D. B. Corp Limited (NSE:DBCORP)
India flag India · Delayed Price · Currency is INR
181.05
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Sep 24, 2026, 1:39 PM IST
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Q1 23/24

Jul 20, 2023

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the D B Corp Limited Q1 FY 2024 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. We have with us today the senior management team of DB Corp Limited, Mr. Pawan Agarwal, Deputy Managing Director; Mr. Girish Agarwal, Non-Executive Director; Mr. Lalit Jain, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Mushtaq Ali, Vice President, F&A; and Mr. Prasoon Kumar Pandey, Head Investor and Media Relations, who will represent DB Corp Limited on the call.

The management will be sharing the key operating and financial highlights for the quarter ended June 30th, 2023, followed by a question- and- answer session. Please note that some of the statements made in today's discussion may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risk and uncertainties. Documents relating to the company's financial performance have already been emailed to you and are available on the website of the stock exchange and the company's investor section. Trust you have been able to go through the same. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Pawan Agarwal. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Pawan Agarwal
Deputy Managing Director, DB Corp

Thank you very much, everyone, and a very good evening to everyone, and thank you for joining the Q1 FY 2024 DB Corp's earnings conference call. We will begin the call by highlighting the key financial performance for the quarter ended June 30th, 2023, followed by key operational updates. We are delighted to announce that we have delivered an impressive performance in the first quarter, setting a strong foundation for the commencement of the new financial year. This all-round remarkable growth was on the back of robust ad growth across all segments and cost optimization. In quarter one, FY 2024, consolidated ad revenue grew 17.2% YoY to INR 3,946 million from INR 3,368 million in Q1 FY 2023.

On the back of increased ad spend, circulation revenue grew by 4% to INR 1,199 million, as against INR 1,156 million of Q1 FY 2023. Total revenue grew by 15% YoY to INR 5,736 million, as against INR 4,904 million in Q1 FY 2023. EBITDA grew by 84% YoY to INR 1,359 million versus INR 738 million in Q1 FY 2023, on account of impressive revenue growth as well as continued cost control, including softening of newsprint prices. During Q1 FY 2024, newsprint prices maintained a downward trajectory, and we expect this trend to continue.

We are pleased to report that our average cost for newsprint has decreased from the previous high of INR 63,500 / metric ton in Q2 FY 2023, to around INR 56,600 / metric ton in Q1 FY 2024. This reduction in cost provides us with a favorable position and enhances our financial outlook for the future. EBITDA margin expanded by an impressive 900 basis points to 24% from 15% in Q1 FY 2023. PAT for the quarter grew by 154% to INR 788 million versus INR 310 million in Q1 FY 2023. Overall, it has been a very encouraging quarter, and we remain committed to delivering high-quality content and engaging experiences through our print publications, ensuring that our readers continue to find value in Dainik Bhaskar.

Moving on to our digital business, which has been a key focus area and an important vertical in terms of future growth for our business. The company has been working hard to increase its loyal monthly active user base across its applications. Our teams continue to work on the digital apps to improve the engagement with users, and this is helping overall retention of our readers across all formats. Coming to the radio division in Q1 FY 2024, revenues grew by 16.2% to INR 372 million, versus INR 320 million last year. EBITDA grew by 23% to INR 115 million, versus INR 94 million. Through our ongoing initiatives at MY FM, we are working towards building brand visibility, delivering compelling content, and which will ultimately drive revenue growth.

We remain dedicated to providing the best possible experience for our listeners as well as advertisers as we continue to evolve and thrive in the ever-changing media landscape. With this, I would now request Mr. Girish Agarwal to update us on the operations. Over to you, Girish.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you, Pawan, and good evening, everybody, and thank you for joining us on this call. We are pleased to conclude the first quarter of fiscal 2024 with an outstanding performance by our team. Notably, the Indian newspapers industry is witnessing a significant upswing in advertising across various segments. Reputed agencies such as CRISIL peg this growth at about 15%-17%. Our strong performance reaffirms our position as a key player in the Indian print media industry, and we are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. It is worthwhile to share here that our print business has registered a growth of strong 24% YoY for last five quarters. If I have to see this year, quarter one and the four quarters of last year, then this YoY quarter-on-quarter growth is around 24%.

