MUMBAI: Shree Ashtavinayak, which is into production, distribution and exhibition business, has posted a net profit of Rs 141.5 million (Rs 14.15 crores) for FY07 as compared to Rs 75 million (Rs 7.5 crore) in FY06. This is an increase of almost 90 per cent.

The company sales increased 60 per cent this year to stand at Rs 970 million (Rs 97 crores) as compared to last year’s Rs 610 million (Rs 61 crores).

“This year close to 70 per cent of our revenues came from production, 28 per cent from distribution and the rest from exhibition and others,” says Ashtavinayak managing director Dhilin Mehta.

On the production front, Shree Ashtavinayak released two of their movies namely Bhagam Bhag and Golmaal, which contributed to the revenues.

“Production has been the main revenue driver for us and going forward, it will be the key segment of our focus and investment. We have four – five films lined up for release this year, which will see some top actors like Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar and Govinda amongst others,” Mehta adds.

Plans are to pump in approximately Rs 25 – 30 crores per film on an average. “However the budget of all the movies will not be in this range,” adds Mehta.

Shree Ashtavinayak is also gearing to enter the Tamil movie production space. “Later this year, we are also planning to enter into Tamil movie production. However, at this point in time I won’t be able to divulge more details,” says Mehta.

The company has signed directors like Sanjay Gadhvi, Imtiyaz Ali, Rohit Jugraj and Neeraj Vora.