India's Zomato Ltd reported a bigger loss for the quarter ended June in the first results update since its listing last month, hurt by higher expenses and as the food delivery company's dining-out business took a hit due to the pandemic.
A second wave of COVID-19 infections in the country significantly impacted its dining-out business and reversed most of the gains the industry made in the previous quarter, the company said.
Consolidated net loss was 3.56 billion rupees ($47.79 million) for the first quarter, compared with a loss of 998 million rupees a year earlier, Zomato, which is also a restaurant aggregator said in a regulatory filing.
Non-cash employee stock ownership plan expenses increased in the first quarter and also affected results, the company added. Zomato's total expenses more than tripled to 12.6 billion rupees.
Based in Gurugram, a satellite city of India's capital New Delhi, the company generates most of its revenue from food delivery and related fees it charges restaurants. It also allows users to book tables online, leave reviews and avail special discounts while eating at select restaurants.
Together with SoftBank-backed startup Swiggy, Zomato has come to dominate an Indian delivery market that benefited from the pandemic as people stayed in and turned to online ordering.
Zomato's gross orders in the reported quarter rose more than four times to 45.4 billion rupees from a year earlier, while revenue from operations rose to 8.44 billion rupees.
The company's shares fell about 4% on Tuesday ahead of the results, leaving them roughly flat since a stock market launch in Mumbai on July 23 that valued Zomato at more than $13 billion.
