Sun TV surges 12% on strong operational performance in Q4

surged 12% to Rs 966 on the BSE in early morning trade after the EBITDA margin improved 530 bps to 72.9% in Q4FY18 from 67.6% in Q4FY17

Sun TV Network surged 12% to Rs 966 on the BSE in early morning trade after the company reported better than expected operational performance for the quarter ended March 2018 (Q4FY18).

The company’s EBIDTA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) margin improved 530 bps to 72.9% in Q4FY18 from 67.6% in Q4FY17.

Net profit of the company during the quarter under review jumped 23% to Rs 2.90 billion as against Rs 2.36 billion in the same period last fiscal. The revenue increased 23% YoY at Rs 7.17 billion as against Rs 5.83 billion in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

Management sounded confident on double digit ad growth in FY19. Focus is on launching new fiction shows, including few big budget shows to improve market share across the four states. Rebound in viewership share in Tamil Nadu is key for sustained healthy growth

“Outperformance was driven from both advertisement and domestic subscription growth. Favorable base and uptick in spends led to 23% YoY ad growth,” analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services said.

“We note that ad revenue in regional markets has been compounding at a healthy rate amid rising viewership and growing inclination of advertisers to spend on those channels. New channel launch in TN would be good to aid market share and drive ad growth in the long term. Execution would be key for Sun TV Network, for success of new channel launches as company has not been able to sustain the market share gains across the genres in last two years,” the brokerage firm said in result update with ‘accumulate’ rating on the stock and target price of Rs 1,152.