TV9 group revenues touch Rs 200 crore in FY 18

: Associated Broadcasting Company Pvt Ltd (ABCPL), which operates a host of new channels in different languages under TV9 logo, has recorded 21 per cent growth in revenue to a little over Rs 200 crore in FY 18.

The company made Rs 5.86 crore profit after tax during the year, according to Care Ratings.

ABCPL was recently in the news after its CEO and whole-time director Ravi Prakash was shown the door on allegations of forgery, among other charges.

Alanda Media and Entertainments had acquired over 90 per cent stake in ABCPL last year.

"This (growth in FDY 18) is primarily on account of Telangana and Karnataka TV9 channels gaining popularity and ability of the channels to maintain its leadership position," Care said in a rating report.

 

Maintaining leadership position was possible with its effective marketing and selling strategies resulting in increased revenues, Care said.

Care Ratings assigned 'CARE BBB, Stable' to ABCPLs Rs 25-crore long-term bank facilities and Care A3 to short-term bank facilities of Rs 15 crore in its recent report.

The rating assigned to the bank facilities of ABCPL derives strength from strong and experienced management team, financial strength of promoters, leading position of its channels namely TV9 Telugu, TV9 Kannada and TV9 Gujarati, the rating agency said.

Early FY 19, Chintalapati Holdings, iLabs Venture Capital Fund and minority shareholders sold their stake to Alanda Media totalling 90.54 per cent as on date.

Alanda is promoted by group of individuals, who are related to the city-based 'My Home Group' the turnover of which is around Rs 4,000 crore, and Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL).

Both the groups have diversified business activities with huge net worth base.

ABCPL presently operates d7 free-to-air channels and hence depends upon the advertising income.

ABCPL's flagship channels namely TV9 Telugu, TV9 Kannada and TV9 Gujarati holds leadership position in their respective regions and have significant contribution to the revenue.

During March 2019, ABCPL launched its prime PAN India Hindi news Channel free to air 'TV9 Bharatvarsh'.

ABCPL faced high geographical concentration risk with majority of the revenue around 80 per cent accounted from channels based in Telangana and Karnataka.

However, the media house achieved positive Y-o-Y overall growth of 20.67 per cent in FY 18.

Further, with the introduction of TV9 Bharatvarsh, ABCPL is envisaged to lower the geographical concentration risk to a greater extent, the rating agency added.