Jagran Prakashan Q3 profit at Rs 66.62 crore

NEW DELHI: Jagran Prakashan, which publishes Hindi daily newspaper Dainik Jagran, among others, today reported a 1.58 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 66.62 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.

It had posted a net profit of Rs 67.69 crore in the October-December period of 2013-14 fiscal, the company said in a BSE filing.

Total income stood at Rs 470.46 crore during the quarter, up 3.64 per cent as against Rs 453.92 crore in the year-ago period.

"... the quarter just ended which witnessed highest ever operating profit coupled with significant improvement in operating margin... Even if there is an improvement in overall economy and business sentiments, it will take some time before it gets translated into higher advertisement spend," Jagran Prakashan CMD M M Gupta said.

Advertising revenue was at Rs 338.3 crore in the quarter under review against Rs 320.42 crore in the third quarter of last fiscal.

During the quarter, the company entered into a share purchase agreement with the owners of Music Broadcast Pvt Ltd for acquisition of the company and its radio business Radio City (91.1 FM).

Shares of Jagran Prakashan today closed at Rs 134.70 on the BSE, up 0.15 per cent from previous close.