Mid-Day Multimedia changes to Next Mediaworks

Mid-Day Multimedia has informed BSE that the company now bears a new identity.

Mid-Day Multimedia informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) yesterday that the name of the company has been changed to Next Mediaworks with effect from April 26, 2011.

None of the officials from Mid-Day or Jagran Prakashan (JPL) were available to elaborate on the reason behind the name change. However, as per media reports, on February 3, Mid-Day Multimedia had informed the stock exchange that its board of directors, vide circular resolution, has accorded its consent to change the name of the company, subject to the approval of shareholders.

It's been almost a year since Jagran Prakashan took over Mid-Day Multimedia for a deal estimated to be worth Rs 175 crore based on the market price of the tabloid at that time, though there was no cash component in the deal signed between the two companies.

JPL is yet to execute its plans to expand the Urdu daily, Inquilab, across markets where the group's Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, is present. In the northern belt of the country, about 20 million people can read and write Urdu, which may work to JPL's advantage as and when it decides to expand the Urdu offering.

In an earlier interview with afaqs!, RK Agarwal, chief financial officer, JPL said that the Urdu paper is a profitable proposition which is not dependent on advertisement, but circulation revenue -- and this fits "very well' with the strategy of JPL to expand organically in Indian languages. "Inquilab is like a sitting duck and we are confident that the moment we expand its presence in our current markets, it will add a significant amount to the company's balance sheets," he had said a year ago.