123Greetings.com revenue shoots 57% to Rs 20.87Cr in Q2, net profit halves

Intrasoft Technologies Ltd, which runs the e-greeting and e-commerce site 123greetings.com, reported 57.39 per cent increase in total income to Rs 20.87 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, 2012, over the year-ago period. The company, however, saw its net profit more than halve to Rs 1.23 crore, from Rs 2.96 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Intrasoft is one of two Indian public-listed internet firms in India (the other is Naukri.com owner Info Edge India).

The company saw pressure on the bottom line as its product and content development expenses doubled. It also witnessed over threefold rise in depreciation and a sharp rise in general administrative expenses for the quarter over the year-ago period.

On a sequential basis, the firm reported 14 per cent rise in revenues while net profit jumped over four times, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2012.

123Greetings has a core electronic greeting card business, a value-added service called 123Greetings Connect and a studio for the artists. It also runs 123Greetings Invites and a Facebook app for inviting friends over for a party.

However, the company is slowly evolving into an e-commerce site, selling perfumes, skin care products, home appliances, furniture and even bicycles on its website. The Kolkata-based e-greetings company is backed by the venture capital firm Intel Capital and raised Rs 53.65 crore in an IPO during 2010.

Commenting on the results, Intrasoft MD Arvind Kajaria said, "The performance of the second quarter highlights the continued success of our e-commerce business in spite a challenging macro environment. The quarter saw an all-round growth in vendor tie-up, products offered, products shipped and positive feedback from customers."

According to him, the greetings business continues to do well with all-round growth in products like Studio, Connect and Invites, and the mobile strategy is on its way and the company would implement it soon.

Intrasoft generates revenue primarily from online advertising sales & online retail sales. The growth in total income in the last quarter was led by an increase in online retail sales.

123Greetings Store, the online gifting e-commerce business, shipped a total of 36,240 orders in the last quarter, compared to 24,931 orders in the corresponding quarter of the last year, averaging 403 orders a day.

It expanded its product catalogue and during the quarter, 110,447 products were listed on its websites and various marketplaces. The company had an active base of 314 vendors, compared to 108 vendors in the corresponding quarter of last year.

123Greetings Connect, a value-added service, saw the total number of registered users at 1,894,613 as on Sept 30, 2012, recording a growth of 32 per cent, compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

123Greetings Studio saw the total number of registered users at 18,567 as on Sept 30, 2012, a growth of 53 per cent over the year-ago period.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)