UFO Moviez India Limited (NSE: UFO) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Jan. 30, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Rajesh Mishra — Executive Director and Group Chief Executive Officer
Ashish Malushte — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Tushar Pendharkar — Analyst
Shilpa Sabu — Analyst
Vedat Bangar — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
. Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the UFO Movies Limited Q3 and 9M FY26 Earnings Conference Call hosted by Ventura Securities Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in vision only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. If you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing Stab and zero on a Touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. Before we begin, I would like to point out that this conference call may contain forward looking statements about the company which are based on beliefs, opinions and expectations of the company as on date of this call.
These statements do not guarantee the future performance of the company and it may involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Tushar from Ventura securities. Thank you. And over to you, Tushar.
Tushar Pendharkar — Analyst
Thank you. Good day. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Ventura Securities Limited, I welcome you all to UFO Movies India Limited Q3 and 9 months FY26 earnings conference call. The company is represented by Mr. Rajesh Mishra, Executive Director and Group CEO, Mr. Ashish Malushe, Chief Financial Officer and Mr. Siddhartha Bharatwar, CEO Digital Cinema Network Business of the company. I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Mishra for his opening remarks post which we can start Q and A session. Thank you. And over to you sir. Thank you.
Rajesh Mishra — Executive Director and Group Chief Executive Officer
Disha. Greetings everyone and thank you all for joining our Q3 and 9 months FY26 earnings call. Q3 FY26 once again highlighted how critical the right content and reduced timing are for critical performance. October saw steady momentum led by the strong performance of Kantara Chapter 1. While other releases such as Kali Sanskariti, Tiruchi, Kumari Thamma and EK Diwanaki Diwani delivered mixed results. November was relatively softer reflecting a muted post duali phase films like and 120 Bahadur saw steady but moderate footfalls while a crowded slate of mid scale and regional release delivered average performances. Overall, December clearly stood out and drove the quarter.
Gurander delivered a strong and sustained run through the holiday period reinforcing the power of event led cinema while Akhanda 2 Thunderbolt added regional support and Tumeri Matera Merceri 2 Mary underperformed overall. Momentum improved meaningfully towards the year end. Overall Q3 FY26 saw stable footfall supported by select market with a stronger content pipeline ahead, improving advertiser sentiment Due to the success of Dhorandar and continued focus on efficiencies, we are well positioned to drive consistent performance and growth in the coming quarters. We have strengthened our Infinema advertising leadership by exclusively adding Mirage’s Cinema network, expanding our reach to over 3,900 screens including 2,500 plus multiplex screens.
Without incremental capex, this meaningfully enhances our Tier 1 and Tier 2 market presence and premium inventory. In total, 457 movies were released including version languages during the quarter compared to 404 in Q3FY25 and 462 in Q2FY26. On the screen network front, our advertising footprint now stands at 3,783 screens. This includes 2,304 multiplex screens and 1,479 single screens. Turning to the key figures for the quarter and nine months ended December 2025, the consolidated revenue for Q3FY26 stood at 1,319 million compared to 1,387 million in Q3FY25 and 1,113 million compared to Q2FY26. EBITDA stood at 106 million in Q3FY26 compared to 208 million in Q3FY25 and 116 million compared to Q2FY26.
The company reported a net profit of 64 million in Q3FY26 compared To a net profit of 153 million in Q3FY25 and a net profit of 75 million in Q2FY26. Regarding nine month CRM performance, consolidated revenues amounted to 3,522 million compared to 3,300 million in nine months FY25 EITA for nine months FY26 was 620 million compared to 473 million in nine months FY25. On the PAT front, the company reported a net profit 204 million in nine months FY26 against a total net loss of 103 million in nine months FY25. The consolidated cash as of 31st December was 1270 million 71 million and the net cash was 491 million.
After considering outstanding debt, looking ahead, the Q4 began on a positive note with the release of films such as Ikis Rajasthaab, Rahu Ketu, Border2 etc. The outlook for the upcoming quarter remains positive with several high profile releases including Mardani 3 or Ogmuyo O Romeo Durandar Part 2, Toxic Petty etc. With this robust lineup, we remain confident about continuing with the momentum. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders for their continued trust in the company. With that, I open the floor to take your questions. My colleagues Mr. Ashish Pauluste, Chief Financial Officer and Mr.
