Sun TV's net profit up by 13%

EBITDA rose 10.32% to Rs 376.34 crore in the quarter under review

Kalanithi Maran-promoted Sun TV Netork Ltd has posted a growth of 13.10% in net profit at Rs 189.88 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012, compared to Rs 167.88 crore reported during the same period of previous fiscal year. The total income stood at Rs 496.41 crore for the third quarter of current fiscal year, as against Rs 448.32 crore for the corresponding three months of last fiscal year, an increase of 10.73%.

Speaking about the company's performance in the third quarter, S L Narayanan, group CFO - Sun Group, said, "We are extremely pleased with the results. Business has delivered on all fronts. Especially the advertisement revenues, which is a major constituent of our revenue basket, has grown 20% year-on-year." The advertisement revenues grew up from Rs 244 crore in the quarter ended December 2011 to Rs 293 crore in the quarter ended December 2012, he said.

Speaking about the growth in advertisement revenue, he added that the business confidence is generally on the upswing due to various measures from the government. The improvement in business confidence immediately impacts on the Group's revenue, he said.

Subscription revenues of the company has also grown on the back of the digitisation initiative. Pay channel revenues which is cable revenues, has grown by 25% and DTH revenues by 12%. DTH revenues have grown from Rs 84 crore to Rs 94.5 crore. The outlook for this is pretty good because of the second phase of digitisation, which is on the way in 38 cities from April, this year.

"This growth trajectory will be pretty strong because as the digitisation implementation becomes even more committed, we will see a lot more of faster conversion from analogue to digital, which then gives us the benefit of better subscription revenues," said Narayanan. He reiterated that the financial impact on the Group's team in Indian Premier League would only come in the next fiscal year, since the season is starting from April, 2013.