Advertisers, including education, real estate, government, jewelry, and health, have remained steadfast in their preference to use print as their preferred medium. In fact, I would like to mention here that during COVID, in the two years' time, we were hearing some comments about some advertising, especially real estate and education, shifting to digital. But I am happy to share with you that both these categories have shown a very good growth with us in last four quarters. Furthermore, I am pleased to share that the auto sector advertising is experiencing recovery, and we anticipate growth in the forthcoming quarters also. The print media continues to hold value for new-age digital sectors also. Lastly, on the cost front, as we have been highlighting, there are tailwinds being created in the form of, A, saving from our cost optimization measures, and most importantly, B, benefit from softening of newsprint prices.

This favorable trend is expected to yield furthermore significant benefits in the forthcoming quarters also. As Pawan has just said, that newsprint prices have further softened down. And especially if you look at the price range, which were earlier at 60+, has gone down to 56. So I think there is a sizable benefit which has come to us, and we expect the same to continue in the ahead quarters also. This is all from our side, me and my colleagues, and I would be very happy to respond to your queries now. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with the question- and- answer session. Anyone wishing to ask a question may please press star and one on your touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Pritesh Chheda from Lucky Investments. Please go ahead.

Pritesh Chheda
Analyst, Lucky Investments

Yes, sir, I have two questions. One, what is your outlook on the print ad growth for the current fiscal year and next, if you can share that. And my second question is, what is the progress, as an industry, about the content to be charged through the global apps like Google or Meta where I am seeing globally a couple of countries have actually passed a few bills with regards to that. So any update there would be very helpful.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Sure. Coming to your first question about the growth in the advertising. As I mentioned to you, our growth in last five quarters has been around 24% YoY. If you remember in the Q1 of last year, the number was 99%, but that was because the year before was COVID year. But in Q2, it was 27%, in Q3, 4%, Q4 was 16%, and Q5 has been a 15% growth. Considering this trend, I would expect this trend to further improve going forward. Coming to your second question on the social platforms paying for the news content. Industry has already gone to Competition Commission of India. They have heard all of us, and they are in the process of evaluating the petition, and I am sure they will soon come out with some positive results.

Pritesh Chheda
Analyst, Lucky Investments

So far, we are not being paid for the content, right?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

We have not been paid for content as such, but we have got some kind of remuneration coming from some of the platforms on various other things which we are doing with them.

Pritesh Chheda
Analyst, Lucky Investments

Okay. Is it a recent revenue generation, or it has always been there?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

No, it's a recent. In last two, three quarters, it started.

Pritesh Chheda
Analyst, Lucky Investments

Can you quantify that?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

If you remember, sir, we took the liberty of asking all our investors to allow us not to disclose the digital numbers for some more time.

Pritesh Chheda
Analyst, Lucky Investments

Okay.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Under that, I would request to allow us.

Pritesh Chheda
Analyst, Lucky Investments

No problem, sir. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Himanshu Upadhyay from O3 PMS. Please go ahead.

Himanshu Upadhyay
Analyst, O3 PMS

Yeah. Hi, good afternoon.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Good afternoon.

Himanshu Upadhyay
Analyst, O3 PMS

Yeah. Congratulations on good set of numbers.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you, sir.

Himanshu Upadhyay
Analyst, O3 PMS

My question was on the circulation revenue, which is 4% growth, which is 3.7% YoY. Can you give some breakup in how much was the growth because of pricing and what was the volume growth rate? Because I think the new revenue which would be coming to you on the digital, because you were doing that subscription experimentation also. So that will also come into circulation, so you may not be getting the right impression on 3.7%. So can you give on the base newspaper what is the circulation number?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

J ust to let you know, that in the quarter one last year, the circulation number was 41.89, and this year it is 42.16. So there has been almost a 1% growth in terms of circulation. That's number one. Number two, in the cover price from last year, INR 4.76, we have gone up to INR 4.84. That is another almost 2% growth there. So the 4% growth which has come in circulation, 3% has come directly from here only, sir.

Himanshu Upadhyay
Analyst, O3 PMS

Okay. Secondly, we had stated that last year when the prices were increasing, it still was time for us to raise advertisement pricing. Especially on the newspaper side. Do you think now the time is coming where we can take back the prices, what we would have reduced with COVID and after that?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Yes, sir, that's a very good question, and we as an organization are trying our best. We are seeing certain results also by taking those discounts. Largely, we have taken the discounts back, but I'm saying furthermore, how can we improve the yield? We all are working towards it, sir.

