Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd (NSE: SHEMAROO) Q4 2025 Earnings Call dated May. 14, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Amit Haria — Chief Financial Officer
Hiren Gada — Chief Executive Officer
Analysts:
Nupur Jainkunia — Analyst
Yash Kukreja — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Maan Vardhan Baid — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Shimaru Entertainment Limited Q4 and FY ’25 Earnings Conference Call, hosted by Velorem Advisors. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing start then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms Nopur Jainkunia from Valorem Advisors. Thank you, and over to you, ma’am.
Nupur Jainkunia — Analyst
Good afternoon, everyone, and a warm welcome to you all. My name is Nupur Kunia from Valorem Advisors. We represent the Investor Relations of Entertainment Limited. On behalf of the company and Valorem Advisors, I would like to thank you all for participating in the company’s earnings call for the 4th-quarter and the financial year ended 2025.
Before we begin, a quick cautionary statement. Some of the statements made in today’s conference call may be forward-looking in nature. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated. Such statements are based on management’s belief as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the management. Audiences are cautioned not to place any undue reliance on these forward-looking statements in making any investment decisions.
The purpose of today’s earnings conference call is purely to educate and bring awareness about the company’s fundamental business and financial quarter under review. Now, I would like to introduce you to the management participating with us in today’s earnings call and hand it over to them for their opening remarks. We have with us Mr Hiren Gara, CEO; Mr, COO; and Mr Amit, CFO of the company. Without any further delay, I request Mr Amit to start with his opening remarks on the financial highlights. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Amit Haria — Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Nipur and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our earnings call for the 4th-quarter and the financial year ended 2025. Let me first start by giving you some of the key financial highlights, after which our CEO, Mr Hiren Jada will give you some of the operational highlights. For Q4 FY ’25, the revenue from operations stood at around INR204 crores, which was a growth of approximately 3% year-on-year. EBITDA for the quarter was around INR2.4 crores and there was a net loss of around INR5 crores for the quarter.
For the financial year ended 2025, the revenue from operations stood at around INR685 crores, which declined by 3% year-on-year. EBITDA loss stood at INR80 crores and net loss was reported at around INR85 crores. In Q4 FY ’25, the expenses related to new initiatives amounting — amounted to around INR15 crores, while for financial year 2025 crore, it was about INR51 crores. If you were to adjust these investments, the adjusted EBITDA in Q4 would approximate — would have been approximately INR17 crores and EBITDA loss for the financial year financial year end would have been approximately INR29 crores. Digital media revenues for the 4th-quarter stood at around INR57 crores, up by 1.25% year-on-year.
For the full financial year, it was around INR352 crores, which was a growth of approximately 11%. Media revenue for the 4th-quarter stood at around INR148 crores, which increased by 3.3% year-on-year, while for the full-year, it was around INR433 crores, a decline of 9.69% year-on-year. Now I would request our CEO, Mr Hiran Gara to give you the operational highlights for the period under review.
Hiren Gada — Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Amit, and good afternoon, everyone. The company has posted its first positive EBITDA in six quarters, primarily driven by materialization of deferred B2B debt, which was despite the impact of accelerated inventory charge-off. It is important to note that this should be viewed as a non-recurring event given the nature of the B2B licensing business. The consolidation of the broadcasting industry during the financial year led to a significant decline of our TV syndication business, which in-turn dragged down the overall top-line of the company for the financial year. If you want to exclude the TV syndication B2B business, the company’s revenue recorded a growth of around 8.3% year-on-year for the full-year despite a challenging advertising environment. Given the ongoing macroeconomic pressures, geopolitical tensions and major sporting events like IPL. The overall advertising outlook is expected to remain subdued in the near-term, particularly for non-sports categories.
Furthermore, the return of the major broadcaster GEC to the platform is expected to affect the viewership across all categories and lead to redistribution of advertising spend. We are actively monitoring the impact and we are realigning our investment strategy and taking cost rationalization measures as the market dynamics evolve. The company’s margins are expected to remain under pressure due to ongoing accelerated inventory charge-offs, a strategic initiative that we started undertaking five quarters ago.
These charge-offs are continuing our accounting adjustments with no effect on the content monetization or the company’s ability to generate free-cash flows on this content. In other updates, for Gujarati, we released 13 new titles during the quarter with content across movies, web series and play, along with digital world premiere of blockbuster movies, the great Gujarati Macrimony, Mahruman Taru,, Kale Lagan, Hitta, and the release of original series Arrange with and Markley. On YouTube,, crossed 71 million subscribers this quarter.
