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Viacom18 Media, a 51:49 JV between TV18 and ViacomCBS, has reported 15.37% drop in revenue from operations at Rs 3276.32 crore for the fiscal ended 31st March 2021 as against Rs 3871.65 crore in the previous fiscal due to cut back in ad spends by advertisers following the Covid-19 related lockdown.
As per Viacom18's annual filing, the company has seen a 15.43% decline in total income at Rs 3286.16 crore compared to Rs 3886.16 crore a year ago.
The company has witnessed a 65% growth in net profit at Rs 582.89 crore for the fiscal under review compared to Rs 353.54 crore in FY20. This happened due to improvement in monetisation along with cost optimisation measures undertaken by the company.
Advertisement Sales, Subscription, and Program Syndication revenue was down 10.44% at Rs 3205.47 crore compared to Rs 3579.41 crore. Film distribution and syndication revenue saw a 77% decline at Rs 63.73 crore from Rs 278.1 crore due to restrictions on functioning of theatres.
The company's expenses decreased by 19.44% to Rs 2780 crore from Rs 3451.2 crore. The company incurred operational expenses of Rs 2203.36 crore, which is a 21% increase over Rs 2788.47 crore in the previous fiscal. Employee benefit expense saw a 5.38% dip at Rs 371.77 crore compared to Rs 392.93 crore.
Under operational expenses, the biggest cost item was programming, which dropped 26% to Rs 1506.72 crore from Rs 2036.75 crore. Marketing and Advertisement Costs came down by 14.17% to Rs 381.24 crore from Rs 444.2 crore. Other distribution costs rose 21% to Rs 200 crore, compared to Rs 165.46 crore.
Cash generation from operations stood at Rs 1021.4 crore as opposed to Rs 23.74 crore in the previous fiscal.
As on 31st March 2021, the company had inventories worth Rs 1399.08 crore for programming and film rights, compared to Rs 1401.06 crore in the previous fiscal. For projects in progress, the company had inventories worth Rs 485.13 crore as against Rs 630.33 crore.
Total trade receivables stood at Rs 1127.23 crore compared to Rs 1390.53 crore. The company noted that the trade receivables consist of numerous customers, representing diverse industries and geographical areas, hence it is not exposed to concentration risks.
Receivables mainly consist of ad sales, subscription income and other streams of revenue. For ad sales receivables which are past due, the company approaches the Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) to impose an embargo on the customer/agency. For receivables pertaining to other streams of revenues, the credit, and collection team regularly follows up for the collection and in rare cases of long past due, legal proceeding for recovery is initiated.
Recently, CARE Ratings had reaffirmed the CARE AAA; Stable / CARE A1+ ratings to the company's Long-term/ Short-term Bank Facilities worth Rs 1,615 crore. Likewise, the CARE A1+ rating to the company's Commercial Paper (CP) issue worth Rs 500 crore has also been reaffirmed.
The credit rating agency said that the ratings assigned to the bank facilities as well as commercial paper issue of Viacom18 derive strength from its strong financial flexibility as well as its strategic importance for the media and entertainment business of its parent through close integration with the Network18 group, with the ultimate ownership by RIL.
The ratings continue to derive strength from healthy performance of its flagship channel ‘Colors’ with its consistent presence in the top Hindi General Entertainment Channels (GECs) in terms of television viewership and entertainment content offerings in various genres.
“The credit strengths are, however, partially offset by the requirement of regular investments in its video streaming platform Voot and other content offerings which have significant gestation period along with inherent volatility associated with its film production and distribution division. Furthermore, the ratings take cognisance of cyclicity associated with its advertisement revenue in a competitive media and entertainment industry,” CARE noted.
The company owns and operates TV channels like Colors, Colors Rishtey, Colors Cineplex, MTV, MTV Beats, Nick, Nick Jr., Sonic, VH1, Comedy Central, Colors Infinity and regional bouquet of channels. Additionally, the company also generates revenue from licensing and merchandising of products, brand solutions, organsing live events, Over The Top and digital content delivery platform and marketing partnerships. The company is also in the business of production and distribution of motion pictures.
TV18 is a 51.17% subsidiary of Network18 Media & Investments, which, in turn, is held primarily (73.15%) by Independent Media Trust (IMT). Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is the sole beneficiary of IMT.
Advertisement Sales, Subscription, and Program Syndication revenue was down 10.44% at Rs 3205.47 crore compared to Rs 3579.41 crore. Film distribution and syndication revenue saw a 77% decline at Rs 63.73 crore from Rs 278.1 crore due to restrictions on functioning of theatres.
The company's expenses decreased by 19.44% to Rs 2780 crore from Rs 3451.2 crore. The company incurred operational expenses of Rs 2203.36 crore, which is a 21% increase over Rs 2788.47 crore in the previous fiscal. Employee benefit expense saw a 5.38% dip at Rs 371.77 crore compared to Rs 392.93 crore.
Under operational expenses, the biggest cost item was programming, which dropped 26% to Rs 1506.72 crore from Rs 2036.75 crore. Marketing and Advertisement Costs came down by 14.17% to Rs 381.24 crore from Rs 444.2 crore. Other distribution costs rose 21% to Rs 200 crore, compared to Rs 165.46 crore.
Cash generation from operations stood at Rs 1021.4 crore as opposed to Rs 23.74 crore in the previous fiscal.
As on 31st March 2021, the company had inventories worth Rs 1399.08 crore for programming and film rights, compared to Rs 1401.06 crore in the previous fiscal. For projects in progress, the company had inventories worth Rs 485.13 crore as against Rs 630.33 crore.
Total trade receivables stood at Rs 1127.23 crore compared to Rs 1390.53 crore. The company noted that the trade receivables consist of numerous customers, representing diverse industries and geographical areas, hence it is not exposed to concentration risks.
Receivables mainly consist of ad sales, subscription income and other streams of revenue. For ad sales receivables which are past due, the company approaches the Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) to impose an embargo on the customer/agency. For receivables pertaining to other streams of revenues, the credit, and collection team regularly follows up for the collection and in rare cases of long past due, legal proceeding for recovery is initiated.
Recently, CARE Ratings had reaffirmed the CARE AAA; Stable / CARE A1+ ratings to the company's Long-term/ Short-term Bank Facilities worth Rs 1,615 crore. Likewise, the CARE A1+ rating to the company's Commercial Paper (CP) issue worth Rs 500 crore has also been reaffirmed.
The credit rating agency said that the ratings assigned to the bank facilities as well as commercial paper issue of Viacom18 derive strength from its strong financial flexibility as well as its strategic importance for the media and entertainment business of its parent through close integration with the Network18 group, with the ultimate ownership by RIL.
The ratings continue to derive strength from healthy performance of its flagship channel ‘Colors’ with its consistent presence in the top Hindi General Entertainment Channels (GECs) in terms of television viewership and entertainment content offerings in various genres.
“The credit strengths are, however, partially offset by the requirement of regular investments in its video streaming platform Voot and other content offerings which have significant gestation period along with inherent volatility associated with its film production and distribution division. Furthermore, the ratings take cognisance of cyclicity associated with its advertisement revenue in a competitive media and entertainment industry,” CARE noted.
The company owns and operates TV channels like Colors, Colors Rishtey, Colors Cineplex, MTV, MTV Beats, Nick, Nick Jr., Sonic, VH1, Comedy Central, Colors Infinity and regional bouquet of channels. Additionally, the company also generates revenue from licensing and merchandising of products, brand solutions, organsing live events, Over The Top and digital content delivery platform and marketing partnerships. The company is also in the business of production and distribution of motion pictures.