Himanshu Upadhyay
Analyst, O3 PMS

One more thing, the radio also has done pretty well for us. That 16% growth in the radio advertisement, what we are seeing, is it just occupancy? Because there was scope to improve the occupancy also or the?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

The large radio growth has come from the occupancy. They have not been able to improve the yield, but in the coming quarter, they are working on it.

Himanshu Upadhyay
Analyst, O3 PMS

What would be the current utilization in occupancy?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

I do not have it offhand, sir. We can supply you offline.

Himanshu Upadhyay
Analyst, O3 PMS

One just context on the larger thing.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Yes.

Himanshu Upadhyay
Analyst, O3 PMS

Some of the sectors, like consumption, what we are seeing is a slowdown in some of these sectors. Rural is still not doing very much. How are you seeing the businesses? Especially FMCG and some of these sectors. Are you seeing that advertisement increase? One important sector for us was the autos, which was not doing well because new models were not coming up and our new-

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

As you rightly mentioned, since our rural sector is slightly weak or not that strong, FMCG advertising with us is slightly soft. It is not improving. There are few segments which still need to be ramped up.

Himanshu Upadhyay
Analyst, O3 PMS

Autos, we are seeing a lot of new models come up in last few.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Auto, we have shown a growth of almost 30% in this quarter. We believe this will continue in the coming quarters because of the new launches.

Himanshu Upadhyay
Analyst, O3 PMS

Okay. Thank you. Because it was nowhere in the press release, so I was just searching how is it doing. Yeah. Thanks so much.

Operator

Thank you. A reminder to the participants, anyone wishing to ask a question, may please press star and one. We will move on to the next question. That is on the line of Riya from Aequitas Investments . Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Hello. Congratulations on good set of number.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you.

Speaker 6

I have a couple of questions. I was just checking the paper price trend. Import prices have fallen much more than the domestic prices. Do we have the flexibility of increasing import portion for our newsprint?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Currently what happened, Indian newspaper manufacturers follow the trend of the imported newsprint. Once this imported newsprint has gone down, from next quarter, you will see Indian newsprint also will be reducing their prices. So there's no need to shift the consumption pattern because they will also come to the same terms.

Speaker 6

Okay. What will be your current blended prices of paper?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

This quarter, we have done INR 56,600 / ton.

Speaker 6

We are seeing further trend of reduction.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Sorry?

Speaker 6

We are seeing continued further trend of reduction.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

We expect that another maybe INR 2,000 - INR 2,500 should go down in the next quarter.

Speaker 6

My second question would be with regards to the government or some new pricing policy which was supposed to be happening. Where are we on that?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Actually, you are asking a wrong person because I have no clue what they are doing. But as of now, from our side, nothing has been done. They have not announced anything to us yet. But I am sure they must be working on it.

Speaker 6

Okay. What is the government revenue for the current advertisement? What is the kind of growth are we seeing? Are we seeing it similar to the-

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Our government growth is much higher because if you remember last year, for some reason, certain governments were not advertising with us. This year, all of them are advertising. That is the reason why we see a disproportionate growth in the government revenue. I am sure from next quarter onward, that should get annualized number.

Speaker 6

Are we back to the time where we did not have issues, similar revenue in government?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Yes.

Speaker 6

As far as auto, are we back to pre-COVID levels?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Auto is growing. As I mentioned, 30% growth in this quarter, but I think auto has a long way to go.

Speaker 6

Okay. My last question would be regarding the press release says that you increased the cover price in Maharashtra and Bihar. Are we going forward seeing any trend of increase in cover prices in other geographies?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Not. Frankly speaking, no, because your cover price is already almost INR 4.84 . Maybe INR 0.03, INR 0.04 , INR 0.05 margin because of Maharashtra and Bihar will come in, but nothing more.

Speaker 6

Okay. So whatever growth going forward will be volume growth, which would be 1%-2%?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Yes.

Speaker 6

Right. In terms of digital, I had a question that the press release you give the MAUs. Since March, our total or the entire Dainik Bhaskar Group has 14.2 million users. However, we see a slight decline to 13.4 million. If I just check the trend last January 2022, that was 17.2 million. Are we seeing a decrease in trend?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

For two reasons. As you remember, last time we mentioned to you that we are doing certain experiment on monetization in various pockets, number one. Number two, we are also ensuring that during this experiment, we are not doing any kind of promotions as such, because we want to grow and check the number based on 100% organic growth. That's the reason, slight number here and there, what's the difference you're seeing.

