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Urban Company turns profitable with Rs 7 Cr PBT in April

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Urban Company has turned profitable at PBT level (profit before tax) on a consolidated basis in the last month, said two sources aware of the firm’s financial numbers. The development will potentially smoothen its public listing plan which is likely to happen in the second half of next year (2025). “Urban Company’s India business has been EBITDA profitable since October-November 2022,” said one of the people cited above requesting anonymity. “But on a consolidated basis, the firm posted a little over Rs 7 crore in profit before tax (PBT) in April 2024.” As for the firm’s India unit—which is more than 90% of its business—it recorded over Rs 11 crore PBT in April. “Urban Company has also achieved breakeven in the UAE but it is incurring losses in Singapore and Saudi region as these two markets are new,” said the person mentioned above. The profitability in April indicates that Urban Company has been able to cut losses by over two-third in FY24. “The company’s losses for the last fiscal stood under Rs 100 crore,” said another person who also requested anonymity. The 10-year-old company posted a loss of Rs 308 crore against revenue of Rs 637 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2023. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Urban Company also reduced its losses by 40.1% in FY23 as compared to FY22. Queries sent to Urban Company didn’t elicit any response. Urban Company is a home services and beauty salon marketplace with a presence across over 30 cities in India along with operations in some foreign markets. The Gurugram-based company joined the unicorn club in June 2021 with a valuation of over $2 billion but the company hasn’t raised any primary money in the past three years. In December 2021, it bought back employee stocks (ESOPs) at a valuation of $2.8 billion. While plans for an IPO are usually a red flag when a sudden improvement in financials is observed, in Urban Company’s case, the improvement has been long in coming with a series of changes the firm has been making over the years. Be it white label or own label products, service contracts to ensure predictable cash flows, focus on repeat users and better management of partner relationships, the firm has been seen to be at work. Seen as a barometer for the state of blue collar gig economy in India, the firm will continue to find itself in the cross hairs of critics in case of any misstep, but credit has to be given for a long and sustained effort to thrash out a business out of it all. The international ventures remain a question, considering the widely different conditions and laws in each market, but in India at least, the numbers will just be the icing on the cake that seems ready for a taste test in the capital markets.