Might mark first full year of Ebitda profitability, Oyo tells employees

The hospitality chain had reported an adjusted Ebitda of Rs 63 crore in the first half of this financial year as per previous filings to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Ebitda stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation and is a measure of a company’s profitability.

Oyo has previously defined adjusted Ebitda as Ebitda being adjusted for transformation expenses made on assets of its hotel partners.

People familiar with the matter said the company also told employees that the revenue for the second half of this fiscal is expected to be over Rs 2800 crore, growing 15% year on year compared to the second half of financial year 2021-2022.

Sources said the company told staffers the almost three times jump in adjusted Ebitda can be attributed to a reduction in costs led by ‘operational efficiencies’, a growth in its hotels business and ‘continued’ operational profitability.

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The company told employees in the townhall that its overall Gross Booking Value (GBV) is expected to clock a 23% increase in financial year 2023 versus financial year 2022 to over Rs 9990 crore primarily led by the hotels business. Homes is the other storefronts segment for Oyo.On December 31 last month, Oyo’s founder Ritesh Agarwal had tweeted that the chain saw a record 4.5 lakh plus bookings on new year’s eve globally. “We are also seeing the highest bookings per hotel per day for India in the last five years today,” Agarwal had stated in the tweet.

The company said in the townhall that its overall operating cost is likely to reduce further by 13%. According to the company’s last filing, employee expenses, net of share-based payment expenses constituted the largest component on the cost side at 18% of the revenues, followed by marketing expenses at 14% and general and administrative expenses at 7% of the revenues for H1 of this fiscal year. In early December, the company had said it was downsizing staff and letting go of 600 employees from its employee base of 3,700 but was also hiring new employees.

The company also said in the townhall that a tech-driven supply acquisition such as Oyo360 is expected to lead to a 15% rise in the number of hotels in the second half of this fiscal year compared to the first half.

But its vacation homes business may show a decline of 8% monthly revenue per home given the turmoil in Europe and geopolitical tensions.

ET reported on December 31 that Sebi had asked Oyo to update its draft IPO papers. Sebi had asked Oyo to update risk factors, its key performance indicators (KPIs), outstanding litigations and the basis for valuation in the company’s draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). The company had filed the first DRHP with Sebi in September 2021 and is aiming to raise Rs 8,430 crore.

The company said this month that it is planning to refile its application for initial public offering by the middle of February. “We are keen on refiling the DRHP by the middle of February 2023, if not earlier,” an Oyo spokesperson had said.