MUMBAI: Leading production house B.A.G Films Limited today announced its financial results for the quarter ended 31 March 2005 and fiscal year 2004-2005.

The company, with a presence in the programming, films and new media business segments besides promoting a Media School, declared net profit increases of 17 per cent to Rs 33.8 million from Rs 29 million last fiscal.

Net income from sales / operations was up 99 per cent to Rs 364.1 million compared to Rs 182.8 million in FY 2004.
Its quarter on quarter net profit was, however, down 12 per cent to Rs 11.7 million from Rs 13.3 million in Q4 2004. According to a company statement, the reduction in net profit was a result of increased depreciation charge for the quarter following the completion of the company's planned Convergence Complex.

Commenting on the performance during the quarter and year under review, B.A.G. Films MD Anurradha Prasad said, "B.A.G. Films' performance during the year is a result of a strong thrust on innovation and content creation. Several new programming introductions established our ability to create content across genres and also strengthened our relationship with various television channels. Further at our media school, iSomes, we now propose to expand our course curriculum, which in turn will contribute to arming the media industry with high-quality professionals. The New Media and Film Businesses also enjoy strong growth prospects. We remain excited about the numerous opportunities across all our business segments and are confident of delivering healthy growth going forward."

During the quarter ended 31 March, 2005, average programming hours per month were 73 reflecting a 27 per cent increase over the 57.3 hours in the sequentially preceding quarter.

B.A.G. Films is also gradually enhancing its presence in the commissioned programming space. The revenue distribution of commissioned and sponsored programmes was 96 : 4 during FY 2005.

The company continues to enjoy a healthy relationship with all television channels. The revenue contribution from all channels, for the year FY 2005 is as under:

Rihaee, a bi-weekly series focusing on real life crime stories against women was the new addition during the quarter. The serial has created a strong impact having joined hands with the National Commission for Women (NCW). B.A.G. Films has since initiated a 24-hour helpline in association with the NCW in an endeavor to actively address crimes against women.

The daily crime news series Sansani on Star News continued to occupy the Number one spot in terms of TRPs amongst crime news shows and also remains amongst the top 10 news-based programmes across all news channels. B.A.G. Films' other news programmes, Red Alert and Poll Khol also maintained their positions amongst the top ten programmes in their category.

Meanwhile, B.A.G. Films is exploring opportunities to produce films across all budgets and geographies, the company has stated.