Eros International swings to quarterly loss
15/07/2019 14:02
BENGALURU, July 15 (Reuters) - Film and entertainment group
Eros International Plc EROS.N on Monday swung to a loss in the
fourth quarter due to an impairment charge and a rise in costs,
sending its U.S-listed shares down more than 6% in premarket
trade.
The company, which owns a vast library of Bollywood movies
and music, has been struggling after a rating agency categorised
its Indian subsidiary's EROS.NS debt at "default" levels due
to delays in payments. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N23H22T
Eros has been placing its bets on its digital streaming
unit, Eros Now, to gain market share, especially in India, where
it rivals Star India's streaming platform Hotstar, Netflix Inc
NFLX.O and Amazon Prime. Eros said the unit had 18.8 million
subscribers at the end of the quarter.
Eros said it booked an impairment loss totalling $423.3
million during the quarter, mainly due to high discount rates
and "changes in the market conditions."
Eros International's operating loss was $4.4 million in the
quarter ended March 31, compared with a profit of $20.3 million
last year. Revenue from India fell 1.6% to $24.6 million in the
quarter, the company said.
The company's U.S listed shares were down more than 6% at
$1.72 in New York in premarket trade. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N24G2O2
(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi
Aich)
((Reuters Messaging: Krishna.VKurup@thomsonreuters.com ; +91 80
6749 1310; Reuters Messaging:
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