2 November 2007
nifty
We have see today a wonderful buying by FII And Indian mutual funds see the nifty again on winning spree we advised to buy nifty at 5768 level today in ur paid web remember we are also giving good tips i here for retail in vester also today iam posting all about NETWORK --18 NOW
Raghav Bahl,MD, Network 18 informs that it has been a very buoyant revenue growth for the television channels and for the Internet properties. He adds that YoY, there has been growth of over 65-70% in revenue terms and profitability.
Excerpts from the exclusive interview with Raghav Bahl:
Q: Could you break down the performance in terms of news business and Internet business?
A: Network 18 is the holding company and the operating businesses actually are in the two other listed companies, TV18 and GBN. For TV18, which essentially comprises of the business news channels, the Internet businesses and business news terminal, it has been an extraordinary quarter of buoyancy in revenue, in fact, it has exceeded our internal expectations as well. It has been a very buoyant revenue growth for the television channels and extremely buoyant revenue growth for the Internet properties, even NewsWire, which is only a 6-month old property, has shown very strong revenue growth.
So, I think YoY, we have grown over 65-70% in revenue terms and profitability. It has been a strong QoQ growth and I think the business news businesses have exhibited extremely strong buoyancy.
Our general news properties are in GBN and those have exhibited very strong YoY growth as well. The English news channel has put on almost 70-80% in revenue terms whereas the Hindi channel that is IBN7 has done over 50% revenue growth. So, I think all businesses have posted 50-150% of revenue buoyancy. That has really been the extraordinary thing for us this quarter.
Q: If you look at the numbers, it is the web business which shackled the results last time and this time too, we had a net loss there of about Rs 8 crore. For the web business it comprises a series of different web portals, how does it look going ahead from here, in terms of profitability and could we be looking at separating that business from TV18?
A: The business is already separate; it is already in a separate company Web18, but we've published consolidated results for our shareholders to get a completely clear sense of where the group is, so the business is in a separate company.
Web18, infact we believe, is the real sort of embedded value within the group, because it’s a very strong internet company and across our properties, we did nearly 250 or 300 million page views across various portals and that puts us right at the cutting edge of internet groups in India
To understand Web18, one has to look at 2-3 different things. It's not just one portal, it is a collection of many. Some of the older ones like moneycontrol.com, cricketnext.com, ibnlive.com, bookmyshow, commodititescontrol - all these are either very profitable or have entered profitability.
So bulk of these entities are making money and something like moneycontrol.com is making very good money. It is the newer portals that we are investing in, where you will see the investment losses being racked up, but that is part of our plan; we do intend to invest very aggressively in the web.
Q: Could we be looking at a separate listing for this entity while the different components in it go through their growth phases?
A: Absolutely and this is something we have told our shareholders before as well that at the right time, we will be unlocking the value of Web18. From whatever information and feedback we have from the financial markets and other experts in that area, it is an extremely valuable property and we will at the correct time be looking at unlocking the values and that correct time may not be that far away.
Q: Could you also talk about Newswire 18 because that on a QoQ basis has shown a jump in revenues? Also if you could sum up the Network 18 Fincap business with its various components- Homeshop 18, Studio18 and the films pipeline that we have in that segment?
A: What you have laid out are the new businesses that the group has gotten into. Newswire 18 is news terminal business, it’s really just finished its second quarter of operations and as we have done Rs 2.5 crore of revenues so that’s running ahead of our expectations.
As far as Homeshop 18 is concerned, that’s pretty much in the same phase actually. It is also a 7-8 month old business but do remember that the television channel is not even been launched. It is currently a virtual TV channel because we are using spots of about 50-70 a day across our various networks but we are seeing 100% month-on month growth in the billings of that network and do remember again Homeshop is not just a TV channel. It is actually a full scale retail media company which runs a call center and has logistics support operations. I believe we have now started delivering in over 1,500 cities and almost nearly 30,000 orders have been executed by that company.
The entertainment businesses are ready to takeoff and those investments are being made via GBN. We do believe that all regulatory approvals for the joint venture with Viacom are now available with us or will be available in the next few days and as we have declared in our FIPB application, we have to make USD 50 million infusion into the company which we are prepared to make immediately and as soon as that infusion is done, we become 50% shareholders of Viacom 18 and will have a 50% stake in MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1 and soon to be launched general entrainment channel.
Q: The reason I brought up Network18 is because as a stock we have seen quite a bit of underperformance by the market over the last few months. Would you elucidate a little bit more on the structure the company has at this point and what would be the key drivers for each of the segments going forward because it seems like the market at this point is a bit confused about the stock’s performance?
A: Well, markets will do what markets have to do. So, as a management, we leave stock market performance to the markets. The kind of growth that Network18 as the holding company of all media assets of the Group is posting must be a remarkable growth. We have had a 20% QoQ revenue growth and I think that is remarkable. We have gone from a Rs 96 crore topline in Q1 to Rs 116-117 crore topline and I think this quarter, and from the looks of it, the momentum seems to be maintained for the next quarter as well as we are sitting virtually in the middle of the current quarter.
So, that is really a company that holds all our media assets and it is exhibiting great growth. In terms of its bottomline, do remember that from TV18, it gets a very strong bottomline because that is its oldest and most mature asset. From GBN, it is beginning to get the first signs of bottomline. But it is also investing in newer businesses like HomeShop18. So, to that extent, the bottomline will always have these two competing influences on it in the next few quarters. The existing business is throwing lots of cash, and profit, while the newer businesses are taking time to mature. But as an entity, we believe it is the fastest growing and the most diversified media company in the country.
