ZEEL Q2 profit declines 4% to Rs 227.55 crore

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) today reported 3.69% decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 227.55 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2014.

The company had registered a consolidated net profit of Rs 236.27 crore in the same period of previous fiscal, ZEEL said in a filing with the BSE.

Consolidated total income increased 1.50% to Rs 1,117.82 crore in the July-August quarter of this fiscal as compared to Rs 1,101.28 crore during the same period of 2013-14.

"Our quarterly performance has been satisfactory. It has been a mixed quarter as far as television industry advertising spends is concerned. Even though the overall economic sentiments was positive during the quarter, it translated into increased advertising spend only during the fag end of the quarter," ZEEL Chairman Subhash Chandra said.

On the outlook, Chandra said, "Our expectation is that advertising spends will continue to increase during the rest of the year. Our performance in the quarter reflects the industry wide trend."

ZEEL's total consolidated revenue from advertising also grew 7.31% to Rs 625.94 crore during the quarter as against Rs 583.30 crore in the same period last fiscal.

However, company's consolidated revenue from subscription declined 7.34% to Rs 424.45 crore this quarter. It was Rs 458.12 crore in the year-ago period.

In the first half of the fiscal, ZEEL's consolidated net profit declined by 4.94% to Rs 438.12 crore as against Rs 460.91 crore in the year-ago period.

However, consolidated total income in H1 increased 4.74% to Rs 2,172.88 crore as against Rs 2,074.53 crore in the same period last year.

The company's shares closed at Rs 322.55 per scrip on the BSE, up 3.10% from their previous close.