Speaker 6

Our experimentation revenue goes in our normal circulation advertisement?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Yes.

Speaker 6

Okay. Thank you. That's it from my side.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you.

Speaker 6

Wonderful call.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is on the line of Pradyumna Choudhary from JM Financial. Please go ahead.

Pradyumna Choudhary
Analyst, JM Financial

Yeah. Hi, sir. Congratulations on a great set of numbers. My question was primarily more on the newsprint prices side, more on the structural side, not really the near term. What I am trying to understand is what factors determine the newsprint prices and how volatile, like we have seen they have been quite volatile over the years. What really determines the volatility and longer term, what do you see in terms of outlook for the newsprint prices?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

As you would understand, newsprint is like a commodity. Though it is produced by limited mills, limited buyers, yet it is acting as a commodity. No one has a control over it, and there are multiple factors affecting it. What we saw last year, the dollar price impacting, the Russia-Ukraine war impacting it, the sea freight going up impacting it. As of now, what we are seeing that all these things are softening down, hence, the benefit is coming to us. Going forward, there could be further benefit coming because of some other reasons or some consumption in some other countries going down or some new mill coming up, or the mills, those who are making the brown paper shifting into white paper. There are multiple factors.

Pradyumna Choudhary
Analyst, JM Financial

But sir, if we remove this last couple of years, usually over a longer term, what are the major factors which determine the volatility? Also internationally, which countries supply the newsprint to India the most, which are the major contributors?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Russia is one country. Canada is another country which supplies. South Korea also does it.

Pradyumna Choudhary
Analyst, JM Financial

Nice.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Little bit Malaysia also supplies. I think it all depends on which company or which mill operating in which country has got more capacity. As you know, most of the newsprint mills have the option to convert into the brown paper also for the packaging industry. At the same time, depending on the demand from their local market also. I think if you see in last 10 years trend, we cannot say that one country, particular mill in that country continue to supply that kind of quantity. It depends on various internal and external factors.

Pradyumna Choudhary
Analyst, JM Financial

Okay. And the volatility part, apart from last couple of years where the freight and everything was an issue, the war was an issue. Usually over a longer term, what other factor determines the newsprint prices? I think by 2019, again, the prices had risen a lot. Back then, what was the reason?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Sir, largely what is known to us, we explained to you, but I think I will be very happy to engage in a conversation with you on this offline, to discuss this topic at more length.

Pradyumna Choudhary
Analyst, JM Financial

All right. Thank you so much, sir.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

All the best.

Pradyumna Choudhary
Analyst, JM Financial

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is on the line of Riken Ramesh Gopani from Capri Global. Please go ahead.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

Hi, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity, and congratulations for a great set of results.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

Sir, I wanted to firstly understand on the ad growth outlook that you shared. Basically, this quarter you have seen a 15%+ kind of a growth in the ad revenues. You see there being an improving, because I think one of the other participants also asked that the consumption is not necessarily showing any very strong trends as of now. What is your prognosis of the on-ground demand outlook? Of course, sectors like government and so on are showing growth rates are unique to us. Otherwise, what is your sense of the overall outlook in terms of demand, if you could maybe elaborate a little better on the advertising piece?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Sir, what is happening in last three state of ours, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, there are state assembly election happening in November of this year. Because of that, all the state governments are ensuring there are a lot of activities happening on the ground. They are offering a lot of benefits to the people of their state, at the same time doing lot of CapEx also. Because of that, obviously there is a disposable money increase in the market, and the convention of real estate, education, automobile has gone up in these states. That is what we are noticing. I think that is the reason why advertisers are advertising and taking the shares.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

Understood. In each of these core segments, which is real estate, education, auto, where is it that you are seeing now your overall business growing above the past peak, and where is it there is significant scope for improvement still compared to where you have seen the peak revenues in the past?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

I think automobile, FMCG, real estate are the categories where we believe that there's enough scope for improvement furthermore.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

Okay. Government also is sort of now back to its peak levels in the past, or it's still quite some time from there?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

It's there.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

It's there. Okay, got it. Broadly what I can understand or is fair to assume that overall at least the trajectory looks either improving or the way you planned out in the current quarter. Is that a fair assessment of the outlook and growth?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

I would agree with you.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

Got it. Just one more question that I have, which is on the case related to revenues from the global apps. If you could throw some more light in terms of where the current case is, what could be the timeframe within which any outcome might be reasonable to expect? Specifically from Google, what revenues would we be generating from players like Google today? If you could talk about that.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

