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Chaayos scale remains flat in FY24; turns EBITDA positive

Entrackr · 8d

Fintrackr: Chaayos Scale Remains Flat in FY24; Turns EBITDA Positive Over the past 18-20 months, growth and late-stage Indian startups have shifted their focus toward profitability. While many managed to significantly reduce their losses in FY24, their growth was constrained by a sharp reduction in cash burn. Chaayos followed this trend, reporting a more than 50% drop in losses, though its operational scale remained flat for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Chaayos’ revenue from operations grew by 4.85% to Rs 248.5 crore in FY24 from Rs 237 crore in FY23, according to its consolidated financial statement filed on the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The company sells a variety of teas and other snacks and beverages with dine-in, takeaways, and online ordering facilities. It has over 200 outlets across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. Chaayos’ core revenue streams include sales of manufactured goods such as tea, which accounted for 95.32% of the revenue. This revenue increased 3.1% to Rs 236.87 crore in FY24. Revenue from traded goods (snacks, tea leaf) almost doubled, rising by 98.52% to Rs 10.74 crore, while income from services fell by 51.89% to Rs 0.89 crore. The company made an additional Rs 22.7 crore from non-operating sources which pushed its total income to Rs 271.2 crore in the last fiscal year. On the expense front, Chaayos' largest expense category, employee benefit expenses rose by 4.45% to Rs 81.15 crore in FY24. Cost of materials decreased by 11% to Rs 76.54 crore. Other significant costs included depreciation, which remained stable at Rs 51.83 crore, and commissions, which declined by 4.62% to Rs 26 crore. Miscellaneous expenses added Rs 89.69 crore to the company’s overall spending. In the end, the company managed to reduce its total expenses by 11.07% to Rs 325.21 crore in FY24, down from Rs 365.68 crore in FY23. Due to controlled expenses across verticals, Chaayos’ losses shrank 50.6% to Rs 54 crore in FY24. It is worth noting that the company achieved positive EBITDA of Rs 28.35 crore in FY24. Its ROCE and EBITDA Margin stood at -6.02% and 10.45% respectively. On a unit basis, the company spent Rs 1.31 to earn a rupee of operating revenue in FY24. As of March 2024, the firm reported Rs 181.42 crore of current assets including Rs 89.16 crore of cash and bank balance. Like almost every marketer out there, Chaayos has also been betting big on premiumisation, even as the break up between online and offline sales remains broadly equal. Those are both tough choices to make from a margin perspective, as premiumisation pits it against stronger competition, and online is still all about putting margins on the line. The firm is truly at an inflection point, twelve years after it first started. It is a well-regarded brand, can boast of some innovations and experiences unique to it, and has some level of scale. The problem now is to repeat all of the above at half the cost and time, to put it simply. Does Chaayos have a plan?