Dainik Bhaskar-owner DB Corp's Q3 profit slumps 44% on high newsprint costs

DB

02/02/2023 08:01

BENGALURU, Feb 2 (Reuters) - India's DB Corp  DBCL.NS 
reported a 44.2% fall in quarterly profit as the owner of
India's largest Hindi daily was hit by high newsprint prices,
sending shares down as much as 9.5%.
    DB Corp, which publishes Dainik Bhaskar, reported a
consolidated net profit of 482.8 million rupees ($5.9 million)
for the quarter ended Dec. 31, from 865.2 million rupees a year
earlier.
    Its revenue from operations rose 3.7% to 5.66 billion
rupees. 
    However, total expenses surged 17.1%, predominantly driven
by a 42.4% jump in input costs.
    The company also flagged a foreign exchange loss of 21
million rupees for the quarter.
    The media group's print and digital advertisement revenue
rose 2.6% year-on-year, while radio advertising revenue dropped
3.7%.
    DB Corp shares, which rose nearly 33% in 2022, was last down
5.5% at 112.50 rupees as of 13:25 p.m. IST.
($1 = 81.9200 Indian rupees)
 (Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini
Goswami)
 ((Sethuraman.NR@thomsonreuters.com; (+91 8061822737); Reuters
Messaging: nallur.sethuraman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))