INDIA'S FOREMOST
INVESTOR RELATIONS SPECIALIST
Return Back to Issue Index

Having won the contract for producing the Annual Report for the entertainment major Balaji Telefilms Ltd, the Dickenson Group took the IR route to define the core messages for the Company’s investors.

 

Balaji Telefilms Limited (BTL) is one of the leading providers of entertainment in India, promoted by the Bollywood legend Jeetendra Kapoor and managed by his wife and daughter, Mrs Shobha Kapoor and Ms. Ekta Kapoor, respectively. Having created a benchmark in television programming, BTL is one of the first companies to have ventured into Hindi and Regional GEC and has evolved from being a pure-play TV content provider into one that produces content for the big screen also.

 

BTL recently appointed a new Chief Financial Officer and a Company Secretary and the new Finance & Compliance Team, along with the management of BTL, wished to elevate the quality of their communication with investors. Through the Annual Report, the company wished to showcase how it is well-positioned to capitalise on the high-growth Indian domestic Media & Entertainment industry with structural upside.

 

 

INNOVATION IS THE KEY
For its selection process, BTL invited creative ideas and topics from existing and alternate players in the communication space. Based on an internal review, BTL engaged the services of the Dickenson Group and appointed it as their Communications agency to fulfil its corporate reporting norms, despite having an external Investor Relations agency. Dickenson participated in the pitching process with highly innovative ideas and designs and was duly selected as the agency of choice.

 

During the making of the Report, a key design innovation idea that emanated was to present the Annual Report like an entertainment magazine. The idea was to give readers a feel of not only BTL's financial performance, but also about the entertainment software that the company produced during the year. In BTL's previous year's Annual Report, the latter part was grossly deficient. Internally, Dickenson arrived at a consensus that investors could evolve a better emotional connect with BTL only if they were able to truly understand its creative assets – the TV programs and motion pictures that Balaji had produced.

 

THE IR PUNCH
Yet another key reason for BTL to engage the Dickenson Group was the latter's competent Investor Relations Team, which was involved end-to-end in reviewing BTL's perception within the markets. As a matter of fact, Dickenson's IR Team highlighted the points of communication that were most relevant at this point in time to shape the perception of the company. Having created high-quality content and successfully produced many TV serials, this needed to be highlighted. After all, BTL was at a juncture where it was revamping its business model.

 

REVISITING BUSINESS STRATEGIES
Having forayed into production and distribution of films through the platform of Balaji Motion Pictures Limited, BTL was in the process of growing its films business and eliminating its loss-making ventures, such as sponsored TV programming. In view of this transformation, BTL felt it absolutely necessary to communicate the facts clearly to its investors.

 

Balaji Telefilms Limited (BTL) is one of the leading providers of entertainment in India, promoted by the Bollywood legend Jeetendra Kapoor and managed by his wife and daughter, Mrs Shobha Kapoor and Ms. Ekta Kapoor, respectively. Having created a benchmark in television programming, BTL is one of the first companies to have ventured into Hindi and Regional GEC and has evolved from being a pure-play TV content provider into one that produces content for the big screen also.

APPROACH TO CORPORATE REPORT
Dickenson presented the Annual Report of BTL in magazine style – making it rich in content and describing BTL’s creative assets well by profiling them visually and with relevant data. The Annual Report outlined the business strategies in play for BTL’s television business – transforming its underpinning business model towards better profitability and predictable growth; leveraging its core strengths in creativity to build an even deeper portfolio; and exiting from sponsored programming to increase profitability.

The Report also highlighted BTL’s strategies in the movies segment – making a mark through cutting-edge cinema content; scaling up to build new growth drivers; and de-risking the business by focusing on non-theatre revenues and cost rationalisation. The effectively listed-out strategies helped BTL provide a clear visibility on earnings and revenues. It also brought clarity to its healthy project pipeline in the TV and Movie segments and their ability to augment its output and bottom line.

A WIN-WIN outcome
The final AR output was a very satisfying end-result for both Dickenson and Balaji. It helped create greater clarity on the undercurrents of the Company and thus improve the transparency.

- IR Connect
Editorial Team