Siddharth Garadwaj, CEO and I will be happy to take your questions. Thank you.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press Star and one on a telephone keypad and wait for your turn to ask a question. If you would like to withdraw your request, you may do so by pressing Star and one again. Wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Request the participants to restrict two questions in the initial round and join back. Thank you for more questions. The first question from the line of Shilpa Sabu from Ananta Capital. Please go ahead.
Shilpa Sabu
Thank you for taking my question. My question is to the CEO. So the company has good cash, approximately 100 crore on books and with low working capital requirement and capex requirement we have an asset light model, right? So if the company does buy back from open market the ROV EPS for the investors can be improved because huge wealth has been destroyed in the past. Along with that we have sufficient capex cash flows available. So what is your take on the same?
Ashish Malushte
Hello Shilpa, this is Ashish Malushed, CFO of the company. So. So if you permit I’ll take this call this question. So you’re absolutely on bang on when you have analyzed the financial situation of the company. Except just one small correction. The model is not fully asset light. Partly we can go asset light but most of our things is where we invest into the capex that goes into the theater. But having said that, the fact is that we are sitting on 100 crore plus gross cash and 50 odd crores of net cash and this has been the situation for last 10 years, except 1/4 during COVID And yes, philosophically, in fact when we went public at that time also we had said that whenever the company did not find a meaningful utilization opportunities of the accumulated cash, the same will be used to reward the shareholders.
And in other words, what we meant was we will not get into any unrelated or related expensive or risky kind of propositions like say production of movie, something like that. And we stood by what we had promised and between 2016 to 2019, substantial amount of dividend was distributed upward of 200 crores to the shareholders. And yes, at that point in time certainly there was an even at that time there was an option of doing buyback. However, for whatever reasons attributable to it, we thought it appropriate to reward the shareholders in the form of a cash because we were freshly listed.
Having said that, yes, there is an opportunity to do buyback and buyback at the current valuation at which the company is would be a better proposition than distributing dividend. So yes, you’re right. The question is whether we are at that stage in terms of cash availability. Yes, but in terms of technicality, which means the P and L supporting buyback or distribution of dividend, we are not at that stage even today because of the accumulated losses that we had, which are slowly behind us now. But maybe the stage at which the company will be in a position to return the monies back to the shareholder in the form of dividend or buyback would be sometime soon, not immediate because last year we turned profitable meaningfully.
This year we have continued in all the three quarters the pat level profitability. So when this continues for some more period of time, yes, there will be a meaningful accumulation of cash. And at that point of time buyback can certainly be considered especially because the valuation parameters and the multiples are so at a relatively lower level as compared to industry.
Shilpa Sabu
Yes sir, I understand your point. Just one thing. So can we go for a buyback in a smaller amount like 3, 4, 5 crore per quarter that won’t impact the cash also much along with the plans that the company has?
Ashish Malushte
Yes, again I’ll say that yes, that can be one of the strategies and one of the ways forward. But all depends on whether your pn, I mean your financials allow you to reach that level. In my opinion, by year end we would be then whether it should be one go bigger chunk distribution of dividend or buyback or you know, doing dividends in a shorter span or buybacks in a shorter span will be a tactical decisions which need to be taken by the board. But all I am trying to tell you is that this company has always believed in returning the cash to the shareholders.
It could be in the form of. It was in the form of dividend in the past and I am saying it is to the tune of 200 crore plus. That is the money that we have returned. What is the exact number? 250.255crores were distributed in four years and that is what we wanted to bring it to the shareholders. And the investors and analysts notice that this is the philosophy of the company. Unfortunately the whole industry went through a very bad patch from 2020. Now luckily we are out of it meaningfully last one and a half years.
So yes, once we are again back in that situation we will take that call. But tactical calls whether it should be in a tranches or at one go where it should be dividend or buyback that will be driven by the board level discussion.
