WWIL And Zee News List On Stock Exchanges; Subhash Chandra Talks About Plans

Demerged businesses from the Zee group – Wire and Wireless India Ltd (WWIL) and Zee News listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs.80 and Rs.50 (at a face value of Re.1) respectively. At present, Zee news is trading down at Rs.36.85 on the BSE, while WWIL is up at Rs.122.50. Chairman Subhash Chandra spoke to CNBC-TV18, and I took a few notes:
Chandra said that WWIL currently has 1 million paying subscribers as an MSO and the outflow to paid channels is 90 to 95 percent. WWIL intends to take 60 percent of the consumer spread, and is targeting 12 million subscribers paying directly to WWIL over the next 5 years, with an ARPU of Rs.600 each. For the end of the year, they are targeting 2 million subscribers at an ARPU of Rs.400 each. WWIL has installed 155,000 of the total 300,000 set-top boxes deployed so far, and is targeting 50 percent market-share of the CAS deployment. They’re not on a general acquisition spree, Chandra added, but have set aside Rs.200 crore for strategic acquisitions, of which Rs.75 crore has already been utilized. There are no plans for raising capital, as of today: WWIL has raised Rs.3.5 million in debt, and has no plans to raise capital over the next 3 to 4 months.
He also said that Zee News will close books at the end of the financial year with a revenue of Rs.180 to 200 crores, with exisitng business having 30% margins, but further investments in new channels are planned.
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