Dish TV Q4 loss widens over three-fold to Rs 149 crore

Direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Dish TV India Ltd today reported widening of its standalone net loss over three times to Rs 149.05 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014.

The company had registered a standalone net loss of Rs 43.62 crore for the January-March quarter of the last fiscal.

However, its standalone net sales increased to Rs 634.85 crore during the period as against Rs 554.57 crore in the same quarter a year earlier, the company said in a BSE filing.

For the financial year 2013-14, Dish TV's consolidated net loss increased to Rs 157.61 crore as against Rs 66 crore in the previous fiscal.

Dish TV's consolidated net sales increased to Rs 2,499.04 crore in the financial year 2013-14 as against Rs 2,164.47 crore of 2012-13 fiscal.

"Fiscal 2014 was a challenging year for the economy. Fortunately however, with a new government backed by a strong mandate at the Centre, there is significant hope of growth coming back on track," Dish TV Chairman Subhash Chandra said.

According to Dish TV's Managing Director Jawahar Goel, the company had opted long term sustainability in fiscal 2014.

"Unlike fiscal 2013, fiscal 2014 was a disruptive period where we had to choose between immediate benefits and long term sustainability in the hyper competitive DTH industry. Choosing the later, we continued to deleverage while maintaining our subscriber acquisition price point," he said.

On the future outlook, Goel said the DTH industry is optimistic about rationalisation in the taxes by the new government at the Centr.

"As notification of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is taking time, we look forward to allowance of abatement in Service Tax along with moderation in Entertainment Tax in line with the prevailing structure in Gujarat and other forward looking states. We are also hopeful of an early resolution of the DTH licence renewal and payment of licence fees matter in the industry's favour," he said.

Shares of the company closed up by 1.6% at 53.95 on the BSE.