India's Delhivery says Q1 loss narrowed as demand rose, expenses fell

Mahindra Logistics

04/08/2023 14:33

BENGALURU, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Indian logistics firm
Delhivery  DELH.NS  on Friday reported a narrower quarterly loss
helped by a rebound in demand for online shopping and lower
operational costs. 
    Consolidated net loss for the first quarter ended June 30
shrank to 894.8 million rupees ($10.82 million) from 3.99
billion rupees a year ago. 
    A slight cooling in inflation in the months of April and May
and increased economic activity in the country has revived some
discretionary spending like online shopping, while lower fuel
costs helped bring down the company's total expenses by 3% to
21.30 billion rupees. 
    Delhivery counts companies like Amazon  AMZN.O  and
Walmart-owned  WMT.N  Flipkart among its chief clients. 
    Total income, including its revenue from contracts with
customers, rose 13.2% to 20.31 billion rupees.
    Analysts at brokerage Emkay Research said last month growing
demand for app-based shopping and government policies to reduce
inefficiencies in logistics will allow India's e-commerce
shipments market to at least double by the fiscal 2026, helping
companies like Delhivery. 
    Revenue from Delhivery's mainstay express parcel services
grew 14% year-on-year, the company said in a statement. 
    Last month, rival Blue Dart Express  BLDT.NS  reported a
drop in quarterly profit while Mahindra Logistics  MALO.NS  also
posted a quarterly loss hurt by higher costs. 
    Shares of Delhivery closed 5.7% up on Friday ahead of the
results, after a nearly 15% rise during the June-quarter.
    

($1 = 82.8300 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Biplob Kumar Das in Bengaluru; Editing by
Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
 ((Biplobkumar.das@thomsonreuters.com; 9101861583;))