Web18, the Internet and Mobile company of the Network18 group, has reported an operating loss of Rs. 28.8 crores for the financial year 2007-08 (FY08), up Rs. 7.99 crores for FY07. The company appears to be in investment mode, and this is evident from a massive increase in operating expenses - up to Rs. 86.1 crores in FY08, from Rs. 33.57 crores in FY07. The silver lining: the company ended the fiscal with operating revenues of Rs. 57.29 crores, more than double of the Rs. 25.57 crores they recorded for the financial year 2006-07.

For the quarter, operating revenues were up to Rs. 18.02 crores, from Rs. 8.49 crores in Q407. Operating expense for the quarter also went up to Rs. 31.52 crores, up from 11.64 crores for the same quarter last fiscal. There’s no mention of how much they spent on the in.com domain, though. Currently 17 portals form a part of the Web18 portfolio. Some stats on Web18 from the TV18 earnings report:

-- Budget Day: Web18 portals reportedly got 35 million page-views and 1.5 million unique visitors. 32 brands advertised on moneycontrol.com, compared to 10 million last year. All of this, despite how slow and user-unfriendly moneycontrol.com is.
-- Total campaigns in 2007-08: 313
-- Mobile: Markets On Mobile has 2.5 lakh subscribers (how many of them active?), and the company launched instant Stock Messaging Service and a ‘Mutual Fund Meter’
-- Ecommerce: The company launched Storeguru with over 150 brands and more than 12500 Stock Keeping Units (SKUs). Nothing on cannibalization of Homeshop18s market

I think one should expect an increase in the amount of money spent on promotions in the coming quarter, as the company prepares for the launch of their horizontal “in.com”. Also, I wonder how much of their page-views are being driven by marketing initiatives, and how much is organic.

Details: Financials | Release

Disclosure: I own a small number of shares of Network18 Fincap

• Earnings: Web18 Reports Rs. 7.19 Crore Q3 Operating Loss On Account Of Increase In Investments