Balaji Telefilms gets tuned again

Balaji Telefilms was trading near its day's high on Monday, compounding its strength over the recent sessions after a prior prolonged weak spell.

In mid-morning trades, the stock of the TV content maker gained 2.2% to Rs 67.30 on BSE. Its day's high was Rs 67.50. A total of 15,700 Balaji Telefilms shares were registered as volumes in an hour-and-a-half of trading.

The most recent trend of the scrip has been upbeat. From Rs 55.05 on 31 March 2003, the scrip has gained 22.2% to the current Rs 67.30.

But prior to that the stock fell, from a level of Rs 81 in early February 2003. The fall was accentuated late March 2003 amid rumours over the termination of its two frontline programmes from TV channel Star Plus . However, in a recent report, a domestic brokerage clarified that the BTL management had informed it that there was no truth in those rumours .

BTL's agreement with Star TV will ensure that it has at least four daily programmes on air over the next two years, insulating BTL from any considerable revenue losses over the period. Apart from the launch of new programmes (BTL launched four new programmes in Q3 of FY 2002-03, weekend programming on Star Plus will begin from Q1 of FY2003-04, daily soaps on Sahara TV will begin from Q2 of FY 2003-04), BTL will begin regional language programming in Malayalam and Bengali from Q2 of FY 2003-04. Overseas exploitation of its software library is also another growth avenue, analysts say.

For FY 2003, analysts expect BTL to report a 78% growth in sales to nearly Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) and a sharp 95% growth in net profit to Rs 57 crore.

Despite the drop in viewership, BTL's programmes continue to top rating charts.