Shilpa Sabu
Okay sir, thank you. Just one suggestion. I think that dividend won’t improve the EPS and ROE for the shareholders as much as buyback can do. So just one suggestion from my side.
Ashish Malushte
I fully agree with you on this more because the level of lower valuations that we currently have considering the consistent performance that the company is giving.
Shilpa Sabu
Yes sir. Thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Vedat Bangar, an indigenous investor. Please go ahead with your test.
Vedat Bangar
Good morning sir. Actually in the last Q2 Concord you had said that we shall.
operator
Speak a little louder please.
Vedat Bangar
Yes sir. Can you hear me now?
operator
I would just request you to speak a little louder.
Vedat Bangar
Yes sir. Am I audible now?
Rajesh Mishra
Yeah, yeah. Please go ahead.
Vedat Bangar
In the Q2 con call you had said that we shall not expect the same numbers in the Q3 as they were in the last Q3 as in December 2024. Numbers shall not be compared to this. We shall not expect the numbers this quarter because last year December quarter had a very massive release called which enhanced the numbers to a certain extent this quarter as well there was this release on exactly the same day, fifth December. So we had the same number of days to cover those numbers in form of durandar. So the numbers being quite matched the last year’s quarter.
So can I know the reason why? Because the quantum of the high dropper was almost the same this year as well.
Rajesh Mishra
I appreciate your astute observation on this point and also with reference to the last quarter qcs only thing is a couple of differences over here was that this year the Diwali releases didn’t pan out. Normally the releases During Diwali time they work and they give us much better returns. So that was one reason. Durandar. Yes, you are absolutely right. It did work very well. Only thing is between Durandar and Pushpa 2 the primary difference was that Dhorandar was a single language film released only in Hindi language whereas Pushpa 2 was a multilingual language which released in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or Kannad all these languages it used in. So it had a much wider footprint and that delivered the numbers much higher numbers for Pushpa2 than it could do only for Durandar. This is the two primary differences that we see.
Ashish Malushte
Okay, so I can add on to this one thing which Siddharth would be able to better articulate, which I will leave it to him is about the point that when it was released it had a limited hype when you Compare it with Pushpa2 and most certainly Durandar became a great hit once it was released. But the allocation of the advertisements resources that happen is based on a hype as pursued by the advertisers. So therefore just to take a corollary, Pushpa2 would have got a better advertiser’s attention than Pushpa1. And of course Pushpa2 was considered to be one of the super hyped and super expected doing better movie.
But Pushpa 2 had a better outlook from advertiser’s point of view versus Pushpa 1. And same would probably happen for Durandar which would take up. But before that, quickly. Second thing that has happened is the government and state and central government vertical that we have within the advertising which used to be 100 crore plus till 2020, that had come down to the range of 30 crores last year, full year and that continues to underperform. So on a quarter, on quarter basis the government segment has reduced by about 2 crores if I’m correct. So that has been a major reason why during the quarter the performance on the advertisement front looks challenging.
And then this explanation about Durandar which probably Sidh will be able to explain in more detail. Yeah, this is Sidharth. So as Ashish and Rajesh just mentioned, there are two different genre of movies. One is more national, another one limited to Hindi speaking markets. So which provides lesser opportunity for advertisers to take advantage of. And second, Pushpa2 was eagerly awaited for over a year, more than a year and advertisers were, you know, there was a lot of excitement pent up which came out when the movie was released at the end of the year. Right. So it worked on the hype of more than a year.
Whereas Dhurandar, like any other blockbuster, anticipated blockbuster carried the, you know, the buzz was there in the market which we took advantage and word of mouth spread and it turned out to be the biggest blockbuster Hindi cinema has ever seen. I am sure it will create a similar hype for Durandar 2 which is, you know, which is due for release in within this fiscal itself. So you can you know, anticipate equal, equal if not more response from advertisers in the month of April. Sorry in the month of March, mid March. And the results of that should show in the next quarter.
Okay.
Vedat Bangar
Okay. Yes sir. Yes sir. Very, very elaborate. Sir. One more thing I need to ask sir. Our margins of the past five or six quarters have been a little erratic. I mean they have swung from 22% to 12% to again 16%. So what’s the normal trajectory of margins that we should expect in the future? Operating margins I’m talking about.
