Spice Mobility’s mobile devices business continues to post losses, and in this quarter it recorded a significant jump: the segment reported a net loss before tax of Rs 10.03 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 (Q3FY18), as compared to a loss before tax of Rs 6.52 crore in the previous quarter. However, in the corresponding quarter last year, the company had posted a profit of Rs 1 crore.

In this context it needs to be mentioned that Spice Mobility had decided to discontinue its ‘Spice’ branded handsets business, in May last year.

Total revenues from the mobile devices segment stood at Rs 80.21 crore, down 24.7% from Rs 106.48 crore in the previous quarter, and less than half of the Rs 161.06 crore revenues posted in the same quarter last year. The segment accounted for 54.08% of Spice Mobility’s total revenues, which stood at Rs 148.31 crore for the quarter.

Services business

Revenues from Spice Mobility’s services business stood at Rs 65.24 crore for the quarter, down 6.45% from revenues of Rs 69.74 crore in the previous quarter, and down 9.3% from revenues of Rs 71.94 crore in the same quarter last year. The segment accounted for 43.98% of Spice Mobility’s total revenues.

The segment posted a loss of Rs 5.57 crore, as compared to a profit of Rs 50.37 lakh in the previous quarter. In the corresponding quarter last year, the segment had posted a profit of Rs 1.96 crore.

Overall, Spice Mobility posted revenues of Rs 148.31 crore for the quarter, down 16.41% from Rs 177.43 crore in the preceding quarter, and down 38.9% from Rs 242.55 crore in Q3FY17. The company’s losses (after tax) for the quarter stood at Rs 30.64 crore, more than double the Rs 11.62 crore losses posted in the previous quarter, and four times the Rs 6.95 crore losses posted in Q3FY17.

Investment in AnyTimeLoan

Last month, Spice Digital, a subsidiary of Spice Mobility, invested Rs 25 crore in peer-to-peer (P2P) lending company AnyTimeLoan, which provides unsecured personal loans, K12 education loans (for primary & secondary school tuition fees), and MSME business loans.

Note that currently, Spice Mobility holds a wallet license, a license to set up as an operating unit under the Bharat Bill Payment System, license to operate as a GST Suvidha Provider, and Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) provider. Given that Spice Mobility’s services revenue has been on a steady decline, it will interesting to keep a watch on how the company decides to proceed from here on.

Download: Financials