Jagran Prakashan Q3 net profit up 25% at Rs 89 cr

Jagran Prakashan Ltd (JPL) today reported an increase of 25.55 per cent in its standalone net profit of Rs 89.12 crore for the third quarter ended December 31.
The publisher of leading Hindi daily Dainik Jagran had posted a net profit of Rs 70.98 crore in the October-December quarter a year ago, the company said in a BSE filing.
JPL's total income from operations during the quarter under review was up 5.54 per cent to Rs 500.50 crore as against Rs 474.21 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
Commenting on the results, JPL CMD Mahendra Mohan Gupta said:" Demonetisation caused a remarkable disruption in the economic activity. Media & entertainment industry which thrives on consumption was no exception and struggled for revenues".

"However, I am glad with the overall performance of the company which like many other times in the past could withstand this highly unusual economic condition and reported improvement in EPS by 25 per cent inspite of low single digit growth in advertisement revenue," he added.
JPL's revenue from advertisement was up 3.91 per cent to Rs 352.12 crore in Q3/FY 2016-17 as against Rs 338.85 crore.

Its total expenses during the period was up 2.78 per cent to Rs 366.26 crore as against Rs 356.35 crore.
Apart from Dainik Jagran, the group publishes papers such as Naidunia, Midday, INext, Punjabi Jagran, Josh & Sakhi.

Shares of JPL today settled at Rs 186.60 on BSE, down 0.32 per cent from previous close.