MUMBAI: Successful digitisation as well as the phenomenol success of film of last year's blockbuster hit Gadar helped Zee Telefilms Ltd to register a Net profit of Rs 1.95 billion on gross revenues of Rs 11.55 billion for the year ended March 2002.

The company has declared the audited financial results for the year FY02 on Tuesday. The consolidated profit after tax (PAT) is lower by Rs 56.8 million than the unaudited PAT declared earlier. The difference is largely due to accelerated amortisation of deferred revenue expenditure, the company has stated.

Gross advertisement revenue for FY02 amounted to Rs 6.60 billion and contributed to 57 per cent of total revenues. Going pay has definitely helped the company to garner Rs 3.17 billion contributing 27 per cent of the total revenues. Domestic subscription revenues from DTO (direct to operator) operations amounted to Rs 987 million. Strong international presence is also contributing to earnings.

Other sales and services, which included film business, education, music and syndication revenues contributed Rs 989 million to revenues. The major contributor being the commercially successful film Gadar –Ek Prem Katha , which contributed Rs 204 million to revenues.

Total operating expenses during FY2002 amounted to Rs 7.72 billion. Cost of goods, which includes transmission and programming costs, accounted for the largest share with Rs 4.44 billion. Zee had external debt of Rs 7.44 billion as of 31 March 2002, which resulted in higher finance costs of Rs 808 million.

The board of directors, in its meeting held on Tuesday, has taken on record the audited financial results of Zee Telefilms Limited and the audited consolidated financial results of Zee Telefilms Limited along with its subsidiaries, for the year ending 31 March, 2002. The company also has declared a dividend of 55 per cent for the same period to its shareholders.

Zee has for the first time prepared its consolidated financials statements in accordance with mandatory accounting standard AS-21 on "Consolidated Financial Statement" issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India. The figures for the previous year have not been compared as this being the first year of consolidation, comparison with previous year would not be available, the company release states.

The audited results came after closing hours of the stock market. Zee Telefilms scrip was volatile on the Mumbai stock exchange on Tuesday. The stock rose to a high of Rs 87.10 in early trades on renewed buying, after a recent fall from the higher levels. However, the stock lost ground in late-morning trades once again from its higher levels to touch the day’s low of 84.10 in the afternoon. There has been massive institutional selling on the counter in the last few sessions.

Click here to get PDF file of the result from Zee Telefilms website

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