Delhi-based logistics company Ecom Express Pvt Ltd, which counts Amazon and Flipkart among its 500-odd clients, recorded a 40% rise in revenue from its core operations and narrowed its loss for the financial year 2016-17.
Net sales for the year through March 2017 climbed to Rs 480.74 crore from Rs 343.45 crore the previous year, show the company’s filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Net loss shrank to Rs 72.29 crore from Rs 96.75 crore. The net loss for 2016-17 included Rs 7.15 crore on account of impairment of goodwill after Ecom Express merged wholly owned unit Ecom Express East Pvt. Ltd with itself.
Gross expenditure rose 22.5% to Rs 558.43 crore. Cost of services, which included freight and transportation charges, accounted for almost half the total expenditure at Rs 262.42 crore. Employee expenses, at Rs 185.53 crore, and other costs, at Rs 100.27 crore, accounted for the rest.
“The investment in technology leading to improved operational processes and our continued focus on services, along with operating leverage, helped us to reduce the losses,†Mayank Gupta, Ecom Express's chief financial officer and senior vice president, said in an e-mailed response.
Gupta, a former General Electric and Maruti Suzuki executive, joined Ecom Express in September last year.
“We expect to deliver a strong revenue double digit growth rate, perhaps higher than the industry growth rate, in FY 2017-18. We are also looking at various new products, including digital services, to leverage our last- mile reach.†he added.
Ecom Express was founded in 2012 by Krishnan, K Satyanarayana, Manju Dhawan and Sanjeev Saxena. The company provides end-to-end logistics solutions, specifically catering to the e-commerce sector.
It picks up and delivers online orders from partner websites. It also provides business-to-business goods transport, cross-border logistics and reverse logistics services.
Ecom Express has 14,000 employees and operates in 1,600 cities and towns across India, reaching more than 17,000 postal codes. It aims to expand operations to 3,000 cities and towns and more than 20,000 postal codes.
Apart from Flipkart and Amazon, its prominent customers include Myntra, Paytm, Titan, Zivame and Snapdeal.
Backed by the likes of Warburg Pincus, Peepul Capital and Oliphans Capital, Ecom Express is among the most well-funded startups in the logistics sector.
The company raised $30 million in its last funding round four months ago. This was a top-up investment from Warburg Pincus, which had committed $133 million in 2015.
Ecom joins several ecommerce-focussed logistics companies in recording strong revenue growth.
Tiger Global- and Carlyle-backed Delhivery Pvt. Ltd recorded a 50% rise in net revenue to Rs 743.7 crore for 2016-17 from Rs 495.7 crore the previous year, according to VCCEdge, the data research arm of VCCircle.
Zinka Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates B2B logistics venture BlackBuck, registered a steep seven-fold rise in gross revenue to Rs 566.83 crore for 2016-17, up from Rs 81.25 crore the previous year.
Online freight aggregator Rivigo, which is also backed by Warburg Pincus, posted a 170% rise in revenue to Rs 401.8 crore in 2016-17, up from Rs 149 crore the year before.
