Zee Enterprises Q4 Results: Firm posts loss of Rs 196 crore; revenue falls 9%

Zee Enterprises has reported a net loss of Rs 196 crore for the three months ended March. The company posted a profit of Rs 24 crore in the December quarter and Rs 181 crore in the March quarter of last year.

Total income during the quarter under review fell 9% to Rs 2,112 crore as against Rs 2,322 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.

The company's operating profit was hit by the advertising spending slowdown, investment in ZEE5, movie launches, and sports.

EBITDA declined 70% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 152 crore in the fourth quarter, compared with Rs 505 crore in the same period of last year.

Meanwhile, EBITDA margins too fell significantly to 7.2% for the January-March period from 21.8%, hit by increase in costs across ZEE5, movies and sports.

Domestic advertising revenues during the quarter came at Rs 963 crore, down 10% YoY, impacted by FTA withdrawal (Zee Anmol) and slowdown in ad spending.

Subscription revenue was down 1% YoY, growth in ZEE5 offset by decline in linear TV subscription.

Other sales and services revenue was down down 25% YoY, but up 71% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), aided by new launches and higher syndication revenue. Theatrical performance continues to be soft, compared with last year period.

Programming and technology cost for the reporting quarter also increased over previous year due to higher content cost in movies, investment in ZEE5 and sports.

For Zee5, revenues stood at Rs 220 crore, higher by 36% YoY. MAUs for the segment came in at 113.5 million, and the DAUs were at 11.1 million for January-March period. The average watch time stood at 229 mins.

On Thursday, ZEE5 stock closed 1.19% lower at rs 178.65 apiece on NSE.