FY 2009: Radio Mirchi revenue up 3 % at Rs 427 cr

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
Entertainment Network (India) Ltd (ENIL), which owns popular radio station Radio Mirchi, has posted a 3 per cent growth in consolidated revenue at Rs 427 crore in 2008-09. The growth in standalone revenue was 1 per cent to Rs 229 crore in the year.

ENIL's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at Rs 51 crore for the fiscal. During the March quarter, ENIL posted a 23 per cent fall in standalone revenues to Rs 50.3 crore. EBITDA stood at Rs 13.4 crore while profit after tax was Rs 1.3 crore.

On a consolidated basis, ENIL's revenue was Rs 99.8 crore in the March quarter compared with Rs 123.4 crore last year. Loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the quarter was Rs 11.3 crore.

AP Parigi, managing director, ENIL, says, "Advertisement revenues, both in the radio business and the OOH media business, were adversely impacted by the slowdown. We are working on new revenue opportunities and cost-optimisation measures to improve the profitability of our businesses."

Prashant Panday, chief executive officer, Radio Mirchi, adds, It's been a very trying quarter for all media companies. While Mirchi's revenues have also dropped, I am happy to report that Mirchi's market share has grown."

"Our cost-cutting measures have started bearing results and we expect to realise the full benefit next year. This will lead to improvement in margins in FY10. We will continue to invest in brand building next year like we did this quarter with the Mirchi Music Awards - watched by nearly 11.5 million viewers on TV." Pandey says.

According to a IRS report, Radio Mirchi is the number one brand in the markets of Mumbai and Delhi. With a reach of 41-million weekly listeners, the number of people listening to Radio Mirchi is double that of the nearest competitor in the private radio market.

ENIL has two subsidiaries namely Times Innovative Media and Alternate Brand Solutions. Times Innovative Media owns out-of-home media brand Times OOH, whose revenues grew 11 per cent in 2008-09 though revenues in the March quarter fell 33 per cent.

Sunder Hemrajani, managing director, Times OOH, says, "The Company has taken steps to maximize revenues through increase in width and depth of customer base and focus on innovations and customer engagement. Also, aggressive cost initiatives have been taken in order to mitigate the effect of the business downturn and ensure the profitability of the business going forward."