S Mobility Q1 net loss at Rs 5.2Cr; Mobile devices biz sees revenue pressure

Mobile internet company S Mobility Ltd (formerly Spice Mobility Ltd), which slumped into losses in the quarter ended December 31, 2011, saw pressure on top line even as it cut its net loss sequentially for the first quarter ended June 30. Total revenues declined 7.5 per cent over Q4 FY12 to Rs 511.5 crore while net loss shrank by three-fourth for the three months ended June 30, 2012, to Rs 5.2 crore sequentially.

Consolidated revenue declined 2.7 per cent over the same period the previous year. The company had recorded a net profit of Rs 24.2 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2011.

S Mobility continued to be weighed down by its mobile devices unit which accounts for almost 90 per cent of the company's revenues. The company had switched its business model from primarily a device-maker to a mobile internet company last year, but the firm has been facing deteriorating bottom-line performance.

The mobile devices segment incurred a loss of Rs 14.9 crore (as against a segment loss of Rs 22.9 crore in Q4 FY12 and a profit of Rs 17.5 crore in Q1 FY12), accompanied by a decline in revenue from this segment – both sequentially and over the year-ago period. Revenues from devices business shrank over 8.7 per cent to Rs 453.9 crore for the quarter sequentially and were down 2.6 per cent over Q1 FY12.

Services business witnessed a sharp jump in segment profit sequentially to Rs 6.3 crore last quarter over just Rs 30 lakh in the three months ended March 31, 2012, but segment profit declined around 30 per cent over the same quarter last year. Revenues from the services business rose 3.5 per cent sequentially to Rs 57.8 crore for the quarter ended June 30, even as services business revenues declined 3.3 per cent over the same period the previous year.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)