E-commerce-focused logistics company Ecom Express has managed 20% year-on-year growth during the fiscal year ended March 2023. However, the company’s losses skyrocketed four-fold as its shipping and employee benefits costs rose sharply in the same period.
Ecom Express’ revenue from operations increased by 21.9% to Rs 2,548 crore in FY23 from Rs 2,090 crore in FY22, its consolidated financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies show.
Twelve-year-old Ecom Express is an e-commerce focused logistics solution provider. Income from its courier services formed 90% of the revenue. This income grew 17.5% in FY23 whereas the remaining collections minted from warehousing services.
The company also made Rs 34 crore from interest on deposits and current investments tallying its overall income to Rs 2,582 crore in FY23.
See TheKredible for the detailed revenue breakup
For Ecom Express, the cost of delivery (courier services) accounted for 48.5% of the overall expenditure which grew by 22.2% to Rs 1,386 crore in FY23 from Rs 1134 crore in FY22.
The firm’s spent on employee benefits, rent, repairs, legal professionals, safety security, and other overheads pushed its total expenditure by 30.7% to Rs 2,856 crore in FY23 from Rs 2,185 crore in FY22
Check TheKredible for the complete expense breakdown.
Expenses Breakdown
https://thekredible.com/company/ecom-express/financials
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https://thekredible.com/company/ecom-express/financials
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- Cost of materials consumed
- Employee benefit
- Rent and repairs
- Legal professional
- Safety security
- Others
Caveat: We have not included the cost of impairment loss on non-financial assets during the fiscal year ending March 2023.
The increased shipping cost and employee benefits made Ecom Express bleed heavily, shooting its losses up by 4X to Rs 375 crore in FY23 from Rs 91 crore in FY22. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin stood at -21% and -5.2% respectively. On a unit level, it spent Rs 1.12 to earn a rupee in FY23.
FY22-FY23
| FY22 | FY23 |
| EBITDA Margin | 4% | -5.2% |
| Expense/₹ of Op Revenue | ₹1.05 | ₹1.12 |
| ROCE | -4% | -21% |
The Warburg Pincus-backed company has raised over Rs 2,000 crore ($240 million) to date. According to the data intelligence platform, TheKredible, Warburg Pincus was the largest external stakeholder with 48.26% followed by Partners Ground and CDC Group.
Ecom Express was all set to float its initial public offering (IPO) in early 2022 as it approved a fundraise through a public issue of shares. However, it postponed listing plans in October 2022 and dialed up existing investors to raise $39 million during the same period.
Built on a promise of wringing out more efficiencies with use of technology and other steps, the worsening of margins seems to be a one off, as the firm will look to a more balanced output in FY24. It has done well to carve out a share for itself in the logistics space, and the only crimp on the horizon seems to be the deceleration seen in e-commerce sales itself. That will hurt Ecom Express, seeing how deeply the firm is focused on the segment. A year of single digit growth, even with lower profits is not something it will want at this stage, and that might actually force more streamlining than it bargained for.
