Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is Aaditya Mulani from HT Media Group. I would like to welcome you all to our quarter three financial year 2025-2026 earnings webinar. As a reminder, all participants will be in listen-only mode. After we are through with the presentation, there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions. I now hand over to Ms. Anna Abraham, HT Media Group's Deputy CFO, Chief Financial Officer, HMVL, and Head, Investor Relations. Thank you, and over to you, Anna.
Thank you, Aaditya. Good afternoon, everyone. Warm welcome to our earnings webinar for the third quarter of the financial year 2025-2026. Joining me on today's call is Head of Financial Controllership and Taxation, Mr. Pervez Bajan, and members of our investor relations team. We will start the call with a brief presentation on the results of HT Media and Hindustan Media Ventures Limited, following which we will take any questions that may be there. Before we start, just a quick reminder that we do not give, provide specific guidance or projections and there is a disclaimer about any forward-looking statements. Coming to our Chairperson's message on the results for the quarter, and I quote, "The third quarter of the financial year saw the company make consistent operational progress characterized by stable top-line performance and a steady growth in overall profitability.
These results reinforce the effectiveness of our ongoing operational initiatives to strengthen our businesses. Our core print segment continues to demonstrate resilience, posting growth on both an annual and sequential basis. This performance was largely driven by strong growth in advertising, particularly in our English language titles, alongside steady circulation revenues. The combination of these gains and a disciplined approach to cost has translated into meaningful growth in profitability. The radio business continues to navigate a challenging market environment, where revenues and margins remain under pressure. Performance has remained stable on a sequential basis. The year-on-year revenue contraction is primarily a reflection of the high base effect from the previous year's event revenues. We are proactively recalibrating our business operations within radio to ensure the segment is better aligned with the current industry dynamics. Our digital business delivered a strong performance during the quarter, with revenues rising and margins improving.
This trajectory validates our commitment to scaling our digital-first offerings while maintaining a clear path towards profitability. Looking ahead, we remain focused on sustaining the momentum seen this quarter across our business portfolio. By leveraging the enduring strength of our established print mastheads, recalibrating our radio offerings, and further scaling up our new age digital platforms, we continue to reinforce our commitment to delivering trusted journalism and high-quality content to our diverse audience." End of quote. The slides cover the agenda for the day. We will start with a brief overview of the consolidated performance, followed by the business unit performance on print, radio, and digital. Coming to the consolidated performance. Revenue was stable on an annual basis and improved sequentially. There has been improvement in margins. The cash position continues to remain robust.
We reported a total revenue of INR 532 crore, which was flat versus last year and 7% growth sequentially. EBITDA came in at INR 51 crore and a margin of 10%, which saw an EBITDA improvement of 9%. PAT before exceptional is at INR 17 crore with a margin of 3%, and net cash remains robust at INR 945 crore. Similar number as was reported last quarter. Coming to business unit performance and starting with print and print English. Print overall saw positive momentum with sequential gains led by the uptick in ad revenue coupled with resilient circulation base. There is also a healthy margin expansion seen for this segment. Ad revenue came in at INR 301 crore, which is an 8% growth versus last year. A marginal decline versus the previous year, basically because of festive shift. Otherwise, it has been healthy revenue numbers for the quarter.
Circulation numbers came in at INR 53 crore, which is holding steady. Outputting an overall operating revenue of INR 395 crore, which is about 2% growth. Operating EBITDA for the print business came in at INR 60 crore, which is a 15% margin versus 11% margin we had the previous year. Coming to print English. Advertising revenue on a YoY basis was almost flat for English print. As I mentioned, this is despite the change in festive days this year versus last year. Last year, all the festive was in quarter three. This year it got split between quarter two and quarter three. Despite that, English came with a good advertising revenue number of about INR 179 crore, which is also a sequential growth of 16%. Circulation revenue remains steady on a sequential basis and on an 8% growth on a YoY basis. Coming to print Hindi.
Hindi saw a marginal decline of 4%. Again, this is basically base effect. Otherwise, it has been strong. Even on a sequential basis, it is kind of flat. Circulation revenue at INR 38 crore is holding steady even for Hindi. Coming to radio. Radio is seeing a big drop in revenue to INR 34 crore, which is primarily driven by the high base effect from a big event that we had in the base. Sequentially, you can see it is a 5% revenue movement with operating EBITDA holding at about a INR 5 crore loss number. Digital, there is significant growth on a YoY basis with operating revenue coming in at INR 67 crore and at 30% growth. Sequentially also, there is a 9% growth. The segment is reporting losses at INR 23 crore, but margins have significantly improved both on a sequential as on a YoY basis. We can now open the floor for questions.
Over to you, Aaditya.
Thank you, Anna. We will now begin the Q&A session. You can click on the Raise Hand option, which will enable the moderator to unmute you for posing your query. Please introduce yourself before posing your query, and kindly restrict to a maximum of two to three questions per participant so that we may be able to address questions from all participants. Also, as is the ambit of this call, please be mindful to pose questions pertaining to the listed entity, HT Media Limited, and those within its consolidated structure. We will wait for a few moments while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of [Yash R]. Please introduce yourself and ask your question.
