WITH A slate of highly-anticipated Bollywood films on the anvil, Indian movie distributor Eros International Plc expects to set the box office on fire and boost its overall revenue by 20 per cent for the current financial year.
The AIM-listed company also plans to expand its music label – which it launched three years ago – by acquiring three or four companies over the next two to three months, chief executive Kishore Lulla said.
“Music has great potential and the royalties, which are coming from either radio or television, will have a lot of growth,” Lulla told reporters.
The CEO, however, declined to divulge more details, but said the company had no plans for acquisitions in other segments.
Eros has five major Hindi movies scheduled for release this year, including the romantic comedy Kambakkth Ishq featuring Bollywood A-listers Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor, with cameos by Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Denise Richards and Brandon Routh.
The company – which has a library of over 1,900 films – expects theatrical revenue to rise 20 per cent to 25 per cent this year, which translates to about $55.6m (£34m) to $57.9m (£35.4m).
Based on last year’s turnover $156.7m (£96m), fiscal 2010 overall revenue is expected to be about $188m (£115m).
Two analysts on average were expecting the company to post overall revenue of $177.8m (£109m), according to an estimate.
Lulla said he also expected a rise in revenue in dubbed markets – with demand for Indian films increasing in Germany, Russia, Brazil and Mexico – and digital media.
For the fiscal year ended March 31, Eros’ pretax profit rose, partly due to strong television syndication revenue from dubbed markets, fueled by the phenomenally successful Slumdog Millionaire.
However, television syndication – which almost doubled in revenue last fiscal year – could stay flat due to a pullback in advertising spending, Lulla said.
Shares of the company, whose library includes classics like Mahal and Mother India, were trading up slightly at 140.75 pence by 1317 GMT yesterday on the London Stock Exchange. They have risen 72 per cent in the last three months.