The case is with the Competition Commission of India, and it will not be prudent on my part to do any kind of comment on that in terms of timing and all that, because it is sub judice. Coming to the second point of yours about the revenues of Google and all that, yes, we are getting some kind of revenue from them for different experiment, what we are doing in terms of advertising and other things with them. As we requested earlier, that on the digital front, we had requested all of you to allow us not to disclose a specific number for digital for some time, and you all had agreed that time. I would request the same again.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

All right, sir. Thank you so much for the answers.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is on the line of Anuj Sharma from M3 Investment. Please go ahead.

Anuj Sharma
Analyst, M3 Investment

Yeah. Thank you. A few data points. One is, what would be the contribution from top five segments, and what would be the growth on each of them versus last year?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Our top five segments remains the same largely, which is education, government, response, real estate, automobile, FMCG. These are the top five, six segment, those who stay with us. These segments largely contributes almost 65%-70%, I would say, of the total revenue.

Anuj Sharma
Analyst, M3 Investment

Okay. Is it possible to get individual breakup between these segments?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

We generally avoid this for the competitive purpose. I hope you will appreciate that.

Anuj Sharma
Analyst, M3 Investment

Sure. Second question is, our ad revenues, and congratulations, we have done well. What would be the breakup between volume and pricing? Is it add to edit or the volumes which have increased, or it is predominantly the pricing which has given us this benefit?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Sir, as of now, I would say is almost 80%, 90% volume and 10% only as the yield improvement. Our effort is that going forward, we should focus more on yield also.

Anuj Sharma
Analyst, M3 Investment

All right. In terms of scope of volume, since it is in our control that could expand, that is elastic, right? The volumes could be elastic.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Absolutely. Just to give you example, our number of pages in this quarter are 20.82, while last year it was 18.84. We increased the number of pages because we had more volumes than it was viable for us to carry.

Anuj Sharma
Analyst, M3 Investment

Okay. What would be the ad to edit ratio right now?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Ad to edit ratio we maintain to the same number, sir, which is 70/30 largely.

Anuj Sharma
Analyst, M3 Investment

Okay. See, one of the objectives of our earlier pre-COVID was circulation volume growth. Largely our growth is now coming from pricing, but do we still have ambition to have circulation volume growth or we are largely content with the current circulation levels? Some outlook over there will be helpful.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

We are very ambitious to grow the circulation. Our entire circulation sales team is deputed day in and day out for that only. I promise you, in the coming quarters you will see some advantage, sir.

Anuj Sharma
Analyst, M3 Investment

Okay. Lastly, on the app or the digital strategy, I do appreciate that you do not want to share financial numbers, but would there be some milestones which are not financial based or maybe some strategies which have worked, it will be helpful for us to understand where we are in the map and how long. This is not financial, but some understanding will be interesting.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Give us some more time, sir. I can only tell you, your company, your team is really working day in, again, very hard on that. We are creating milestones which you all will be proud of.

Anuj Sharma
Analyst, M3 Investment

Okay, I am sure. But lastly, is it a financial milestone we are waiting for to disclose more details? Some more time would be years or a few quarters, that also will be helpful. Because I think it could go on for longer. So any milestone that will be helpful, or is it a financial milestone or a circulation base which we are waiting for?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

We shall keep all your suggestions in mind, and we shall revert back to you at some appropriate time, sir.

Anuj Sharma
Analyst, M3 Investment

All right. Thank you again.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is on the line of [Yash R.] from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Good evening, sir.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Good evening, sir.

Speaker 10

Congratulations on a good set of numbers.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you.

Speaker 10

Just a couple of questions. I was going through consolidated financials, and I can see that versus the previous quarter, there is a slight reduction in the employee costs. What would that be attributed to?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Realization because of technologies.

Speaker 10

I am saying in the previous quarter it was around INR 103 crore, the employee benefit expense. This quarter is at around INR 100 crore. There is a slight drop. What would that be for?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

That is insignificant, frankly speaking, maybe some special incentive must be given, and that number does not count.

Speaker 10

Okay.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Not a substantial number.

Speaker 10

Okay. I could see that this time we had mentioned that the EBITDA for print has increased by around 93%. But where are we on the margins for the print business for this quarter?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Print business margin is at 26%, sir.

