HT Media Jan-March net seen rising 21 pct

MUMBAI (Reuters) - HT Media Ltd, publisher of English daily 'Hindustan Times', is likely to see Jan-March net profit rising 21 percent on higher advertisement revenue and marketing cost controls, analysts said.

The company, which also publishes business news daily 'Mint' and Hindi newspaper 'Hindustan', is seen reporting a net profit of 290.5 million rupees on a revenue growth of 16 percent to 3.2 billion rupees, according to a Reuters poll of brokerages.

"The results would be good because they had inventory of newsprint," Abneesh Roy, analyst at brokerage Religare Securities.

By the first half of 2008, the rise in newsprint prices could be as much as $200 per tonne, and a further $100 increase is likely between July and September, a senior official at a newsprint firm said.

HT Media had build up its inventory in anticipation of rising newsprint prices, and this has helped the company safeguard margins, analysts said.

"This quarter they've escaped from newsprint price hikes, in the latter half of Q2 they will face problems," Roy added.

HT Media is likely to replicate its buoyant performance of the third quarter in the last quarter of 2007/08, a report by brokerage Prabhudas Liladher said.

Going forward, the company is expected to face pressure from newsprint costs as it plans to expand the geographical reach of Hindustan and Mint, a report by brokerage Motilal Oswal said.

Future advertisement growth is seen driven by sectors such as durables, education and automobiles with real estate advertising still seeing no pick-up, the Prabhudas Liladher report said.

The company will report fourth-quarter results on May 16.