Yeah, hi.
Yes. [Yash], now you are audible. Yeah.
I was just trying to make a sense of the numbers, particularly for the print segment. Hello?
Yes, [Yash]. You are audible.
My first question is with regards to the revenue. Now, on a consolidated basis for the print segment, there has been an uptick in other operating income because circulation and your ad revenues are relatively flat. What has happened over there for both English and there seems to be an uptick in HT Media as well.
Yeah. Other operating revenue has seen some uptick, while the ad revenues and circulation revenues remain flat. Of course, there are quite a few components of that, job works, scrap and all that which comes in there. Additionally, there is also a forfeiture that we get from my AFE benefits as well.
Okay. Which has contributed more? Is it the outside work or is it the forfeiture which might be a one-time thing?
Forfeiture tends to be a little bit consistent. Of course, quarter-to-quarter there could be a vary testing, but it is a part of our standard operating arrangement with regard to that particular business. It tends to be consistent. We have seen marginal upside across lines there.
I am sorry. It is still not clear. What has led to this uptick? Is it more of outside printing? Since you are saying that the forfeiture is more or less consistent.
More outside printing and forfeiture has seen an uptick.
Okay.
I was reacting to your comment saying that forfeiture is one time. As in some level tends to happen every time.
Okay.
Sometimes it could be a little plus or minus, but it is a consistent.
Okay. Now coming to the HT English part. The revenue, I believe, has gone up by around INR 7 crore, but the operating profit has gone up by around INR 17 odd crore. The savings in DBC, I think, are around hardly any INR 2 crore or INR 3 crore. So what has led to the reduction in cost, which has driven up the profitability of HT English?
English, there is price growth, and therefore that automatically improves margins. Newsprint continues to be lower than last year. That also helps in margins. We have been very tight on all our discretionary spends as well.
Overheads is what you are talking about. I am sorry, discretionary spend. So that would be like promotion and all that.
Yes.
Okay.
You have one minute.
Yeah. Just one last question.
Yeah.
The HT Media staff costs, I believe, salary costs have gone lower as compared to previous year by around INR 3 odd crore. What is the reason behind it, though it is in line with what we are in Q2?
You are saying Q3 versus Q3, right? Just give me a minute.
Yeah.
There is some reversal which was there with regard to variable payout. That is partially the reason. And some savings in certain other kinds of business apart from print, which is down.
Apart from print. Okay. All right. Okay, that's about it from me. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of [Mehul Pathak]. Please introduce yourself and ask your question.
Can you hear me?
Yes.
Good afternoon, Anna. I don't know if Piyush is there or not.
He's not there on the call today.
Okay. No problem. I have a couple of questions. The first is, how are we using AI in all our businesses today, and what is the future impact of AI that we assess in our business? Is it going to be positive? Is it going to be negative? And financially, what will be the impact? If you can share some perspective.
[Mehul], I might not be the right person to share a perspective, but I will just touch on a couple of points as we share them. This is a very wide subject.
Anna, your voice is jarring a bit. I do not know whether it is my problem or a problem at your end.
I believe there is no problem that I am facing. It could be at your end, [Mehul], because we just got the confirmation from the other.
Okay, fine.
I said I'll try and touch upon it briefly because this is a very large conversation and I may not be the most competent person to address it completely. But multiple aspects, of course, there is a standard element of efficiency productivity that is applicable to all industries. On the content side, it can be a tool for our editorial setup, which we are utilizing very strongly. From an impact perspective, we've seen there's a lot of AI being used and one view is that could also put a high importance on credibility and trustworthiness of content, which puts us in a good position if that is the case because then that we are a trusted source of news and content. That's one perspective that's emerging.
There's also a certain regulatory framework that's been proposed by the government, which suggests that partners using AI will have to remunerate the original content providers in some manner, which also seems to be on the positive side. From our core newsprint business, we are seeing it as an enabler, which should help us expand into doing better offerings. Our credibility and trust factor puts us in a good position, and as regulatory environment evolve, we should see a lot more structure around the system.
Will it lead to massive productivity improvements and cost savings for us?
See, there is an element which every industry will see it, but I think the smarter ones are seeing about how do you make it a revenue opportunity and not just a cost efficiency. As with any automation, there will be some element which comes through, as we have seen in past cycles of any major technological change as well. But I think the larger opportunity is to see what can be done on the business and revenue side.
Okay. As an investor, I expect that at least the editorial part entirely can be done by AI, and massively, the people cost should come down. Anyhow, that is not my question. It is just a judgment call that I have.
Yeah. That is subjective because then what differentiates you? You have to stand with some differentiated proposition, otherwise there is nothing. It is like we have seen many waves of it. There was a time when aggregation of content was also positioned as a new wave, and post-COVID, we have seen that also go through its own cycle. Those are very subjective calls.
My second question is my understanding right that entire INR 39.9 crore of gratuity you have booked in the P&L for quarter three?
There is an exceptional item of about INR 41.4 crore which has been booked, and there is a note given in the results also to that extent, which is the impact of the new labour codes.
