Spice Mobility’s mobile devices business continued to face losses, although to a lesser extent than before. The segment posted a net loss before tax of Rs 5.95 crore for the quarter ended September 30th 2015, compared to a loss of Rs 13.86 crore in the previous quarter. Year-on-year, the company’s losses decreased as it had reported a loss of Rs 9.59 crore the same quarter last year.
The segment reported total revenues of Rs 436.06 crore for the quarter, registering a marginal 1% growth from Rs 431.8 crore the preceding quarter. On a year-on-year basis, the revenues declined by 12.3% from Rs 497.17 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Mobile devices business continues to dominate Spice Mobility’s revenues, accounting for 87.8% of the company’s revenues for the quarter that stood at Rs 496.5 crore. The mobile devices segment accounted for 90.9% of the company’s revenues in the same quarter last year and 88.03% in the preceding quarter.
Services profit increases: The revenue from Spice Mobility’s services business increased to Rs 62.09 crore for the quarter, up 21% from Rs 51.32 crore in the same quarter last year and up by 6.1% from Rs 58.52 crore in the preceding quarter.
The profit before tax also increased to Rs 33.3 crore for the quarter, up 91.4% from Rs 17.4 crore profit in the same quarter last year and up from Rs 1 crore profit in the previous quarter. Services business represented about 12.4% of Spice Mobility’s revenues for the quarter.
Overall, Spice Mobility posted revenues of Rs 496.5 crore for the quarter, down from Rs 546.98 crore in the same quarter last year and marginally up 1.5% from Rs 489.02 crore in the preceding quarter. The company reported net loss before tax of Rs 2.88 crore for the quarter, compared to the loss of Rs 10.8 crore in the same quarter last year and a loss of Rs 15.41 crore in the preceding quarter.
Stake in Creative Functionapps: In July Spice Digital, a subsidiary of Spice Mobility, acquired 26% stake in telecom technology solutions providers Creative Functionapps Lab for an undisclosed amount. Following the deal, Creative Functionapps would become an Associate Company of Spice Digital. With Spice Mobility’s mobile devices business continuing to post losses, the acquisition of Creative Functionapps could be the company’s attempt to prop up its services business, which has been steadily increasing its share in the company’s total revenues.
Delisting plans on hold: In May, Spice Mobility’s promoters Smart Ventures Private Limited, informed the stock exchanges that it was putting on hold any step in the direction of the proposed delisting of the equity shares. In January, Spice Mobility promoter Smart Ventures Private Limited had received board approval to delist the company from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
Download:Financials (pdf)
