(Reuters) -Indian logistics services firm Delhivery reported a fourth-quarter profit on Friday, as higher spending to attract client demand paid off amid tough competition from e-commerce firms’ pivot to in-house logistics.
The company’s consolidated profit came in at 725.6 million rupees ($8.5 million) for January-March, compared to a loss of 684.7 million rupees a year earlier.
Revenue from operations rose 6% to 21.92 billion rupees, and while the company’s freight handling and servicing spends rose 3%, cost control on other fronts kept its total expenses largely unchanged from last year.
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KEY CONTEXT
Cargo movers such as Delhivery have been spending more to attract clients and fend off intensifying competition, at a time when e-commerce firms such as Amazon, Walmart-backed Flipkart and Meesho are increasing distribution through in-house logistics.
The expenditures paid off in attracting client demand, with Delhivery’s core profit margin expanding to 12.2% from 11.5% a year earlier.
Volumes at Delhivery’s express parcel business, which accounts for nearly 60% of overall revenue, grew 1% versus Elara Securities’ estimate of 2%. This segment includes partnerships with Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
12 months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue Profit Mean No. of Stock to Div
growth (%) growth (%) rating* analyst price yield
s target** (%)
Delhivery 74.66 32.13 16.05 151.71 Buy 20 0.81 NULL
Mahindra Logistics 43.95 6.50 15.35 – Hold 10 0.95 0.80
Blue Dart Express 39.67 16.78 11.84 51.17 Buy 6 0.95 0.36
VRL Logistics 23.64 9.02 9.52 21.18 Strong 9 0.80 0.97
Buy
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
JANUARY-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 85.5240 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)
