Its flagship newspapers Dainik Bhaskar (in Hindi) established in 1958, Divya Bhaskar and Saurashtra Samachar (in Gujarati) have a combined average daily readership of 19.8 million, making us one of the most widely read newspaper groups in India with presence in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Quarter results

D.B. Corp registered a 4% fall in consolidated sales to Rs 607.03 crore for the quarter ended June 2019.

Advertising Revenues stood at Rs 442 crore against Rs 454.9 crore.

Circulation Revenue stood at Rs 131.4 crore against Rs 134.5 crore.

OPM rose 230 bps to 28.9% which saw OP rise 4% to Rs 175.50 crore.

Other income fell 40% to Rs 4.13 crore and interest cost rose 202% to Rs 5.32 crore. After providing for depreciation (up 25% to Rs 30.36 crore), PBT fell 3% to Rs 143.94 crore. Provision for taxation was down 2% to Rs 50.22 crore after which PAT fell 4% to Rs 93.73 crore.

FY 2019 results

In FY 2019, it registered a 7% rise in consolidated sales to Rs 2462.70 crore.

Advertising Revenues grew 7.4% to Rs 1762.5 crore.

Circulation Revenue increased 5.1% to Rs 523.70 crore primarily volume driven.

OPM fell 390 bps to 20.5% which saw OP fall 11% to Rs 504.23 crore.

Other income fell 30% to Rs 16.65 crore and interest cost grew 27% to Rs 8.50 crore. After providing for depreciation (up 7% to Rs 98.63 crore), PBT fell 15% to Rs 413.74 crore. Provision for taxation was down 15% to Rs 139.90 crore after which PAT fell 15% to Rs 273.84 crore.

Segment results

For the quarter, sales of from the Printing, Publishing and allied business Division fell 5% to Rs 569.53 crore and accounted for 94% of total. PBIT from the same fell 2% to Rs 140.80 crore and accounted for 94% of total.

For the quarter, sales of from the Radio Division grew 19% to Rs 37.65 crore and accounted for 6% of total. PBIT grew 128% to Rs 9.09 crore and accounted for 6% of total.

Other points

The Group has adopted Ind AS 116, effective annual reporting period beginning April 1, 2019 and applied the standard to its leases, retrospectively, with the cumulative effect of initially applying the Standard, recognised on the date of initial application (April 1, 2019). Accordingly, the Group has not restated comparative information, instead, the cumulative effect of initially applying this standard has been recognised as an adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings as on April 1, 2019. This has resulted in recognition of Right-of-use Assets of Rs 282.94 crore and Lease Liabilities of Rs 188.04 crore, and decrease in retained earnings by Rs 25.19 crore (net of tax of Rs 13.53 crore as at April 1, 2019.

In the financial results for the current period, the nature of expenses in respect of operating leases has changed from lease rent (included in Other Expenses) in previous periods to Depreciation for Right-of-use Assets and Finance Cost for interest accrued on Lease Liabilities.

Valuation

The stock trades at Rs 176.