Mumbai: Moser Baer India reported a net loss of Rs 1039.8 million for FY 2008-09, as against a net loss of Rs 717.2 million in the last quarter of 2007-08. The net loss includes a loss of Rs 282.7 million on account of the adverse movement of foreign exchange.
The company’s gross revenue stood at Rs 4957.9 million, as against Rs 4,866.3 million in the preceding quarter. EBITDA for the quarter is Rs 534.6 million translating into an EBITDA margin of 10.8 per cent. The company has reported an impetus in the Blu-ray format in the optical media business, withadvanced formats, including Blu-ray, accounting for nearly six per cent of revenues.
Shipments grew by 9.3 per cent over the preceding quarter a likely precursor to an early revival of pricing.
Moser Baer India executive director Ratul Puri said, "The global economic environment in which we operated was challenging and we had to deal with a number of one time costs during the quarter. Pricing for optical media after falling for a number of quarters has finally bottomed out. We stand to benefit from our lead technology positioning in Blu-ray, which is emerging as a dominant optical format. Our photovoltaic and entertainment businesses are poised to deliver significant growth during the current year and our goal is to emerge as a leading global player in both industries."
Moser Baer India group chief financial officer Yogesh Mathur said, "Our cash flow situation continues to be positive with efficient management of working capital aimed at optimizing productivity and efficiency. Capex intensity has fallen significantly while productivity has gone up."
On the entertainment front, Moser Baer Entertainment joined hands for three Tamil films with Sony BMG. The two companies bought three Tamil under-production films namely Raman Thediya Seethai, Puthiya Vaarpugal and Poo, which are scheduled for release from August onwards.
Additionally, Moser Baer also acquired the entire home video catalogue of Sony BMG, which comprises titles such as Jannat, Rang De Basanti, Guru, Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham, amongst others.
The entertainment business aims to grow and consolidate the home video landscape in the country by acquiring home video rights to film content. The division has released about 60 per cent of the 10,000 home video titles it has acquired across multiple languages.
Currently, the entertainment business has two Hindi and five Tamil films under production. All seven are to be released over the next two quarters.
The first quarter saw the entertainment business consolidating its pan-India distribution presence and increased focus on content aggregation. Plans are also afoot to hive off the entertainment division into a seperate company.
The company’s photovoltaic subsidiary received TUV certification for crystalline silicon modules, which benefits the company’s market position and should result in enhanced revenues. The company signed a long-term contract with the Hamburg based Colexon Energy AG, a system integrator for turnkey solar power plants for the delivery of solar modules of a total of over 130MW until the year 2012.
The photovoltaic subsidiary also successfully commenced production of panels using thin film technology. It is the largest module of its kind in the world manufacturing state-of-the-art Generation 8.5 panels.
