Media Times Limited was incorporated in Pakistan on 26 June 2001 as a private limited company under the Companies Ordinance, 1984 and was converted into public limited company on 06 March 2007. The company is listed on Karachi and Lahore stock exchanges. Its registered office is located at 41-N, Industrial Area, Gulberg II, Lahore. It is engaged in printing and publishing daily English and Urdu newspapers namely "Daily Times" and "AajKal" and also engaged in production, promotion, advertisement, distribution and broadcasting of television programmes through satellite channels under the names "Business Plus", "Zaiqa" and "Wikkid Plus". The principal places of the business for "Business Plus" and "Wikkid Plus" is situated at F-49, Block-8, KDA Scheme-5, Clifton, Karachi and for newspapers is at 41-N, Industrial Area, Gulberg II, Lahore. The vision of the company is to be a dynamic and liberal media company with the focus to inform and entertain public, keeping in view the truth and authenticity element.
FY10 RESULTS
The operating results of the company for the whole year period are summarized as follows:
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FY10 30-Jun-10 30-Jun-09
Rupees Rupees
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Revenue 498, 588, 391 504, 415, 423
Gross profit 124, 451, 103 179, 596, 481
Operating cost 193, 106, 298 187, 097, 781
Operating (loss) / profit (68, 655, 195) (7, 501, 300)
(Loss) / profit after taxation (73, 627, 367) (2, 578, 657)
Earnings / loss per share
- Basic & diluted -0.55 -0.02
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The company's revenue and income have gone down in FY10 compared to those in FY09. Net revenue during FY10 was Rs 498 million as compared to the Rs 504 million during the previous year. EPS and loss after tax went down from Rs (0.02) and Rs 2.5 million in FY09 to Rs (0.55) and Rs 73 million respectively. The reasons of decline can be attributed to the rising number of competitors in the media industry.
Also the industry is going through an after shock adjustment mode in Pakistan. After the world economic recession, the overall impact of advertisement drop was sustained by media industry. Thus sectors like banking, construction, FMCG etc. shelved their marketing campaigns; resulting in lower advertisement budgets for print and electronic media which affected the company's revenue streams. Direct costs went up by 15.18% partly due to the launch of the new channel 'Zaiqa' in May 2010. Newspaper sales have shown an increase compared to the previous year, however, the management is aware of the changing aspects of the newspaper industry due to technological shift to the internet news sources.
Moreover, market entry of one major media group with its recently launched English daily newspaper was also a challenge for Daily Times. Rising depreciation and content costs also added to the woes of the direct costs. Due to the rising prices and adverse economic conditions, cost management has been a top priority of the company. The management has taken measures to curtail operating costs by decreasing HR cost and other operational expenses; consolidating resources and maximising economies of scales. It is observant of the changing situation and is working very hard to not only sustain the company during the current depression but also be in an overall positive situation in the coming year.
Financial performance (FY10)
The company posted net revenues of Rs 498.5 million and a net loss of Rs 73.6 million during the year FY10. The Company has invested Rs 128 million in capital expenditure during the current financial year for expansion and up-gradation in the electronic media and print media segment which include production, broadcasting, up-linking equipment, newspaper production lines in the existing. Although the company is facing hurdles such as increased competition and falling revenues, its performance has been on par with that of rest of the media industry.
The revenue of MTL has not been really impressive during the FY10. Net revenues for the company in the current year are Rs 498,588,391 as compared to the net revenue of Rs 504,415,423 in FY09, indicating a decrease of about 1.16%. However we must consider the facts such as the current state of the economy, the media industry and the company being in a development phase. Thus the real target is to survive in such times and increase the market share, which the company has done successfully. Keeping in view the economic recession in the country and tough competition in the media industry, the management is focusing on tapping additional available revenue sources in the market and reduction in current costs while maintaining the quality it provides and making progress towards its long-term goals.
The liquidity of the Company has shown an increasing trend from FY04 to FY07 and then again from FY08 to FY10. During FY10, the current ratio of the Company improved by 15.44% whereas, the quick ratio improved by 59.41%. Current assets of the Company showed a decrease of 28.40%, however increase in current ratio was due to the fact that the current liabilities of the Company went down by 38.14. Cash and bank balance of the Company increased by 101.15% and the fact that the trade and other payables increased by 73%, gives an indication that the company is trying to free cash by delaying them. Another positive cash inflow was the fact that the Loans and Advances which are given to the employees and suppliers of the company, went down by 39.45%. The quick ratio has increased by a greater percentage compared to the percentage increase in current ratio. This is mainly due to the fact that the inventory of MTL went down by 74.67% during the FY10. However MTL's current assets have fallen first time in the last 6 years.
The asset management ratios of the company show an overall increase from FY04 to FY07. However, these ratios fell sharply in FY08 and since then they have shown a slightly stable trend. The sharp decline in FY08 can be traced to a number of factors including overall recession in advertisement industry, increase in operational costs including content and newsprint paper prices and rising financing costs. This trend has continued for the past 3 years. (The values for total asset turnover ratio have been shown only for FY08 and FY09 due to unavailability of data for previous years).
