DB Corp Ltd (NSE: DBCORP) Q3 2025 Earnings Call dated Jan. 16, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Pawan Agarwal — Deputy Managing Director
Girish Agarwal — Non Executive Director
Analysts:
Rakesh Wadhwani — Analyst
Himanshu Upadhyay — Analyst
Mohammed Patel — Analyst
Akash — Individual Investor
Mohit Saini — Individual Investor
Freeman Rodriguez — Individual Investor
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to DB Corp Limited Q3 and 9M FY ’25 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.
We have with us today the senior management team of DB Corp Limited. Mr. Pawan Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director; Mr. Girish Agarwal, Non-Executive Director; Mr. Lalit Jain, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Mushtaq Ali, Senior Vice President-Finance and Accounts; and Mr. Prasoon Kumar Pandey, Head Investor and Media Relations, who will represent DB Corp Limited on the call.
The management will be sharing the key operations and financial highlights for the quarter and nine months ended December 31 2024, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Please note that some of the statements made in today’s discussion may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risks and uncertainties. Documents relating to the company’s financial performance have already been emailed to you and are available on the website of the Stock Exchange and company’s Investor Section. Trust you have been gone through all.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Pawan Agrawal. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Pawan Agarwal — Deputy Managing Director
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining the Q3 FY 2025 DB Corp earnings conference call. We will begin the call by highlighting the key financial performance for the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2024, followed by key operational updates.
At the outset, we are very pleased to inform that despite a high base of last year due to the election revenue, we have recorded — we have recorded — I’m sorry, at the outset, we are very pleased to inform that despite a high base of last year due to the election revenue, we have recorded our highest ever nine-months performance this year in terms of both revenue as well as profits.
For nine months FY 2025, we saw total revenue growth of 1% to INR18,544 million compared to INR18,403 million in the previous year. Our advertising revenue stood at INR13,058 million, and the circulation revenue at INR3,562 million. I am pleased to report that the growth momentum at EBITDA level continued and grew by 4% reaching INR5,252 million, up from INR5,066 million. This growth was driven by effective cost control measures alongside the benefits of a softer newsprint prices.
Our net profit also saw an increase of 5% standing at INR3,187 million compared to INR3,030 million last year. Radio business led radio industry growth with 9% Y-o-Y growth to INR1,287 million against INR1,181 million in the last year and EBITDA growth of 11% Y-o-Y to INR451 million.
Now coming to quarter three FY 2025 results, the total revenue was recorded at INR6,556 million as against INR6,648 million in quarter three FY 2024, on an election-filled high base of last year. Advertising revenue stood at INR4,767 million, reflecting the same trend.
Circulation revenue stand at INR1,195 million. Our EBITDA for the quarter was INR1,902 million as against INR2,031 million in the last year. EBITDA margin remained firm at impressive 29%. The net profit for the quarter was INR1,182 million compared to INR1,240 million last year.
In the Radio segment, we registered growth with advertising revenue up 6% Y-o-Y to INR492 million compared to INR464 million. EBITDA in this segment grew by 2% Y-o-Y to INR187 million from INR183 million.
With regards to our Digital business, we continue to focus on the growth strategy and are very happy to share that our MAU stand at around INR19 million as of 2024 October, making Dainik Bhaskar a clear digital news leader, with the number one Hindi and Gujarati news apps. Our focus markets have now increased to 14 states, including Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand for our digital mobile app market outreach.
With this, I would now request Mr. Girish Agarwal to update us on the operations. Girish ji, over to you.
Girish Agarwal — Non Executive Director
Thank you, Pawan. Good evening, everybody, and thank you for joining us. I would like to begin with reemphasizing the fact that our highest ever nine months performance, which we delivered in this nine months, has been on the high base of last year. As you all know, last year was election, and last year nine months had the impact of advertising revenue also. In spite of that, we maintained the number.
Over the last two years, YTD December, which is nine months again from FY ’23 to FY ’25, we have seen a robust 39% CAGR in our EBITDA and that has been assisted by continued soft newsprint prices as well as the efficient cost control mechanism deployed by the company. And going forward, we are firm believer that the newsprint prices should stable on the same number, at least for the quarter four. And depending on the dollar behavior in the quarter one and the quarter two also, we should come to know the number on that.
