MUMBAI: UTVi unveiled a new series - India's Best Kept Secrets - yesterday. A series of stories that will focus on some of the biggest companies in India, but about whom not much is known. Today, it is the turn of the company that owns the highest selling English newspaper in the world.

In the English print media business, brands do not get any bigger than The Times of India and The Economic Times. The company that owns these popular brands - Bennett Coleman. No surprise then that the turnover and profit figures we are talking about are mind boggling, especially for an unlisted company.Bennett Coleman closed FY07 with sales of over Rs 3,300 crore, net profit of almost Rs 600 crore and EPS of Rs 178 - making it the largest media house in the country by a mile.

Both revenues and profitability showed good jump over the previous fiscal FY06 with advertising sales comprising almost 3/4 of  the company's topline. In fact, its advertising revenues have doubled in three years, and the company claims to have 34% market share of the entire advertisement pie in the print market.

The company's internal documents show that its flagship brands - The Times of India and The Economic Times- both grew nearly 8% in FY07 with average daily net sales of 32 lakh and 7 lakh copies, respectively.

It's not just Bennett Coleman's P&L that is huge. The company's  balance sheet, with general reserves of almost Rs 3,400 crore, is well equipped to meet any financial contingencies.

Its investments, apart from being significantly large, are also quite  eye-catching. Bennett Coleman has investments worth around Rs 3,000 crore in over 100 companies - 60 of which are listed. The prominent ones being the purchase of roughly 800,000 shares in ICICI Bank last year, and roughly 8 million shares of HDFC Bank at just Rs 81. This is the result of the merger of Times Bank with HDFC Bank in 2000. It's investment in Kishore Biyani s Pantaloon Retail has already doubled at the current market price.

The investments are private treaties or agreements with these companies, which are believed to have sold stake to Bennett Coleman in lieu of advertising space in The Times of India  and The Economic Times. As per internal documents of the company, these stakes have a lock-in period.

The company is owned andcontrolled by the Jain family through eight investment companies. Indu Jain is the chairperson of the company's board with brothers Samir and Vineet Jain holding the posts of vice chairman and managing director respectively. Both draw Rs 15 crore each as annual remuneration.

Bennet Coleman also owns 250 shares of Press Trust of India and 548 shares of United News of India, both wire agencies. The company has also been demerging some of its non print ventures, possibly with an eye on partners or capital. They include Zoom television channel and website Magicbricks.com and timesjobs.com.

There are some interesting, big names among the 13 directors on  Bennett Coleman's board.  Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal's son Aditya Mittal and Kalpana Morparia of ICICI Group are the prominent outside directors on the board. R K Laxman, whose cartoons in The Times of India have made him world-famous, too was inducted on the board three years back.

No surprise that the company is gung-ho about its growth prospects.

Its directors' report says: "There is sustained competitive pressure in the general interest English dailies segment in several markets. However, given the inherent strengths of The Times of India brand and the patronage it enjoys, coupled with matching support through innovations in marketing & editorial strategies, should enable it to register good growth in the emerging scenario. "

There has been quite a buzz recently of Bennett Coleman finally going in for a public listing. If that were to happen, the company will surely get a fancy valuation to the tune of many billion dollars. That would be a dramatic change in thinking for a company that has resisted the stock market temptation for over 95 years.

Bennett Coleman:  Board of Directors

Indu Jain - Chairman
Samir Jain - VC & MD
Vineet Jain - MD
Aditya Mittal
Kalpana Morparia
RK Laxman
Ram Tarneja
Ravi Dhariwal
Richard Saldanha
S K Mehta
A P Parigi
Haigreve Khaitan

Bennett Coleman:  Capital

Paid-up share capital – Rs 31.8 crore

Shareholding Pattern:    Nos

Sanmati Properties Ltd  -    31,09,000

Bharat Nidhi Ltd            -    77,82,000

PNB Finance & Industries Ltd – 29,62,872

Vineet Jain – 1,82,472

Samir Jain – 800

Meera Jain ( wife of Samir Jain ) – 1,04,800

Camac Commercial Co.Ltd – 42,40,172

Arth Udyog Ltd. – 29,68,872

Jacaranda Corporate Services Ltd – 24,48,000

TM Investments Ltd – 18,99,224

Ashoka Viniyoga Ltd – 57,45,324

Trishala Jain ( daughter of Samir Jain ) – 40,000

 Bennett Coleman: FY07 Numbers

Total Income - Rs 3,346 crore  (Up 19%)

PBT - Rs 813 crore   

Net Profit - Rs 573 crore ( Up 31% )

EPS - Rs 178

General Reserves - Rs 3,400 crore

Bennett Coleman:  Ad Revenues

FY07 - Rs 2,800 crore

34% market share

Bennett Coleman:  Daily Newspaper Sales

The Times of India - 32 lakh

The Economic Times - 6.75 lakh

Maharashtra Times – 2.93 lakh copies

Bennett Coleman:  Investments

In 100+ companies

Market Value - Rs 3,000 crore

 
        Investments      Cost (Rs)      Market Value (Rs)

        ICICI Bank             74cr              50cr

        HDFC Bank           72cr             1057cr

        Pantaloon Retail   70cr            164cr 

Bennett Coleman:  Private Treaty Investments

Gitanjali Gems - Rs 40 crore

Videocon - Rs 100 crore

HDIL - Rs 15 crore

Rajesh Exports - Rs 30 crore

Vishal Retail - Rs 10 crore

(This exclusive series uncovers information and numbers regarding some of the biggest companies in India, but which are not in the public domain.)