Net revenue declined by 1.16%, while fixed assets (property, plant and equipment) fell by .56% and total assets declined by 8.22%. This led to the fixed asset turnover ratio to fall by 8.17% and the total asset turnover ratio to increase by 7.70%. Fixed asset turnover ratio decreased because the fixed assets decreased less compared to the net revenue. While the total asset turnover ratio increased because the total assets fell by a greater percentage compared to net revenues.
The debt management position of MTL during FY10 has been similar to that in FY09. This is evidenced by the nearly constant debt ratios during both the years. This is due to the fact that although the total debt of the Company went down 14.06%, its total assets also went down by 8.22% in the FY10. A break-up of the debt components shows that the 80.13% decrease in the current maturities of long term liabilities, the 99.60% decline in the liabilities against assets subject to finance lease and the 34% decline in short term borrowings were some of the major contributors to the fall in debt ratio. Creditors currently supply around 32.5% of the Company's finances in FY10 as compared to 35% in FY10. This number is further expected to decline next year when the company converts some of its long term debts into equity. This will not only save the interest expenses of MTL but will also help the liquidity the company as that loan will mature in 2011.
The profitability ratio of the Company had shown a consistent increase from FY04 to FY08. But since then it has been on a decline including in the FY10. During FY10 the return on equity of the company saw a drastic fall of 2897% and a similar trend was seen in the return on capital employed which fell by 2993%. Gross profit of the company also fell by 30.71% during the same year. The main reasons for the fall was the 1.16% fall in net revenues coupled with the 15.18% rise in direct costs. This also led to an increase of 2755% in the net loss after taxation.
Similarly, the operating profit, and the profit before and after tax of MTL has also declined during FY10. The gross profit margins showed a decrease of 30% owing to the cost side which remained high due to recession and inflation including content and newspaper raw material prices and the increase in direct costs due to the launch of a new channel. Timely measures have been taken to curtail operating cost by decreasing HR cost and other operational expenses; consolidating resources and maximizing economies of scales.
The market value ratios show that MTL's market position remained somewhat stable during FY10 in comparison to the previous year. MTL's earning per share fell from Rs -0.02 to Rs -.55, a decline of 2650%. Likewise, the Company's break up value per share fell by 5.13% from Rs 11.73 to Rs 10.18. The decline in market value is in line with the decreased profitability of MTL during FY10.
Future outlook
The future outlook for the company is promising as most of company's units are in development phase and are expected to become profitable starting from the next year. Also media and print advertisement is expected to recover in the coming years with the recovery of the economy. Also the Company sees an increased competition between brands in the future and thus an increase in the marketing budgets of banks and FMCGs. The Company has already applied to PEMRA for acquiring license for uplinking of another entertainment cum infotainment satellite channel which is in the approval process. It expects this addition to bring a good amount of advertisement revenue in the coming period. It also plans to increase the quality of its production and thus target a greater audience. Media Times Limited is confident about the business prospects in this market and expects to be adequately positioned to meet the upcoming challenges given its experience of operating both print and electronic media businesses.
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PERFORMANCE SNAPSHOT
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Operating Result 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
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Net Revenue 147,569,322 194,373,535 269,964,655 460,534,464 504,415,423 498,588,391
Gross profit/ (loss) 16,244,780 45,458,391 106,247,888 231,282,203 179,596,481 124,451,103
Profit / (loss) from operation -44,719,842 -18,397,191 38,263,773 97,793,018 -7,501,300 -68,655,195
Profit / (loss) before tax -54,585,507 -29,110,539 35,337,979 133,355,529 -23,758,875 -108,304,127
Profit / (loss) after tax -31,560,106 -24,505,387 27,776,167 109,682,935 -2,578,657 -73,627,367
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Financial Position 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
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Shareholder's equity 155,726,983 149,921,596 348,093,913 1,125,579,140 1,438,689,890 1,365,062,523
Property, plant & 128,731,290 115,904,535 135,006,167 1,118,958,250 1,133,914,950 1,234,004,913
equipment-operating
Net current assets 2,938,539 10,001,287 79,448,098 92,729,643 173,546,031 158,922,289
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Liquidity Ratios 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
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Current (Times) 1.04 1.12 1.68 1.22 1.49 1.72
Quick (Times) 1.01 0.97 1.55 0.92 1.01 1.61
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Asset Management Ratios 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
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Fixed assets turnover (Times) 1.15 1.68 2 0.41 0.44 0.40
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Profitability Ratios 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
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Return on equity % -20.27 -16.35 7.98 9.74 -0.18 -5.39
Return on capital employed % -23.81 -19.29 7.47 6.92 -0.14 -4.33
Gross profit/(loss) % 11.01 23.39 39.36 50.22 35.6 24.96
Operating profit/(loss) % -30.3 -9.46 14.17 21.23 -1.49 -13.77
Profit before tax/(loss) % -36.99 -14.98 13.09 28.96 -4.71 -21.72
Profit after tax/(loss) % -21.39 -12.61 10.29 23.82 -0.51 -14.77
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Market Value Ratios 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
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Earnings/(loss) per share in Rs -1.82 -1.41 1.59 1.4 -0.02 -0.55
Break up vale per share in Rs 8.96 8.63 19.89 11.2 10.73 10.18
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