Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd

We have demonstrated resilience and adaptability, and continue to harness the strong brand value of Hindustan to maintain our leading position in the Hindi news segment across India's heartland.

Dear Shareholders,

The media and entertainment (M&E) industry in the country has been on a sustained growth trajectory post the mayhem of the pandemic and this was evident in the performance of our Company in the past fiscal year. Traditional segments such as Print have shown resilience, although the road to recovery has been uneven. Newspapers have been steadily working towards growing and stabilizing readership levels near pre-pandemic highs. The business has continued to maintain its momentum by targeting specific audience segments, implementing innovative pricing, and diversifying revenue streams. At an industry level, both advertising volumes and rates have seen a slight increase, although overall revenue remains below pre-pandemic levels. Companies have strategically maintained, and in some cases, increased cover prices, resulting in notable stability of circulation revenue. Overall, Print remains the cornerstone of India's M&E industry, and has benefited over the past year from an improving macroeconomic environment and conscious and targeted efforts by major publishers to reinvent and reengage more with younger audiences, implement diversity in revenue streams, and focus on SME advertisers.

In FY 2023-24, your Company successfully grew its revenue and significantly enhanced its operating profitability. Both are a testament to our strategic focus on cost management and efficiency improvements along with favourable business environment. We have demonstrated resilience and adaptability, and continue to harness the strong brand value of Hindustan to maintain our leading position in the Hindi news segment across India's heartland. Our approach centres on a sharp regional, even hyperlocal, focus, comprehensive national and big-event coverage, and a forward- looking perspective. Our dedication to unbiased news and insightful, well-presented analysis along with a focus on big events has allowed us to effectively serve both readers and advertisers.

Our committed foray into new-age Digital offerings with OTTplay has started to come to fruition. It is now amongst the largest OTT aggregators in the country, boasting over 35+ platforms across a multitude of subscription plans on offer. A growing subscriber base coupled with strong renewal rates on subscription packs and a focus on expanding digital acquisitions while optimizing unit economics are at the core of our execution strategy. An array of awards and accolades for OTTplay are a testament to our excellence in overall product development.

At Hindustan Media Ventures Limited, we continuously provide value to our stakeholders while also giving back to the community. Beyond our journalistic contributions, we run corporate social responsibility initiatives and programs focused on public welfare, energy conservation and environmental sustainability.

As always, we are mindful of our responsibility to our people, whose collective effort and determination have consistently driven our success. I am deeply grateful for their unwavering dedication. I also extend my heartfelt appreciation to our shareholders, the board of directors and all stakeholders for their continued faith and support. It is our readers and advertisers that define us; thank you for trusting our journalism, our brand, and our abilities. Together, we look forward to embracing new opportunities, overcoming challenges, and pursuing sustainable growth.