Further, we exclude the election results ad benefit that accrued last year. Quarter three in FY ’25, we registered a healthy growth year-on-year on the ad revenue basis, EBITDA and PAT as well. Our ability to attract a diverse portfolio of advertisers across sectors such as automobile, real estate, education, retail, jewelry, etc. has been a critical factor in maintaining this momentum and the results speak volume about our resilience and leadership position.
As you must be aware, Dainik Bhaskar Group has now reached a remarkable milestone of 14 crore readers spanning print, digital, WhatsApp channel, social media platforms, and we are celebrating this in a big way. This around 10% of Indian population size entrusts us with additional responsibility for a responsible, unbiased and credible journalism for which we are totally committed.
Lastly, as we reflect on our growth journey, the achievements, what we have made and the strength of our strategies, it’s clear that we are firmly positioned as a leader in India’s dynamic media landscape. We remain committed to delivering value to our stakeholders.
With that, we could now open the floor for questions and answers. Thank you, and over to you.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Rakesh from Nine Rivers Capital. Please go ahead.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Hi. Hi team. Am I audible?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, very much. Good evening to you.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Okay. Okay team. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Sir, first of all, congratulations for a great performance comparing that last quarter — same time last quarter, we had elections in the key markets like Rajasthan as well as MP. So, just wanted to understand what is the growth that we have seen from other businesses. In fact, for example, on an average 20%, we get a revenue share from the election. So what is the growth on the non-election piece in this quarter?
Girish Agarwal
So if you really take the government billing out, which was an election impact, I think in this quarter, we are at a mid-single-digit growth. And the categories like education, automobile, real estate, jewelry, they all have contributed in that. And if I look at the nine months number without the election impact, then we are in the almost double-digit growth.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Okay. Okay. And sir, last, if I talk about Q4, which is last year, Q4, Q4 ’24, that time also because central elections were getting — were about to start, the campaigning had started. So in Q4 also, there will be some impact of growth from the advertising from the government. So what is your thinking or the guidance on the H ’25 number? Will it be flat growth because last year, we had a jump because of the advertising from this due to central election. So do you believe Q4 ’25 also will be flat like last year?
Girish Agarwal
Could be something like that, but we are trying our best because this Q4 since the education category is now normalized. So we believe that we should be able to pull up the numbers for Q4. But keeping fingers crossed.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Okay. Okay. And sir, with respect to other expenses, this last quarter, you alluded an increase in other expenses is due to the campaigning in the new markets like UP or other markets or new campaigning expenses with respect to the Digital business. So what is the reason for hike in this quarter also, further hike?
Girish Agarwal
Same, the expenses which you see on the higher side in the operational — other operational cost is all because of Digital, which we are expanding in the market of UP and Uttarakhand and also pushing it in other states.
Rakesh Wadhwani
And sir, when do you think this will normalize or it will go further in the coming quarters?
Girish Agarwal
Yeah. it should go in the — furthermore in the coming quarters also.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Okay. Okay, great. And sir, with respect to the capital allocation part, we — from the last two quarters, every quarter, we are giving a good chunk of dividend because we are generating huge amount of cash flow and we do not require cash in the business. This quarter, the lack of dividend or no dividend. Any reason for that?
Girish Agarwal
Sir, if you see the nine month, the company has done a 67% payout in form of — for the dividend. And I think Board will certainly take a right call on this going forward also.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Okay. But we are not looking for any acquisition, so we are keeping the cash. It is cash, maybe not in this quarter in the coming quarters, that cash will be distributed in the form of dividends. Is that understanding correct?
Girish Agarwal
I can only tell you that company is not looking for any acquisitions.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Okay. Okay. Sir, one last question from my side on the Digital part. I know you have like remained skeptical with respect to talking about Digital business in great detail. But when we see other players in the digital space, they are struggling with respect to the profitability from the last few years. Just wanted to understand the thought process behind this business? Where do you want to see this business in the coming two, three years? If it’s something with respect to qualitative work you can talk, that will be very helpful.
Girish Agarwal
Sir on Digital, as you know, we have reached the 19 million monthly active users and they are spending almost 10, 11 minutes with us. We are putting all our efforts to grow these numbers and the time also. And so far, whatever efforts we have done, we have got the right results out of it. So we’re very confident that we are on the right track and we shall keep you updated as and when we have something more to inform you.
Rakesh Wadhwani
So, when we look at the other players which are not listed, but in the private circle, they are making big losses. So are we also making big losses in that business or the losses are reasonable?
