Omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart turned to a net loss of ₹102.3 crore in FY22 compared to a net profit of ₹29 crore in the previous year as a sharp rise in total expenses offset other income of about ₹115 crore.
The company, run by Lenskart Solutions Pvt. Ltd, reported a 66% rise in revenue from operations at ₹1,502.7 crore, according to a filing with the corporate affairs ministry.
Total expenses climbed 73% to ₹1,726 crore in FY22 as the company incurred about 72% higher cost on advertising and promotion at about ₹234.6 crore. Employee expenses surged 53% during the year at ₹245 crore.
“While India continues to be profitable, we have invested in Middle East as a new market, and continue to invest more strongly in Southeast Asia...because these are new markets, (they) require some investment for a while, so considerably, the loss is still not that large,” said Peyush Bansal, co-founder and chief executive in an interview. He added that of the total revenues, about ₹1,400 crore was from Lenskart’s India operations.
In June, the company took a controlling stake in Japanese direct-to-consumer (D2C) eyewear brand Owndays in a bid to place itself as one of the largest omnichannel players in the category in Asia.
In August, the company told VCCircle about its plans to shift its entire manufacturing in Southeast Asia, including Owndays, to its largest manufacturing facility in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan.
Lenskart also expanded its online presence recently by offering its products on platforms like Nykaa, Myntra, Tata Cliq. The company also has over 1,000 franchise stores and this financial year, it is looking to open 400 outlets across the country.
Founded in 2008 by Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, Neha Bansal and Sumeet Kapahi, Lenskart, in addition to its online platform, has a wholesale division engaged in the assembly, distribution and supply of eyewear.
Lenksart’s revenue from the sale of its products, its key revenue contributor, rose 65.6% in the last financial year to ₹1,418 crore.
Revenue from services, primarily, subscription fees, grew 13.4% to ₹48.8 crore
The company paid about ₹305 crore as commission to selling agents, rising 64% from the year earlier.
Telephone postage expenses rose to ₹42.3 crore, from ₹27.7 crore. Stock in trade expenses increased to ₹131.4 crore from ₹68.5 in FY21, while the cost of material consumed rose 74% to about ₹485 crore, the filings showed.
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