Northgate Reports Q2 Profit Of Rs. 22.4 Crores; Bharatstudent FY08 Loss At Rs. 3.96 Crores

Northgate Technologies, which owns the social networking site Bharatstudent.com, Online Advertising network Axill, and VoIP and IPTV solutions provider Globe7, has reported a consolidated profit 22.40 crores, up marginally from Rs. 22.43 crores last quarter, and Rs. 20.21 crores for the Q2 last year. Northgate Technologies, by itself, contributed only Rs. 3.6 crores, down from Rs. 6 crores last quarter. Consolidated revenues for the group were up at Rs. 189.37 crores. A majority of the groups business revolves around Online Advertising, and there’s been a “Traffic Acquisition Cost” of Rs. 102.14 crores, down from Rs. 107.05 crores last quarter.

The consolidated results include digital subsidiaries of Northgate - Social Media India Ltd, which runs Bharatstudent.com, Northgate Investments Pte Ltd and its subsidiaries Globe7 Pte Ltd, Globe7 Inc, Axill Europe Ltd and Globe7 HK Ltd.

We also went through their annual results, in particular, seeking more information on the performance of their subsidiary Social Media India Ltd, which runs the social networking site Bharatstudent.com. This are rather bleak there -

For the year ending March 31st 2008, Social Media India reported revenues of Rs. 9.85 crores, and a net loss of Rs. 3.96 crores. All in all, Northgates Online Media Properties’ (OMP) contributed 18% to the total revenue, and were at Rs.100.21 crores, with an EBITDA margin of 13.4% in FY’08, down from 27.3% in FY’07. Northgate launched Ziddu and Egglad in FY08, and saw an increase in marketing and promotion activities.

Q209: Financials,
Q109: Financials, Analysis/Report
FY08: Annual Report

Related:
– Q1-09 Results: Bharatstudent.com Parent Reports Rs. 22.43 Crores Profit; Globe7 - Baidu; VoIP Over WiFi In HK
– Northgate Co Globe7 To Power Casual Games Site For Malaysia’s New Straits Times

Northgate Co Globe7 To Power Casual Games Site For Malaysia’s New Straits Times

Globe7, a wholly owned subsidiary of BSE listed Northgate Technologies has inked a deal with Malaysian media company New Straits Times Press to offer casual games on their Malay-language website for their tabloid Harian Metro. Globe7 will offer around 100 casual games on the site. No other details of the deal have been disclosed.

Globe7 parent Northgate Technologies had reported a net profit of Rs. 22.43 crores for the first quarter of this fiscal. Questions have been asked, about whether an independent director on Northgate’s board has been selling shares consistently.

Games appears to be a recent addition to Globe7s portfolio of products, which consists of VoIP and IPTV related software, with partnerships with Chinese companies Baidu, Alimama and Allyes. It’s rather strange that New Straits Times Press decided to tie-up with Globe7 for just around 100 games; aggregators like In.com (a Web18 property) and ZapakWorld (Reliance ADA Group) are offering games in the thousands; social networking upstart Indyarocks is also aggregating games for FX Labs.

Related:
– Zapak Launches ZapakWorld With 12236 Games; Claims To Be Worlds Largest
– Northgate Technologies Q1-09 Results

Q1-09 Results: Bharatstudent.com Parent Reports Rs. 22.43 Crores Profit; Globe7 - Baidu; VoIP Over WiFi In HK

Bharatstudent.com’s parent company Northgate Technologies, which also owns Online Advertising network Axill and VoIP and IPTV solutions provider Globe7 has reported a consolidated profit Rs. 22.43 crores. Note that Northgate itself contributed very little to the profits - only Rs. 6 crores, down from Rs. 20.19 crores. The groups consolidated revenues were up at Rs. 173.50 crores. A majority of the groups business revolves around Online Advertising, and there’s been a “Traffic Acquisition Cost” of Rs. 107.05 crores.

Download the results here.

It appears that there has been a change in accounting policy, so the results for this quarter are not comparable with the previous quarter, or the last fiscal. At the same time, it’s interesting to note that the parent company Northgate Technologies itself has just a minority contribution to the revenues, while subsidiaries account for a bulk of the revenues. In fact, Northgate’s “Other Income” of Rs 541.64 lakhs, is higher than its revenues.

The consolidated results include digital subsidiaries of Northgate - Social Media India Ltd, which runs Bharatstudent.com, Northgate Investments Pte Ltd and its subsidiaries Globe7 Pte Ltd, Globe7 Inc, Axill Europe Ltd and Globe7 HK Ltd. During the quarter:

Globe7 (VoIP + IPTV patented software): formed partnership with Chinese companies Baidu, Alimama and Allyes; selected to provide ‘globe7@mobile’ service at wifi hotspots in Hong Kong
Bharatstudent: Claims to be among the Top 16 websites in India and Top 475 globally, based on Alexa. (Ed: Alexa isn’t an accurate measure of traffic and performance, and we suggest that our readers exercise caution before using it to evaluate a websites performance)

Not many numbers in the release, but some notes from the companys annual report, released last quarter:
– Bharatstudent: Claims 1.5 million registered users, adding 12000 to 15000 members a day
– Globe7 - over 25 million downloads, 3.5 million active users from 187 countries. Content partners include AP, ANI, Reuters, Media Corp, FTV, Travel Channel, Extreme Sports etc.
– Axill - is an advertising network, with a presence in US, UK, India and China. Has inventory across 3800 publishers, and also has video ads.