Girish Agarwal
Sir, you can see our EBITDA number, and then you can make it out from that, are we making big losses? For example, the nine month EBITDA is at INR525 crores, on a higher base. So you can be rest assured that we are making very prudent business move.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Okay sir. Thank you very much for that detailed answer. Thank you and best wishes always. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Himanshu Upadhyay from BugleRock PMS. Please go ahead.
Himanshu Upadhyay
Yeah, hi. Good evening.
Girish Agarwal
Good evening, sir.
Himanshu Upadhyay
My first question was, can you give a breakup of circulation revenue in terms of volume and realization and how it has changed in last nine months versus previous year nine months?
Girish Agarwal
Sir, our n average cover price stays at INR4.89, as it is. We certainly have lost some copies — some few percentage copies in this quarter or in nine months also. And that’s the reason the overall circulation revenue is almost there, like 1% decline actually on the circulation.
If you remember last time I mentioned to you that we are now gearing up for ensuring that we get the circulation back. I’m happy to announce that on the 3rd of January, company has announced a huge readers scheme for motivating the readers to come and join us, those who have left or those who are still sitting on the fringe. This scheme has around INR14 crores worth prizes for our readers and there’s assured gift and multiple things happening there.
We are doing a lot of exercise on this scheme and this is — using this as a chance to connect again with the readers. Almost 1,000 people are deployed on a door-to-door survey across country. Those who are going and convincing people, meeting them about the circulation. So, as we promised you that this year, we’ll be putting all possible efforts on the circulation growth.
Himanshu Upadhyay
And secondly the — whatever fall in volumes across the regions or it is in certain micro markets or some pockets of regions which where we are seeing this happening and is there an impact of competition also, which is yielding to this or it is something apart [Phonetic] from causes.
Girish Agarwal
I’m very happy — I can’t say I’m happy, but at least I should inform you that we are gaining market share everywhere, which means the competition is losing much more than whatever we have lost. The problem what we are facing since you mentioned, I must inform you is that in these smaller markets, we are finding difficult now for the distribution boys.
Because what happened, if somebody, for example, in outskirts of Jaipur earlier, a boy would get up at 4:00 in the morning and deliver those 30 copies to slightly outskirts areas of Jaipur. But now to get that manpower at the price of that, what we are offering or the vendor is offering to sub-vendor is becoming a challenge. So I think we are trying to sort that out that how can we get the distribution boys also motivated to stay in the business and deliver more. So I think we are working on and you will see some positive results this year for sure.
Himanshu Upadhyay
And just — see, when we — last quarter also, I had — I think, for Q1 because this we had stated even in our annual report that we are working on these steps to improve circulation. So, what measures have we taken till date or, let’s say, in the first six, seven months of the year?
Girish Agarwal
So, what we did in the first seven, six months [Phonetic], meeting up the vendors, giving the local scheme to the vendors and all that, but that somehow didn’t work too much. So, that’s the reason when after talking to all the vendors, we decided that it has to be now going to the consumer directly, going to do the door-to-door survey once again, giving them something for creating excitement in the industry. So, this whole scheme of INR14 crores prizes has been rolled out after the months and months of understanding, taking the feedback from the market.
Himanshu Upadhyay
And one thing, we have seen pretty low newsprint costs, okay, and low realization change is what we expect in next going few months, okay? Whenever the cycle of newsprint prices reverses and we need to start raising the prices. Can it lead to again fall in circulation copies or how are we thinking about it? Because I see INR165 [Phonetic]…
Girish Agarwal
So, we are at INR4.89. We don’t want to unnecessarily burden our readers by passing on any kind of newsprint prices, if at all, because of dollar or something going forward happens. We are clear on that. We don’t want to pass it on to them.
Himanshu Upadhyay
Okay. Okay. Thanks. I’ll join back in queue for further queries.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohammed Patel from Care Portfolio Managers Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Mohammed Patel
Hi.
Girish Agarwal
Hi. Good afternoon. Good evening.
Mohammed Patel
Good evening, sir. What was the base of election in Q4 FY ’24 last year?
Girish Agarwal
Sir, as you know, we don’t disclose these specific number category-wise. But as I mentioned to you, if I take out the election revenue of last year, Q3 and even Q4, we would be in the mid-single-digit growth.
Mohammed Patel
Okay. Okay. Sir, our MAU has fallen from 19.6 million to 18.9 million August versus October. So what is the trend now? And how should we think of this MAU growth going forward?
