Infibeam Avenues’ Q2 Profit Almost Triples To INR 38.3 Cr

SUMMARY

Including the mark-to-market investment gain/loss, Infibeam Avenues’ profit from operations after tax stood at INR 40.5 Cr as against INR 39.9 Cr in Q2 FY23

Operating income jumped 66% YoY to almost INR 790 Cr during the quarter under review

The company witnessed an “unprecedented” onboarding of merchants, primarily small businesses, which resulted in a higher take rate, joint MD Vishwas Patel said

Fintech company Infibeam Avenues reported a 191% jump in its profit after tax (PAT) to INR 38.3 Cr in the September quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 13.2 Cr in the last year’s quarter.

However, as per Infibeam’s financial statements, its profit from operations after tax stood at INR 40.5 Cr as against INR 39.9 Cr in Q2 FY23.

For the adjusted PAT of INR 38.2 Cr, the company excluded the notional value of mark-to-market investment gain/loss.

On the other hand, Infibeam’s operating income also jumped 66% year-on-year (YoY) to almost INR 790 Cr in the quarter under review.

In the previous quarter, Q1 FY24, the company had posted a PAT of INR 25.46 Cr on an operating revenue of INR 742.3 Cr.

Speaking on the steady growth in the quarter under review, Vishwas Patel, joint MD of Infibeam Avenues, said that the company witnessed an “unprecedented” onboarding of merchants, primarily small businesses, which resulted in a higher take rate.

Its payment net take rates increased 25% YoY to 9.3 basis points.

“In addition to our exceptional performance in the domestic market, our payment business,

CCAvenue, is experiencing significant growth in the international market, particularly in the UAE.

In August, we achieved a historic milestone by recording a monthly transaction volume of AED 1 Bn in the UAE,” Patel added.

Recently, Infibeam also announced the launch of a mobile QR Code payment solution through its payment gateway CCAvenue.ae in the UAE market.

Infibeam said that the higher growth in its operating revenue was led by a 28% growth in transaction processing value (TPV) and an increase in gross take rate by 36% to 112 basis points.

Its TPV jumped 79% YoY to INR 1.8 Lakh Cr. Payments TPV alone rose 28% YoY to INR 76,900 Cr in the quarter.

Infibeam claimed to have added a total of 0.6 Mn merchants in H1 FY24, of which 0.27 Mn merchants were added in Q2 alone, which implies an average addition of 2,900 merchants daily in the domestic payment aggregation business, CCAvenue.

Meanwhile, the company’s total expenses surged over 63% to INR 737.4 Cr in Q2 FY24 from INR 452.1 Cr in the corresponding period of last fiscal.

While Infibeam’s operating expenses increased to INR 679 Cr in the quarter under review from INR 398 Cr in Q2 FY23, its employee benefits expenses increased over 14% YoY to INR 32.9 Cr.

The company sees achieving a PAT of INR 130 Cr-INR 150 Cr in the full year, which would be a 37%-59% YoY jump, while clocking a gross revenue of INR 3,000 Cr-INR 3,300 Cr.

Following the earnings announcement, shares of Infibeam ended Thursday’s trading session 3.6% higher at INR 19.65 on the BSE.

Besides, the company also announced acquiring a partially constructed building from Aavas Trust in Gujarat, which would be an extension of its planned GIFT city AI Hub.