Zomato's loss swells by 2.5 times to Rs 347.4 Cr in Q4 FY22

Foodtech platform Zomato reported a loss of Rs 347.4 crore in the fourth quarter (Q4) of fiscal year (FY) 2022. This is nearly five times the loss in its previous quarter, and 2.5 times the loss it reported a year ago in the same quarter.

For the full year, the company reported a loss of Rs 1,220.3 crore, compared to a loss of Rs 822.3 crore in FY 2021.

"Reduction in losses will be driven by improvement in contribution margin of the food-delivery business and also operating leverage playing out as our revenue is growing faster than our fixed costs," said Akshant Goyal, CFO of Zomato, in its exchange filings.

On the revenue front, Zomato clocked Rs 1,350 crore in Q4, FY 2022, which was 7 percent higher sequentially, and 80 percent more than a year ago.

"Our growth trajectory is back on track, and we don’t foresee 'post-COVID-19 ramifications' affecting our

growth rate anymore," Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said in the stock exchange filings.

For the full year, the company reported total income of Rs 4,687.3 crore, which was 121 percent higher than in FY 2021.

Its average monthly transacting customers was at 15.7 million, which is 60 percent higher than a year ago.

Zomato's (active) restaurant network in its food-delivery business crossed the 200,000-mark. At 205,000, the average monthly active food-delivery restaurant partners have grown by 44 percent.

The foodtech company's average order value (AOV) hardly grew—Rs 398 for FY 2022, compared to Rs 397 in the previous year. "For the top eight cities, we actually saw the AOV increase by 3 percent in FY22 over FY 2021," the company stated in the filing. "We currently don’t see any material downward pressure on the AOV."

Deepinder also explained the number of minority investments Zomato made in FY 2022—seven companies, including Magicpin and Curefit Healthcare. It also exited two companies (Nextable in the US, and Jogo Technologies) during the year.

"Over the long term we will have to diversify outside of just food-delivery to tap into economies of scale, and build unbeatable moats which serve our customers for multiple decades, at unbeatable prices and world-class service quality," he said.

The rationale is to put the building blocks for a robust quick-commerce business in India, and to accelerate digitisation and growth of the food and restaurant industry which accelerates our core food business, Deepinder said.

Zomato's Hyperpure business grew its adjusted revenue by 24 percent sequentially to Rs 1.9 billion in Q4 FY22, and by 160 percent over the same quarter a year ago. Its adjusted operating-loss margin improved from -23 percent in Q3 FY22 to -20 percent in Q4 FY22.

Hyperpure currently offers nearly 4,200 SKUs (stock keeping units) for restaurants to buy, according to the stock-exchange filing. "Hyperpure provides next-day delivery in the specified time slot with more than 90 percent orders delivered on-time currently," it added.

The Hyperpure business is operational in 10 cities. It supplied items to more than 34,000 unique restaurants in Q4, FY 2022, up from 27,000 in Q3, FY22. This is around 17 percent of Zomato's active restaurant network.