According to a senior company official, it is likely to double its profit for FY 22, which will be reflected in the draft red herring prospectus that the company is looking at filing by June quarter this year.
This comes a year after the Softbank-backed Unicorn had posted a loss of Rs 190.8 crore for FY 20.The startup entered the unicorn club in February 2020 with a $296 million Series E cheque from investors led by SoftBank. The company is now preparing for an initial public offering and has mandated investment banks Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. and Morgan Stanley to manage the issue.
“This is probably the only company after Nykaa that has carved a niche in a category and has turned in a profit. There is considerable investor interest,” said an investment banker.
The Pune-based company’s consolidated revenues saw a more than 140% jump from Rs 897 crore in FY 20 to Rs 1,740 crore in FY 21, the document shows.
Started in September 2010, the decade old company has become a leading player in the omnichannel baby and mother care products segment. It acquired Mahindra Retail owned BabyOye brand in an all-stock deal of Rs 362 crore ($50 million) in 2015. Same year, the cofounders Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha spun out their logistics division, XpressBees, in a separate company.
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Today, Firstcry has around 600 retail stores and has also expanded in the UAE.
“The business in the UAE has picked up and that is going to fuel the profit numbers for FY 22,” the official said.
The company’s expense stood at Rs 1,645.3 crore in FY21, up from Rs 1,088.1 crore in FY20. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation or Ebitda margin stood at 10.5%.
Omnichannel players have seen their sales zoom aided by the pandemic induced online buying among Indian consumers.
