Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is Aditya Mulani from the Extreme Media Group. I would like to welcome you all to our Q2 financial year 2026-27 earnings webinar. As a reminder, All the participants will be in listen-only mode. After we are through with the presentation, there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions. I now hand over to Ms. Anna Abraham, Extreme Media Group's Deputy CFO, Chief Financial Officer HMVI, and Head Investor Relations. Thank you, and over to you, Anna. Thank you, Aditya. Good afternoon, everyone. Season's greetings to all. Uh, welcome to IHT Media Group's Q2 earnings webinar. Uh, we have with us today the Group CFO, Mr. Piyush Gupta, Mr. Pervez Bajan, who's the Head of Financial Controllership and Taxation, and the members of our Investor Relations team. Uh, we trust you've had an opportunity to review the financial results of Hindustan Media Ventures Limited, which was announced yesterday, and those of HT Media Limited released earlier today. We will begin with a presentation covering the key highlights and financial performance for the quarter, following which we will open the floor for questions. The presentation slides along with the financial statements are available on the respective stock exchange platforms and under the Investor Relations section of our website. Starting with the presentation, kindly keep in mind the cautionary statement mentioned here. We would not be providing any forward-looking estimates. And would request that no reliance be placed on any, uh, such statements. Moving to the next slide, we share comments from our chairperson on the company's performance for the quarter. To quote, in the second quarter of the financial year, your company consolidated the gains made in the first quarter and grew its consolidated revenue year on year with improved profitability despite the shift in the festive season to the 3rd quarter this year. Print continued to anchor the company's performance with advertising revenue growing year on year across both our English and Hindi titles. However, higher newsprint costs compounded by the rupee's depreciation amid global uncertainty exerted some pressure on margins. These factors remain important considerations for the coming quarters. Our radio business revenue declined year on year and subsequently following the rationalization of our station network. This rationalization has strengthened our profitability and established a more sustainable operating base for the business. Digital operations recorded a modest sequential improvement in both revenue and profitability, reflecting the continued focus on a leaner portfolio and quality of earnings, with an emphasis on sustainable and profitable growth. As we enter the festive quarter, the company remains focused on strengthening its core businesses and maintaining financial discipline. Our endeavor remains to stay relevant in a changing media landscape. While balancing the interests of our audiences and shareholders. We thank you for your continued confidence and support. End of quote. Slide 4 presents today's agenda. We will start with an overview of our consolidated financial performance. This would be followed by updates on print, radio, and digital segments. At the conclusion of the presentation, we will open the floor for questions and answers. With that, I will now hand over to Piyush for the main presentation. Thank you, Anna. Uh, good afternoon, uh, dear friends. And Caesar's greeting to all. We'll be tracking the webinar. So on your slide, we have the consolidated financial summary. As you can see, uh, the total revenue at 497 is at 502, is a 5% growth on a YOY basis. EBITDA is a 26% growth at 88 crores. As a consequence, our EBITDA margins are at 17%. Versus 15% same period last year. Uh, as my colleague had pointed out, uh, you know, this is despite the festive shifting out by 20 days, uh, which obviously will be something that will be captured in the 3rd quarter result. And as a consequence, uh, went to 39 crores, uh, and PAT margins grew from 4% to 8%, and net cash remains a very healthy 930 crores. Uh, print performance on an annual basis. Both print English and Hindi grew, driven by advertisements. Margins softened as newsprint costs rose industry-wide. Just to give you a highlight, our operating revenues are at 386 crores, which is an 8% growth. Uh, if you break that down into English and Hindi, English grew by 5% and Hindi by 11%. Operating EBITDA is virtually flat, a decline of 6% which it shows here, which is primarily because of newsprint cost as articulated earlier and the revenue shifting out to the 3rd quarter. And the highlights are given at the bottom of the page. Uh, radio performance, as you are aware, and we have been pointing towards rationalization of the number of licenses based on profitability and viability. Uh, these FY— uh, 2nd quarter FY27 results are for the existing stations. So operating revenue came at 25 crores, uh, which is a decline of 23% because we've surrendered the stations. And operating EBITDA after many quarters is a positive 2 crores with a margin coming, uh, at about 9%. Uh, the digital performance at 28 crores, this is a decline of 30%. Operating EBITDA, however, is a breakeven to a slight positive 1 crore. Uh, with that, we come to the end of the presentation. We'd be happy to take any questions. Thank you, Piyush. We will now begin the Q&A session. You can click on the raise hand option which will enable the moderator to unmute you for posing your query. Please introduce yourself before posing your query and kindly restrict to a maximum of 2 to 3 questions per participant so that we may be able to address questions from all participants. Also, as always, as is the ambit of this call, please be mindful to pose questions pertaining to the listed entity HT Media Limited and those within its consolidated structure. We will wait for a few moments while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Yash R. Please introduce yourself and ask your question. Hi, uh, Piyush. Hi, Anna. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Yes, uh, so my first question is with regards to the advertisement revenue. Uh, so I was just going through the presentation that has been uploaded. And some changes, uh, there are no absolute numbers mentioned for advertisement revenue. Also, we've gone silent on circulation revenue or the percentage for some reason. So I'll begin with my question with regards to the ad revenue. What has led to this growth of 5% and 10% in my English and Hindi business? Oh, okay. So let me give you a high level. Yeah, so a couple of things here. One, uh, you know, from a market share point of view, both in Hindi and English markets, we've managed to consolidate a little bit. So, you know, we've got those volume gains. Also, if you remember, uh, the industry got a certain DAVP price increase last year, uh, now which has, uh, provided an impetus as far as the government revenue is concerned, which has contributed here. However, on the negative side, this number would have been higher had the Diwali period not shifted out by, uh, 20 days, uh, therefore landing in the third quarter. So I would say the big drivers are volume consolidation uh, basically holding or gaining on volume market share, and the pricing impetus primarily led by the government revenue. Okay, and this is— this holds true for both English and Hindi? Yes, yes, absolutely does. Okay, and, uh, what about the circulation revenue and what are the circulation numbers? Has there been any Number of copies that you sold during the quarter? Circulation is mostly flat. Primarily flat. Okay, and what about the revenues? Because I don't know, I mean, for what is the reason behind not showing as to whether how the revenues have performed for circulation revenue? I can give you the number. I mean, this is a new template. Circulation revenue, as we said, is exactly flat, but, uh, you know, as it was last quarter. Uh, same quarter last year, which is ₹54 crores. Oh, that's for English or Hindi? Consolidated, the entire print revenue or print circulation revenue is ₹54 crores. What about HML Hindi revenues? Same flat, same number as last year. comfortable zone relative to our competition in those markets. Also, we are cycling high newsprint, uh, pricing situation, so it's not where, uh, Except there is a need to, we would not unnecessarily push copies as well. Look, yes, I mean, on the copy side, I think we had a discussion last time. Now, copies, we are, we are in a very good position relative to our competition on a market-by-market basis. I mean, we definitely not going to boost the copies just for the heck of it. I think we were we are finding need to put additional copies, we are definitely announcing schemes and posting copies. But in this particular quarter that we are reviewing right now, I think the copies and the revenues have remained flat and it's in a comfort Okay. Okay, so revenue is also flat and our circulation copies have also remained the same. So any— are we trying anything to boost the copies, or I mean Okay, so I mean, that would also help with my DVC, curtailing my DVC spend in a way. What is DVC? Uh, that would be all my variable costs that I spent towards gathering those. Uh, at this point of time, variable cost, as you would have seen, is significantly high, which we've also mentioned in the deck. And, uh, because the rate position is, uh, uh, the rates are significantly higher than what it was last year. Um, we of, of course, uh, uh, it's a price, price-led growth, so that helps in managing the direct cost. And copies are holding, we are not investing behind new copies is all recent. And, uh, are we seeing any, uh, respite in the newsprint costs in the coming quarters? Well, they've plateaued at a certain level. We are not seeing any downward impetus at this point in time. But I believe they've already peaked out. Now, when will they come down? When will the currency ease enough? When will the, uh, global, uh, you know, seafare rates, etc., freight charges, etc., come down is a matter of conjecture at this point in time, but we believe it's already topped out. Okay, and just last question. I can see in the consol level, uh, the employee expense has come down versus previous quarter and also versus previous year. It's at around 95 versus 99 and 105 respectively. Any problem? Yeah, we have, uh, we've been on a cost rationalization program on all indirect, uh, cost, and therefore it is, uh, reflecting in that, uh, as you, you know, across quarters, I think we've consistently shown, uh, savings. Um, any marginal variations, uh, at the HML level or on a quarter-on-quarter is only if there are one-off of, uh, variable payout which have been reversed or timing differences in that. Otherwise, consistently, uh, the group has undertaken uh, certain cost rationalization of all indirect costs, including, uh, people. Uh, but I can see some, uh, increase in HMVL employee costs. I, I did mention that when I addressed the question itself, that some variation that you see in HMVL is only consequent to any variation in, uh, like one-off reversals in the base, etc. Because even HMVL, if you see it on an H1 basis, it's a flat to lower cost versus quarter on quarter, you'll see some variation. Okay, okay, all right, thank you. That's about it from my end. