Television Eighteen's FY08 net profit stood at Rs 25.52 crore while revenues from operations came in at Rs 401.16 crore. The company's Q4 net profit stood at Rs 12.48 crore versus Rs 8.46 crore QoQ while revenues from operations came in at Rs 132.33 crore as against Rs 112.46 crore QoQ.

Haresh Chawla, Group CEO, Network18, said the business news side has seen phenomenal growth, from CNBC-TV18 and Awaaz, with revenues in excess of 50%. “The loss on Newswire18 is about Rs 3.1 crore, which is largely on account of write-offs or development expenses that are happening on the new product line.”

According to Chawla, Web18 has posted more than 120% over the same quarter last year.

He said the company would launch both the Hindi and English newspaper ventures within the next 12 months.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Haresh Chawla:

Q: Walk us through the numbers because QoQ the net profit was expected to be slightly higher, it has been largely in line with expectations, but in terms of operating profit margins and the overall business, how have we done this time around?

A: You will have to break up and view the results in three parts. There is the whole story on our business news operations, and then there is Newswire18, and Web18. These three companies are on different trajectories and are at different stages of life cycle. On the business news side, we have shown phenomenal growth. We are seeing growth in excess of 50% on those revenues on the back of some great performance from Awaaz, and CNBC-TV18. We are seeing a lot of advertising growth coming in on the channels. There are new categories that are opening up in the market and there are premium categories also coming in, so there is a lot of traction that is happening on CNBC-TV18 and Awaaz.

As far as Newswire18 goes, that business is just about a year old and is consolidating very well. The nature of business is such that once we install terminals at institutional customers then it is almost like an annuity business as long as we continue to give them good products.

Q: What were the losses on Newswire18 this time around and also on Web18?

A: The loss on Newswire18 is about Rs 3.1 crore.

Q: It is slightly higher than what you have done QoQ? Is there a concern there in terms of how the market is moving right now?

A: We have seen a healthy growth in the number of installations and have managed to consolidate and settle our product in the institutional market. Investments are being made to expand the market. We are launching a retail-oriented product which should be coming out within the next few months. So, what you are seeing there are all write-offs or development expenses that are happening on the new product line.

Q: What about the losses on Web18?

A: Web18 has posted superlative growth, more than 120% over the same quarter last year. There we are yet to launch some of the bigger web properties that we are working on. Hopefully, that launch is expected within the next 60 days or so. There again you are seeing the result of us writing off all our development expenses. So, these are not going into pre-operative expenses. The current properties in Web18 are showing phenomenal growth and are profitable. All the losses that you see are from new properties that we are yet to launch.

Q: When can we expect a global listing?

A: We are working very hard on that front and are aiming for an overseas listing this calendar year.

Q: There is a business paper that you are expected to come by. Can you lay out a timeline as to when each of these products that you have in the pipeline will come out and contribute constructively to revenues?

A: At this stage, we are not declaring or disclosing how much progress we have made on our print foray. It would be too premature to give a timeline there. This is a strategic and extremely important initiative for us. It completes our franchise which is currently on the web and TV. We expect both the Hindi and English newspaper ventures within the next 12 months or so.

Q: The business paper will be under TV18 or Network18?

A: No, all these are properties are aligned to TV18, so eventually these properties will fit into the TV18 company.

Disclaimer:

Web18, which owns Moneycontrol.com and Indiaearnings.com, belongs to the Network18 Group.