Realty Portal 99acres posts losses again

Reflecting the phase the real estate sector is going through, Info Edge Indiaowned property portal

99acres.com has posted losses of ~21 crore for the June quarter, down 40 per cent from ~36 crore in the yearago period.

“The environment in the real estate market continues to be tough but losses in 99acres were moderated compared to last year due to lesser competition,” said Chintan Thakkar, chief financial officer, Info Edge.

Info Edge, which also owns Naukri.com, has reported a 55 per cent rise in its net profit at ~44 crore for the quarter ended June, compared to ~29 crore a year ago. The company’s total income increased 14 per cent to ~222 crore for the quarter from ~194 crore in the year-ago quarter.

During an investor call, the company said one of the investee companies — online search and discovery search portal Zomato — is doing quite well and might break even some time in this financial year as its revenue growth had been high.

“We are pleased with a healthy growth of operating Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) by 136 per cent, year-on-year (y-o-y), and operating Ebitda margin change from 14 per cent to 28 per cent. The growth is led by increase in revenue by 17.3 per cent y-o-y and operational efficiencies, particularly in the area of marketing spend.

Naukri continues to grow and has a 75 per cent traffic share of the jobportals market,” Thakkar added.

The company said that during the quarter under review, recruitment solutions grew 17.1 percent, while the real estate vertical expanded 16.5 per cent, on a y-o-y basis.

Info Edge also runs Jeevansathi.com, a matrimonial portal and Shiksha.com, an education portal.

The company also owns Quadrangle – an offline executive search business, and Naukri Gulf. Apart from this, Info Edge has made significant strategic investments into emerging internet companies such as Zomato, Meritnation, Policybazaar, mydala.com, Canvera, and Happily Unmarried.

Info Edge employs 4,250 people and operates through 72 offices across 46 cities in India, besides offices in Dubai, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.