Q4 net loss of Zomato widens to Rs 360 crore

BENGALURU: Food delivery platform Zomato on Monday reported a net loss of Rs 360 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2022. Its net loss during the same quarter of the last fiscal stood at Rs 134 crore.  Its consolidated revenue from operations in the quarter stood at Rs 1,212 crore, which is a 75% jump compared to Rs 692 crore in Q4 FY21.

Its adjusted EBITDA loss reduced to Rs 220 crore in the fourth quarter compared to Rs 270 crore in the previous quarter. The company’s average monthly transacting customers were at an all-time high of 15.7 million.

Its gross order value grew by 6% Q-o-Q and 77% Y-o-Y to Rs 5,850 crore in Q4FY22. This was driven by healthy growth in order volumes. Zomato’s average order value (AOV) for FY22 was Rs 398 and for the top 8 cities, the food order delivery platform saw the AOV increase by 3% in FY22 over FY21.

The company sees significant potential to optimise delivery costs through better utilisation of its fleet.

“We are working toward bringing down the delivery cost per order while increasing delivery partners’ EPH (Earnings per Hour) and enhancing customer experience at the same time,” Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said.

Talking about an acute shortage of gig workers, Goyal said they are seeing some stress on the availability of delivery partners in the current quarter in select cities since the last week of April.

“We think this is short-term in nature. The workforce, which migrated to their hometowns during the first COVID wave, hasn’t yet come back to the cities for work – thus hampering our delivery partner acquisition rate,” he added.

Zomato on Monday made it clear that it is not planning for any more minority equity investments at this stage. The platform had made seven investments in FY22.

'Bullish on quick commerce'

Goyal also said that they remain bullish on quick commerce. The company has invested in Blinkit, and also provided a short-term loan of up to $150 million to fund its capital needs. In the last quarter, Zomato said that it would invest $400 million in quick commerce.