Info Edge Q3 Revenue Up 22%; Sequentially Revenue & Profit Growth Modest

Info Edge (India) Ltd, the most valued Internet firm listed on the Indian stock exchanges and which runs sites such as Naukri.com and 99acres.com, reported 22.5 per cent increase in standalone net revenue to Rs 91.99 crore during the quarter ended December 31 over the corresponding period last year. However, sequentially, net revenue grew at a modest 1 per cent over the quarter ended September 30, 2011.

The company reported 31 per cent rise in standalone net profit for the third quarter to Rs 28.85 crore over the year-ago period, partly boosted by 25 per cent rise in other income. Other income in the form of dividend from mutual fund investment etc has been contributing to the earnings of the firm in the recent past.

On a sequential basis, the company's standalone net profit increased by a modest 2 per cent. This comes after an impressive 10 per cent rise in sequential earnings in Q2 FY12 over the first quarter ended June 30, 2011.

The company's earnings before other income, interest and exceptional items rose almost 5.6 per cent for the quarter to Rs 33.03 crore over Q2 FY12 and 28.5 per cent over Q3 FY11.

Info Edge's scrip rose 3.5 per cent after it announced results and was trading at Rs 594 a share on the BSE on Thursday in a strong Mumbai market.

Standalone results of the company include revenues from its primary recruitment business Naukri.com, NaukriGulf.com, Quadrangle, Job Seeker Services and Firstnaukri.com, as well as Jeevansathi.com, 99acres.com, Shiksha.com and Brijj.com.

Revenues of its seven subsidiaries are not part of standalone results. These include Naukri Internet Services Pvt Ltd and Jeevansathi Internet Services Pvt Ltd (which own Internet domain names of Naukri.com and Jeevansathi.com, respectively, as well as related trademarks, while operations are under the parent company), Allcheckdeals, Info Edge (India) Mauritius Ltd (set up to make overseas investments), Info Edge USA Inc., Applect (Meritnation.com) and Etechaces (Policybazaar.com).

Info Edge has been active on investments in 2011. During the first quarter(April-June 2011), it announced two follow-on investments – Rs 13.5 crore ($3 million) in Gurgaon-based DC Foodiebay Online Services Pvt Ltd that runs the restaurant directory site Zomato.com and Rs 20 crore ($4.3 million) in New Delhi-based Applect Learning Systems Pvt Ltd that runs Meritnation.com, a portal offering learning solutions in the K-12 segment. The Zomato deal is an all-cash one while the Applect deal is a mix of equity and convertible preference shares.

Earlier, the company had infused Rs 9 crore in Mydala.com, run by Delhi-based Kinobeo Software Pvt Ltd, and also put in Rs 10 crore in Policybazaar.com, a part of Etechaces Marketing and Consulting Pvt Ltd. In May 2011, it announced another investment of $3.5 million in online private sales portal 99labels.com.

More recently, it raised its exposure in Mydala.com by investing Rs 18 crore through optionally convertible cumulative redeemable preference shares, thus taking its total investment in the firm to Rs 28.1 crore.

The company has also been eyeing domestic mobile apps start-ups, as well as more consumer Internet firms for investments.