BackInfo Edge posts 72% rise in profit
Info Edge posts 72% rise in profit
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New Delhi: Info Edge (India) Ltd, the owner of job site naukri.com, reported a 72% jump in quarterly profit as hiring improved and its websites drew more visitors, but it also cautioned that growth in the first half of this fiscal year will be slower.
Net profit for the quarter ended March improved to ₹ 39.97 crore from ₹ 23.18 crore a year earlier. Sales climbed 30% to ₹ 105.9 crore.
“The quarterly and annual results reflect the strong competitive position of Naukri, robust growth of 52% in 99acres (the firm’s real estate portal) and also growth in smaller businesses," said Ambarish Raghuvanshi, chief financial officer and director. But he added that “business outlook for the next six months is somewhat muted given the GDP (gross domestic product) and the weak business confidence levels."
Info Edge’s three-year-old education classifieds portal shiksha.com continued to make losses. Raghuvanshi said a business of this nature would need 5-6 years to break even.
Brijj.com, an online networking site, and allcheckdeals.com, a real estate brokerage business, are yet to report revenues. Quadranglesearch, the company’s offline executive search firm, saw its growth decline by 10-20% because of weak hiring by some specific clients, Raghuvanshi said.
Naukrigulf.com, the company’s job site focused on the West Asian market, grew at 5-10% last year. “The gulf market is not very robust, economy there is weak," said Raghuvanshi. Info Edge’s board on Thursday approved a bonus issue of one share for every share held. It also recommended a dividend for 2011-12 at ₹ 1 a share to be paid on the post-bonus or expanded paid-up capital base.
Info Edge shares slipped by 0.34% Thursday on BSE to ₹ 755.05 each, while the benchmark Sensex fell 0.87%.
vidhi.c@livemint.com
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