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Sri Adhikari unveils growth plans

NetScribes/Rajiv Banerjee

Sri Adhikari Brothers (SAB) is expecting a sharp jump in revenues during the second quarter of the current financial year. The improved performance is seen coming from strategic tie-ups, better programming and increased revenues from Doordarshan.

At its annual general meeting in Bombay on Friday, the company said production revenues from Doordarshan would touch Rs 500 million this year against Rs 280 million last year.

The company also expects the rise in revenues to come from tie-ups such as the one it already has with Sri Lankan firm Sirasa TV, a part of the Maharaja Group. As per the tie-up, SAB will conceptualise and produce local programmes for the Sri Lankan channel.

"Sri Adhikari has earned Rs 10 million as receipt of net as on March 2000 from the joint venture. We estimate Rs 10 million as receipt of net this year," an official from Sri Adhikari Brothers Ltd told NetScribes. SAB has a 60:40 revenue-sharing agreement with Sirasa.

"The joint venture is a win-win situation for SAB as it will share the revenues both from the telecast of the programmes as well as from advertising," says Avinash Gorakshakar, an analyst at Emkay Shares and Stock Brokers.

The company is also expecting higher revenues from the dubbing business. SAB has a large video library at its disposal, which can be used to dub and export programmes on a large scale. Considering the relatively lower costs involved in post-production, the revenue margins from this business will be enormous.

On the programming front, the company has announced a slew of plans, including a game show on SABe TV to be hosted by Shekhar Suman of Movers and Shakers fame. The show is slated to go on air in October. SABe will also boast of a couple of new soaps in the coming months.

In fact, the Sri Adhikari scrip has been on the rise for a while now, on expectations of the positive moves by the company.

"The scrip was moving up because the markets were expecting some major announcements regarding game shows and soap operas on SABe TV," said Kalpesh Parekh, an analyst with Sushil Finance Consultants, a BSE brokerage firm.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the scrip ended Friday at Rs 384, down Rs 25.10 from its previous close. A total of 2,790 shares were traded at the counter.

"There is very little liquidity in the stock. The floating stock is very low," said Pawan Agarwal, analyst at stockbroker KR Choksey. The scrip is in the compulsory rolling segment on the stock exchanges and liquidity is very low in that segment.

On September 22, the scrip was at Rs 335.65. It rose steadily to touch Rs 394.80 on September 27 and Rs 409.10 on September 28.

"The scrip looks attractive in the long term. Once the money from all their projects starts coming in and once the company starts posting good growth figures, the market will react positively," said Gorakshakar.

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