Chennai Super Kings: Here's A Look At The Balance Sheet

The promoters of the unlisted Chennai Super Kings Ltd. have increased their stake in the company to 41.65%, up from 28.14% in March 2023. The promoters now hold 15.8 crore shares. They had 8.67 crore shares in March 2023. The equity share has a face value of Rs 0.10 (10 paise).

CSK Ltd. is the owner of the Chennai franchise in the Indian Premier League. The N Srinivasan-owned CSK has now come under intense watch, especially after he called it quits by selling his entire family holding in the India Cements Ltd. to the Birla-owned UltraTech Cement Ltd.

ICL, it may be recalled, was the original owner of the Chennai franchise of the IPL team. CSK was originally a division of ICL. It was, however, spun off into a separate company when the conflict-of-interest issue hit the national headlines. The conflict-of-interest controversy arose since Srinivasan was also holding a top position at the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Promoters of CSK Ltd. comprise EWS Finance & Investments Pvt., Rupa Gurunath, trustee (shares are held by her in the capacity as a trustee of Financial Service Trust and Securities Services Trust); N Srinivasan, Chitra Srinivasan, Rupa Gurunath, SK Ashok Baalaje and Rajam Krishnamoorthy.

During the year under review, the paid-up equity-share capital of the company increased from Rs 3.08 crore to Rs 3.79 crore, consequent to the allotment of approximately 7.13 crore equity shares of Rs 0.10 each fully paid-up upon conversion of 650 optionally convertible debentures of Rs 10 lakh each, as per the terms approved by the shareholders.

EWS Finance & Investments Pvt. is the largest owner of the CSK shares among the promoter group. The holding of EWS Finance has risen to 36.22% in March 2024, up from 21.47% in the preceding year.

The company will hold its 10th annual general body meeting of the shareholders on Sept. 27. A resolution seeking to make KS Viswanathan — popularly known as Kasi — as managing director of the company for a period of three years with effect from Jan. 19 will come up for shareholders’ approval at the ensuing meeting.

Unlisted CSK Ltd., in the meanwhile, has reported a significant rise in its revenue, profit before tax and profit after tax for the year ended March 31, 2024.

CSK has clocked a big jump in its revenue from operations to Rs 650.6 crore for the year ended March 31, 2024, up from Rs 273.2 crore for the year ended March 31, 2023.

Other income stood at Rs. 25.9 crore, up from Rs 19.2 crore. Total revenue stood at Rs 676.4 crore during the year under review, up from Rs 292.3 crore in the preceding year. Profit before tax stood at Rs 306.7 crore for the year ended March 31, 2024, up from Rs 70.5 crore in the preceding year.

The total tax expenses (comprising current and deferred ones) stood at Rs 77.6 crore for the year under review, up from Rs 18.4 crore in the preceding year. The net profit for the year under review stood at Rs 229.1 crore, up from Rs 52.2 crore in the preceding year.

The growth in total revenue for the year 2023–24 compared with the previous year was mainly due to increase in revenues on account of the BCCI central rights and ticketing income," the company said in its annual report.

CSK also owns and operates the Joburg Superkings Franchise through its overseas subsidiary — Joburg Superkings (PTY) Ltd. — in South Africa 20. The team finished as a semi-finalist in the season 2 of SA20. The company has also increased its global footprint by being part of Major League Cricket in the US through Texas Super Kings International LLC. During the year under review, Texas Super Kings participated in the first season of the MLC under the team name Texas Super Kings and finished as semi-finalists.

Superking Ventures Pvt., a subsidiary, commenced its operations during the 2022–23 by starting cricket academies — Super Kings Academy in Chennai and Salem. SVPL now has nine centres in Tamil Nadu and two overseas centres.

"SVPL plans to further expand its activities to various other geographies. The Super Kings Academy operates on company-owned/operated and franchise models. SVPL also manages commercial interests of some of the talented professionals in various sports activities, including cricket," the company said.

During the year under review, SVPL recorded a turnover of Rs 5.48 crore, which is more than double that of Rs 2.56 crore in the previous financial year. The operating loss also reduced from Rs 6.34 crore to Rs 1.61 crore.

During the year under review, the total revenue of Joburg Superkings (PTY) Ltd. increased from Rs 30.4 crore to Rs 40.2 crore due to increased revenues from sponsorship, ticketing and central rights. During the year, JSK made an operating loss of Rs 26.2 crore as compared to a loss of Rs. 32.1 crore in the previous year.

During the year under review, Super Kings International Inc. was incorporated as the company's wholly owned subsidiary in the US. During the year under review, SKI had total revenue of Rs 1.17 crore and a profit of Rs 22.6 lakh.

KT Jagannathan is a senior financial journalist based in Chennai. He has been in business journalism for over three decades, covering corporate developments and critical industry verticals. He is the co-founder of www.carnaticdarbar.com, a news website for Carnatic music, a niche art form.