News Broadcasting
Balaji promoters offload 4.85% stake to FIIs
MUMBAI: First, it was the Bajoria murmur that set the market grapevine abuzz. Now, it is the offloading of shares by Balaji promoters to foreign institutional investors (FIIs) that’s got the market bustling.
Promoters of one of the biggest success stories in television – Balaji Telefilms – Jeetendra Kapoor and Tusshar Kapoor have offloaded 2.5 million shares constituting 4.85 per cent of the total equity share capital in the production house to FIIs on 7 January 2004.
Balaji Telefilms has informed the National Stock Exchange that while Jeetendra Kapoor sold 500,000 shares (0.97 per cent of total equity, Tusshar Kapoor has sold 2 million shares (3.88 per cent of total equity).
The Kapoor family’s consolidated stake in Balaji now stands at 52.95 per cent vis-?-vis the 57.8 per cent holding before the stake sale. This move pushes up the FII holding in the company from 13.22 per cent to 18.07 per cent.
When contacted by indiantelevision.com, a well-placed source in the production house admitted that the stake had been offloaded to some of the four major FIIs who already have holdings in the company. The production company had been witnessing a keen FII interest and hence, the promoters Jeetendra Kapoor and Tusshar Kapoor decided to dilute their stake in the company to further widen the institutional investor base, he added.
The Balaji Telefilms scrip closed today’s session at Rs 108.20 with a gain of 1.79 per cent on the BSE after peaking at its intra day high of Rs 109.70 earlier in the day. Over 0.3 million shares to the tune of Rs 32.6 million have been traded on the counter on the BSE.
Balaji Telefilms has today informed the NSE that the Company has received periodical disclosures for the quarter from 1 October 2003 to 31 December 2003 from the following persons. The details of shares held by them as on 31 December 2003 are as follows:
(1) Mr. Jeetendra Kapoor, Director holds 60,67,500 shares amounting to 11.78%.
(2) Mrs. Shobha Kapoor, Director holds 99,35,000 shares amounting to 19.29%.
(3) Ms. Ekta Kapoor, Director holds 97,27,000 shares amounting to 18.88%.
(4) Mr. Akshay Chudasama, Director holds NIL shares.
(5) Mr. Dhruv Kaji, Director holds NIL shares.
(6) Mr. Raj Bothra, Director holds NIL shares.
(7) Mr. Tusshar Kapoor, Share Holder holds 40,30,250 shares amounting to 7.82%.
(8) Mr. Ajay Patadia, Designated Employee holds 10 shares.
(9) Mr. V. Devarajan, Designated Employee holds NIL Shares.
(10) Mr. Rajesh Pavithran, Designated Employee holds NIL shares.
(11) Mr. R. Karthikeyan, Designated Employee holds NIL Shares.
(12) Mr. Sandeep Jain, Designated Employee, along with relatives holds 50 Shares.
(13) Mr. Ketan Gupta, Designated Employee holds NIL Shares.
(14) Mr. Hamavand Taraporwala, Designated Employee holds NIL Shares.
(15) Mr. Apurava Zaveri, Designated Employee holds NIL Shares.
(16) Mr. Dominic D’souza, Designated Employee holds NIL Shares.
(17) Mr. Deepoo Vaswani, Designated Employee holds NIL Shares.
(18) Ms. Nirmala Sood, Designated Employee holds 5,000 Shares amounting to 0.0097%.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