The company garnered more than 10.5 billion views during the quarter across its portfolio channels. In broadcasting, the GEC channels have a viewership share of around 8.2% in overall ND GET dollar. Two original shows were released during the quarter, LEP and.
Looking ahead to the next fiscal, the company remains committed to strengthening its balance sheet and enhancing operational efficiency , positioning itself to unlock substantial long-term intrinsic value. With that, I open the question to the floor. Sorry, I open the floor for question-and-answer.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much, sir. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, please wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. I repeat, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one on your touchstone phones. Participants, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one. We have a first question from the line of Yashku Kreja from Equitree Capital. Please go-ahead. We have a first question from the line of Yash from Equity Capital. Please go-ahead.
Yash Kukreja
Hello, am I audible?
Operator
Yes.
Yash Kukreja
So sir, thank you so much for the opportunity. In your previous comments, you mentioned that some B2B deals are non-recurring. So could you share the quantum of that? And also given the current demand scenario, how are you anticipating FY ’26 to shape up?
Hiren Gada
Okay. So basically this is content licensing, which has been our business overall. This year it got affected due to the merger and these deals are lumpy in nature, essentially. So that’s why we Call-IT a non-recurring. Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to give you the details of the value, but to suffice to say that this year it has impacted our top-line. In fact, that the major contributor to the top-line degrowth has actually been this business. I believe the outlook for the next year is positive. We should be — the business should be on a higher number than where we have done this year. We have enough content pipeline on offer as well as on the acquisition pipeline. So I think that this should be a better year for that business.
Yash Kukreja
Okay, got it. And sir, my second question is on the operation side. So currently, we have four channels. So have any of them broken even? And if not, what is the typical breakeven timeline for a channel?
Hiren Gada
Actually two of our channels are — so one has in fact broken even more than a year actually probably I would imagine almost it last nearly one and a half year-ago. One more channel is in a — you can say near breakeven, very low investment or burn kind of situation. The major investment, if I have to put it is on Omang where the originals etc are being invested in original content. So that’s really the channel which kind of is taking up a substantial part of the investment.
Yash Kukreja
Okay, got it. And my last question is, if I exclude the inventory write-off that we have done in FY ’25, we are largely flat on PBT levels. So sir, what is the roadmap to achieve PAT profitability? So will it be led by B2B or do you see some cost rationalization on this.
Hiren Gada
No, we are not flat on PBT level, what makes you think we are flat?
Yash Kukreja
So considering if I add-back that INR114 crores inventory write-off that we have done in FY ’25, so we would have been flat on PBT levels.
Hiren Gada
No, we’ve not in. We have not written-off INR115 crores where charge-off has been significantly higher than that.
Yash Kukreja
Sorry, so this is the accelerated write-up that we were talking about.
Hiren Gada
About sorry. So this was the expenditure. Yes, yes, yes, the accelerated charge-off has been significantly higher than this PBT loss of INR115 crores.
Yash Kukreja
Okay, okay. Okay, I’ll come back-in queue, sir. Thank you. Yeah, so just to clarify or put the accelerated charge-off for total for the year is significantly higher than the loss. If I have to actually add-back that amount, the PBD would have been reasonably positive. In fact, a decent amount positive yeah, sir, could you tell me the total write-off that we have done?
Hiren Gada
Accelerated write-off for the year
Operator
Thank you. A reminder to all participants. If you wish to ask a question, you may press star and 1. I repeat, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star N1. We have our next question from the line of Pathak, an Individual Investor. Please go-ahead sir.
Unidentified Participant
Yes, good afternoon. And yes, sir. Sir, I have two questions, sir. What is the ROCE and ROE return-on-equity if this accelerated inventory charge-off process was not taken.
Hiren Gada
Sorry, can you repeat the question? I did not understand that question.
Unidentified Participant
Sir, what would be the return on capital employed and return-on-equity, if the accelerated inventory charge-off process which we are taking, that process would not have been taken-up.
Hiren Gada
So this asking at a company-level or for that specific inventory which is being?
Unidentified Participant
No, no, no, sir. The whole company-level for the company-level.
