Infibeam Avenues Q1 profit falls 39%

Announcing its financial results for first quarter ended June 2020, fintech solutions provider Infibeam Avenues Limited said revenues were down 24 per cent at ₹160 crore compared to the same quarter last year. Profit after tax (PAT) too fell 39 per cent at ₹12 crore. However, EBITDA margin at 38 per cent was up 190 basis points.

With online being the flavour of these times of coronavirus, the number of payment transactions through its bills payment platform BillAvenue climbed 12 per cent to 2.6 million year-on-year, and 66 per cent quarter-on-quarter. In terms of value, it was up 9 per cent at ₹168 crore, y-o-y. EBITDA margin up up 190 bps at 38 per cent q-o-q.

Meanwhile, the company received stock exchange observatory consent on proposed composite scheme of arrangement and for filing with NCLT, for demerger of SME eCommerce & Marketplace and Theme Park & Event businesses to unlock shareholder value.

Speaking to

BusinessLine , Vishal Mehta, Managing Director, Infibeam Avenues Ltd, said, “The pandemic has triggered the rise in average daily registration; this is also evident from the rising payment volumes being processed through our payment gateway ‘CCAvenue’ post Covid-19, i.e. post June. We have seen a V-shaped recovery in our business volumes, especially in our payments business. In India, the average daily payments volume recovered by June-end compared to the daily average in March, despite aviation, travel & tourism and hotel industry volumes continuing to be very low.

“In the UAE, we experienced month-on-month growth in volume and value; an increase of nearly 2x in average daily volumes in June 2020 vs. January 2020. We processed the highest ever payments worth ₹7,800 crore in August alone, more than double the value in April, leading to an annual run-rate of ₹94,000 crore.”

Mehta pointed to the sharp rise in bill payment volumes through the BillAvenue platform as a big positive. “The average daily bills processed through BillAvenue platform increased nearly 2x vs Q1 FY19 and 5x vs Q1 FY18. Covid-19 has led to a sharp rise in digital adoption for utility payments with month-on-month rise in volumes. Based on the run-rate in Q1, we could process 11-12 million bills in FY21,” he said.

As the Covid-19 situation eases, Mehta said Infibeam will ramp up operations in geographies such as South East Asia, and select African and Arab markets.