Zomato's Q1 consolidated net loss widens to Rs 356 cr

Food delivery platform Zomato, which got listed on stock markets last month, on Tuesday said its consolidated net loss widened to Rs 356 crore for the quarter ending June 30, 2021. Zomato, which is backed by China's Ant Group, reported net loss of Rs 99.8 crore in the year-ago period. 

The Covid pandemic has hurt the company's dining-out business and it incurred higher expenses in June quarter. Zomato said a second wave of Covid infections in India significantly impacted the dining-out business and reversed most of the gains the industry made in the previous quarter.

Consolidated revenue from operations rose 217% to Rs 844 crore as against Rs 266 crore a year ago. Non-cash employee stock ownership plan expenses increased in the first quarter and also affected results, the company added. Zomato's total expenses more than tripled to Rs 1,260 crore.

"Revenue growth was largely on the back of growth in our core food delivery business, which continued to grow despite the severe Covid wave starting April. On the other hand, Covid significantly impacted the dining-out business in Q1FY22 reversing most of the gains the industry made in Q4FY21," the company said in a stock exchange filing.

"Last week, we delivered a billion orders on Zomato. It took us 6 years to get to this milestone and we hope it takes us much less time to deliver the next billion. The fact that 10%+ of these billion orders were delivered only in the last three months makes us confident about getting to the next billion much sooner," the company added.

Based in Gurugram, Zomato generates most of its revenue from food delivery and related fees it charges restaurants for using the company's platform. Its gross orders hit a record for the reported quarter at Rs 4,540 crore.

The company had 310,000 active delivery partners in July, which is the highest ever in its lifetime.

"On an average, the top 20% of our delivery partners who deliver on bikes and put in more than 40 hours a week receive a payout of more than ₹27,000 per month," Zomato said.

On Tuesday, the company's scrip on NSE closed trading 4.2% lower at Rs 125.