BENGALURU: Tax adjustments of Rs 31.38 crore returned consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 24.82 crore for Balaji Telefilms Ltd (Balaji Telefilms) for the quarter ended 31 December 2017 (Q3 2018, the quarter under review). The company had reported consolidated net loss after tax of Rs 1.86 crore for the corresponding year ago quarter (Q3 2017) and net loss of Rs 13.84 crore for the immediate trailing quarter (Q2 2018). The company reported operating loss (negative EBITDA) of Rs 7.08 crore in Q3 2018 as compared with operating loss of Rs 10.58 crore in Q3 2017.

Overall, the company reported higher realisation per programming hour of Rs 0.33 crore for Q3 2017 as against Rs 0.32 crore in Q2 2018. However, due to a 32 per cent year-on-year (yoy) decline and a 25 per cent quarter-on-quarter (qoq) decline in commissioned programmes, the company’s segment revenue decreased. Along with declines in its films and digital segments, Balaji’s consolidated revenue for the quarter under review declined to half yoy to Rs 65.15 crore as against Rs 130.37 crore.

Segment Revenue

Balaji Telefilms has three segments–commissioned programmes (CP), films and digital.

Revenue from CP declined by 17 per cent yoy in Q3 2018 to Rs 69.47 crore from Rs 83.74 crore. CP reported 44.7 per cent higher yoy operating profit of Rs 16.59 crore for Q3 2018 as compared with Rs 11.47 crore. The film segment revenue in the quarter under review declined by 95.6 per cent yoy to Rs 0.85 crore from Rs 19.20 crore. The segment reported lower operating yoy loss of Rs 0.28 crore in Q3 2018 as against Rs 0.51 crore in Q3 2017. Balaji Telefilms’ digital segment (aka ALTBalaji) reported revenue of Rs 1.14 crore for Q3 2018 as against nil in Q3 2017. The segment’s operating loss more than doubled yoy to Rs 8.15 crore in Q3 2018 to Rs 8.76 crore from operating loss of Rs 4.35 crore.

Let us look at the other numbers reported by Balaji Telefilms

Balaji Telefilms’ total expenditure for Q3 2018 reduced by 25.8 per cent yoy to Rs 76.40 crore from Rs 102.98 crore. Cost of production/acquisition and telecast fees in the current quarter reduced by 2.16 per cent yoy to Rs 75.77 crore from Rs 77.37 crore. Employee benefits expense in Q3 2018 increased by 3.7 per cent yoy to Rs 6.87 crore from Rs 6.63 crore. Marketing and distribution expense in the quarter under review increased by yoy to Rs 7 crore from Rs 0.2 crore. Other expenses grew by 27.8 per cent yoy to Rs 12.08 crore from Rs 9.46 crore.