DEN Networks’ net down QoQ; carriage sees mild drop

DEN Networks notched a third-quarter operating profit of Rs. 91.95 crore (Rs. 919.5 million) from the cable TV business, up three per cent from the Rs. 89.43 crore (Rs. 894.3 million) it reported in the trailing quarter, amid a mild fall in carriage and activation revenues. A year earlier EBITDA was Rs. 63.63 crore (Rs. 636.3 million). 

Revenue from cable TV business in the three-month period ended 31 December 2013 came to Rs. 281 crore ( Rs. 2.81 billion), up seven per cent from the Rs. 262.31 crore ( Rs. 2.63 billion) it captured a quarter earlier. In the year-ago period, revenue stood at Rs. 229.66 crore (Rs. 2.3 billion). 

Subscription revenue grew 5.9 per cent to Rs. 105 crore (Rs. 1.05 billion), from Rs. 99.11 crore (Rs. 991.1 million) a quarter earlier. This was offset by a drop in carriage and activation income. 

Carriage income dropped to Rs. 117.8 crore (Rs. 1.17 billion), from Rs. 119.90 crore (Rs. 1.2 billion) in the preceding quarter. Given the increased competition in the current business environment, the multi-system operator seeded increased boxes at reduced activation charges. Activation charge, a one-time revenue, reduced to Rs. 28.6 crore (Rs. 286 million) in this quarter compared to Rs. 29.43 crore (Rs. 294.3 million) generated in the trailing quarter. 

Incidentally, DEN added 450,000 digital subscribers in the quarter and has around 700,000 set-top boxes (STBs) in stock. In the trailing quarter, STBs deployed were fewer (400,000). 

Net profit from cable TV business (after forex losses and exceptional one time expense) dropped to Rs. 5.90 crore (Rs. 59 million). The company said that exceptional one time expenses include provision for impairment/loss on sale of investment of Rs. 9.3 crore ( Rs. 93 million) which is primarily on account of finalisation of arbitration settlement for an analogue JVC which was going on for the last two years. In the trailing quarter, net profit was Rs. 9.64 crore (Rs. 96.4 million), which included Rs. 5.96 crore (Rs. 59.6 million) in forex gains. 

S.N. Sharma, CEO, DEN Networks, said, “We are delighted with the company’s performance this quarter. DEN has maintained healthy profit margins in spite of major investments being made in Phase 3 & 4 markets and the soon-to-be-launched high-speed Broadband service. The company is also focusing on streamlining the consumer experience in digitized markets, starting with the initiation of consumer billing in Delhi from December 2013. Once completed across all markets, consumer billing will bring in the true benefits of Digitisation–transparency and legitimate distribution of subscription revenues across all stakeholders of the cable value chain.”

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/cable-news/item/4291-den-networks%E2%80%99-net-down-qoq-carriage-sees-mild-drop.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/cable-news/item/4291-den-networks%E2%80%99-net-down-qoq-carriage-sees-mild-drop.html