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Q3-2015: Sterling Holiday Resorts q-o-q sales promo spend up 6.2 per cent
BENGALURU: Sterling Holiday Resorts (India) Limited (Sterling Holidays) reported sales promotion spend (Sales Promo) in Q3-2015 at Rs 4.77 crore (10.4 per cent of net sales), which was 6.2 per cent more than the Rs 4.49 crore in the immediate trailing quarter and 65.1 per cent more than the Rs 2.89 crore (8.4 per cent of net sales) in the corresponding year ago quarter. YTD, (9 month period ended December 31, 2014, 9M-2015) the company’s Sales Promo spends at Rs 11.46 crore (9.1 per cent of net sales) was 12.3 per cent more than the Rs 10.21 crore (10.8 per cent of sales promo) for 9M-2014.
Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore
During the 12 quarter period starting Q4-2012 until the current quarter, sales promo spends show a linear increasing trend in terms of absolute rupees. However, in terms of percentage of net sales, the linear trend is reducing. The company’s highest sales promo spends in terms of absolute rupees as well as in terms of percentage of net sales was in Q2-2013 at Rs 5.10 crore and 21.7 per cent of net sales.
The company’s net sales in Q3-2015 at Rs 45.67 crore was 32.9 per cent more than the Rs 34.37 crore in Q3-2014 and was 21.9 per cent more than the Rs 37.41 crore in Q2-2015. For 9M-2015, net sales at Rs 125.97 crore was 32.9 per cent more than the Rs 94.78 crore in 9M-2014. The company’s net sales show a linear increasing trend during the period under consideration.
The company has in general been a loss making company. Please refer to Fig 2 above. However, for Q4-2015, the company has reported a profit of Rs 0.82 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 1.74 crore in Q3-2014 and a loss of Rs 3.73 crore in Q2-2015. For 9M-2015, loss was Rs 1.83 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 11.46 crore in 9M-2013.
In its earnings release, the company says that Total Operating Income (TOI) increased 29 per cent to Rs 49.71 crore in Q3-2015 from Rs 38.4 crore in Q3-2014. TOI in 9M-2015 increased 30 per cent to Rs 138.03.
Sterling Holidays says that income from sale of vacation ownership plans grew by 52.5 per cent to Rs 25.2 crore in the current quarter from Rs 15.5 crore in the year ago quarter. YTD, sales income from Vacation Ownership plans rose a whopping 54 per cent to Rs 65.44 crore in 9M-2015 as compared to the Rs 42.54 crore reported for corresponding period of last year.
Income from Resort operations grew by 12.3 per cent to Rs 16.22 crore in Q3-2015 from 14.44 crore in Q3-2014. YTD, Income from Resort operations increased by 17 per cent to Rs 49.31 crore in 9M-2015 from 42.13 crore in 9M-2014.
Sterling Holidays managing director Ramesh Ramanathan said, “The sustained growth of all our business verticals reflects a healthy trend that we are progressing in the right direction. With a fast expanding pan India resort network and multiple holiday offerings, Sterling is in a unique position to grow rapidly into India’s leading holiday company.”
With effect from 3 September, 2014, Sterling Holidays became a wholly owned subsidiary of Thomas Cook Insurances Services (India) Limited – (TCISL). As of 31 December, 2015, Thomas Cook (India) Limited through its subsidiaries hold 55.07 per cent of the equity shareholding of the company.
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IICT partners with Gativedhi to bring studio production tools to students
New MoU lets students explore AI-driven production pipelines for AVGC-XR
MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) has teamed up with Gativedhi Technologies to give students a front-row seat to modern studio production. The collaboration will integrate Gativedhi’s AI-powered production intelligence platform, Shotrack, into academic programmes, letting students experience the workflow systems used by animation, VFX and gaming studios.
Under the MoU, faculty, students and researchers will get hands-on access to Shotrack through beta programmes, pilot deployments and academic evaluations. This will allow them to explore simulated production pipelines, understand asset management, track tasks and monitor schedules, essentially seeing how complex projects come together behind the scenes.
Shotrack is designed to tackle a key industry challenge: when multiple studios work on the same project, differing internal systems often create bottlenecks, slow approvals and complicate version control. The platform provides a unified production environment, enabling smoother collaboration across distributed teams while generating operational insights and predictive analytics to optimise crew allocation, forecast schedule risks and manage costs.
The collaboration also opens doors to Gativedhi’s wider ecosystem. Upcoming tools include StudioTrack, for studio operations management covering budgeting, recruitment and IT infrastructure, and WorkTrack, which measures workflow efficiency and team productivity across industries.
IICT plans to embed these tools into programmes covering animation pipelines, VFX workflows, gaming production and media project management. Students will also benefit from guest lectures, masterclasses, workshops, internships and research projects that connect academic learning with real-world studio practices.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar, said the partnership provides “An environment where production pipeline tools can be explored, tested and refined while students gain insight into how large-scale productions are organised.”
Gativedhi Technologies founder & CEO Senthil Kumar added, “This collaboration introduces students to real-world studio management tools and helps us improve our platform with academic feedback.”
With Shotrack in classrooms, India’s future animators, VFX artists and gaming producers will get a taste of studio life long before they step into one.