Story of the day
A Dog's Daughters
While Anusha was staying with her grandmother, she was expected to do certain chores. Anusha's grandmother did not believe in spoiling children. Washing the dishes was the main chore Anusha was expected to do, and Anusha hated it! The kitchen didn't have hot water, so washing dishes entailed boiling water first. One day Anusha felt that she'd had enough. There wasn't even a dishwasher or hot water in this kitchen! She thought it was ridiculous that her grandmother and most of the people in the village were behind the times.
"Unmachi (meaning grandmother in Tamil), I can't believe you people do dishes this way! You are so behind!"
A mixed look of hurt and anger flashed in Unmachi's eyes. Anusha's harsh words had stung, and immediately she felt terrible for her outburst. Before she even had the chance to apologize, Unmachi had something to say.
"You've been in America too long, Anusha, and you have forgotten where you came from. You need to remember that you not just American, but Indian too. Never be ashamed of where you came from. Sit down, and I'll tell you a story that my grandmother used to tell me."
Anusha sat. Unmachi's stories were always good.
Don't ask me how, I've long since forgotten, but a long time ago, a common dog got pregnant. But she didn't have puppies like most dogs do. Instead, the dog gave birth to two beautiful little girls.
The dog wasn't very creative with people names, so she named her girls Big Honnie and Little Honnie. The dog didn't want the people in the village to steal her girls, so she hid them in the forest and raised them there.
The two beautiful little girls grew up to be two beautiful young women. One day while their mother had gone to get food, two young men stumbled upon the cave the girls lived in with their mother. The men fell in love with the girls at once and took them home to be their brides.
Little Honnie was enchanted with her suitor, but she didn't want her mother to worry. She quietly left a trail with pieces of her sari as they walked through the forest to their new home.
Big Honnie was different. She didn't care one thing about her mother the dog! In fact, she was very ashamed that her mother was a dog instead of a human. She resented her mother for not giving her to the villagers when she was a baby so that she could live a more normal, privileged life. As far as she was concerned, she was an orphan.
The dog followed the trail Little Honnie left behind and first arrived at Little Honnie's house. Little Honnie was so happy to see her mother! She gave her a big feast and a big comfortable bed to sleep in that night. The next morning, she directed her mother to Big Honnie's house so that she could visit her as well.
Big Honnie was disgusted and ashamed when she saw her mother. How dare she show up in her new house! What if someone found out who she really was? Big Honnie beat her poor mother to death with a stick like she would do a common stray dog.
Little Honnie cried and cried when her sister told her what she had done. She took her mother's body and took it home, where she put it in a box. Finally, her husband could stand it no more when he saw her fussing over the box every day.
He demanded she open it. Little Honnie could not disobey her new husband. She would just tell him the truth. When she opened the box, her mother wasn't there. Instead, there was a key and a map.
"What's that to?" her husband asked.
Little Honnie didn't know! She lied and said it was the key to her mother's house. She told her husband her mother had died and left them her home in the forest.
The next day, map in hand, Little Honnie and her husband went to the forest. Little Honnie honestly didn't know what kind of dwelling they might find. Amazingly, they came to a clearing, and in that clearing, there was a beautiful palace!
Even more amazingly, the key fit the lock to the door perfectly. Little Honnie and her husband decided this would be their new home. But first, they had to go back to tell her sister about what her mother had left her.
When Big Honnie heard the news, she was so jealous! She wanted a big palace too. Big Honnie killed a stray she found in her village and put it in a box. Her maid didn't know why she had a dead dog, and she threw it out the next day because of the smell without telling Big Honnie. When Big Honnie opened the box a few days later, it was empty, except for a poisonous spider that had made its home there. The spider bit Big Honnie's hand when she put it in the box. Big Honnie died the next day.
Anusha was a little confused.
"So you're saying I'll die if I continue to be ashamed of where my family comes from?" she asked.
Unmachi smiled.
"No, darling," she said. "Of course that's just a metaphor. But I am saying, you are who you are. This village and your family in India are a part of you just like your family and home back in America. Don't ever be ashamed of either one. Both have made you the person you are today."
This made sense to Anusa. She decided that she would try not to complain the next time her grandmother asked her to do the tedious chore of washing dishes.
Author's note:
My reframing included the story about Anusha and her grandmother. The original was a straightforward tale so there was no introduction where someone was telling the story to another person.
I did not tell how the dog got pregnant with babies in my story. In the original, women in the village prayed to have children, and were given fruit that supposedly would make them pregnant. The women ate the fruit and the dog ate the seeds that they threw out. As a result, the women got pregnant and gave birth to puppies, while the dog gave birth to babies. I thought that was irrelevent so I left it out.
I left the names in the story the same, because I thought it was rather fitting that a dog would not give its children normal names like a human mother would. On things I added, I mostly just embellished on the feelings and thoughts of the characters. The original didn't really get into what Big Honnie and Little Honnie were thinking. Their actions just more or less explained their attitudes towards their mother.
In the original story, Big Honnie finds nothing in the box, but goes out with her husband into the forest in hopes of finding a palace too. She is bit by a snake when she stops to use the bathroom, and that is how she dies. The snake is Little Honnie's friend; instead of having a map in the original story, she finds a snake in the forest who guides her to the palace.
There were several little details I changed throughout the story, but the premise was still the same.
I chose this story because I thought it was a good example of why you should never be ashamed of who you really are.
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