Paytm Expects To Break Even Operationally In Six Quarters; Shares Rise
Vijay Shekhar Sharma says his stock grants will be vested when Paytm's market cap sustains above the IPO level.
Shares of One97 Communications Ltd. gained as Paytm's parent said it should break even operationally in six quarters. Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma also decided to defer vesting stock grants till the shares sustain above the IPO level.
The company expects to break even on operating Ebitda (before ESOP cost) by the quarter ending September 2023, Sharma, also the chief executive officer of Paytm, said in a fourth-quarter business update released on the bourses.
“We are going to achieve this without compromising any of our growth plans and well ahead of estimates by most analysts.”
Sharma, in the filing, said the company’s stock is down “significantly from the IPO price against the backdrop of volatile market conditions... Aligned with this, stock grants will be vested to me only when our market cap has crossed the IPO level on a sustained basis”.
Shares of the company ended 4.8% higher on Wednesday at Rs 639 apiece on the BSE. That's still down over 70% from their IPO price of Rs 2,150.
Q4 Operations Highlights:
Monthly transacting users of Paytm Super App rose to the highest at 70.9 million, up 45% year-on-year in Q4 FY22.
Number of loans disbursed through the platform grew 374% over the year earlier to 6.5 million.
Value of loans disbursed came in at Rs 3,553 crore, growth of 417% year-on-year.
Total merchant payment volume processed aggregated to Rs 2.59 lakh crore, up 104% over the year ago.
