RateGain Q1 PAT Almost Triples YoY To INR 24.9 Cr On Robust Travel Demand

Traveltech SaaS startup RateGain’s profit after tax (PAT) almost tripled to INR 24.9 Cr in the June quarter of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 8.4 Cr reported in the year-ago quarter as the travel demand continues to grow steadily.

However, this was an over 26% decline on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis from INR 33.8 Cr. The bottom line was hurt sequentially due to increased taxes. While the company paid INR 9.1 Cr as current tax as against INR 2.8 Cr in Q4 FY23, its deferred tax was INR 1.9 Cr versus INR 10.8 Cr in the preceding quarter.

Rategain reported a 79.8% YoY jump in operating revenue to INR 214.5 Cr in Q1 FY24, which also grew over 17% from INR 182.9 Cr in the preceding quarter.

Data as a Services (Daas) contributed INR 70.6 Cr to the operating revenue, while distribution and martech contributed INR 50.7 Cr and INR 93.2 Cr, respectively.

Revenue maximisation solutions provided by RateGain continue to find favour with key clients across the travel and hospitality space who are looking to drive digitisation and provide their guests with a better omnichannel experience, drive efficiencies, and optimise their revenue, the company said in a statement.

RateGain’s EBITDA margin also expanded to 17.6% in Q1 FY24 from 10% in the corresponding quarter of last year.

“We saw another great quarter with tremendous growth basis addition of new clients and expansion within our key accounts. With people’s attitudes changing towards having more experiences, travel industry at macro level continues to witness robust demand,” said Bhanu Chopra, founder and chairman of RateGain, in a statement.

“We are now focusing on our next big goal of doubling revenues in the next three years as we continue to witness robust traction with key clients and add new logos to propel our future growth. We have already started building the organisation we need to accelerate RateGain towards that goal,” he added.

On the expenses side, the startup’s total expenditure jumped 62.3% YoY and 16.3% QoQ to INR 118.3 Cr in the quarter under review.

Employee benefit costs continued to be the single biggest contributor to total expenses during the period. RateGain spent almost INR 88 Cr on employee benefits during the quarter under review, as against INR 76.7 Cr in the preceding March quarter of FY23.

Meanwhile, the company said it continues to add to its headcount with a current global team of 727. The number stood at 713 at the end of March 2023.

Other expenses also increased to INR 88.7 Cr in  Q1 FY24 from INR 74 Cr in the preceding quarter.

Following the announcement of results, shares of RateGain jumped as much as 10% to INR 511 on the BSE during the intraday trading. The stock ended the session 4.7% higher at INR 486.

With an eye on expanding its business further in the Americas region and penetrating further into large enterprises, RateGain also announced the appointment of Peter Strebel as the new president of Americas. He will lead its DaaS, distribution, and martech offerings in the region. 

Strebel earlier served as the chairman and president of Omni Hotels and president of Wyndham Hotels. He has over 30 years of industry experience.

RateGain’s loan-to-value (LTV) to customer acquisition cost (CAC) for Q1 FY24 stood at 13.4X and the revenue per employee at INR 1.2 Cr. 

The company’s annual recurring revenue grew to an all-time high of INR 857.9 Cr during the period under review, it claimed.