Route Mobile jumps 17.5% on expanding WhatsApp-based ticketing service

Route Mobile Limited said it has partnered with Billeasy E Solutions Private Limited, and enabled WhatsApp-based ticket booking for Pune, Hyderabad, and Nagpur metros in addition to Delhi

Route Mobile WhatsApp ticketing: Route Mobile share price soared 17.5 per cent to hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 1,797.55 apiece on the BSE on Monday after the company extended its partnership with messaging app WhatsApp to enable ticketing service at Nagpur, Pune, and Hyderabad metro.

At 2:36 PM, Route Mobile share price was up 14.4 per cent at Rs 1,750 per share as against 0.08-per cent rise in the benchmark BSE Sensex. Decent volume was seen on the counter with 3.8 million shares having changed hands till the time of writing of this report.

In an exchange filing, Route Mobile Limited (Route Mobile) said it has partnered with Billeasy E Solutions Private Limited (Billeasy), and enabled WhatsApp-based ticket booking for Pune, Hyderabad, and Nagpur metros in addition to Delhi.

 

"Currently, 15 cities in India have active Metro services, and Route Mobile has already enabled this solution for four of them, making it the largest enabler in the domain. Route Mobile first launched this service for Delhi Metro in the second half of 2023. Now, they have enabled this service for three additional cities through a partnership with integration partner Billeasy, who have been pioneers of this solution since 2020," Route Mobile's exchange filing said.

Route Mobile Limited is a cloud communications platform service provider catering to enterprises, over-the-top (OTT) players, and mobile network operators (MNO). RML's portfolio comprises solutions in messaging, voice, email, SMS filtering, analytics, and monetisation. RML has a diverse enterprise client base across various industries, including social media companies, banks and financial institutions, e-commerce entities, and travel aggregators.

Meanwhile, ticket booking on WhatsApp involves creating advanced solutions, web views, and payment integrations. To use Route Mobile's service, the user has to chat with the official WhatsApp account of the metro, follow instructions like selecting 'from' and 'to' stations and number of tickets and make the payment via their preferred payment method (UPI, Net banking, Credit or debit cards).

"Upon successful completion, the user will receive the tickets as a WhatsApp message in the form of a link that will open the QR ticket which they can present at the time of entering the station and complete their journey," Route Mobile said.

Any large-scale deployment needs to be supported by an equally capable infrastructure. This deployment, according to  Rajdipkumar Gupta, managing director & Group CEO of Route Mobile, showcases Route Mobile's network capability and scalability.

"These kinds of unique customer journeys are what the engineering and product teams try to solve on a daily basis in Route Lab. We look forward to deploying more such solutions in the coming days," he added.

Financially, Route Mobile reported a nearly 9 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) drop in net profit at Rs 95.2 crore for the quarter ended March 2024 (Q4FY24).

While the company's revenue from operations increased 0.8 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 1,017 crore, its Ebitda dipped 4 per cent to Rs 125.4 crore. The Ebitda margin contracted to 12.3 per cent in Q4FY24 compared to 13.1 per cent in Q4FY23.

"While Route Mobile reported a weak Q4 quarter, we expect a growth revival in FY25, led by better ILD volume (e-commerce deal), new wins in the domestic market, and contribution from the VI deal. The deal with Proximus Group is expected to close in May 2024. The combined entity will bring synergies of $100 million and the target is to reach $1 billion revenue. The Ebitda margin, however,  is expected to stay in the 12-12.5 per cent range," said analysts at HDFC Securities.

The brokerage, however, has cut its revenue/EPS estimate for FY26E by ~5 per cent due to a delay in deal ramp-up. It maintains a 'Buy' rating with a target price of Rs 1,780.