Girish Agarwal
Yeah. See, in Digital, some percentage going here and there is a monthly flavor, because in some months because of something, some local story happening, the number goes up and down. But most important is the time spent, and the number is steady. So I think our target is certainly much, much higher. But this 19 million number should grow in every quarter.
Mohammed Patel
Okay. Can you share the mix of real estate, FMCG, jewelry, auto, FM [Phonetic] etc. for Q3 versus last year?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, I can. I can. You want Q3 or I can give you nine months.
Mohammed Patel
Q3. Q3, would be fine.
Girish Agarwal
Okay. So the Q3 numbers if you look at, we have grown by almost 10% — 8% in automobile, 15% in real estate, 13% in jewelry. Lifestyle took a beating of almost 20%. Government took a huge beating. FMCG took a 8% beating. Hospitals, healthcare grew by almost 8%. Construction, building materials took a beating of almost, those are very smaller base, took a beating almost 40%, but very smaller base. Yeah, entertainment and cinema, I’m surprised, 56% decline. It seems nobody is going to watch movies in Bollywood or what. So yeah, So, these are the numbers, sir.
Mohammed Patel
Thank you sir.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Devanshi Rakesh from One-Up Financial Consultants. Please go ahead. Ms. Devanshi, I would request you to unmute your line and speak please. Due to no response from the current participant, we will move on to the next participant. The next question is from the line of Akash [Phonetic], who is an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Akash
Good evening.
Operator
Yes sir, you are audible.
Girish Agarwal
No, Mr. Akash, I am not able to hear you. Hello?
Akash
So I wanted to ask that, can you give the sector-wise contribution to the revenue?
Girish Agarwal
Sorry, what exactly you’re asking for, sir? Can you repeat it again for me? [Foreign Speech]
Akash
Yes. Yes.
Operator
Mr. Akash, I would request you to please use your handset.
Akash
Yes, can you hear me?
Girish Agarwal
Yes, now I can hear you.
Akash
Okay, sir. So, I was asking that can you give me the contribution in the revenue sector-wise?
Girish Agarwal
[Foreign Speech] if I can give you, because I just gave a three month number out to earlier question, I can give you nine months. So in nine months, government has certainly gone down drastically. But education has shown a growth of 5%. Automobile has shown a growth of 26% in nine months. Real estate has shown a growth of 22% in nine months. Jewelry, 11% growth; FMCG, flat; Hospitals and all, around 7% growth. Lifestyle has taken a decline of around 18%. And entertainment and Bollywood nine months, 47% decline.
Akash
Okay, sir. And what is our ad yield — change in ad yield percentage Y-o-Y and if we compare to the pre-COVID level?
Girish Agarwal
Sir pre-COVID level and this comparison, I don’t have it readily with me. But if I say Y-o-Y over last year, this year, there is no change. Number is almost same in terms of yield.
Akash
Okay, sir. And as you said in the print circulation copies, you have said last quarter, it was around 39 lakh.
Girish Agarwal
Yeah, So it same sir, 39.42 lakh right now.
Akash
Okay, sir. And sir, my last question is newsprint mix can you give the…
Girish Agarwal
26% of our newsprint is imported, sir, and 74%, it is Indian. And the average price for India and imported put together is in the range of around 47,600 — 47,800, sorry sir.
Akash
47,800, okay sir. Thanks sir. I’ll join the queue.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you, sir.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Mohit Saini [Phonetic] who is an Individual Investor. Please go ahead.
Mohit Saini
Good evening sir.
Girish Agarwal
Good evening.
Mohit Saini
The GDP forecast for FY ’25 is around 6.4%. So, do you see any decline in advertisements from auto, jewelry, real estate, going forward?
Girish Agarwal
Sir, GDP for what happened in this quarter was 6.4%. That was certainly a downer. We are hoping that this should improve going forward. As government of India is saying that the numbers will improve in this quarter and going forward, so I’m trusting them, and I’m very hopeful that numbers will go up, because, see the overall GDP number goes down, then all of us are in a bad shape.
Mohit Saini
Yeah. Sir, my next question is regarding the app. Is any monetization on the card soon?
Girish Agarwal
Monetization on what, sir?
Mohit Saini
Like any subscription model or revenue we are seeing?
Girish Agarwal
Yeah. we are experimenting, sir, in certain pockets in Digital and we have seen some positive results over there. So we’ll continue experimenting on that. And once we believe that numbers are firm and steady, then certainly, we could do a blanket rollout.
