Brands
Q2-17: DB Corp revenue up, radio operating profit doubles
BENGALURU: DB Corp Limited (DB Corp), home to flagship newspapers Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, Dainik Divya Marathi and Saurashtra Samachar reported 10.5 percent higher consolidated revenue for the quarter ended 30 September 2016 (Q2-17, current quarter) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter. The media house’s total income from operations (TIO or revenue) in Q2-17 was Rs 528.74 crore as compared to Rs 478.36 crore.
DB Corp’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) increased 55.9 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) to Rs 88.52 crore as compared to Rs 56.77 crore. However, quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) it’s PAT declined 14.9 percent from Rs 103.96 crore in Q1-17.
EBIDTA (excluding other income) for the current quarter increased 38.6 percent y-o-y to Rs150.55 crore as compared to Rs 108.66 crore, but declined 16.9 percent q-o-q from Rs 181.06 crore.
Four segments contribute to DB Corp’s numbers – Printing and publishing of newspaper and periodicals (Printing) segment; Radio segment; Event segment, Internet segment; and Power segment. Its Printing and Radio segments are major contributors to the company’s top and bottomlines and have been considered here.
Radio Segment
DB Corp’s radio segment has an FM radio network under the brand My FM for which the company reported more than double y-o-y (2.15 times) operating profit for Q2-17 at Rs 12.97 crore as compared to Rs 6.04 percent. Q-o-q also, DB Corp’s radio segment’s operating profit was 69.1 percent higher (Rs 7.67 crore in Q1-17). My FM operating revenue for Q2-17 was 24.6 percent higher y-o-y at Rs 29.86 crore as compared to Rs 23.96 crore and 6.4 percent higher q-o-q as compared to Rs 28.06 crore.
Printing and publishing of newspaper and periodicals (Printing) segment
DB Corp’s Printing segment reported revenue of Rs 483.4 crore in the current quarter as compared to the Rs 443.24 crore in Q2-16. However, q-o-q, the Printing segment’s revenue declined 8.2 percent from Rs 526.55 crore. The segment’s operating profit in the current quarter increased 37.8 percent y-o-y to Rs 129 crore as compared to Rs 93.64 crore but declined 19.7 percent q-o-q from Rs 160.73 crore.
Other numbers
DB Corp’s consolidated Total Expenditure for Q2-17 increased 2.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 399.75 crore as compared to Rs 390.56 crore but declined 2.4 percent q-o-q from Rs 410.33 crore. Consolidated Cost of raw materials consumed in Q2-17 increased 9.1 percent y-o-y to Rs 163.34 crore from Rs 149.69 crore and increased 1.8 percent q-o-q from Rs 160.46 crore. Consolidated Employee Benefits Expense in the current quarter increased 11.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 107.41 crore as compared to Rs 96.3 crore in Q2-16 and increased 0.6 percent q-o-q from Rs 106.77 crore. Consolidated Total comprehensive income in Q2-17 increased 53.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 85.21 crore from Rs 55,51 crore, but declined 17.9 percent q-o-q from Rs 103.8 crore.
Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
