18th Nov 2013 11:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - DQ Entertainment said Monday half-year revenue fell but pretax profit rose as the firm records the first signs of improvement after a recent spate of contract wins.
The animation, gaming, live action, entertainment production and distribution company said that during the half-year to September 30 2013 revenue was INR870 million, down from INR954 million during the comparable period last year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation were up to INR561 million from the INR348 million reported in 2012.
Profit before tax jumped to INR296 million from INR99 million last year, with profit after tax reaching INR287 million, up on INR71 million in 2012.
DQ Entertainment said in a statement, "With the first signs of improvement in the global scenario your Company has buoyantly sustained itself and generated a total revenue of INR870 million during the half-year... which is on line with our annual estimates."
The company said the financials were positively impacted by foreign exchange rates, as well as a substantial increase in production and delivery efficiencies during the half-year. DQ reports a foreign exchange gain of INR315 million for the period, compared to a INR17 million loss last year, based on restatement of foreign currency balances as on September 20 2013.
Tapaas Chakravarti, chairman of the firm said in the statement, "The global entertainment industry is developing at an unprecented pace. Mobility and portability of content will, in my opinion, have a profound impact as viewers consume programming outside their homes and want to control what they watch, when they watch, and on what device. So many opportunities are evolving and we recognize that in so far as content production is important, even more vital will be the distribution technologies that are emerging."
To deliver on this, the firm has made progress in the licencing and distribution practices of its intellectual properties for television broadcast as well as video-on-demand, subscription VOD and 'over-the-top' platforms. DQE's flagship global property, Jungle Book Series, is on Netflix, Vudu and Hulu, the US-based platforms.
The firm adds that new associations with leading networks and licencees globally are paving the way to monetise its intellectual properties and co-produced content. New deals across its portfolio of properties in recent months have been completed with partners such as France Television, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel Productions, Sky Italia, Universal Music, Discovery Kids and Rai TV. The promotional deal for The Jungle Book with Burger King Worldwide has been immensely successful and will be extended for second promotion, said DQE.
Chakravarti concludes, "Recently, the Group concluded co-production and licensing deals worth INR2220 million. We remain confident that the global entertainment industry has excellent growth prospects, while our business remains well placed for projected growth in the current year."
Shares in the entertainment company were trading at 19.16 pence per share Monday morning, up 0.2%.
By Alice Attwood; [email protected]; @AliceAtAlliance
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