FirstCry parent's Q4 losses widen 50%, weighed down by materials cost, ESOPs

FirstCry parent Brainbees Solutions saw its losses widen by 50% even as it clocked double-digit growth in its topline in Q4, driven by a noticeable revenue generation from the house of brands, GlobalBees.

The Pune-headquartered multi-channel retailer posted 15% year-on-year (YoY) growth in its operating revenue to Rs 1,930 crore, an improvement from Rs 1,666.8 crore it earned in the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

BrainBees owns and operates kids and mother care brands FirstCry and BabyHug, as well as the house of brands GlobalBees Brands. It posted a loss of Rs 76.7 crore during the latest quarter, compared with the loss of Rs 51.7 crore it posted in Q4 FY24. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, its loss widened nearly 10X, according to filings made with the NSE.

The omnichannel retailer's bottomline was weighed down by higher expenses associated with employee benefit expenses and raw materials. Its total expenses increased by 17% to Rs 1,914 crore during the quarter.

FirstCry's shares were trading 0.94 % higher at Rs 376.5 apiece on Monday. It was listed at Rs 651 apiece on NSE in August last year, and the stock has slid 42% year-to-date.

On an annual basis, the Supam Maheshwari-led company clocked an 18% growth in its topline to Rs 7,659 crore, while paring down its yearly losses attributable to the owners by 30%.

"We are very happy to report that India Multi-channel business turned PAT and Free Cash Flow positive in FY25. We remain very optimistic and will keep working hard to deliver on both growth and profitability expansion for all business segments," stated management remarks from the investor presentation.

GlobalBees operates on a Thrasio-style model focused on acquiring and scaling smaller ecommerce brands, with Brainbees holding a 50.73% stake. It reported a 33% increase in revenue to Rs 398.4 crore in the March quarter, compared with Rs 298.6 crore last year. The segment narrowed its losses marginally to Rs 23.4 crore during the quarter.

Earlier, in March, FirstCry approved the infusion of Rs 146 crore in GlobalBees Brands.

The unit has seen significant upper management churn during the quarter, with its CEO and Director Nitin Agarwal stepping down. Anuj Jain, Chief Business office of FirstCry's pre-school segment and SVP of Marketing, now leads the house of brands model which counts brands like Joker & Witch, Rey Naturals, Prolixr, and Strauss in its portfolio.

Three investor board members—Sudhir Kumar Sethi from Chiratae Ventures, Harsha Kumar from Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Kaveesh Chawla from Premji Invest—also stepped down from the GlobalBees board since FirstCry's public debut last year.

(The copy was updated with additional information.)