Yatra Online - Earnings Call - Q1 2026

Transcript

Speaker 2

Hello everyone, and welcome to Yatra Online Inc's fiscal first quarter 2026 financial results call for the period ended June 30, 2025. Today's call is hosted by Yatra Online Inc's CEO and Co-Founder, Dhruv Shringi, and CFO, Anuj Sethi. The following discussion includes responses to your questions and reflects the management's views as of today, August 11, 2025. The company does not take any obligation to update or revise the information. Before they begin their formal remarks, please be reminded that certain statements made on this call may constitute forward-looking statements, which are based on Yatra Online Inc's management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to several risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.

For a description of these risks, please refer to Yatra Online Inc's filings with the SEC and their press release filed earlier this morning on the IR section of Yatra Online Inc's website. With that, let me turn the call over to Yatra Online Inc's CEO and Co-Founder, Dhruv Shringi. Dhruv, please go ahead.

Speaker 0

Thank you, and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss our first quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings. I'm pleased to share that our first quarter performance delivered strong financial and operational results, with growth well ahead of our annual guidance, despite the disruption in travel in India on account of the cross-border tension and the unfortunate air crash in June 2025. This momentum was driven by sustained demand in business travel and strong execution across our platforms. For Q1 FY26, we are pleased to report revenue of INR 2.098 billion, which is approximately $24.5 million, up 99.7% year over year, and revenue less service costs, our gross margin for the quarter, of INR 1.15 billion, or $13.5 million, up 36.6% year over year.

Our growth in revenue and gross margin reflects the momentum we have in our corporate business and in the higher margin Hotels and Packages business, on account of continued momentum in MICE and standalone hotel cross-selling to existing customers. Notably, our profitability metrics underscore our disciplined execution. Profit for the quarter stood at INR 110 million, which is approximately $1.3 million, versus a loss of INR 0.8 million, or approximately $0.1 million in the June FY25 quarter. Our adjusted EBITDA of INR 206 million, which is approximately $2.4 million, was up 214% year over year, significantly ahead of our annual guidance of 30% growth for adjusted EBITDA. These results reaffirm the strength and sustainability of our business model, as well as our commitment to delivering value to our shareholders. The corporate travel market in India is expected to reach around $20 billion by FY27.

However, online penetration in this segment remains low, at just about 20% in FY24 compared to almost 45% for the overall travel market in India. This indicates substantial headroom for digital adoption across the corporate travel industry. Online penetration is accelerating, driven by rapid adoption of digital booking platforms and the uptake of self-booking tools and integrated expense management solutions. In the lodging space, branded hotels and curated packages are witnessing increasing demand from both leisure and MICE travelers, supported by improving supply, better service standards, and a growing preference for experiential stays. Overall, this large and expanding market, coupled with increasing digital adoption, presents a significant opportunity for Yatra, particularly in the underpenetrated corporate segment. Our corporate travel segment continues to deliver strong momentum for Yatra. In Q1, we onboarded 34 new corporate clients, collectively adding an annual billing potential of approximately INR 2 billion.

On the B2C front as well, we continue to make good progress on rationalizing our cost of acquisitions and finding avenues to scale profitably. B2C bookings were more impacted by the macro events of the quarter and declined marginally year over year. Had it not been for the effect of these macro events, it was likely that B2C gross bookings would have registered a marginal increase year over year. On the technology front, we introduced a more refined user interface, which makes it easier to upsell branded fares across airlines, which offer unique airline-specific fare options, bundled with benefits such as baggage allowance, seat selection, and flexible changes. We have also recently launched our AI assistant, DIYA, which stands for Digital Intelligent Yatra Advisor, which assists customers not only for their usual customer service inquiries, but also helps refine the search and helps book personalized travel products.

AI-enabled servicing will provide us with further operating leverage in the quarters to come, and a more refined search process should enable us to attract new customers to Yatra. Additionally, our expense management solution offers an end-to-end travel and expense solution with GenAI-powered receipt parcel, ERP integration, and advanced analytics and visualization, and it continues to get very positive feedback from its initial customers. In sales and marketing, we continue to amplify partner offers from banks and airlines through our own media and social media channels, ensuring consistent visibility and engagement. Our content marketing initiatives further strengthen brand reach with compelling travel stories, business campaigns, and milestone celebrations that have resonated with our audience. We also executed innovative brand collaborations with leading consumer brands, delivering impactful outdoor campaigns and co-branded experiences that captured attention and drove conversion.

