Losses widen for many new age cos where retail investors bet big in Q4

Three of these five companies namely

, and One 97 Communications () reported widening of losses in the March quarter on a year-on-year basis despite strong sales growth. One profitable company FSN E-Commerce Venture () reported a 49 per cent plunge in profit for the quarter. The fifth one, CarTrade, reported losses of Rs 31 crore for the quarter compared with a profit of 10.21 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Zomato losses nearly tripled to Rs 360 crore while revenue spiked 75 per cent.

In the case of Zomato, retail investors held 3.52 per cent stake as of March quarter compared with 1.6 per cent stake at the end of December quarter and 1.4 per cent stake as of September 30, 2021, data available with corporate database AceEquity suggests.

Zomato got listed in July 2021 with a strong premium. But the stock erased all its listing pop and is trading below its issue price of Rs 76. It is in fact down 63 per cent from its 52-week high of Rs 169.10.

finds the stock Rs 115 worth. finds it worth Rs 80.

In case of Paytm, retail holding went up to 7.72 per cent in March quarter from 3.49 per cent in December quarter. FPIs cut their holding by 494 basis points in this company as of March quarter.

Losses for this company widened to Rs 761.4 crore in March quarter compared with Rs 441.8 crore in the same quarter last year.

This stock, which got listed in November 2021, has fallen 71 per cent over its issue price of Rs 2,150. Goldman Sachs and

have price targets on the stock in the Rs 1,000-1,300 range. Macquarie on the other hand has a target of Rs 450 on the stock as it differs on Ebitda loss breakeven expectations, following not-so-material fall in sequential losses in March quarter.

FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa) and PB Fintech (PolicyBazaar), which reported their March quarter earnings on Friday, had also seen a rise in retail stake during the quarter.

In case of PolicyBazaar, retail stake has gone up to 2.49 per cent from 2.12 per cent sequentially. This company reported widening of losses to Rs 219.60 crore in March quarter from Rs 64.38 crore in the year-ago quarter (though sequentially losses fell from Rs 298 crore in December quarter) even as revenues doubled for the quarter to Rs 540.29 crore.

For Nykaa, retail stake moved up to 2.66 per cent from 2.18 per cent, as per AceEquity data. FSN E-Commerce Ventures, Nykaa’s parent company, has reported steep declines in profits in all three quarters since it went public, owing to its efforts to double down on marketing the brand as it emerges from the pandemic.

In the March quarter, consolidated profit for this company fell to Rs 8.56 crore from Rs 16.88 crore a year earlier.

CarTrade, meanwhile, has seen retail stake rising to 15.44 per cent in March quarter from 14.79 per cent in December quarter and 14.19 per cent in September quarter. CarTrade got listed in August 2021. This stock is down 62 per cent from its issue price of Rs 1,618.

This company reported a net loss of Rs 31.68 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2022. It reported a net profit of Rs 10.21 crore in the same period previous year.

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