DB Corp Ltd on Thursday announced its fiscal third quarter earnings with profit at Rs 118.21 crore, posting a drop of 4.65 per cent in comparison to Rs 123.98 crore during the third quarter of FY24. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 642.65 crore, down 0.32 per cent as against Rs 644.71 crore during the same period of previous financial year, on an election filled high base of last year. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 177.2 crore, down 3.2 per cent on-year.
For Q3, advertising revenue stood at Rs 476.70 crore as against Rs 481.90 crore due to state election filled high base of last year. Circulation revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 119.50 crore as against Rs 120.00 crore. Radio business grew by 6 per cent YoY to Rs49.20 crore
Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp Ltd, said, “Our performance in Q3FY25 contributing to the highest ever nine-month performance, even on the back of a high base is a confidence-booster for us and underscores our strategic focus on Content over Noise, Truth over Trends in our editorial strategy which has brought us rich dividends. The festive season saw strong demand from advertisers and while there has been some softening thereafter, we continue to remain optimistic. Our digital business continues to support our omni-channel market leadership. With global economic performance remains sluggish, the Indian economy, driven by domestic consumption, continues to drive our key markets and advertisers while our circulation teams have been active in driving engagement. These pillars will augur well as we set to not only cement our leadership position, but continue to look for windows of opportunity to push growth.”
In a regulatory filing, the company said that it recorded its highest ever nine-month performance with revenue at Rs 1854.40 crore and PAT at Rs 318.70 crore. “This performance is particularly noteworthy, considering the election-led high base of last year. Further, excluding the election related ad benefits, Q3 registered healthy growth in Ad revenue, EBIDTA and PAT YOY underscoring our leadership position,” it said.
In the nine months of FY25, top line grew by 1 per cent YOY on a high base, EBITDA grew by 4 per cent YOY to Rs 525.2 crore, on account of stable newsprint prices and reflecting efficient cost management. Print business EBIDTA margin expanded by 200 basis points to 32 per cent. The company’s radio business posted 9 per cent YoY growth in advertising revenue to Rs 128.70 crore.
Newsprint prices, it said, continued to be soft in 9M FY25. “Our average cost for newsprint was Rs 47600 PMT in 9M FY2025 from Rs 52700 PMT in last year, resulting in newsprint cost reduction of 14 per cent YoY.