Media giant JPL profits rise by 56% to €7.4m

MULTI-DISCIPLINED Indian media giant Jagran Prakashan Ltd (JPL) – in which Independent News & Media (INM) holds a 13.5% stake – has reported a 56.4% year-on-year increase in first-quarter after-tax profits to €7.4 million.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) came in at €10.6m, for the six months to the end of June, representing an annualised increase of 42%. Advertising revenue hit €24.2m for the quarter, up on a year-on-year basis, by 14.9%.

Mahendra Mohan Gupta – JPL’s chairman and managing director – summed up the quarter as “very heartening, as it posted the highest profit in the history of the company”.