Hiren Gada
So which in fact is what the previous question also we were trying to address. So more than return on capital or return on-net worth, I think what we have is one second so the accelerated, while the exact number is not available, but I can give a raise, it has been in the range of between around INR155 — between INR150 crore to INR160 crores accelerated charge-off. So if you add that back, then the PBT would be positive by about 40 odd crores
Unidentified Participant
Okay, great. And sir, I have second question, sir, that the US tariff, which recently some news came that US government has put some tariffs. So that US tariff, does it impact our business or company’s performance in FY ’26?
Hiren Gada
As of now, there is no order that has come in. So we don’t know what is the nature or the basis at in on which this is going to be applicable. There are multiple interpretations and the industry bodies are also examining. I am also on a few of the industry bodies and I know that there is an active representation that is being prepared and an active dialogue is being initiated with the relevant authorities. So however there are two interpretations.
One is that this is actually probably meant for — for US-produced films or US-produced films which are shot outside USA and not really intended to impact foreign films because by nature a foreign film is going to be shot in its local territory or local country. So this is how one interpretation is there, but we are examining it. And secondly, this is probably also likely to be the case for New releases and not really for a lot of the catalog content that we deal with. So we — but like I said, since we don’t have any official order on this, there is a lot of speculation going on right now in terms of how it will impact different parts of the business. My personal estimate and at this point, I personally think it is not going to have any major impact. While all of this will be examined and done, we don’t think it is intended for any foreign films. It is more this is a personal view and I don’t think it is intended for foreign films. It is for because a lot of Hollywood films had were being shot outside USA due to different subsidies and different other points which kind of led to a degrowth in the you know Hollywood zone ecosystem. Yeah, so which I believe this is you know more to arrest that rather than to say that he will stop or we will tax foreign films at those dates.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. Okay, sir. And sir, sir, one more question, sir. Just in the wave summit which recently happened, sir, there was a lot of buzz off D2N launch of D2M. So, sir, can you help me to understand that this technology — this technology maybe it would roll-out in just I think, FY ’26. So when this technology comes in phone and fully becomes implement, so can this turnaround the company’s performance
Hiren Gada
They are saying direct to mobile, right?
Unidentified Participant
Yes, yes, D2 and direct to mobile technology.
Hiren Gada
We have to see — see finally direct to mobile also we’ll have to go through some of you know, if you have to see the revenue mechanism, it will have to go through some or the other provider like say an app or some kind of a thing. So right now the governments have launched way, but there are other you know apps like YouTube, Netflix, our own app,, etc., etc., Geo or star, etc. So essentially, it may be one more mechanism to distribute those apps is probably one of the things. We are examining that technology. We — so we have a full technology stack in-place in terms of our own readiness. So that I don’t think is an issue. If one more delivery mechanism opens up, you know we will be happy to adopt that.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, sir. Okay, okay, sir. Thank you. Thank you.
Hiren Gada
Thank you.
Operator
Thank. A reminder to all participants, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one yeah, a follow-up question from the line of Yash Kukreja from Equity Capital. Please go-ahead.
Yash Kukreja
Thank you for taking the follow-up question. Sir, sir, my question is on debt reduction guidance that you had given. So you had said we will reduce the debt by 100% in the next two years. So we have almost reduced it by 37 in FY ’25. So sir, are we on-track to reduce around INR60 crore in FY ’24?
Amit Haria
So we are on-track and our aim is to achieve the guidance that we have given, however, considering the market changes with respect to the big entry, we are constantly evaluating the requirement of any further investment and we’ll keep you updated on the same.
Yash Kukreja
Okay. And sir, my last question is, sir, how much write-off are we planning to do in FY ’26? And sir, why are we not taking the full write-off in one
Hiren Gada
The accelerated charge-off, I would imagine would be similar marginally plus or minus of the number as we have shared. And so we have on the — why not in one-go, we have kind of consulted different consultants right from tax to different consultants about this and auditors and lot of you know people involved in the process and it was based on that advice we received from everyone that we decided to do it on a quarterly basis okay. So the quarterly run-rate will be around INR30 crore INR35 per quarter.
Yeah. As I said, the amount for this year would be roughly similar to a marginally maybe in a 5 odd percent range of what it has been done for FY ’25. And just to add to that, FY ’26 is the last part of this charge-off. After that, we are done with the accelerated part, then we are on a normal trajectory.
Yash Kukreja
Got it, sir. And sir, any update on the new channel launch of new channel?
