FirstCry Q1: Loss Declines 31% YoY To INR 75.6 Cr, Revenue Up 10%

Kids-focussed omnichannel retailer FirstCry’s parent Brainbees Solutions managed to narrow its consolidated net loss by 31% to INR 75.68 Cr in the first quarter of financial year 2024-25 (Q1 FY25) from INR 110.42 Cr in the year-ago period.

Operating revenue grew 10% to INR 1,652.07 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,496.93 Cr in Q1 FY24.  

However, FirstCry’s loss rose 75% during the quarter under review from the INR 43.26 Cr loss it posted in Q4 FY24. Operating revenue declined marginally by 0.8% from INR 1,666.85 Cr in the preceding March quarter. 

This is the startup’s first financial report release since its listing on the bourses earlier this month.

Its total expenses, excluding finance costs and depreciation & amortisation expenses, rose 12.6% to INR 1,602.90 Cr from INR 1,422.61 Cr in Q1 FY24. It declined 2% compared to INR 1,633.73 Cr in Q4 FY24.

Purchase of stock in trade stood at INR 885.3 Cr, accounting for the highest expense. Employee benefit expenses stood at INR 133.9 Cr during the quarter under review as against INR 114.03 Cr in Q1 FY24 and INR 138.01Cr in Q4 FY24. 

FirstCry’s employee share based expenses stood at INR 22.8 Cr in Q1 FY25 as against INR 45.3 Cr in the year-ago period. The startup said it expects employee stock option plan (ESOP) charges on the basis of currently issued stocks to be at INR 82.52 Cr for the ongoing financial year. 

It is pertinent to mention that FirstCry recently received show notices from the Income Tax (I-T) Department pertaining to ESOP expenses of INR 79.7 Cr for assessment years (AY) 2018-19 to 2021-22.

The startup also recorded an exceptional loss of INR 12.26 Cr (net of insurance claims) during the quarter under review as fires at its warehouses in West Bengal’s Hooghly and Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi destroyed the entire inventories, properties and equipment. 

Further, it also said that heavy rains in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on April 16 led to widespread flooding in Dubai and Sharjah, impacting the company’s business. However, business returned to normalcy approximately in two weeks. 

A Look At Key Numbers

FirstCry’s consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the quarter jumped 106% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 74.3 Cr. This number was “adjusted for share-based expenses…additionally, GlobalBees EBITDA was also adjusted for salaries and wages accounted for as per Para B55 of Ind-AS 103 and deal related cost”, the company said. 

Meanwhile, gross merchandise value (GMV) for the quarter rose 17% YoY to INR 2,318.3 Cr in Q1 FY25. The number of annual unique transacting customers jumped 15% to 9.5 Mn. Of this, over 9 Mn customers were from India and the rest from international markets.

Average order value (AOV) for India multichannel declined 3% to INR 2,157 during the quarter from INR 2,181 in  Q1FY24. For the international markets, AOV rose 13% to INR 8,669 from INR 7,644 in Q1 FY24.

Overall, FirstCry’s revenue from India operations stood at INR 1,150.1 Cr during the quarter, while it earned INR 183.7 Cr from international markets. 

Meanwhile, its ecommerce roll up subsidiary GlobalBees raked in an operating revenue of INR 324.5 Cr in the quarter, up 26% from INR 256.5 Cr a year ago. For the uninitiated, GlobalBees aggregates and invests in ecommerce brands and helps the brands scale and transform their digital impression.

Along with the financial results, FirstCry’s board also approved an investment of INR 100 Cr in its UAE subsidiary to strengthen the business in the country and Saudi Arabia.

Shares of FirstCry ended today’s session 1.89% higher at INR 641.40 on the BSE.