Eros Int'l sees bumper FY on string of blockbusters

Eros International Plc said it expected its full-year results to beat current market expectations, driven by strong performances from film titles like "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" and "Ready".

Eros said it expected the strong first-half performance to continue in the second half, with a line-up expected to generate robust box-office returns. Eros boasts of a strong slate of movies that include "RA.One", starring A-listers Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor, and "Rockstar," featuring Ranbir Kapoor. Earlier this month, Eros signed a multi-film agreement with KT Corp, South Korea's No. 2 mobile carrier, to showcase 50 of its film titles on multiple digital platforms. Analysts on average expect the company to report a pretax profit of USD 74.8 million on revenue of USD 207.8 million for the year ended March 31, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The company recently announced plans to release Tamil film Endhiran (Robot) in South Korea next month. Earlier this month, Eros also signed an agreement with a Punjabi production company to co-produce a slate of regional language films. Eros, which recently listed its unit Eros International Media Ltd on the Bombay Stock Exchange in India, has a library of over 2,000 film titles. The company's shares, which have lost about a fifth of their value over the past year, were indicated up 1.4% at 0635 GMT on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange.