Yatra Swings Back To Black With INR 7.3 Cr Profit In Q2

Online travel aggregator (OTA) Yatra returned to the black in the September quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q2 FY25), posting a consolidated net profit of INR 7.3 Cr. The company had reported a loss of INR 17.1 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, profit zoomed nearly 81% from INR 4.04 Cr in Q1 FY25.

The travel tech company achieved profitability in Q2 on the back of healthy growth in its hotels and packages business segment. Yatra’s operating revenue jumped over 2X to INR 236.4 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 94.1 Cr in the year-ago period.

Sequentially, operating revenue surged 134.5% from INR 100.8 Cr.

Including other income, total revenue shot up 151% to INR 244.3 Cr in the quarter ended September 30, 2024 from INR 97.3 Cr in the same quarter last year.

Founded in 2006 by Dhruv Shringi, Manish Amin and Sabina Chopra, Yatra offers information, pricing, availability, and booking facility for domestic and international air travel, domestic and international hotel bookings, holiday packages, buses, trains, in city activities, inter-city and point-to-point cabs, homestays and cruises. 

Unlike its competitors EaseMyTrip, ixigo and MakeMyTrip, which focus on B2C customers, Yatra targets B2E and B2B2C customers. It has also been diversifying its product mix to cater to a wide variety of business clients. 

In June, the OTA bought the remaining 45% stake in adventure tourism-focussed platform Adventure and Nature Network Private Limited (ANN) in an all cash deal for INR 98 Lakh. Earlier this year, it also launched an expense management solution to help global and domestic enterprises manage their businesses.

Segment Revenue

Yatra’s air ticketing business contributed INR 42.9 Cr to the company’s operating revenue in Q2 FY25, a growth of 9% from INR 39.2 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Sequentially, operating revenue from this vertical was largely flat.

On the other hand, the hotels and packages segment’s revenue zoomed over 4X to INR 170.4 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 36.1 Cr in the September quarter last year. The arm reported an exponential 345% growth in revenue on a QoQ basis from INR 38.3 Cr.

Other operating income, which primarily comprised revenue generated from advertisements on Yatra’s websites and from sale of coupons and vouchers, jumped over 2X to INR 7.9 Cr in Q2 FY25 from INR 3.2 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

Zooming Into Yatra’s Q2 Expenses

Yatra’s total expenses outgrew sales during the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal year at INR 236.9 Cr, a more than twofold jump from INR 113.6 Cr in Q2 FY24. The surge in the total expenditure was fueled by a ninefold jump in service costs on a YoY basis.

Service Cost: The spending under this expense head zoomed by a whopping 800% to INR 142.7 Cr in the quarter ended September 30, 2024 from INR 15.9 Cr in the year-ago period. Sequentially, it rose nearly 7X from INR 20.4 Cr.

Employee Benefit Expenses: The company saw a nearly 2% decline in its employee costs to INR 35.9 Cr in Q2 FY25 from INR 36.6 Cr in the September quarter last year. However, on a QoQ basis, employee costs rose over 6% from INR 33.8 Cr.

Marketing & Sales Promotion Expenses: Yatra’s spending in this bucket declined almost 5% to INR 11.7 Cr in Q2 FY25 from INR 12.3 Cr in Q2 FY24.

Payment Gateway Charges: The listed OTA platform spent INR 9.7 Cr on payment gateway charges during the quarter under review, down 21.1% from INR 12.3 Cr it spent in this bracket in the year-ago period.

Yatra is looking to increase its market share and shore up revenue through strategic acquisitions. Earlier this year, the company said that it would acquire corporate travel services provider Globe Travel for INR 128 Cr in an all-cash deal.

The acquisition of Globe Travels will add 350 new corporate clients to Yatra’s existing customer base, taking the total tally of corporate customers to 1,200.

Elsewhere, the company’s subsidiary, TSI Yatra is facing bankruptcy proceedings due to alleged unpaid dues.

Shares of Yatra ended Tuesday’s trading session 3.2% higher at INR 114.75 apiece on the BSE. The company released its Q2 numbers after market hours.

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