Rajesh Mishra
Okay. So when you look at operating margin and it moving erratically the erratic moment would only and only because of the moment in advertisement revenue. And the reason for that is there is a sizable fixed cost associated with the advertisement driven in our case which is the sharing that we do with the theatres which is called advertisement revenue share as a head in the books. Now that is a. Annually it is in the range of about 75 crores of which almost 80% is fixed. What happens is when you have a few three of last year, my margin from advertisement revenue shoots up because this cost being fixed more or less being in a near fixed scenario.
But when that advertisement revenue on an annualized basis comes to a lower level, say against 160 crores annualized, it comes down to 100 crore annualized. Then the margin contracts from 75 crores annualized to 25 crores annualized. So that would directly translate into. Now this is one key margin because the rest of our business, business is quite predictable. My both revenue streams from distributor fee revenue and my theatrical revenue is relatively predictable and the expenses are also predictable. So there is a certainty to the kind of margins that will draw from this segment. It’s not a segment but this section of my revenues.
But the only differentiating factor is my ad revenue, how it pans out and that exactly. Now if you go back and try to correlate with the ad revenues you would see a similar kind of a movement in my margins. One small addition, there would be a betterment in the margins when you see my sale of product revenue going up in a particular quarter because that generally fetches me around 21 to 22% average margin. Okay, so these are the two factors. If you link it with the numbers that you analyze, you will, you will probably get the answer.
And if there’s anything still outstanding, then we’ll be happy to discuss your question.
Vedat Bangar
So one last question, one last question. So in March 21st, as in the year 20, FY22 and FY21, we had accumulated losses of more than 200 crores. You know, if you combine both the years, basically. So why are we paying taxes? I mean we have accumulated losses of more than 200 crore in the two years. Shan’t be negating the tax rate till the time 200 crores is compensated.
Rajesh Mishra
So thank you. Good question. Many investors may have this point, but the answer lies in accounting principles. So what do you see as a tax expense is not a tax. Okay, so there is a concept of deferred tax sitting in the balance sheet. So basically the books of account say that whether you have profit or no loss at period, profit or loss must represent a true picture. And therefore when we were incurring losses, you would see that if you open those numbers now, the loss before tax and loss after tax, you will find the loss after tax being lower than loss before tax.
Obviously nobody is paying me taxes, but still why my loss before after tax lower is we create a fictitious assets for deferred tax asset in the books which primarily says that whenever in future you will make the profit, you will reduce this deferred tax asset fictitious. And in that period though you don’t have to pay tax in the books of accounts, you will show that there is a tax payment. This is an accounting principle. So therefore when you see in the current period there is any tax hit in the books, that doesn’t mean that my tax hit translates into cash outflow.
What it means is correspondingly my deferred tax assets sitting in my balance sheet will go down. And now if you see my of course for Q3 you may not be able to see but Q2, if you see the balance sheet is reported, even year end balance sheet would be reported, you will see the deferred tax asset going down. Still, since we are on this point still there could be one question that why there is an outflow in cash flow for tax. That is because purely because there are tedious. So even though I am not liable to pay any tax when I render service, a service recipient is supposed to deduct tax.
As for the provisions of Income Tax Act. So although whether I’M making profit or no he’s supposed to do the tax we obtain a lower deduction certificate so the tax deduction many cases goes down but that amount gets treated as TDS paid by us but that entirely comes as a refund from government. The long story short till the time I’m recovering my losses of those two years I am not required to make any payment of taxes in cash flow but in books of accounts in that period my PBT or loss before tax was reduced artificially was created and that gets written back as I start making profit so this is simply accounting thing we don’t pay any taxes from cash.
Vedat Bangar
Okay okay thanks a lot sir I wish you a great year ahead and you’ve been great. Thank you so much thank you thank.
operator
You sir thank you. The next question from the line of Mr. Sagar an individual investor go ahead with the question.
operator
Sir I think your voice is you’re audible but we use you.