HT Media Limited

Piyush Gupta

Group CFO

Pervez Bajan

Group Controller

5%

ation. As you can see from the chart in front of you, the total revenue for the quarter declined 5% on a YoY basis. As we had articulated earlier, this is primarily because of the shift in the festi

9%

go into the business unit performance. For Print, as we can see ad revenue on a YoY basis declined 9% with circulation revenue up 3%. Operating revenue as a consequence was down 6%. Operating EBITDA i

3%

rmance. For Print, as we can see ad revenue on a YoY basis declined 9% with circulation revenue up 3%. Operating revenue as a consequence was down 6%. Operating EBITDA improved because of the newsprin

6%

YoY basis declined 9% with circulation revenue up 3%. Operating revenue as a consequence was down 6%. Operating EBITDA improved because of the newsprint prices. And the key highlights being - Adverti

1%

On a quarter on quarter, we can see ad revenue was flat, circulation revenue was marginally up by 1% and operating revenue came out flat. A little deep dive into English. On a YoY basis, there was a

2%

a YoY basis, there was a decline in ad revenue of 9%. On a sequential basis, there was a growth of 2%. On circulation revenue, on a YoY basis, there was an increase of 35% and on a QoQ basis, there wa

35%

basis, there was a growth of 2%. On circulation revenue, on a YoY basis, there was an increase of 35% and on a QoQ basis, there was a 10% improvement. Going to Hindi, on ad revenue, we saw a YoY decli

10%

circulation revenue, on a YoY basis, there was an increase of 35% and on a QoQ basis, there was a 10% improvement. Going to Hindi, on ad revenue, we saw a YoY decline of 8%, and sequentially a declin

8%

n a QoQ basis, there was a 10% improvement. Going to Hindi, on ad revenue, we saw a YoY decline of 8%, and sequentially a decline of 2%. On circulation revenue, there was a decline of 5% on a YoY bas

INR 36 crore

a marginal improvement in the topline. On Digital, we saw our revenue grow by about 10% coming at INR 36 crores, with operating EBITDA remaining relatively flat at a negative INR 21 crores. On a sequential ba

INR 21 crore

y about 10% coming at INR 36 crores, with operating EBITDA remaining relatively flat at a negative INR 21 crores. On a sequential basis, the revenue was flat. 3 November 08, 2023 With tha

rs,

023 Well, look, I think there will be cash burn for sure. But we don't give forward- looking numbers, but it'll be fair to assume. If you look at the segment numbers right now, I think you know what yo

“As a practice, we do not provide specific revenue or earnings guidance.”

“November 08, 2023 Well, look, I think there will be cash burn for sure.”

“It will be of benefit to the entire industry, including competition if you're talking about the union elections or the central elections.”

“So, know you an overall sense and perspective on the balance sheet and in future what it'll look like and when we can see the improvement in the balance sheet will be appreciated.”

“So, I don't think our cash numbers are dipping, but in the same breath, we are currently investing in OTTplay whereas I said, we will be investing for some time to come.”

“After all, in the last investor concall, Piyush, you had said that we can expect to see profitability at the PAT level sooner than later.”

“I don't have a timeline, but what I can tell you is if you were to extrapolate towards these two or three trends that I'm telling you, I basically clearly believe that on the quarterly basis, the second half of this year will be much better than the first half of this year because of essentially the same reasons, and the union election revenue also flowing in with the marginal cost of newsprint much lower than what it is.”

“So current hope and expectation is that OTTplay will be a very profitable business going forward.”

“If the counterparty does fulfill the obligation, there will be part cash and part revenue.”

“Overall, if there are any sales which is done as part of combo, like if you've to gone to the client and you have sold Print and Digital, then as per RPT arrangements, there will be revenue sharing that happens basis such sales that are sold together of multi-mediums.”

Piyush Gupta

27

Aaditya Mulani

12

Anna Abraham

10

Ketan Athavale

8

Mehul Parikh

8

Siddharth S

4

Hari S

3

Mehul Pathak

2

Ranga Prasad

2

Aniket Kulkarni

2

Anna Abraham

Thank you, Aaditya. A very good afternoon to everyone. On behalf of HT Media Group, I welcome you to our earnings webinar to discuss the financial results of the Q2 FY2023-24. On the call with me today are Mr. Piyush Gupta, Group CFO; Mr. Pervez Bajan, Group Controller and members of the Investor Relations team. The financial results of Hindustan Media Ventures Limited were declared last Wednesday, that is 2nd November, and of HT Media was released earlier today. We will cover the highlights of the same during this call. Our remarks will track the presentation on the Zoom webinar. This presentation and the financial statements are available on the stock exchanges and the Investor Relations sections of our websites. Slide #2 captures the disclaimer regarding forward-looking statements, which is on your screens right now. Kindly keep this in mind. As a practice, we do not provide specific revenue or earnings guidance. The current slide gives our Chairperson’s comments on the performance

Piyush Gupta

Thank you, Anna. I'll be tracking the presentation. As you can see from the chart in front of you, the total revenue for the quarter declined 5% on a YoY basis. As we had articulated earlier, this is primarily because of the shift in the festive season. So, most of the festive season is now in Q3 as opposed to last year when it was in the second quarter. Other income also saw a relative decline on a YoY basis. EBITDA profitability improved in the quarter owing to easing of newsprint rate as compared to the prior fiscal, and we will talk about it a little bit more. Now we go into the business unit performance. For Print, as we can see ad revenue on a YoY basis declined 9% with circulation revenue up 3%. Operating revenue as a consequence was down 6%. Operating EBITDA improved because of the newsprint prices. And the key highlights being - Advertising revenue declined because of the shift in the festive season which impacted ad volumes. Despite revenue decline, operating EBITDA saw YoY m

Aaditya Mulani

Thank you, Piyush. We will now begin the Q&A session. You can click on the “Raise Hand” option, which will enable the moderator to unmute you for posing your query. Please introduce yourself before posing your query and kindly restrict to a maximum of 2 questions per participant, so that we may be able to address questions from all participants. We will wait for a few moments while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Ketan Athavale. Please introduce yourself and ask your question

Ketan Athavale

Thank you for the opportunity. I am Ketan Athavale from Robo Capital. I wanted to know if I see your segmental accounts, there is a PBT unallocated loss and a digital loss. Can you explain what exactly is included in these two things?

Anna Abraham

Unallocated is a whole host of amounts which are largely corporate in nature. It will include corporate fees, and any kind of fair valuation on instruments. It will have a legal fees, audit fees, all of that sitting there. There is a marginal amount pertaining to certain new businesses that we are exploring, but those are marginal numbers.

Anna Abraham

For Digital, in the investor presentation, we have put all the brands, which are forming part of Digital for HT Media. It is Shine, Mosaic, a business of digital entertainment and OTTplay.