Eros Intl FY16 net profit down 12.3%, at Rs Rs 214 cr

company says profitability was impacted due to holding back of high-margin catalogue revenues in second half, and postponement of some Q4 releases to FY17

Film studio Eros International reported a decline of 12.3 per cent in profit after tax for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016 (FY16).

Profit for the fiscal under consideration was Rs 214.1 crore as compared with Rs 247.1 the previous year. Revenue grew 11.3 per cent at Rs 1,603.6 crore in FY16, compared with Rs 1,441 crore in FY15.

The company explained in its earnings presentation, that profitability was marginally impacted by holding back of high-margin catalogue revenues in the second half of the year, to focus on working capital efficiencies and due to the postponement of some Q4 releases to FY 2017.

Sunil Lulla, Executive Vice-Chairman & MD of Eros International Media Ltd said, "Fiscal 2016 clearly proved to be one of the best years for our films at the box office, demonstrating the quality and robustness of our content green-lighting strategy, a strong competitive edge for Eros. Continuing this momentum, we had an excellent start to FY17 with Sardaar Gabbar Singh in Telegu, 'Ki & Ka' in Hindi and 24 in Tamil, delivering splendid performances and together with Housefull 3 scheduled to open next week, we are looking at a blockbuster first quarter."

"We have a very exciting film slate for the upcoming quarters, which include films such as Rock On 2, Dishoom, Baar Baar Deko, Shivaay, Banjo, Singham 3, together with a diversified slate of other regional releases. On the whole, FY2017 will be seeing an exciting movie repertoire of over 65 content-driven Eros films in Hindi and other regional languages, making it the biggest future slate by any studio in India. To further demonstrate our portfolio and de-risking strategy, I am happy to announce that a substantial part of the above-mentioned slate is already pre-sold for satellite rights with major television networks," he added.