Q2 financial results: Q2 earnings special: Delhivery, FirstCry, Mamaearth, Rapido, Noise

Also in the letter:

■ NR Narayana Murthy’s interview with ET
■Uber India rolls out new features

^{Delhivery Q2 results: Rs 10 crore profit vs year-ago loss, revenue up 13%}

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Sahil Barua,CEO, Delhivery

Gurugram-based Delhivery posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 10 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2024 against a loss of Rs 103 crore in the year-ago period. However, the profit was down 81% from Rs 54 crore reported in the preceding quarter.

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Financials:

• Revenue from operations stood at Rs 2,190 crore, up from Rs 1,942 crore a year ago
• Express parcel revenue grew by 7% YoY to Rs 1,298 crore
• Express parcel shipments grew 3% YoY to 185 million
• Part Truckload revenue grew 27% YoY to Rs 474 crore

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CEOspeak: “The stable volume performance during Q2 FY25 along with the planned seasonal capacity additions we undertook towards the end of the quarter set us up well for the festive season. We saw a significant increase in the Express volumes in October with daily average volumes being 25% higher than the pre-festive sale period,” said Sahil Barua, MD & chief executive officer.

^{Brainbees Solutions Q2 results: FirstCry operator narrows loss to Rs 50 crore YoY, revenue jumps 26%}

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Supam Maheshwari, CEO, FirstCry

Brainbees Solutions narrowed its consolidated net loss in the quarter ended September 30, 2024, to Rs 50 crore versus Rs 101 crore in the year-ago period. It was also down from Rs 57 crore from the previous quarter.

Financials:

• Annual unique transacting customers were 16.5% higher as compared to September 2023

• The gross merchandising value (GMV) in the quarter stood at Rs 2,529 crore, up 21% YoY

• The India Multi-Channel Adjusted Ebitda was up 38% YoY at Rs 110 crore. The cash profit after tax rose by 209% to Rs 28 crore

^{Honasa Consumer Q2 results: Mamaearth operator slips into red with Rs 19 crore YoY loss}

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Varun Alagh and Ghazal Alagh, founders, Honasa Consumer

Honasa Consumer reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 19 crore for the quarter ended September, versus a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 29 crore in the year-ago period on the back of one-time inventory correction amid a shift in its distribution model.

Financials:

• Revenue from operations stood at Rs 462 crore, down 7% on year
• Revenue adjusted for inventory correction was Rs 525 crore, up 5.7% YoY

Quote, Unquote: “Over the past few months, we’ve been implementing Project Neev to optimise our distribution model. In this quarter, we have taken strategic steps towards transitioning from super-stockists to direct distributors in top 50 cities. This transition has impacted our revenue and profits, leading to a slowdown for Mamaearth,” said Varun Alagh, chairman and CEO of Honasa Consumer.

^{Rapido narrows losses in FY24 as scale grows; firm says GMV surged 2.5X in Q2FY25}

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L-R: Rapido founders Rishikesh SR, Aravind Sanka and Pavan Guntupalli

Swiggy-backed ridesharing platform Rapido posted a 46% rise in operating revenue in the last fiscal year at Rs 648 crore backed by its entry into new businesses and increased customer bookings.

Financials:

• Net loss narrowed by 45% to Rs 371 crore from Rs 674 crore in FY23
• The company cut employee benefit expenses by 17% to Rs 172.5 crore, while trimming marketing spending by 11% to Rs 213.5 crore

Recap: Rapido said it has crossed annualised gross merchandise value (GMV) of $1 billion this year. We reported exclusively on August 9 about the company crossing this milestone. Rapido clocked GMV of Rs 2,461 crore in the September quarter, a 2.5x increase from a year earlier.

^{Wearables brand Noise posts loss in FY24, revenue growth flat amid slump in sector}

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Amit and Gaurav Khatri, cofounders, Noise

Wearables company Noise reported a net loss in FY24, reversing from a profit in the previous year due to escalating costs.

Financials:

• Net loss of Rs 20 crore vs net profit of Rs 88 lakh in FY23
• Operating revenue largely unchanged at Rs 1,430 crore vs Rs 1,426 crore a year ago
• Total expenses increased to Rs 1,460 crore

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Market watch: Noise was the second largest wearables brand in India in the June quarter with a 13% market share, as per IDC data. Boat was the first with a 26.7% share while Boult stood third with 8.1%.

^{Low-tech jobs in rural India will spur economic growth: NR Narayana Murthy}

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Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy commented on a range of subjects in an interaction with ET ahead of the Infosys Science Foundation’s announcement of winners of the Infosys Prize.

Edited excerpts:

Rural India: “The economy is growing. But this is limited to urban areas; Our challenge, therefore, is to bring this growth to rural India as well. So, India must focus on low-tech manufacturing with the objective of creating many low-tech jobs in rural areas with good disposable income.”

Apple’s R&D investment: “What that means is we have graduated from simply using the inventions of the developed world to creating new inventions—perhaps guided by the West. If Apple is starting something here, then obviously senior people will guide the researchers and all of that.”

Trump’s win: “It doesn’t matter what the political relationships are; as long as we work hard, remain disciplined, innovate, and have a good work ethic, US businesses will want to partner with us. They don’t care whether you’re from one party or another, that doesn’t matter to them.”

Read the full interview here.

^{Uber India lets drivers cash out earnings four times a day; rolls out upfront tipping}

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Prabhjeet Singh, president, Uber India and south Asia

Uber rolled out new incentives for its drivers as it seeks to beat intensifying competition and an industrywide driver shortage in the Indian ride-hailing industry. The incentives include allowing drivers to cash out their earnings from the platform four times a day, compared to thrice per week earlier.

Current state: The move comes at a time when it is facing rising competition in the four-wheeler taxi business from WestBridge-backed Rapido, Google-backed Namma Yatri and all-electric taxi firm BluSmart.

A quick lookback: We reported earlier how rising competition has resulted in ride-hailing platforms offering better incentive and payout structures to gig workers.

In an interview with ET on September 10, Prabhjeet Singh, president, Uber India & South Asia, said ride-hailing platforms in India do not have enough vehicles to fulfil fast-growing consumer demand.