India's Mahindra Logistics swings to loss as costs bite

Mahindra Logistics

24/04/2023 14:32

BENGALURU, April 24 (Reuters) - India's Mahindra
Logistics Ltd  MALO.NS  reported a swing to a fourth-quarter net
loss on Monday against a profit a year ago, dented by higher
operating expenses in a weak-demand environment.  
    The logistics arm of Mahindra Group logged a consolidated
net loss after tax of 8.2 million rupees (around $100,000) for
the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of 74
million rupees a year ago.
    Total expenses climbed 18% to 12.81 billion rupees with
operating expenses jumping 15.7%.
    Third-party logistics providers such as Mahindra Logistics
are facing a challenging demand environment due to softness in
e-commerce movements and consumer durable segments, analysts
said.
    The supply chain management segment, which contributes more
than 90% to the company's revenues, nosedived to a loss of 37
million rupees from a profit of 639.7 million rupees a year ago.
    The enterprise mobility services segment also reported a
loss of 9.3 million rupees, down from a profit of 10.4 million
rupees a year ago.
    Mahindra Logistics, which competes with firms such as
Delhivery  DELH.NS , had flagged demand weakness at its investor
conference in February and had expected the trend to continue
till December 2023. 
    Revenue from operations increased 16.9% to 12.73 billion
rupees. 
    Shares closed 1.3% down ahead of results on Monday and were
down 25.3% year-to-date. 
    


($1 = 81.9040 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Meenakshi Maidas and Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru;
Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
 ((Meenakshi.Maidas@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8921483410;))