Info Edge Reports Strong Quarterly Profit Growth But Misses Estimates

Info Edge (India) Ltd. posted a 27% rise in net profit for the March quarter to ₹2.55 billion, its highest since the December quarter of 2021-22, supported by double-digit tax savings and strong billing growth across business segments. However, it missed analysts’ estimates, which forecast a net profit of ₹2.65 billion.

Revenue for the quarter rose just over 2% sequentially to ₹6.87 billion, the highest since the December quarter of 2014-15, but below the expected ₹6.98 billion. Year on year, net profit grew nearly 21% and revenue increased almost 13%.

For the full year ended March, the company’s net profit fell over 7% to ₹7.73 billion, while revenue rose more than 11% to ₹26.54 billion.

On a consolidated basis, net profit almost doubled sequentially to ₹4.63 billion and revenue rose nearly 4% to ₹7.50 billion for the quarter. 2024-25 consolidated net profit jumped over 67% to ₹9.62 billion, with revenue up more than 12% to ₹28.50 billion.

Operating profit for the quarter declined 12.2% sequentially to ₹2.31 billion but was up 3% year on year. Operating margin contracted to 33.7% from 39.2% in the previous quarter. Cash balance stood at ₹47.86 billion as of 31 March, up from ₹42.90 billion on 31 December.

Billings surged over 47% quarter on quarter and 19% year on year to ₹9.84 billion. Recruitment business billings grew over 18% year on year, while real estate, matrimony and education verticals recorded growth of nearly 22%, 24% and 16% respectively.

Recruitment, the largest revenue segment, posted revenue of ₹5.11 billion, up slightly from ₹5.05 billion in the December quarter. Operating profit rose 7.9% year on year to ₹2.78 billion, though operating margin contracted to 54.5% from 57%.

Recruitment growth was broad-based across IT and non-IT services. The company’s Naukri platform added an average 22,000 resumes daily in the quarter, with a total database of 106 million resumes.

Real estate revenue, under the 99acres platform, rose nearly 2% to ₹1.06 billion, supported by higher billed customers and average billing per customer. Matrimony (Jeevansathi) revenue increased 11% sequentially, and education (Shiksha) revenue rose over 14%.

Total expenses rose nearly 12% sequentially to ₹4.56 billion, driven by a 9% rise in employee benefits to ₹2.92 billion and a 27% increase in advertising and promotion costs to ₹846 million. Employee benefits accounted for 64% of total expenses, while advertising formed 19%.

The company declared a final dividend of ₹3.60 per share for 2024-25, with the record date set for 25 July.