Entertainment Network (India) Ltd posts Rs 99.4 cr revenue in Q4

Entertainment Network (India) Ltd (ENIL), which operates India's leading private radio brand Mirchi, on Friday, posted fourth-quarter revenue of ₹99.4 crore, a marginal increase from a year earlier.
While the radio business witnessed 7.6% growth during the quarter, Omicron-induced restrictions on on-ground activities affected the solutions business.

ENIL incurred an expense of ₹6.3 crore towards its strategic initiative in digital platforms. Without that, its Ebitda for the quarter would have been ₹23 crore and net profit ₹2.4 crore.

"Despite a terrible start to the quarter because of Omicron, I am happy that we delivered strong results, with radio growing nearly 8%. We expect our solutions business to grow rapidly now as on-ground activities restart post-Covid," managing director and CEO Prashant Panday said. "What is very exciting also is our imminent digital platform launch which will pivot Mirchi into a digital-first brand," he added.

ENIL said it continued tight cost-control measures in the past quarter. The company's balance sheet remained strong, with cash reserves of ₹211 crore as on March 31, 2022.

For the fiscal year, revenue rose to ₹305.9 crore from ₹266.8 crore in fiscal 2021, with an operating profit (Ebitda) of ₹50 crore excluding the spending on the digital platform.

ENIL's board recommended a dividend of ₹1 per equity share, aggregating to ₹4.77 crore, for the year ended March 31.

Mirchi operates FM stations in 63 Indian cities. It is owned by Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd, which also owns The Economic Times.

ENIL has dropped 'Radio' from its brand name to become just 'Mirchi', in line with the company's strategic shift towards digital and solutions. ENIL's shares closed 1.99% lower at ₹204 on Friday on the BSE.