Naukri parent Info Edge Q1 consolidated revenue dips 12%

Noida headquartered consumer internet-focused company Info Edge on Tuesday reported a 12% decrease in quarterly revenue, as the Covid-19 lockdown adversely affected its sales.

The Sanjeev Bikhchandani-led company said its total revenue fell to Rs 308.9 crore for the quarter ended June 2020, from Rs 349.3 crore a year earlier. 

The company's recruitment solutions saw its revenues decrease year-on-year to Rs 200.1 crore from Rs 219.5 crore. For the same period, its real estate sales declined to Rs 42.5 crore from Rs 56.4 crore.

“We continue to evaluate the unfolding situation of the pandemic. Work from home and business continuity plan is operating satisfactorily. The billings are down by 43.9% in Q1 FY21 on a year-on-year basis as a result of the nationwide lockdown. However, the immediate impact on the revenue tends to be lower as we recognise the revenue over the tenure of the contract,” CFO Chintan Thakkar said in a statement to stock exchanges.

The company has adopted a disciplined approach to discretionary spends in areas such as marketing, Thakkar said, adding that the operating margin was at 37.3% for the quarter against 32.3% a year ago.

The company cut down on its advertising and promotion costs by 53% to Rs 25.8 crore. The total expenses declined 20% to Rs 195.3 crore.

The total profit for the period was Rs 94.4 crore. For the quarter ended June 2019, the company registered a total loss of Rs 192.1 crore, which could largely be attributed to its primarily loss-making investments in associate and joint ventures.

While Info Edge’s associate business arm Etechaces Marketing houses online insurance services aggregator platform PolicyBazaar, its joint ventures include its direct investments such as Zomato.

The investments turned into a profitable addition to the company’s first quarter results for FY21, amounting to Rs 3.3 crore. For Q1 FY20, its associate and joint ventures related losses amounted to Rs 253.3 crore.