Jagran Prakashan, the publisher of leading Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, today reported 40.05 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 93.29 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015, driven mainly by growth in advertisement revenue.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 66.61 crore in the October-December period a year-ago.
Jagran Prakashan Ltd (JPL)'s consolidated total income from operations during the quarter under review was up 22.50 per cent to Rs 576.35 crore as against Rs 470.46 crore in the year-ago period.
Revenue from advertisement was up by 28.5 per cent to Rs 434.82 crore during the third quarter of FY2015-16 as against Rs 338.35 crore of the same period last fiscal.
JPL's circulation revenue was up 2 per cent during October-December period this fiscal to Rs 102.02 crore as against Rs 100 crore.
Commenting on the performance, JPL CMD Mahendra Mohan Gupta said: "It is a matter of delight to report the best ever performance by the company. Radio has added the incremental revenue and profit but the existing business too have reported strong growth."
"The top line growth was led by all the three core businesses and the growth in profits was driven by print and radio. Whereas the performance of Dainik Jagran continues to be superlative with 35 per cent operating margin, I am particularly pleased with 25 per cent operating margin reported by Midday and 39 per cent operating margin reported by Radio City in this quarter," he said further.
Meanwhile, in a separate filing, JPL said that its non- Executive Independent Director Bharatji Agrawal has resigned from the board of directors on account of health problems.
The group publishes 11 newspapers and magazine brand from 37 different printing facilities across 13 states in five different languages.
Apart from Dainik Jagran, the group publishes papers including Naidunia, Midday, INext, City Plus, Punjabi Jagran, Josh & Sakhi.
It also owns FM Radio Station Radio City.
Shares of JPL today settled at Rs 162.10 on BSE, down 0.34 per cent from previous close.