Mohit Saini
And what estimate can you think of the 19 million monthly active users, like what percent can they sign up for?
Girish Agarwal
Sir, 19 million users are right now there and we are expecting to grow them at least by 5% quarter-on-quarter. That’s what we are targeting at?
Mohit Saini
No, sir. For the subscription basis, I’m asking, what percent would convert into the subscription-based model?
Girish Agarwal
It is very impossible for anybody to predict that kind of number, sir. So, as I told you, we are experimenting in various pockets. So, this experiment will take some more time. We’ll continue doing that and let’s see how it goes.
Mohit Saini
Okay, sir. And one last question about the cash in bank. It’s around INR1,016 crores. Is Board thinking about something or just earning interest on that?
Girish Agarwal
Sir, as I mentioned to you, in this nine months, the company has announced almost 67% payout for dividend. And the Board will take a right call on that.
Mohit Saini
Because I feel that investors should get a pie of it.
Girish Agarwal
I will certainly convey your feelings to our Board members.
Mohit Saini
Thank you sir.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next follow-up question is from the line of Rakesh from Nine Rivers Capital. Please go ahead.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Hi sir, hi team. Thank you very much for the follow up opportunity. Sir, with respect to the circulation point that you talked in the previous question, in the previous participant’s question, that we have started a new circulation scheme to boost the circulation.
Sir, just want to know the moment we increase our circulation more and more subscriber, two points on that. Can we expect the ad yields also going up, because now we have a more subscriber, then we can go to the customer and ask for more advertising for the same paper or if the yield has picked up [Phonetic]?
Girish Agarwal
Sir, very simply, if I have more subscribers, more readers, my advertiser get more benefit. So either he’ll give me more ads or I can charge him a better pricing.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Okay, either/or it will happen. Great. Thank you sir. And second sir, because now we are going ahead with the scheme, assuming the prices of the paper will remain like that. So do we — and the prices can go next quarter or next to next also higher, nobody knows. So do we go into a forward contract with respect to the paper prices so that whenever the prices increases, we should not be impacted severely, because in the past, we have seen when the prices have gone up, we have witnessed a gross margin decline. So do we go for a forward contract with respect to paper prices so that if they increase also, we are not impacted?
Girish Agarwal
We are certainly trying that, discussing with the suppliers. Some of them are okay, some of them are not. So it’s a mixed basket, sir.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Okay, because I expect we will be getting good number of subscribers through the scheme that we have come up. It’s a very lucrative scheme on the face of it looking very lucrative scheme. So I was just concerned like now the paper prices are at the lowest, we have priced the product like that. And if the paper prices go up, it can lead to a lower profitability. That is my concern.
Girish Agarwal
So to be very honest, if I gain 5 lakh copies in next one years’ time and if I have to pay for the newsprint price more, I’ll be the most happy person. So, I want to do that because I need more subscribers, I need more readers coming into our fold and the newsprint price, we’ll manage, advertising revenue will grow up. We’ll take care of it from that.
Rakesh Wadhwani
Okay sir, thank you very much. That was very helpful. Thank you.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Freeman Rodriguez [Phonetic] who is an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Freeman Rodriguez
Hello?
Girish Agarwal
Yes.
Freeman Rodriguez
Yeah. Sir, as you mentioned that you have still not been monetizing your digital app. But could you just give me a number at what rate the viewership is growing over the past month-on-month for past nine months? And my second question is, you also have a digital property in your website. And I can see different banners being monetized. So can you just give me the numbers of people coming onto your website, and how much revenue do you earn from a digital advertising on your website? Thank you.
Girish Agarwal
Sir, website is, as I mentioned to you and to — on the call earlier also, the website is not a really focus area for us because app is a direct connect where we get a right of way with our readers, direct connection. Web is always through somebody. So our large focus is not on web. But at the same time, web does give us the traffic and has some kind of ad revenue over there.
As far as the app is concerned, as I mentioned to you, we have got around 19 million monthly active users with us, and our effort is to grow them going forward furthermore. So, company is working on it. And so far, we have done a good job on that, sir. Thank you.
Freeman Rodriguez
Thank you sir.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraint, we will take that as the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Pawan Agarwal
Thank you, everyone, for your participation and time on this earnings call today. I hope we’ve responded to your queries. We’ll always be happy to be of assistance through our Investor Relations department headed by Mr. Prasoon Kumar Pandey, for all your further queries. Thank you, and have a great evening.
Girish Agarwal
Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]