The burden of higher taxes coupled with employee expenses has eaten into the profits of South Indian television network Raj TV Limited.

The company’s PAT was down 36.8 per cent in FY-2015 to Rs 8.16 crore (9.9 per cent of Total Income from Operations or TIO) as compared to PAT of Rs 12.91 crore in the previous fiscal.

Raj TV’s PAT in Q4-2015 at Rs 2.64 crore (11.5 per cent of TIO) was more than double (2.63 times) the PAT of Rs 1.01 crore (5.6 per cent of TIO) in the corresponding quarter of last year (Q4-2014) and was 26.7 per cent more than the Rs 2.09 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q3-2015.

Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

The company paid higher taxes in FY-2015 at Rs 4.81 crore as compared to the Rs 2.98 crore in the previous year. Tax expense in the current quarter stood at Rs 5.09 crore as compared to a mere Rs 0.06 crore in Q4-2014 and a tax credit of Rs 1.71 crore in Q3-2015.

Raj TV’s employee benefit expense (EBE) in FY-2015 at Rs 22.9 crore (27.8 per cent of TIO) was 30.1 per cent more than the Rs 17.6 crore (22.2 per cent of TIO) in FY-2014. In Q4-2015, EBE at Rs 5.87 crore (25.5 per cent of TIO) was 24.8 per cent more than the Rs 4.74 crore (26.5 per cent of TIO) in Q4-2014 and 3.7 per cent lower than the Rs 6.09 crore (30 per cent of TIO) in Q3-2015.

The company’s trade receivables in the current year declined to Rs 58.27 crore as compared to the Rs 62.06 crore in the previous year. At the same time, the company’s trade payables have risen to almost six-fold to Rs 2.63 crore as compared to Rs 0.43 crore in the previous year.

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