HT Media has reported a net profit of Rs. 16.28 crores for the second quarter of FY-09, down 49 percent from the Rs. 31.94 crores they had reported for Q2 last year. Quarter on quarter, profits are significantly down from Rs. 37.72 crores reported for the first three months of this fiscal. The company also changed accounting policy this fiscal, without which, the profit would have been even lower, by Rs. 1.1 crores. However, revenues were up 18.17 percent to Rs. 334.17 crores, up from Rs. 282 crores for the same quarter last year.

EBITDA is down to Rs. 45.03 crores, from Rs. 57.06 crores for the same quarter last fiscal, and Rs. 74.5 crores last quarter. Q2 was as strong as Q1 even last year, and raw material costs have increased significantly, which even caused competitor Business Standard to shut down its Gujarati newspaper and consequently, stop updating its Gujarati news-site. Update: Newsprint costs have increased by 24 percent over the previous year, and this has brought EBITDA margins down from 20 percent to 13 percent.

Firefly Investment: Rs. 13.5 crores
During the quarter, the company invested Rs. 13.5 crores in Firefly e-Ventures – of which Rs. 6 crores were by way of Equity Share Capital, and Rs. 7.5 crores as advance against Equity Share Capital. They’ve also invested Rs. 8 lakhs crores in another subsidiary – HT Music and Entertainment Company Ltd. Thus, the investment in Firefly has gone up from the last quarter, wherein they invested Rs. 5 crores, and gave a loan of Rs. 3 crores. Remember, HT Media mentioned a couple of quarter ago, that they intend to spend Rs. 150 crores in Firefly over the next 2-3 years.

Details: Financials (updated)
Q1 Details: Financials, Earnings Call | Analysis/Report

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