NDTV to sell some of its strategic assets
New Delhi Television or NDTV Ltd has notified BSE and NSE as per the Company's Code of Conduct for Prevention of Insider Trading, that it would close its trading window as it has convened a board-meeting to discuss the potential sale of some of its strategic assets. However, there are no clear indications of what the firm is mulling on selling as of now.
NDTV's main assets as of now
Channel-wise, NDTV owns NDTV 24X7, NDTV India and NDTV Profit, and lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times. Its online portfolio consists of e-commerce portal for ethnic wear (IndianRoots.com), automobile news portal (CarAndBike.com), gadgets and tech review portal (Gadgets360.com), health foods vertical (SmartCooky.com) and a wedding website (BandBaajaa.com) which covers everything related to Indian weddings.
Valuation of its online assets as of now
NDTV's gadget wing aka Gadgets 360 has been valued around $50 million. CarAndBike which deals with automobiles stands at a $30 million valuation. Bandbaajaa, its online portal on weddings stands at $20 million and its food vertical SmartCooky has an estimated valuation of nearly $12 million. IndianRoots, which is the vertical dedicated to ethnic wear, was valued at around $85 million in 2015.
Reason behind the sale of assets
In its December quarter, the firm showed a Rs. 18 crore consolidated net loss compared to the Rs. 13crore loss in the previous year. Its news channels had managed to generate Rs. 108 crore, falling from Rs. 130 crore during the same period last year. The firm cited the losses were due to a dip in advertising revenue that had risen out of demonetization.
Current viewership status on its news channels
Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India released television viewership rating puts NDTV's flagship English-language news channel NDTV 24x7 at number three with 3.28 lakh impression. The top spot was taken by Times Now and the second spot belonged to India Today television channel. Despite high ranking, the firm has been struggling for some time to up its revenue stream from the same.
What could be the possible outcome
Although, the broadcasters have given no inkling on what assets it may sell but a sale is inevitable to stable their balance sheet. It is highly unlikely that they will sell some of their high performing portals like Gadgets 360 or their flagship channel but chances are lesser performing verticals like SmartCooky or even NDTV Good Times can be up for grabs.
