Coimbatore online @ Deccan Chronicle

The Deccan Chronicle board has approved an FII investment of up to about 14% of paid up capital. The company will invest about Rs 20 crore to start off in Mangalore and Dharwad editions.

PK Iyer, Executive Director of Deccan Chronicle Holdings says that the Mangalore and Dharwad editions will start, after Bangalore goes online.

He adds that they are getting Kochi and Coimbatore online first, while Kochi, Coimbatore and Bangalore will go online this fiscal. Mangalore and Dharwad may go online eight months after that.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with PK Iyer:

Q: Could you walk us through the kind of timeline that you have laid for these two edtions to come on board?

A: The timeline for Mangalore and Dharwad would be after Bangalore goes online, but more importantly after we have got our ABC, Audit Bureau Circulation, certificate for Chennai.

We are getting Kochi and Coimbatore online first. Kochi, Coimbatore and Bangalore would go online this fiscal, and Mangalore and Dharwad would then go online after that, maybe eight months after that.

Q: So on the first or second quarter of ’07 or rather ’08 can we can these two editions coming up?

A: Mangalore and Dharwad would become supplementary to Bangalore like Kochi and Coimbatore are now becoming supplementary to Chennai.

Q: What are the capacities of both these Mangalore and Dharwad facilities that you are setting up, in terms of copies per day?

A: The capacity in this business is an aberration because the press prints only for two hours, but it is sufficient to handle the growth in leadership for five years. So there is enough capacity to print, it is not an issue.

Q: On the acquisitions front, has diligence started?

A: Yes, we have appointed KPMG formally to submit us a report. We have been working on this for about eight months. Last year, we did two of them. One was Odyssey and the other was Asian Age.

Asian Age gave us great content and Odyssey is also getting listed probably .

So this time we have put KPMG to look at it. We are looking at the print space. We are also looking at some outdoor solutions because we believe integrated media is now a reality.

With about close to 80% market share in Hyderabad and a growing market in Chennai, we are looking at the hoarding space and we are looking at some print space as well in the south.


Courtesy : Money Control