter. "Efforts will continue to cut down our debt," said Agarwal. WWIL has a debt of around Rs 3 billion.
Operating revenue rose to Rs 893 million, up 21 per cent from Rs 737.7 million in the earlier year.
Expenses jumped 22.4 per cent to Rs 889.3 million, as against Rs 726.45 million a year ago. WWIL‘s major cost item was cost of goods & services, which stood at Rs 637 million during the quarter representing 66 per cent of the of the total expenses (in comparison to Rs 549 million in the second quarter of the last fiscal, representing 73 per cent of the total revenue).
On a standalone basis, WWIL‘s net loss for the quarter stood at Rs 97.44 million (as against Rs 214.98 million). Revenue was up at Rs 631.99 million (from Rs 484.39 million), while expenses surged to Rs 653.4 million, from Rs 582.60 million in the earlier year.
WWIL is looking at expanding its footprint to new strategically important geographies.
Said Agarwal, "We will continue to work towards making the existing business self-sustainable as well as expand our footprint to new strategically important geographies. With Government clearing the ordinance on digitisation, we are truly on the cusp of a huge transformation and ready to move to the next level and capitalise on our investments in infrastructure, systems, processes and people."
