Justdial Profits Fall, Completes Equity Buyback Worth $29 Mn

Mumbai-headquartered hyperlocal search engine Justdial has recorded a net profit of INR 47.3 Cr ($ 7.11 Mn) in the second quarter of FY21, ending September 30. This is a 43.2% drop in profits compared to the INR 83.3 Cr ($11 Mn) profit recorded in Q1 FY21.

In Q2 FY21, the company’s profit margins decreased by 28.26% year-on-year (YoY) and 51.3% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).

Justdial’s operating revenues have fallen by 30.9% YoY from INR 242.57 Cr to INR 167.5 Cr in the Q2 of FY21.

The company said that it has recorded operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of INR 44.7 Cr ($6.7 Mn) which saw a drop of 33.5% in Q2 FY21. In the last quarter, the figure stood at INR 37.5 Cr ($5.6 Mn).

With public places shut and travel restriction, the company also decided to curtail its advertising spends. The company claimed that the majority of its traffic is presently coming organically.  

Further, the number of quarterly unique visitors for Justdial stood at 130.6 Mn users which saw a drop of 19% Y-o-Y and growth of 30.6% Q-o-Q. The company said that 80.8% traffic originated on mobile platforms, 14.5% from desktops and 4.7% on voice platforms.  

Status On Buyback

The company said that it had completed the process of buying back equity shares worth INR 220 Cr ($29 Mn), which it had announced in July.

According to the BSE filings, 33.43% of the company is held by promoters, 11.03% by individuals, 19.86% by domestic investors and 35.6% by foreign investors.

Founded by a serial entrepreneur V.S.S Mani in 1996, Justdial had gone public in May 2013. With more than 25 verticals on its website, Justdial application was started as a phone-based local directory. The company currently offers services such as bills and recharge, grocery and food delivery, and handles bookings for restaurants, cabs, movie tickets, flight tickets, events and more.

Justdial also reportedly made a soft entry into India’s ecommerce space in May 2015 through tie-ups with restaurants, grocers, pharmacies and electronic stores for home delivery.

Justdial also introduced JD Pay, a unique solution for quick digital payments for its users and vendors in 2017. Justdial claims to have branches in 11 cities across India with an on-ground presence in over 250 Indian cities covering more than 11K pincodes. 

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