HT Media has reported a profit of Rs. 37.72 crores for the first quarter of FY09, up from Rs. 34.16 crores for the same quarter in FY08; revenues were up 17 percent Year on Year at Rs. 332.89 crores, and advertising revenues were up 19 percent. EBITDA was up 13 percent to Rs. 74.5 crores from Rs. 66 crores for Q1-08.

HT Media’s job portal Shine.com appears to have overwhelmed them - despite all the advertising spends, the number of registered users has gone up to 2.3 lakhs 7.4 lakh. They had claimed 1.25 lakhs at the end of last quarter, and that’s an addition of around 1153 6758 registered users per day during the quarter. Frankly, given all the advertising spends across Web, Print, TV and Radio - Shine’s performance has would have been lacklustre, if not disastrous at just 2.3 Lakh, but it’s 7.4 lakh in all. Update: during the earnings conference call, which I am currently on, the total number of subscribers has gone up to 7.4 lakh users on Shine.

During the quarter, HT Media paid an advance to Firefly e-ventures Ltd against an issue of equity shares amounting to Rs. 5 crores, as well as a loan of Rs. 3 crores. Remember, HT Media has intended to spend Rs. 150 crores in Firefly over the next 2-3 years.

Also note that Go4i.com shareholders have been allocated 22,600 HT Media shares of face value Rs. 2 each to shareholders during the quarter, post a court ruling.

Print - HT Media claims Mint is the number 2 paper in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, in its segment. Interestingly, newsprint costs a serious cause for concern; raw material cost for HT Media increased 10 percent QoQ. Hindustan was launched in Dehradun and Chandigarh. HT Media tied up with German Media Group Hubert Burda to set up a printing facility
Radio - Fever 104, has around million listeners across Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore
Music - HT Music has also received a loan of Rs. 10 crores from HT Media.

Note: Any questions for HT Media? I am currently on the earnings call. Do leave a comment or tweet on Twitter

Earnings, Earnings Call, HT Media, Investment, Mint, Q1 2008-09
Tags: Firefly, Firefly E-Ventures, HT Media, Livemint, Mint, Shine