NDTV posted highest-ever profit in a decade, say Roys in FY22 annual report

Digital arm NDTV Convergence one of few profitable online companies, they say

Media company New Delhi Television (NDTV) recorded its highest-ever consolidated profit at the group level in over a decade for financial year 2021-22 (FY22), said co-chairpersons Radhika Roy and Prannoy Roy in the firm's latest annual report.

Addressing shareholders, the Roys, founder-promoters of NDTV, said the company had emerged financially strong in FY22, continuing the turnaround of recent years.

"Both the television and digital branches of the NDTV group reported their highest-ever profit. NDTV Ltd (television arm) recorded a profit of Rs 59.18 crore. While NDTV Convergence (digital unit) had a profit of 30.21 crore, earning its highest revenue in history. This underscores that it remains one of the few profitable online companies in India," the Roys said.

The NDTV group's consolidated profit stood at Rs 84.76 crore for FY22 against a revenue or total income of Rs 420.89 crore for the period. Profit growth over the previous year was 13.22 per cent, while revenue growth was 3.18 per cent over the year-ago period.

NDTV Ltd, which is currently in the middle of a takeover battle, saw FY22 profit jump 55.77 per cent over the previous year, led in part by an exceptional gain of Rs 6.88 crore through the sale of the company's stake in MobiKwik Systems during the year. While FY22 revenue growth (of NDTV Ltd) stood at 8.9 per cent versus last year, coming in at Rs 262.12 crore for the period.

The company did not specify the revenue of NDTV Convergence, its subsidiary, for the period under review. However, the annual report does say that NDTV Convergence was chosen to be an early partner of the Google News Initiative which was rolled out in April, 2021. It was also an early and large partner of the indigenous social media app Koo.

"On social media, NDTV’s following remains premium. NDTV is the most-popular news handle on Twitter with 17+million followers in India in April, 2022. With close to 12 million subscribers for the NDTV YouTube channel, we have the highest subscriber base for any English news publisher in India. NDTV India also recorded a 24 per cent growth in subscribers for its Hindi YouTube channel," the company said.

Apart from this, the company said that NDTV videos across online platforms were 5.7 billion views for the year, up 2.5 per cent from the previous year. It also remained the most-followed English news account on Instagram in India. And had signed up as a paid content partner for mobile-based platforms such as Snap and Glance.

The company also provided an outlook for the future, saying that the business in the current financial year (FY23) would depend on how inflation and the economic environment played out. "Advertising is expected to increase for the festival season and the company is leveraging its leadership position in the online space to expand and grow its business," it said.

All eyes, however, remain on the takeover battle. In its latest disclosure on Friday, Adani Enterprises, who acquired Vishvapradhan Commercial (VCPL), a lender to NDTV promoter company RRPR Holding, said that the tentative date for the open offer to acquire a majority stake in NDTV was “indicative”. It was subject to approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and could be revised accordingly.

The clarification came days after the company announced its tentative open offer date as October 17, saying it was triggered following acquisition of VCPL and the exercise of its right to convert warrants held by VCPL into equity in RRPR, which would translate into a stake of 29.18 per cent in NDTV.