Hiren Gada
No, currently, we are — we have no plan. As I shared in my opening comments, the big four GECs have entered on the Free Dish platform. And as a result of that, the viewership shares and a lot of things, there has been a significant know change in that and we are currently on a closed watch kind of a mood and trying to ensure that the impact on us is minimized in terms of the revenue as well as ratings overall as a network.
Yash Kukreja
Got it. Thank you so much.
Operator
Thank you. We have our next participant from the line of from Laurel Advisory Services. Please go-ahead.
Maan Vardhan Baid
Good afternoon, everyone. Just wanted to get some understanding about this acquisition that we have made and what does this acquisition bring on the table for us?
Hiren Gada
Yeah. So basically these the IQM is the acquisition that we have made they essentially hold the broadcast licenses where which are operating the underlying broadcast licenses on which we are operating TV, Shimar Umang and Shimar. So essentially what it does is it brings in the end-to-end control of the broadcast right from the licensing part. The rest of the operations anyway was being handled by us. But because we were not the owner of the license, underlying license, you know, that was always a challenge from a long-term point-of-view.
So you know it’s kind of fortifying the business more strongly. It will have some cost-saving margin, nominal cost-saving of the rents that we were paying for it and kind of it broadly, that is essentially the objective
Maan Vardhan Baid
Right okay, thank you, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Ronak Pathak, an Individual Investor. Please go-ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you, sir. And sir, in terms of our TV channel, what is the viewership of Filmy. I’m asking Simaru, not YouTube channel television channel and Chumbak TV and the new channel which we launched recently Gam the channel
Hiren Gada
Yeah, so I will just clarify is not a TV channel. It’s a channel on YouTube and that numbers are — we have shared in terms of the subscriber numbers, etc, which I shared in my opening remarks, which has crossed 71 million subscribers. The channel that you spoke of is actually not really a channel. It is a — it is a subscription service on the DTH platform we have launched with Tata Play. So it is a paid just like we have our other Tata Play, Bollywood premier, Tata Play Bollywood classica, TATAF play comedy, etc. It’s in those lines. It’s a paid subscription channel that Tata Play and we are the content partner Tata Play operating the service for that. It’s a value-added service on a DTH platform. The third channel that you spoke of is. Is the channel which we are operating on the 3DESH platform and in fact has been on a good growth path. This last recent rating also we have for have been kind of on a on a fresh new high and in fact, it’s one of the few channels which has not been impacted by the entry of the big four large broadcasters on the platform.
Unidentified Participant
And sir,,, I was asking that one which in Geo TV that one which is telecasted in Geo TV.
Hiren Gada
Yeah, that is just like an IPTV channel. It’s not really a broadcast, it’s just a linear field of song that we have put up. It’s not really a broadcast channel. So in a different way, you can say that we are early testing these connected TV-based or IPTV kind of channel. This is more an experiment or something. It’s not really something which is currently being you know the monetization model over there is still negative.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. And sir, has the TV reached its breakeven point or is it yet to achieve
Hiren Gada
So TV has not reached breakeven point, but it is — it has — as I shared earlier that the ratings have been on a growth path and it has in fact not gotten affected by the entry of these big four on the platform. So we — the outlook for to breakeven is quite positive. So we are actually on a — on a good trajectory and a good path for TV.
Unidentified Participant
And sir, last question. Sir, there are many larger products from foreign out who are outsourcing their animation and VFX work to other companies. So since you are having presence in studios, so are you involved in doing that kind of service means the service which they outsource of doing animation and VFX you take do for them and deliver them — deliver them.
Hiren Gada
So we don’t run a VFX or animation studio. In fact, whatever content that we have ourselves produced has also been outsourced to other studios that we have done — we have worked with. We ourselves — as of now, our core business has been much more around the ownership of IPR. So not really been focusing on doing the outsourced kind of work.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, thank you, sir. Thank you for that
Operator
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, if you wish to ask a question you may press star and one I repeat any participant who wish to ask a question may press star and 1 a reminder to all participants, if you wish to ask a question you may press star and 1 thank you.
As there are no further questions, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Hiren Gada
Thank you everyone for participating in the Q4 earnings call. I hope we have been able to answer your questions satisfactory. If you have any further questions or would like to know more about the company, please reach-out to our IR managers, Valorem Advisors. Thank you. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you so much, sir. On behalf of Shimaru Entertainment Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.