India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) has affirmed Hathway Cable and Datacom (Hathway) long-term issuer rating at 'A-'. The outlook is stable. The affirmation reflects Hathway's reduced refinancing requirement on account of an equity infusion worth Rs 7 billion over FY14 and FY15. The ratings also reflect the company's directionally improving net average revenue per user from phase I & Phase II of the digitisation process which would improve Hathway's net financial leverage to below 2.5x in the near term from 4.5x in FY14.

In FY14, Hathway's revenue grew 40% yoy to Rs 15.8 billion as the company’s subscriber base increased to 10.79m at FYE14 from 8.55m in FYE13, including digital subscribers of 8.03m in FY14 and 4.97m in FY13. Cable subscription income surged 89% yoy to Rs 5.9 billion in FY14, followed by carriage and placement income which increased 24% yoy to Rs 5.7 billion. Hathway’s broadband business also grew 18% yoy to Rs 1.7 billion.

However, increase in revenue did not result in a corresponding increase in EBITDA which grew only 13% yoy to Rs 3.1 billion as the company's content cost increased 54% yoy and other operating expenses grew 63% yoy.

Shares of the company gained Rs 4.55, or 1.55%, to settle at Rs 298.10. The total volume of shares traded was 3,217 at the BSE (Friday).