Jagran Prakashan Ltd, publisher of Dainik Jagran, India’s most read newspaper, today touched a 52-week-high price of Rs98 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after it posted the first strong results by a print media firm in several quarters. Jagran reported net income of Rs49.51 crore–the highest in its history–for the quarter ended 30 June, up 56% from the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
Advertising revenue grew 14.94% to Rs160.92 crore, while operating revenues grew 12.29% to Rs231.87 crore. Subscription revenue was up 14.09% at Rs54.52 crore. Total expenditure grew 5.16% to Rs173.72 crore. It must be noted that there is a nearly 150% growth in other income to Rs15.66 crore. CFO R.K. Agarwal told contentSutra that the higher other income includes Rs4 crore in gains from foreign exchange fluctuations and about Rs5 crore in higher treasury income. Net of this growth in other income, bottom line growth is about 30%.
“Jagran has immediately benefited from the drop in newsprint prices as they did not have expensive inventory stocked up and could immediately switch. There have been some benefits of election spending as well,” said Anand Shah, analyst at Mumbai brokerage Angel Broking Ltd, who has upgraded the Jagran stock to an ‘accumulate’ recommendation with a target price of Rs108 from a ‘neutral’ recommendation. “Local advertising is still growing and has not been as badly hit as metro advertising. In Q3, we should see even better results,” Shah added.
Jagran scrip rose 7.82% to close at Rs96.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

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