Mumbai: Zee News Ltd has said that its net profit for the December quarter rose by a fifth on higher advertisement and subscription revenues.
Its quarterly net profit rose to Rs153.7 million on a 46% rise in net sales to Rs1.39 billion, the news broadcaster said in a statement.
Advertisement sales, which contribute nearly 80% of the firm’s total revenue, rose 39% to Rs1.12 billion while subscription revenue grew 46.4% to Rs236 million.
“Performance of its new businesses — Zee Kannada and Zee Telugu also improved, showing a growth of over 300%,” Chief Executive Officer Barun Das said.
“Our performance for Q4 will not be far behind our performance so far. We are cutting costs to maintain efficiency,” Das told CNBC-TV18, adding there will not be any change in guidance.
“However the firm is reviewing closing down operations of loss making channels and has decided to close Zee Gujarati, effective 1 April,” Chairman Subhash Chandra said in a statement.
It will launch another regional news channel in the northern Uttar Pradesh as part of its expansion plans.
“Expansion will not be at the cost of margin. EBITDA margin will not be held. Current deliverable will not be compensated,” Das said on TV.
Shares in the firm closed 3.2% at Rs33.45 in a firm Mumbai market.