Decoding Byjus FY21 Balance Sheet

A thirteen-fold widening loss at Byju’s (Think & Learn Pvt.) for the financial year 2020-21 underpins the challenges it faces in its operations.

The audited results signed off on Aug. 30 by co-founders Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath and audited by Deloitte Haskins & Sells reveal how the aggressive acquisition-led growth is posing a challenge for the edtech major, which will now have to consolidate its operations before pushing the pedal further.

After over Rs 16,000-crore worth of acquisitions since April 2021, the company had an operational cash burn of nearly Rs 3,400 crore during FY21.

The company declared the financials on Sept. 14, though it is yet to file the report with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

It has cited consolidation of acquisitions and pandemic-led operational difficulties for the delay in filing the financials.

Byju's claimed that FY22 unaudited revenue stood at Rs 10,000 crore, though no filings were available to confirm it.

BQ Prime accessed the consolidated profit and loss statement and balance sheet of Think & Learn Pvt. Here is a deep dive into the balance sheet of the parent company of Byju’s:

Revenue

The edtech major posted a loss of Rs 4,564.4 crore for the financial year ended March 21.

This comes on the back of revenue which remained little changed from the previous year at Rs 2,430 crore.

The revenue from operations mainly comes from the sale of edutech products, which fell 9.5% in FY21.

The fall in revenue is also attributed to the auditor disallowing revenue recognition on an upfront basis.

The company, in its notes to the accounts, has changed the revenue recognition retrospectively.

Revenue from products, which were previously recognised fully on commencement of contract, has been adjusted to be recognised rateably over the period of the contract. Further, this contract could vary between 2-3 years.

According to the notes to the account, such revenue amounted to Rs 1,156.27 crore in FY21, which will now be recognised once all the revenue is received or the contract expires.

At the same time, the cost of the product attributed to this revenue of Rs 109.18 crore is expensed to the profit and loss statement.

Of this deferred revenue, Think & Learn will receive close to Rs 1,061 crore in the future from customers. The amount already received is accounted as short-term loans in the balance sheet.

Further, the interest paid to loan partners on behalf of customers, with respect to loans granted directly to customers, have been reclassified from finance cost and adjusted against revenues, since these payments are in the nature of payments to customers.

As a result, in FY20, revenue declined by Rs 191.77 crore to Rs 2,188.9 crore, its finance cost reduced by Rs 148.40 crore to Rs 13.72 crore leading to loss before tax increasing to Rs 361.57 crore.

The changes also led to unearned revenue of Rs 123.41 crore, which was pushed to the subsequent fiscal and losses increased to Rs 598.50 crore.

The fiscal also saw its revenue from India decline by 38.4% to Rs 987.67 crore, largely due to revenue recognition method, while its revenue in the U.S. subsequent to acquisitions rose 133% to Rs 795.59 crore.

Employee Expenses

The fiscal 2021 saw a steep rise in the employee benefit expenses for the company.

Employee expenses stood at Rs 1,943.30 crore compared to Rs 420.26 crore. This expense also included employee stock options granted to the tune of Rs 466.67 crore.

Pursuant to ESOP 2019, the company granted 23,952 share options till March 31, 2021, to employees of the parent and its subsidiaries.

According to the company, the market price of shares at the end of March 31, 2021 was Rs 2,13,032 apiece.

The weighted average price of the shares at the end of March 2021 stood at Rs 2,01,761 apiece, as compared to Rs 9,733 apiece for FY20.

At the end of March 31, 2021, based on the market price of shares, the company was d at Rs 53,006 crore.

The of the company would have subsequently increased in FY22.

Other Expenses

The fiscal 2021 saw an increase in business promotion expenses to Rs 2,250.94 crore compared to Rs 899.34 crore in FY20.

Other expenses rose to Rs 1,503.03 crore, largely on account of legal and professional charges during the year.

Contributors To Loss After Tax

The company posted a loss of Rs 4,564.38 crore after recognising Rs 1,083.5 crore of unrecognised deferred tax or the losses would have been higher by Rs 1,158 crore.

The company had an effective tax rate of 25.16%, but paid an effective tax of Rs 34.70 crore.

The standalone entity accounted for 62% of the losses. Among its key subsidiaries Whitehat Education accounted for nearly 33% of the total losses, while Tangible Play—the foreign subsidiary—accounted for 5% of the total losses.

From the date of acquisition, Whitehat has contributed Rs 326.66 crore of total revenue and a loss of Rs 1,548.76 crore to the loss before tax from operations of the group.

The company posted an operating loss of Rs 3,720.68 crore during the year and net cash burn from operations stood at Rs 3,420.9 crore during FY21.

Acquisitions

The company acquired nine companies for Rs 16,293.50 crore in cash and equity since April 2021.

It paid Rs 8,639.5 crore in cash and the remaining in equity for this acquisition.

It has effectively used cash and equity to acquire these companies. 47% of the of the acquisitions is via issuance of equity shares to the sellers.

It has so far paid Rs 10,921.96 crore for these nine acquisitions and the remainder will be paid subsequent to merger of these acquisitions with itself or as per the share purchase agreement.

It plans to merge Aakash Education, Toppr Technologies and Grade Stack Learning with itself.

It has already filed an application with the NCLT for merger with Aakash Educational Services. The company will have to pay Rs 1,983.49 crore to the sellers (erstwhile promoters) of Aakash by Sept. 23, 2022.

In total, the company needs to be Rs 5,371.5 crore in cash and equity to complete the acquisitions.

It will face a challenge as correction in new economy companies' valuations would hinder future fundraise at higher valuation.

Byju's has raised $1.20 billion debt in November 2021 from overseas markets for which the parent provided guarantee.

Equity And Cash

The company saw its total equity rise from Rs 5,595.98 crore to Rs 7,544.61 crore during FY21.

The company raised Rs 6,035.34 crore through equity and compulsory convertible preferred shares fund-raising during the year.

This includes Rs 1,139.17 crore of share application money pending allotment. The cash and cash equivalent at the end of March 31, 2021 of Rs 2,675.43 crore includes the earlier mentioned share application money.