NDTV rallies 20%, hits over 5-year high; stock zooms 45% thus far in Dec

The stock was trading at its highest level since April 2016.

Shares of New Delhi Television (NDTV) were locked in the 20 per cent upper circuit, hitting an over five-year high of Rs 111.30 on the BSE in Monday's intra-day trade, in an otherwise weak market. Thus far in the month of December (nine trading days), the stock of the broadcasting & cable TV operator has zoomed 45 per cent after the company signed a Rs 750-crore deal with Taboola for 10 years. It was trading at highest level since April 2016.

Trading volumes on the counter jumped nearly 10-fold with a combined 1.03 million equity shares having changed hands till 02:48 pm. There were pending buy orders for a combined 190,000 shares on the NSE and BSE, exchange data shows. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.61 per cent at 58,427 points.

On December 1, 2021, the company announced that NDTV Convergence's position as India's leading platform for online news stands reaffirmed with a very substantial 10-year deal with Taboola, a global leader in powering recommendations for the open web, helping people discover content they may like.

The decade-long deal is based on mutually-determined projections, including growth in traffic, and cumulatively can enable revenue of Rs 750 crore or $100 million for NDTV Convergence contingent upon it meeting the targets assigned for different stages of the 10-year period.

Ndtv.com has nearly 200 million uniques and is known for the fastest online news and best user experience in India. It is also one of the country's only profitable online content companies in India.

In 2018, NDTV Convergence signed a 5-year deal with Taboola for over Rs 300 crore, which was at the time among the biggest-ever advertising deals for the Asia-Pacific region. Both companies have accrued big benefits from that partnership; they synergized their respective strengths for sustainable growth and have therefore decided on a larger, 10-year arrangement, the company said. READ ABOUT IT HERE

For July-September quarter (Q2FY22), NDTV's standalone net profit nearly doubled to Rs 10.2 crore, the best-ever second quarter in the history of the television company. It had posted net profit of Rs 5.3 crore in Q2FY21. However, the NDTV Group consolidated net profit declined 31.8 per cent year on year (YoY) to Rs 12 crore from Rs 17.6 crore in a year ago quarter.

The Group's digital company, NDTV Convergence, continues to be profitable with an 11 per cent year on year growth in revenue in the first half of this financial year. Convergence has also reconfigured certain key deals and operations, resulting in one-time expenses of Rs 7.5 crore during this period. The Management is confident that the benefits of this restructuring will be realised early.

The company said, the Group's bank borrowings have decreased by Rs 33.9 crore since the start of this financial year. For the same six-month period, external liabilities have been reduced by Rs 26.7 crore, it added.