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohit Kumara. Please introduce yourself and ask your question. Yes, Mr. Mohit. Mr. Mohit, you are not audible. Uh, can you please speak up? Can you hear me please? Yes, yes, thank you. Yeah, so I was saying, uh, season's greeting firstly, and I have 2 questions. Both are only related to FMVL. So my first question is very technical in nature, and I think your CFO can sort of educate us. Uh, there is this entry of ₹555 crores in other financial liabilities. In sundry deposits mostly. He already told us a couple of years ago that this is something you take from companies who you invest in, right? Am I correct? Is it right? That is correct, right? Uh, no, no, we're just looking at the— which line are you referring to? Other financial liabilities. Uh, You have— okay. 528 crores you have in sundry deposits. Okay, carry on. So you already explained a couple of years ago that this is deposits you take from companies who you invest in, right? In AFEs. Yes. So I just wanted one technical understanding of this, is that where is the counter entry on the asset side? particular entry, where is the second part of the entry coming and sitting, right, on the asset side? I'm asking for a very specific entry, which is you have 555 crores in other financial liabilities, current liabilities. It won't be— it's a balance sheet position, so it won't be a specific entry, but Investment side. Uh, okay, so, okay, so let me try to take a stab if I've understood. You're saying basically in the sundry liabilities, if there's a the, uh, other part sits in investments, 2 parts of it. It will not be an exact corresponding number. These are 2 separate arrangements. Uh, this financial liabilities is created towards the advance that we, uh, receive And there is a separate arrangement on the investment side. So there will be an— that is a separate arrangement that happens. It won't be an exact number, but the one part will sit in the investment side, the other part will sit in the financial liability side. So will the first part sit in the— on the asset side? Will it sit on the current liabilities, uh, current assets, or non-current assets? Non-current assets. So your investment property and everything is against this? I'm just trying to understand a little. Yes. Okay, so by— and but there is no clear-cut 555 crores anywhere which we can— you will not be able to identify because the investments happen at a certain point of time. The liability and the settlement of the liability is a function of the advertising and the speed of advertising burn. So there will not be a one-on-one correlation that you can establish. Fair enough, understood. Thank you so much. My second question is related to Uh, Mr. Matthew Cyriac, through his companies, uh, he now holds very close to a legally significant 10% of your company. Uh, he is not known to be a very passive investor, right? And once he owns 10%, he doesn't have to be passive either, like us. And he has a track record for being a little activist and pushing for change. So my question to you is, do you people have an open line of communication with him? Is your board and management engaging with him on business or more importantly on capital allocation? And as a tangent to that question, I would also like to ask, is this relationship cordial, adversarial? What is happening here? But look, I, I would like to go into the detail, but suffice to say, yes, we are in conversation with such a substantial shareholder in our company. Now, you know, you know, whatever his particular style of investing stroke management, etc., is I wouldn't like to comment or engage on that, but yes, we are very much engaged with that shareholder who holds a substantial part, uh, through, uh, you know, through his investment, uh, investment fund. Uh, is, is what I'd like to say. We are totally vested in the situation. And this is a cordial conversation, right? Well, that's what I'd like to believe. Is there any influence on your capital allocation? Because us passive minority shareholders have not been able to move you an inch, a millimeter even, in years together. Well, I think you're— well, I, I'd like to believe that our board runs this company, but, uh, if you believe that you've not been able to, uh, move, uh, move the needle and he can, uh, you know, he can move the needle, that's only good news, isn't it? It is, but is he doing that? Is he, uh, is he endeavoring to do that? I can neither confirm nor deny, but I'll tell you very clearly that our board is currently running the affairs of the company. Obviously, I did not imply Otherwise also. I'm sure you did not, but, you know, I'd still like to say, uh, you know, we are in conversation now. I obviously can't, uh, you know, uh, can't put down private conversations on a public channel. But, uh, you know, right now we are into good conversations with a substantial shareholder in the company. Okay. And since you stopped OTT play, that has been stopped now, and Well, as, uh, so nothing as of now, but as we put up the cautionary statement at the beginning, we don't give any forward guidance. I'm sure there is more mental bandwidth in the board and all. Is there any change in attitude regarding capital allocation after that OTT play has stopped? So Suffice to say that most of our capital allocations, if you're specifically talking about capital allocations, are for trying to create long-term sustainable value for all shareholders. Now, OTT play, of course, you know, did not pan out very well, but all our investments in the Hindi print business, you know, right from raising the funds in the IPO back in 2011 and so on and so forth have bore fruit. So right now we won't be able to give you any forward-looking statement, but right now, uh, you know, uh, to the best of our knowledge, uh, these results don't have any further capital allocation that we are trying to do in any other direction. First and foremost, I am not trying to— sorry to interrupt, but I am asking— I am discussing— I am discussing the same question with him. Just for a second. Can you please fall back in? Yeah, okay, no, hold on. Okay, okay, why don't you go ahead please? Uh, first and foremost, I, I just want to clarify, I'm not trying to make any sort of negative comment on your OTT play. It's a business you tried, it did not work out, no problem. All I want to understand is that your future capital allocation, is this in terms of a new business or is this in terms of a return of capital? You might just be thinking about it. I'm not asking you for any confirmations. Can we just know a direction? No, unfortunately we have nothing to offer at this point in time. I mean, there are no capital allocation decisions which are happening within the company. As and when there is something, it will definitely be brought, uh, brought to the earnings call at that point. Thank you for your transparency in the matter. Thank you. Next question is from the line of Mehul Pathak. Please introduce yourself and ask your question. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. May all seasons greeting to you. Yeah, seasons greeting to all of you too, and congratulations to the entire HT Media team. I think finally things should remain in the black and we will not see red again. That itself is a relief. So please keep up the great work. Thank you very much. Thank you, my whole— appreciate it. Yeah, I have a couple of questions. The first is, in the HMVL outcome of board meeting, uh, line items 3, 4, 5 are investments. New investments of ₹25 crores, ₹13.51 crores, and ₹50 crores. Uh, can you please help understand what these investments are and how they are relevant to our business? These are all AFE investments. I think, uh, you know, at, uh, if you, if you go back any quarter, you know, we bring all these AFE investments to the board. And they are the ones that you are reading out of. So how they are beneficial, I've told you, these are future advertisers as well as we take investment positions. So they are very beneficial to the company. And these are all AFE investments. Sorry, what is it? AIF investments? I didn't get the word. AFE, ad for equity. I believe we've discussed it multiple number of times. Ad for equity. Ad for equity. Okay, fine, fine. Okay. Um, my next question is, uh, when I look at the segment results for HT Media, you know, uh, Firstly, on radio, uh, though, you know, uh, at the PBT level we are, you know, improved from 8 to 2, uh, what is the outlook for the future? Will radio from the next quarter or the quarter after that start delivering a PBT that is positive? Question number 1 on the segment results. On the second— on this Second, also on radio, uh, can you confirm if we are done with all write-offs and cleaning up, you know, the portfolio? So look, on the first part, I think we pointed, uh, the shareholders that radio, uh, you know, is a 2-step dance. I mean, what, what we have already done is Uh, whatever were the loss-making stations or frequencies, we have since surrendered to the government. And hence, you know, we are a smaller network than what we were earlier. The second obviously is our, our, uh, you know, lobbying that we are doing to the government as an industry body for looking at the license fee structure. Now that, that activity, the government still hasn't come back to us. Uh, now once that happens, uh, you know, the profitability or the economics of the radio business will change substantially. At this point in time Uh, you know, we are still working on the old GOPA arrangement, uh, in which the license fees is much higher than what is applicable to the new licenses which the government has allotted. Last year. So, uh, once the second step happens, the profitability will definitely return in a big way, uh, to the entire, uh, terrestrial FM radio business. So if there is status quo, then what will happen? Will this, uh, PBT loss continue? I don't think we are slipping back into red at this point in time because as I said, the first step is already done. The loss-making stations has since been surrendered. From here, obviously we will not be able to take a huge jump in terms of profitability, but I think we'll still be— now we'll be a profitable venture and this business will not suck any more cash. Excellent. Uh, one last question on the segment results. The unallocated ₹12.37 crore loss, can you help us understand? And what will be the outlook on this loss going forward? So, um, this is a consistent number. It, uh, it includes all the, um, auditor fees, any corporate cost, you know, KMT remuneration and all of that. And it also at times have the, uh, mark-to-market valuation on any instrument will also sit there. So any variations that you typically see is on account of any change in mark-to-market position on investments. Otherwise, it's a consistent number across quarters. So basically you're telling me it's just an accounting entry per se. It's not a real loss. Then shouldn't this be allocated to all the other businesses appropriately so that it is not misleading? Because you are showing also unallocated income also. Unallocated income is largely the, uh, interest income and treasury income and all of that. So though these— this income on income side and on this is seem to be not pertaining to those business, and that's how the segment results operate. Bismillah. Uh, in that sense, always show negative in future also? to a particular segment goes into the unallocated. Think about the director sitting fees. Now that's basically sitting in the— so by nature these are costs because there are some Mark-to-market sitting here in an off chance it can go positive. Otherwise, these will be the costs which are passed in, uh, unallocated segment. No, this is— yeah, only, I mean, if it has a major mark-to-market gain, it will show positive. Yeah, but these are costs, the cost which can't be allocated directly Fine, thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you all. With this, we come to the end of the Q&A session. If you have any further queries, please reach out to the Investor Relations team. Our contact details are given in the presentation. And are also mentioned on our websites. I now hand over to Piyush for closing remarks. Thanks, Aditya. Happy Diwali, everyone, and thank you for joining our Q2 FY27 call. As you can see, it's a good set of numbers that we've, uh, managed to put up this, this quarter also, uh, third time in a row, and we hope to continue this tradition. With that, a very happy Diwali and serious greeting to everyone. Thank you.