Speaker 10

26%. What about the EBITDA number that we are quoting?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Sir, our consolidated EBITDA, which has been given out, is INR 135.9 crore.

Speaker 10

Okay.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Which is a 24% margin, and the print margin is 26%.

Speaker 10

How much out of this thing, INR 136 crore, would be for the print?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

We don't disclose segments.

Speaker 10

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is on the line of Rishikesh Oza from RoboCapital. Please go ahead.

Rishikesh Oza
Analyst, RoboCapital

Hi, thank you for the opportunity.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Yes, sir.

Rishikesh Oza
Analyst, RoboCapital

Would it be fair to say that the current quarter margins should only go up for the rest of the year, given that newsprint prices are expected to go down further?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

I can assure you that your company and each and every person working for the company is working towards it.

Rishikesh Oza
Analyst, RoboCapital

Okay. Also, sir, any sense that you could please give on the revenue growth that you will be looking for this full year FY 2024?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

I mentioned earlier in the call that in the last four quarters, we have grown by almost 24% year-on-year, quarter-on-quarter. If you see the five quarters, even if I take out the first quarter, which was 99% growth, then also the growth has been pretty good. I think we will maintain those numbers.

Rishikesh Oza
Analyst, RoboCapital

Okay, so are we looking at a 20% growth for this full year? + 20%.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

We have done 99% in quarter one, in quarter two we did 27%, in quarter three we did 4%, in quarter four we did 16%, and in this quarter we have done 15%. We are working hard towards the same and how we can improve from here.

Rishikesh Oza
Analyst, RoboCapital

Okay. Also, sir, my next question is regarding the yields. Compared to the pre-COVID yields, what yields are we doing currently?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Sir, I can only say that we are not too far from the pre-COVID yields, but the efforts are to see how we can cross that also. First of all, to achieve that number and then cross it.

Rishikesh Oza
Analyst, RoboCapital

Okay. That was helpful, sir. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is on the line of Tushar Sarda from Athena Investments. Please go ahead.

Tushar Sarda
Analyst, Athena Investments

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you.

Tushar Sarda
Analyst, Athena Investments

I wanted to understand your strategy on digital. While you have said that you will not disclose numbers, what are you trying to do in digital in terms of getting users and on monetization kind of things? How do you make the users stay? How do you attract them? If you can elaborate a little bit on that would be very helpful.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

So far, our strategy in digital is to acquire more and more customers, those who can come start their day with us, stay with us during the whole day, get the entire news update from us, and at some appropriate time, they should also be willing to pay for it. That's the-

Tushar Sarda
Analyst, Athena Investments

Hello.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

That's the strategy, sir.

Tushar Sarda
Analyst, Athena Investments

No, that I understand. But if you can elaborate on specific steps that you are doing to attract the user and to make them stick with you. For example, The New York Times came out with this crossword separate section, and then people start doing crossword and then go to the paper kind of thing. So if you have some model in mind or your own strategy, if you can elaborate, it will be very helpful to understand as to what you are exactly trying.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Sir, we took the liberty from all of you that we will not be disclosing anything about the digital for some time in terms of competitive space around, and you all kindly agreed for that.

Tushar Sarda
Analyst, Athena Investments

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. A reminder to the participants, anyone wishing to ask a question, may please press star and one. The next question is on the line of Naman Dhanuka , an investor. Please go ahead.

Naman Dhanuka
Shareholder, Private Investor

Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Congratulations on a great set of operational numbers. Could you just help me with the cash a nd equivalence that you have currently on the books.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

INR 648 crore is the cash bank and mutual fund investment put together in the company, sir.

Naman Dhanuka
Shareholder, Private Investor

And operationally, the company has been doing very well. But if you could just help me understand the capital allocation strategy. We have been given a regular dividend payout.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Yes.

Naman Dhanuka
Shareholder, Private Investor

But the last buyback the company did was five years ago at INR 340 a share. That was a INR 300 crore buyback, sir. And the company has clearly demonstrated that they created a lot of value. So any plans to do a buyback?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Sir, our payout ratio for the last year was 63%. We gave INR 6 dividend. And today also, board was considerate enough to announce an interim dividend of INR 3. So if you look at our payout strategy over a period of last 10 years also, you will find the numbers in the same trajectory there. So that is what we will continue to do so.

