Jagran Prakashan Ltd (JPL), the publisher of leading Hindi daily newspaper Dainik Jagran, today reported over three-fold jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 179.97 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2015, driven by growth in advertisement revenue.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 55.13 crore in the April-June period of 2013-14, Jagran Prakashan said in a BSE filing.
JPL's total income on consolidated basis during the quarter under review was up 9.27 per cent to Rs 481.14 crore as against Rs 440.29 crore in the year-ago period.
Revenue from advertisement was up by 11.9 per cent to Rs 345.57 crore during the first quarter of FY2015-16 as against Rs 308.89 crore of the same period last fiscal.
Commenting on the performance, JPL CMD Mahendra Mohan Gupta said: "This robust performance in an economically difficult time could be possible due to the company's ability to timely sense the inordinate delay in economic recovery and act accordingly."
He said the first quarter of current fiscal was eventful for more than one reason as the company not only completed the long-awaited acquisition of Radio City but it also delivered its highest ever profit and probably the highest growth in advertisement revenue in the industry.
Gupta further said FM station Radio City, which was acquired by the group, has started contributing to company's profits.
On the outlook, he said: "Even though the economy is not yet supporting the growth, the first quarter's performance gives me the confidence that we will continue to grow and meet your expectations."
Meanwhile, in a separate filing, JPL said that its board in a meeting today approved amalgamation of Suvi Info Management (Indore) Pvt Ltd, its wholly-owned subsidiary, which does not have business activity.
"The Scheme is approved by the board subject to the requisite approval of the members and or creditors of the company as may be directed by the jurisdictional High Court(s) and subject to all such requisite approvals from the relevant regulatory authorities and sanction of the jurisdictional High Court(s)," JPL said.
Apart from Dainik Jagran, the group publishes papers including Naidunia, Midday, INext, City Plus, Punjabi Jagran, Josh & Sakhi.
Shares of Jagran Prakashan today closed at Rs 134.20 on the BSE, down 0.33 per cent from its previous close.
