South-based TV broadcaster Sun TV Network Ltd reported a decline in revenue as well as profits in the first quarter of financial year 2024-25. The revenue for the quarter ending June 30, 2024 stood at Rs 1,459 crore, down from Rs 1,470 crore in the same period previous fiscal.
As per the financial report for Q1 FY25, the company’s profit also declined by 5.5 % from Rs 592 crore in Q1 FY24 to Rs 559 crore in Q1 FY25.
The company's total expenses increased from Rs 644.5 crore in Q1 FY24 to Rs 709 crore in Q1 FY25. While the operating expenses went up and stood at Rs 206 crore, the cricket franchises fees came down from Rs 105 crore in Q1 FY24 to Rs 100 crore in Q1 FY25.
Its revenue from operations dipped 2.7% to ₹1,312.4 crore against ₹1,349.2 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal.
The advertising revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 323.77 crore, down from Rs 339.10 crore for the corresponding quarter ended June 30, 2023. The domestic subscription for the quarter was at Rs 425.79 crore against Rs 435.34 crore.
The EBITDA of the company fell 9.9% to ₹718.9 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal over ₹797.5 crore in the year-ago period. The EBITDA margin stood at 54.8% in the reporting quarter against 59.1% in Q1 of FY24. EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation.
Sun TV Network Ltd operates Satellite Television Channels across seven languages of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bangla, Marathi and Hindi, airs FM radio stations across India and owns the SunRisers Hyderabad Cricket Franchise of the Indian Premier League, SunRisers Eastern Cape of Cricket South Africa's T20 League and the Digital OTT Platform Sun NXT.
According to Motilal Oswal Financial Services, "The prolonged weakness visible within ad revenue has hit revenue growth. Recovery within ad spends and signs of revival in the FMCG segment would remain the key monitorables for the stock."
On the OTT sector, the financial services company has said that the continued conservative approach towards investments in OTT remains a key risk within the fast-growing OTT space.
