ICICI Venture-backed film entertainment company PVR Ltd clocked 39% increase in its net profit for the quarter ended Sptember’10 over the year ago period part boosted by strong revenue growth. Consolidated revenues rose 46% to touch Rs 135 crore.
The company’s EBITDA for the quarter was Rs 34.59 crore as compared to Rs 19.25 crore in the same quarter last year, up almost 80%.
The firm’s mainstay business of exhibition through its multiplexes rose 22% to Rs 106.19 crore during the quarter. Its operating profit margins were 21% in Q2 2010-11 on the back of sustainable revenues generated from operations and good movie content.
This was supported by high footfall in its cinemas during the quarter even as it clocked a modest average occupancy of 31%. The company, at present operates 33 properties with 142 screens in 18 cities across the country and is pegged at number three spot in India behind Reliance ADAG’s Big Cinemas and Inox Leisure that gained scale through the acquisition of Fame.
But PVR, in which private equity firm ICICI Venture holds a 7.45%, intends to add another 25-30 screens by March 2011 in key markets like Mysore, Vijaywada, Udaipur, Shimla, Ujjain, Nanded and Delhi, which will partly bridge the gap with Inox.
The company’s movie production and distribution arm PVR Pictures is hoping to cash in on the current quarter as big movie releases are slotted coinciding with the festival season every year. The company is distributing Akshay Kumar-Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starrer Action Replayy on Diwali, one of the biggest releases of this year. This will be followed by Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey starring Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone releasing on 3rd Dec, 2010.
Ajay Bijli, Chairman & Managing Director, PVR Ltd, said, "We have been able to consolidate our position in the exhibition space further with addition of 19 new screens in the first half of the year. This (current) will also be a key quarter for the production and distribution business with two key films lined up for release."
