See over 20% sales growth in naukri.com in FY12: Info Edge

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Hitesh Oberoi, CEO and MD, Info Edge says, the company’s operating profit after tax (PAT) is up 30% over last year. “If the economy stays good, we are hoping that we will do more than 20% next year as well in terms of top-line growth in Naukri,” he adds.

Below is a verbatim transcript. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: Take us through the quarterly performance of Info Edge.

A: This was a great quarter once again for us. Our operating profit after tax (PAT) is up 30% over last year, our earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was up 31% over last year. Our total income was up about 25%.

For the year as a whole, our net sales are up 25% and our EBITDA is up about 47%, so great quarter for Naukri and 99acres and for the company as a whole as well.

Q: I know you are looking at on a year-on-year basis. But if you were to look at quarter-on-quarter basis, the PAT as well as the top-line have been just marginally higher, what is the reason for that?

A: I would not read too much into quarter-on-quarter numbers as far as our company goes for the simple reason that some of our expenses are lumpy. So, sometimes advertising expenses go up in one quarter, they may not be very high in subsequent quarters. Similarly, a lot of our sales incentive payments are made in the last quarter, so for that reason, expenses could be in the last quarter.

Net sales are up 25% in this quarter as well, which is almost the same as last quarter. Part of the reason for this is that even though our collections have been very good. If you look at our deferred sales, that’s up 67% compared to last year. A lot of this revenue will be recognised over the next year because we collect money advance. Even though collections are good, they are not recognised as revenue in that quarter itself.

Q: Next year, can you give us a guidance, what kind of business outlook can you give us especially for Naukri.com?

A: As a policy we don’t give guidance. But if the economy stays good, we are hoping that we will do more than 20% next year as well in terms of top-line growth in Naukri. If we grow at more than 25% in Naukri then our margins should improve further.

Q: But what kind of competition are you currently facing as far as naukri.com is concerned? You are giving a guidance that perhaps you are going to see 20% plus growth. But what kind of competition are you really factoring in?

A: The same competition, we have monster.com, timesjob.com, shine.com, some of these players have been in the market for a long time and they are our competitors. So, we are factoring in the same competitors as previous year. We have seen no great increase in comparison activity at the moment. Our collections have grown healthily this year. So, more than competition, we would worry about economic growth. If the economy continues to grow at 8-9% a year, we don’t have any problem.

Q: What about 99acres.com? How is that doing? What are the plans as far as that is concerned?

A: I think 99acres had a fantastic year. For the first time in its history, it broke even on an annual basis, although on a very low revenue base still.