New Delhi Television (NDTV) Ltd which operates news channels like NDTV India and NDTV 24×7, on Friday sought shareholder approval for the sale of indianroots.com operated by NDTV Ethnic Retail Pvt Ltd, in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Launched in 2013, Indianroots is a fashion portal that sells Indian ethnic wear as well as jewellery on its online marketplace.
“Sale of entire equity stake by NDTV Lifestyle Holdings Ltd, NDTV Convergence Ltd and NDTV Worldwide Ltd in NDTV Ethnic Retail Ltd to Nameh Hotels & Resorts Pvt Ltd,” the company stated in its BSE filing.
To be sure, the three subsidiaries jointly own 99.92% share in NDTV Ethnic Retail Ltd which operates the e-commerce platform.
Nameh Hotels & Resorts is a company incorporated on 5 September 2012 and is involved in the business of hotels, camping sites and other provision of short-stay accommodation.
In addition, NDTV also proposed the sale of 2% equity stake by NDTV Networks Ltd in NDTV Lifestyle Holdings Ltd (Lifestyle Holdings operates NDTV Goodtimes), to Nameh Hotels & Resorts Pvt Ltd , thereby ceasing the control over Lifestyle Holdings and NDTV Lifestyle Ltd as the remaining 49% stake is currently held by Malaysian investor Astro All Asia Networks Plc.
“These noncore assets—both indianroots and Goodtimes —and we are divesting our stake in both, we want to focus on our broadcast and digital business,” said Saurav Banerjee, chief financial officer at NDTV.
In April, the company had said that it was considering potential sale of certain strategic assets by one or more of its subsidiaries.
Currently, NDTV operates news channels NDTV India and NDTV 24×7, business news channel NDTV Prime, lifestyle channel NDTV Goodtimes and e-commerce verticals in ethnic wear (IndianRoots.com), automobile (CarAndBike.com), gadgets (Gadgets360.com), health foods (SmartCooky.com) and wedding preparation (BandBaajaa.com) sectors.
NDTV reported a consolidated net profit of Rs5 crore in the quarter ended 31 March, compared to a loss of Rs0.8 crore in the year-ago period, driven by a 17% decline in the group’s expenses from Rs164 crore to Rs137 crore. NDTV’s television news business generated revenue of Rs128 crore, down from Rs149 crore in the same period last year.
Source: Mint