Shares of Le Travenues Technology, which operates the online travel booking platform ixigo, rose as much as 15% to Rs 165.99 apiece on October 19 as the company swung to net profit in the September quarter from a net loss a year ago. The profit was aided by a one-time gain and a rise in other income. Its revenue for the quarter rose 13% on year.
Le Travenues reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 61.2 crore for Jul-September quarter against a net loss of Rs 3.2 crore a year ago. Revenue from operations rose 13% on year to Rs 321 crore. Sequentially, net profit rose 89%, while revenues were down 10%. The company's other income rose to Rs 22 crore from Rs 5.1 crore a year ago. Le Travenues sold 46,264 compulsorily convertible preference shares of Freshbus, reducing its stake in the company to 8.27% from 25.7% earlier. Since Freshbus is no longer an associate company, Le Travenues recognised a gain of Rs 41 crore under exceptional items.
Total expenditure, including finance costs, was at Rs 310 crore compared with Rs 292 crore a year ago. Finance costs rose to Rs 64 lakh against Rs 61 lakh. The company's tax outgo for the September quarter was Rs 8.2 crore as against a tax write-back of Rs 50 lakh a year ago.
At 2 pm on October 19, ixigo shares were trading 9% higher at Rs 157.26 apiece.
Hotels emerged as ixigo's fastest-growing business line by gross transaction value (GTV), reaching Rs 111.34 crore, up 159 per cent YoY, ixigo stated. This is the first time ixigo has reported hotels as a separate line of business.