Dwindling footfall impacts media companies

Underperforming films and decreasing footfall have impacted at three media companies’ net profit during the September quarter. 
 

Underperforming films and decreasing footfall have impacted at three media companies’ net profit during the September quarter. 

PVR, the country’s top multiplex operator, had its net profit fall by 5.2 per cent to Rs 30.7 crore, from Rs 29.1 crore a year before. Net sales at Rs 541 crore was up 16.3 per cent.

Another multiplex operator, Inox Leisure, posted Rs 1.6 crore net profit compared to Rs 21.3 crore last year. Its sales fell three per cent over a year, to Rs 297 crore. Footfall during the quarter fell by 13 per cent to 12.7 million, compared to 14.5 mn last year.

PVR witnessed a two per cent drop. Their top line was aided by increasing ticket prices, of eight to nine per cent.

PVR and Inox have seen growth in consumer spending; their food and beverages (F&B) business grew by 22 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively. Revenue from sponsorships went up by 35 per cent for PVR during the quarter.

Adlabs Entertainment’s net loss increased to almost Rs 44 crore, from one of Rs 35.4 crore in the same quarter last year. The company operates theme parks Imagica and Snow Park across the country and reported a six per cent increase in revenue, to Rs 36.9 crore. 

Footfall on its properties fell by a fifth, to 200,000.  Revenue growth came from the F&B and hotels segment; ticketing and merchandise both showed a decline in income.

Both PVR and Inox have attributed the fall in profit to the poor quality of content available during the quarter, which kept moviegoers away. The top five performing films by collection – Sultan, Rustom, Pink, Kabali and Dishoom – generated 51 per cent of the total gross box office collections, implying poor performance by the other releases. 

However, the company managed to reduce losses in the ticketing segment compared to last year but profit from merchandise, F&B and rooms (hotels) declined.