Revenue from operations surged 70.86% to Rs 2,416 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2023 from Rs 1,414 crore reported in Q1 FY23.

Adjusted revenue grew 54% year on year to Rs 2,786 crore (33% YoY growth ex-quick commerce).

Total adjusted EBITDA grew to Rs 12 crore in the first quarter of FY24 as compared with EBITDA loss of Rs 150 crore in Q1 FY23. Adjusted EBITDA (ex-quick commerce) was Rs 145 crore for the quarter (compared to loss of Rs 150 crore in Q1 FY23).

Adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 0.4% in Q1 FY24 as against negative 9% posted in the same period last year, driven by both cost side levers and revenue side levers, in addition to some accumulation of operating leverage due to growth in the business, said Ranjan.

In the food delivery business, Gross Order Value (GOV) growth was 13.9% YoY to Rs 7,318 crore during the period under review. Adjusted revenue stood at Rs 1,742 crore in Q1 FY24, registering a growth of 18.5% YoY.

Average monthly transacting customers grew 4.79% YoY to 17.5 million in Q1 FY24 as compared to 16.7 million in Q1 FY23.

In a letter to shareholders, Rakesh Ranjan, chief executive officer, said, “GOV growth was driven by robust growth in number of orders as well as modest uptick in average order value. The demand recovery, which we started seeing since February this year, continued into Q1 FY24, Q1 usually tends to be a seasonally stronger quarter for us, growing adoption of our Gold program which drove higher frequency of ordering and now contributes to 30%+ of GOV in the food delivery business, and most importantly and great execution by the team, especially on ensuring delivery partner availability in a quarter impacted by adverse weather (both extreme heat and untimely rains) were the primary reasons for this growth.”

Hyperpure revenue zoomed 126% YoY to Rs 617 crore in Q1 FY24. Adjusted EBITDA margin improved to negative 6% in Q1 FY24 as against negative 16% in Q1 FY23.

Meanwhile, Quick commerce business posted revenue of Rs 384 crore, up 134.15% as against Rs 164 crore in recorded in the corresponding previous quarter.

Moving on to Blinkit, Zomato said, “The slower sequential GOV growth in Q1 FY24 was mainly due to the temporary business disruption we had in the month of April resulting from the change in the delivery partner payout structure. Due to this, some of our dark stores were shut for a few days in certain parts of the country, which caused a decline in overall order volumes during the quarter.

While the operations were back on within a few days, we faced a challenging period of around 45 days where the overall gig workers available to work in our system were 15-20% lower than normal. This was due to the above disruption as well as the heat and incessant rains. For us, this started to normalise in early June and we have seen healthy growth since then. AOVs, as we mentioned last time, will continue to swing up and down in the near to medium term due to multiple (mainly seasonal) factors.”

The cash balance on a consolidated basis as at the end of 30 June 2023 was Rs 11,573 crore as compared to Rs 11,323 billion as at the end of 31 March 2023.

The company said that in Q1 FY24, it took a strategic call to redeploy a large chunk of fixed deposits into longer duration government securities and corporate bonds (AAA rated) with much higher yields. In the process, on account of premature liquidation of fixed deposits, it received additional accrued interest pertaining to past quarters as cash, which substantially increased our treasury income receipts. Hence, going forward, Zomato expects the treasury income receipts to be much lower than the levels seen in Q1 FY24.

Zomato connects customers, restaurant partners and delivery partners. Customers use Zomato to search and discover restaurants, read and write customer generated reviews and view and upload photos, order food delivery, book a table and make payments while dining-out at restaurants. On the other hand, it provides restaurant partners with industry-specific marketing tools which enable them to engage and acquire customers to grow their business while also providing a reliable and efficient last mile delivery service. The company also operates a one-stop procurement solution, Hyperpure, which supplies high quality ingredients and kitchen products to restaurant partners.