Just Dial Reports 61% In Profits, Earnings Stood At INR 159 Cr

Indian internet company Just Dial which was acquired by Reliance Retail last year, has seen a 61% dip in its net profit in Q3 of FY22. The 25-year-old company posted a net profit after tax of INR 19.4 Cr, a significant drop from INR 49.9 Cr it had posted during the same period but in the last financial year, i.e, in FY21.

The net profit for Oct-Dec of 2021 or Q3 of FY22, is also 41% lower than the previous quarter. In Q2 of FY22, Just Dial has posted a net profit of INR 32.9 Cr. 

Adjusted operating EBITDA, excluding ESOP expenses, stood at INR 10 Cr. The company announced that it has also ramped up hiring across critical functions such as technology, content, sales and marketing teams which has resulted in higher employee expenses. 

It is worth mentioning that this is Just Dial’s first earning report after Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries acquired 41% stake in Just Dial in September last year.  

In the last three months, Just Dial has earned INR 159 Cr from operations. This is a 6.3% drop than INR 169.5 Cr, the company recorded in Q3 of FY 21. Between July to September of 2021, Just Dial posted INR 156 Cr from operations.

Just Dial in Q3 of FY22 has posted a total expense of INR 154 Cr, 17.5% rise from INR 131 it incurred in Q3 of FY21. 

The Reliance-backed hyperlocal search engine also posted INR 3,769 Cr in terms of cash and investments, a 150% rise from INR 1,509.6 Cr the company posted in the same quarter last financial year. Just Dial has recorded INR 3,773.4 Cr in Q2 of FY22.

In terms of business, Just Dial recorded around 142.7 Mn unique visitors, a 7.7% jump from 132.6 Mn that it witnessed in Q3 of FY21. However, on a QoQ basis, this is a 4.6% drop from 149.5 Mn, Just Dial saw in Q2 of FY22. 

In Q3 of FY22, mobile continued to remain the strong source of traffic with 120.2 Mn unique users to the platform; desktop users stood at 16.3 Mn, and 6.2 Mn came from voice search. 

Total active listings stood at 31.4 Mn as on December 31, 2021, an increase of 4% year-on-year and 1.3% quarter-on-quarter. In the last quarter, a net of 413,100 listings were added to Just Dial’s database.

In the last quarter, Just Dial’s app was downloaded 30.1 Mn times, a 7.2% year-on-year rise from 28.1 Mn and a 1.7% quarter-on-quarter jump from 29.6 Mn. Android continued to remain a stronghold of Just Dial, as 26.5 Mn downloads were recorded in Android. 

In conclusion, though Just Dial saw strong unique visitors along with higher download numbers, the company’s profit after tax remained on a shaky ground. At the time of filing the story, Just Dial’s shares were trading at a low of INR 808. 

Founded by VSS Mani in 1996, Just Dial has an extensive database of around 30.4 Mn listings and its existing consumer traffic is of around 129.1 Mn quarterly unique users. The internet company has been on the radar of two big Indian conglomerates, Reliance and Tata, both of whom are working to build a super app for Indians.

Earlier in 2021, Tata Digital, the digital arm of the multinational conglomerate, was exploring a partnership with Just Dial as it would give Tata access to a host of experts, service providers and small retailers in most towns and cities across India.