Naman Dhanuka
Shareholder, Private Investor

Right. No, but still this is a substantial amount of cash to hold, considering we do not have any major CapEx or anything coming about.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

I will certainly pass on your observation to the board in the next meeting, sir.

Naman Dhanuka
Shareholder, Private Investor

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is on the line of Riken Ramesh Gopani from Capri Global. Please go ahead.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

Hi, sir. Thank you for allowing the follow-on question. Just one question that I had is on the operational efficiencies that we have brought in, if you could throw some light on. If you look at the overall other expenditures also, on a YoY basis, they have actually grown very low. I am assuming there must be some efforts that you have put in to drive some cost savings here. If you could elaborate a little bit more on that and how could this shape up for the period going forward.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

So sir, most of our operational cost, as we remember in last three, four years we did that. I am very glad to say that most of the cost saving what we did during COVID has almost kind of became permanent. Nothing was done as a knee-jerk reaction or a short-term as such. Most of them is a permanent cost saving. But at the same time, since the organization has to run, people has to grow in the organization, and the market costs of every operating thing is going up. That is the cost impact which will come to us also. For example, company has announced the increment for the sales. Our entire employee cost will go up from July 1st. So the revision which is going to happen. That will come on to us. And some regular cost improvement or cost increase will happen.

But at the same time, we are continuing to see that where all we can further bring down the cost so that we are able to minimize both.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

Right. Got it. And just lastly, in terms of the other income, which you have reported, I think total other income in the quarter of about INR 19 crore. So, given the cash levels, it looks like a relatively high. So what all would be there driving? Because this has also grown pretty strongly. If you could elaborate a little on this.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

This would be, sir, some FD income actually, and paper waste sale and all that.

Pawan Agarwal
Deputy Managing Director, DB Corp

Event income.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

And little bit of event income also.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

Okay. This is like a more, you think it's a sustainable number on a quarterly basis? Because you used to do INR 7 crore, INR 8 crore last year, kind of a sustainable recurring number, and that grown pretty sharply. It's only driven by the amount of money that is there in FD rates or any other factors?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

This has some event income, sir. This also includes the job work done by the company. As you know, most of our printing plants are doing a job work during the day, wastage sale and all that. So that's the number, sir.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

Sir, any outlook you could share on this as to, is this a more sustainable number or how should we look at it?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Sir, frankly speaking, this is a wastage. Generally, what happens, wastage we pile up and we sell it depending on whether the market rate is good to sell. This is not a very significant number. Plus, this is not a kind of a revenue source for us. This is like a by-product. To be very honest, we don't forecast this as a number for growth and all.

Riken Ramesh Gopani
Analyst, Capri Global

Got it. Thank you so much, sir.

Operator

Thank you. A reminder to the participants, anyone wishing to ask a question may please press star and one. We'll move on to the next question. That is on the line of Ananya Khanna from Alpha Alternatives. Please go ahead.

Ananya Khanna
Analyst, Alpha Alternatives

Hi, sir. Congratulations on a wonderful quarter.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Ananya Khanna
Analyst, Alpha Alternatives

Sir, you have a flourishing digital segment along with a well-established print one. Isn't that largely cannibalistic? Is there a certain kind of rationale here that we're missing? How does the presence of the two verticals under the same umbrella impact your segment-wise profit and growth figures as well as the overall revenue generation model? Could you talk a little about that?

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

I can only explain to you there's nothing called cannibalization here.

Ananya Khanna
Analyst, Alpha Alternatives

Okay.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

People read paper in the morning, then they go to the app to keep them abreast during the day because a lot of happening during the day. We don't see this as a cannibalization at all. The organization is working parallelly on both the growth print as well as the digital.

Ananya Khanna
Analyst, Alpha Alternatives

All right. What would be your per unit realization for both the verticals? If you don't mind sharing those.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

We actually took the liberty from investors not to disclose any digital number till the time it achieves some size. You all had agreed to do that.

Ananya Khanna
Analyst, Alpha Alternatives

All right, sir. Understandable. Thank you.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, that was our last question. I now hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.

Pawan Agarwal
Deputy Managing Director, DB Corp

Thank you everyone for your participation and time on this earnings call today. I hope we've responded to your queries, and we'll always be happy to be of assistance through our investor relations department, headed by Mr. Prasoon Kumar Pandey, for all your further queries. Thank you and have a great evening.

Girish Agarwal
Non-Executive Director, DB Corp

Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you, members of the management team. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of DB Corp Limited, that concludes this conference call. We thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.