MUMBAI: Pyramid Saimira Theatre will be listing its film production arm – Pyramid Saimira Production International Ltd, on the Indian bourses within two – three months.
Pyramid Saimira Theatre chairman and managing director P S Saminathan says, "We are planning to list in two – three months’ time and raise up to Rs 18 billion (Rs 1800 crores)."
Pyramid Saimira Production International will be investing a sum of Rs 750 million (Rs 75 crores) for various projects. Pyramid Saimira has as many as 52 films lined up for the next 12 months. The company has also announced the production of the first 10 Tamil films this fiscal year. A total investment of Rs 350 – 400 million (Rs 35 -40 crores) will go towards the production of these 10 films. A total of 24 Tamil films are in the pipeline from the company.
The company is also expecting its top-line to grow by 50 – 60 per cent next year from the present Rs 10 billion (Rs 1,000 crores), Saminathan informs.
When queried as to how much the production business would contribute to the top-line of the company, Saminathan says, "We expect the film production business to contribute about Rs 6 billion (Rs 600 crores) to our top-line."
As of now, the holding company – Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd – is listed on the stock market. "We plan to list all our companies. However, the immediate one to list will be our production arm," Saminathan says.
The company will be investing Rs 25 billion (Rs 2500 crores) across different verticals, of which the major chunk will go to film distribution business. The other areas will be production, overseas expansion and acquisitions," he added.
Additionally, the company will be investing Rs 1 billion (Rs 100 crores) in its food and beverage (F&B) division over the next one year. The company expects the F&B division to contribute close to 25 per cent of its top-line.
Pyramid Saimira Group also inaugurated its food court at TDI Mall in New Delhi. Speaking at the launch of the food court, Saminathan said, "We are evolving into a full scale food chain and our food offering also will focus on 360 degrees expansion from canteens in screens, food courts in theatrical locations, high street restaurants, institutional catering etc. As a practice, we scale up in an aggressive manner and in just three months of start, we are inaugurating our second food court in the North India. We will be investing close to Rs 100 crores in the F&B division, over the next year and we expect that this will contribute close to 25 per cent of our top-line. We will be scaling up operations extensively in the NCR, and Delhi is a pivotal market for us. With increase in disposable income of consumers, rapid urbanization, and increasing popularity of convenience foods, food and beverage sector is expected to grow at an incredible pace and Pyramid Saimira will capitalize on this boom."