Right. Is it reasonable to expect that this will get adjusted in CTC next year for all the employees? Because at the end of it, the money has to come out from the business only. Is that a reasonable expectation?
I think, [Mehul], this labour code is a whole subject on its own, so difficult to address it over this call. But as you may know, the labor law, what has been done as of now is the draw up of the having liability based on the new laws, which is what the regulation requires us to do. Going forward, whatever is addressing is something which we will see after absorbing the overall cost of the business, keeping all perspectives of employees and stakeholders and the company in perspective. This is an evolving regulation, and all companies are struggling with it at this point. Yeah.
Okay. But our request to the board is that it should get adjusted next year. Otherwise, business is in no position to absorb additional costs like this.
This is an annual cost. This is an aggregated cost across the years for this thing. This is nowhere indicative of the future cost increase for any business. That’s a very nominal number. These exceptional items, as being reported by all the companies, are of a historical one.
Yes. But my expectation is that we—
Sorry to interrupt. May we request you to please fall back in queue for any follow-up questions.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder to all participants that you may use the Raise Hand option given on your screen if you wish to ask a question. The next question is from the line of [Kirit Shah]. Please unmute yourself, introduce yourself, and ask your question. Yes, [Mr. Kirit], you will have to unmute yourself, please. Okay, we will move on to the next caller. The next question is from the line of [Yash R]. Please unmute yourself.
Yeah. So my question is with regards to, are we seeing an uptick in the pricing compared to previous year? And how has it fared sequentially?
You are talking about ad pricing?
Ad pricing. Yes. Sorry, I was not specific.
Yeah. Both YoY and sequentially, we are seeing an uptick.
In the pricing? Okay. What about the copies? I see that the circulation revenue has gone down versus previous year for Hindi, and I believe that is the same, or there has been a slight uptick in the English part. What are the drivers behind it?
It is very marginal things that you have seen. In the last few similar times, there was competitive pressure, and there was therefore a lot in certain markets, and therefore, publications that were a little more copy circulation, but it did have its impact on pricing. This time it is now at a more reasonable level. If you see sequentially, it is holding flat as well. There are marginal shifts. These keep happening as market to market. There are some attempts to increase copies, et cetera. But overall, no issues. The pricing is holding, copies are holding, and circulation revenue has been steady.
Okay. All right. What about the newsprint rates? Do we have any update on that? Because there has been news in the market saying that prices are going to increase in the coming quarters, especially given the current geopolitical scenario.
Yeah. The market is indicating that there could be a potential shift in the newsprint. There is a gradual increase. Anyway, this commodity does move in cycles, and we went at the bottom of the cycle for some time. Currently, we are still below last year for the quarter and on a YTD basis. I think pretty much next quarter also, we are not expecting any major shift. We are reasonable covered till the first quarter of next year. Thereafter, we might see some upward move.
Do we have any plans to mitigate or shift this impact, be it increase in cover prices or probably mitigate it by increasing our ad pricing?
[Yash R], like I said, this has been a cycle, seeing many cycles. Everything that happens on that particular cycle, we will attempt to do consistently, including optimizing buys, optimizing mix of newsprint, controlling consumption, et cetera. Pricing will be a tougher part when priced in the Hindi markets for sure. Ad pricing historically never moved in that manner. But everything else that is possible will be done because this is actually as per these cycles in a certain period.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
Thank you. We will try [Mr. Kirit] again. He has raised his hand, and then we will move on to the next participant. [Mr. Kirit], please unmute yourself and ask your question. We are trying it one more time, [Mr. Kirit]. You can unmute yourself and ask your question. Okay, moving on to the next participant. The next question is from the line of [Shubham Jajodia]. Please unmute yourself and ask your question.
Hello.
Yes.
Am I audible?
Yes, you are.
Good afternoon. Last year in December, there was this deal that Meta did with some news publishers in the U.S. Are we expecting such kind of deals happen here as well? Have you guys been approached by Meta, any kind of AI companies, or are you guys seeing it as a viable and material potential revenue source for future? If that kind of opportunity does arise, do you guys seek to negotiate, as we are seeing kind of a change in the way our traditional platform is evolving in this AI landscape?
Yeah. I did kind of mention in my response to an earlier participant's question that government itself has today floated a proposal which requires platforms to compensate the original content creator for data used by them and which includes the AI participants.
Yeah. Are you guys actively pursuing such kind of deals yourselves? We are not seeing much uptick in our revenue growth. The stock performance has been very dismal. I mean, post-COVID, if you would see, there is not much growth that is coming. AI looks like a very good way to boost our revenues. What are you guys actively doing to boost some bottom line there?
We have conversations but it is not appropriate to share anything on this call.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you all. With this, we come to the end of the Q&A session. If you have any further queries, please reach out to the Investor Relations team. Our contact details are given in the investor presentation and are also mentioned on our websites. I now hand over to Anna for closing remarks.
Thank you, everyone. Thank you for participating in our online webinar. It has been a good nine months from an overall HT Media Group perspective, and we hope to continue this momentum and come back to you with a good set of numbers for the next quarter as well. Thank you once again. Have a good day.