Jagran Prakashan Limited announces Q3FY09 results

In Q3 FY09, revenue from non-publishing activities (out of home advertising, event management and SMS) was Rs. 17.22 crores as against Rs. 16.98 crores in Q3 FY 08, an increase of about 1.41% over corresponding quarter.

During the quarter, one more edition of City Plus was launched at Pune, taking total number of editions of City Plus to 13. 

Commenting on the performance of the company for the quarter ended 30^th December 2008, Mr. Mahendra Mohan Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, JPL said,

“This quarter registered the lowest growth in revenue in past many years due to a difficult economic scenario, which has unexpectedly deteriorated further since November 2008. Lower growth in revenue coupled with high newsprint cost resulted in fall in profitability.

However, these difficult times have helped us in taking increase in cover price from last week of December 2008, which was overdue but would perhaps not have been possible otherwise. This phase has also made us give a fresh look to our cost structure and take steps to cut cost wherever possible and become more efficient and competitive, which will benefit the company in long run.

I am glad that the company continues to maintain its position in most of its markets and significantly improve it in remaining markets as per recent IRS survey. As per survey,  I-Next, which was covered for the first time, has gained sizable readership numbers in a short span of time. 

For the next year, we are preparing ourselves and working on strategies to minimize the impact of slowdown and I am confident that once there is a bit certainty in economic environment, the company will again be in double digit growth trajectory.”    

About Jagran Prakashan Limited

Jagran Prakashan Limited is a leading media house of India which publishes Dainik Jagran, India's largest read daily with a total readership of 55.75 million readers (IRS 2008 R2). It was also voted the most credible and trusted newspaper in India, according to a survey by Globscan, conducted in 10 of the world's leading countries, including the US, UK, Germany and Russia.

Established in 1942, Dainik Jagran was the brainchild of the Indian Freedom fighter, Late Shri Puran Chandra Gupta. Dainik Jagran is now published in 37 editions across 11 states from 30 different facilities. The company also launched I-next, the first ever bilingual newspaper in the country in December, 2006 now published in 9 editions and also has an English Infotainment paper called City Plus now published in 13 editions. The group publishes Sakhi, a monthly magazine targeted at women. The group also publishes Jagran Varshiki, an annual general knowledge digest, and various national and state statistical compilations.

Jagran Engage provides specialized 'Out of Home' advertising services with a Pan-India footprint. Jagran Solutions provides below the line activities like promotional marketing, event management and on ground activities having pan India presence. The company has Hindi news portal in association with Yahoo India, www.in.jagran.yahoo.com and the company’s division J9 provides IVR/AVR/SMS services through its short code service 57272 and besides initiatives in digital businesses.

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