On the back of improved advertising and subscription revenues, media conglomerate Sun TV Network Ltd has posted over 13 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 190 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012, against Rs 168 crore for the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

The company’s board has recommended the third interim dividend of 50 per cent (Rs 2.50 per share on a face value of Rs 5), which takes the total dividend for the year so far to 150 per cent (Rs 7.50 per share) as against Rs 9.50 paid for the previous year ended March 31, 2012.

SL. Narayanan, Chief Financial Officer of the Sun TV group, said advertising revenues grew 20 per cent during the quarter compared to the previous year; and subscription revenues too have registered a similar growth. Growth in subscription revenues, he said, was the fallout of the government’s mandatory digitisation programme.

Besides, the second phase of the implementation of digitisation in tier-II cities by March 31, augurs well for the company. “We do not see any signal of extension of deadline for the second phase of digitisation,” he said. According to him, some of the proposed 38 cities are Sun TV’s strongholds. “For example, cities such as Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu; Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh; Bangalore and Mysore in Karnataka are our major catchments.”

For the quarter under consideration, the company has registered over 14 per cent growth in the topline at Rs 486 crore against Rs 425 crore for the third quarter of 2011-12. The Sun scrip closed the day on the BSE at Rs 439.20, gaining 3.56 per cent from its previous close.

>ravikumar.ramanujam@thehindu.co.in

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