Covid-19 impact: Jagran Prakashan reports Q1 net loss of Rs 44.31 cr

Jagran Prakashan Ltd, the publisher of Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, on Friday reported a consolidated loss after tax of Rs 44.31 crore for the quarter ended June 2020.

The company had posted a profit after tax of Rs 65.75 crore during the April-June period a year ago, Jagran Prakashan Ltd (JPL) said in a BSE filing.

Total income dropped 65.23 per cent to Rs 204.49 crore during the quarter under review, as against Rs 588.28 crore earlier.

JPL's total expenses stood at Rs 265.34 crore, down 45.61 per cent from Rs 487.93 crore in Q1 FY20.

JPL Chairman and Managing Director M M Gupta said, "Local lockdown continues to unsettle the business activities. The uncertainties around the lockdown are hurting the consumer sentiment as well as the business community. In these trying times, no planning or visibility of normalcy is possible. Most hit is the retail business which negatively impacts the media industry."

Month-on-month improvement was witnessed till June but further improvement in July has got impacted due to repeated or extended local lockdowns in various pockets, he added.

"Q1 was all about focusing on liquidity to ensure continuity of the business. The Group has successfully managed the same through significant cost savings, collections from customers, additional long term borrowing and replacing short term borrowing," said Gupta.

Revenue from 'printing, publishing and digital' stood at Rs 174.26 crore, compared to Rs 482.28 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal.

FM radio business revenue dropped to Rs 14.36 crore as against Rs 69.78 crore earlier.

Shares of Jagran Prakashan Ltd settled at Rs 38.35 apiece on the BSE, down 0.13 per cent.