MakeMyTrip narrows adjusted operating cash loss to $5.5 mn in Q4

Total Adjusted Revenue falls to $137.2 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2020 from $163.3 million in the same quarter last year

Online travel portal MakeMyTrip on Friday said its adjusted operating cash loss narrowed to $5.5 million for the quarter ended March 31. The fourth quarter of FY20 was partially marked by weak consumer travel demand due to a challenging macroeconomic environment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The adjusted loss includes a one-time increase of 84.2 per cent in other operating expenses at $65.8 million in the quarter, from $35.7 million a year ago, primarily due to a one-time provision for litigations of $30.8 million for a dispute related to a prior acquisition. Barring these one-time costs, adjusted net loss remained the same at $18.3 million in the quarter ended March 31.

As travel gradually reopens, the company said the domestic flight demand is being restored to about 15-20 per cent of pre-Covid levels. Company spokespersons said the “gradual restoration of travel demand, improving online penetration, our focus on cost optimization, particularly in the short term, along with improving competitive positioning will help us not only recover but emerge stronger from this crisis”.

Fourth quarter loss in absolute terms was over eight times more than the previous year in the same quarter, due to one-time costs.

"We currently expect the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our financial results to be greater in the first quarter of the fiscal 2021 year because India’s nationwide lockdown began on March 25, 2020 and most travel services were largely shutdown during April and May 2020. As a result, our results of operations for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 will reflect the impact of the pandemic on the full quarter as compared to the partial impact reflected in our financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020," MakeMyTrip said in a statement. 

MakeMyTrip recorded a loss of $338.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 compared to a loss of $40.4 million in the same period last year. 

"In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020, as a result of the significant negative impact related to Covid-19 pandemic on the travel industry and our stock price and market capitalization, we concluded that sufficient indicators existed to require us to perform a quantitative assessment of  goodwill and, following that assessment, we recorded an impairment charge of our goodwill amounting to $272.2 million  primarily related to our Goibibo business, which we had acquired in fiscal year 2017," the company added in its statement. 

Revenue in the March-ended quarter fell 12.7 per cent to $104.9 million from the year ago period. 

Adjusted revenue during the March quarter fell 13 per cent to $137.2 million from $163.3 million in the same quarter last year.