With regards to our share convertibility, as previously stated, we have a strategy in place to restructure to effectively support the conversion of U.S. shares into India shares. While some regulatory complexities remain, we are navigating the required processes across multiple jurisdictions. Given this complexity, the timeline is still unclear, but we'll keep you informed as we continue to make progress. Just to also clarify on this, from our exchange ratio point of view, one U.S. share is equivalent to approximately 1.58 shares in India. As we look ahead, we see strong sustained growth opportunities driven by rising digital adoption across both leisure and corporate travel segments. Yatra Online Inc is well positioned to capture this growth through our expanding corporate client base, enhanced technology offerings, and a growing share of high-margin Hotels and Packages and MICE business.

We remain committed to disciplined cost management, profitable scaling, and delivering long-term value to our shareholders while strengthening our competitive edge in the evolving global travel ecosystem. Thank you, everyone, and I will now request our CFO, Anuj Sethi, to brief you on the financial performance for the quarter under review. Anuj.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Dhruv. Good morning everyone. For the first quarter of financial year 2026, on a consolidated basis, our revenue from operations was INR 2,098 million, which is approximately $24.5 million, an increase of 99.7% driven by continued momentum across key segments, including robust growth in our Hotels and Packages business and a meaningful contribution from MICE business. Our gross margin, defined as revenue less service cost, grew to INR 1,560 million, approximately $13.5 million, rising 36% year on year, underscoring the strength of our diversified business model. Adjusted EBITDA surged to INR 206 million, which is approximately $2.4 million, up 2.4% year on year. As a result, profit for the period increased to INR 110 million, approximately $1.3 million. In terms of segment performance, our Air Ticketing passenger volumes declined 9% year on year to 1.206 million.

However, gross air bookings grew 4% year on year to INR 1,103 million, approximately $4.4 million, and our year gross margin rose 54% year on year to INR 647 million, with margins improving from 3.10% to 4.60%. Under Hotels and Packages segments, the hotel room nights grew marginally by 1% year on year to about 423,000. Gross bookings increased 43% year on year to INR 3,330 million, while gross margins expanded 74% year on year to INR 3,110 million or $40 million, with margins improving from 7.46% to 9.05%. While the macroeconomic headwinds and the recent air crash in India impacted volumes in both segments, we successfully delivered higher revenue and stronger margins.

On the liquidity front, cash and cash equivalents and term deposits stood at INR 2,250 million, approximately $26 million, as of 30th June 2025, as compared to INR 1,900 million, approximately $22 million, as of 31st March 2025. Gross tax has been significantly reduced from INR 546 million, about $6 million, as of 31st March 2025, to just about INR 29 million, around $0.3 million, as of 30th June 2025. With this, I would like to hand it back to the moderator and open up for the question and answer session. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, you can do so through the Q&A session now by pressing STAR, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind and would like to remove that question from the queue, please press STAR one. As a reminder, it's STAR one to register for a question. The first question we have comes from Scott Buck with HC Wainwright. Your line is open.

Speaker 1

Hi, good morning guys. Thank you very much for the time and congrats on the quarter. Dhruv, I'm curious, given the momentum in MICE, what is your appetite for potentially doing another deal in the space to even accelerate that growth further?

Speaker 0

Good morning, Scott. Hey, Scott, you know, we continue to evaluate opportunities. Our endeavor at this point was first to make sure that the Globe Travels acquisition is successfully integrated within Yatra, and that's something that we've been able to achieve over the course of the last two quarters. We continue to look out for opportunities. If there is something interesting that comes up, we will obviously evaluate it on its merits. It's a segment that we are quite attracted by. It has the right dynamics from a growth trajectory point of view and also from a profitability point of view. We will continue to look at avenues to see how we can scale up faster on the corporate travel and MICE segments.

Speaker 1

Great, that's helpful. My second question, Dhruv, you mentioned some hurdles remaining in the restructuring. Can you give us just a bit more color on what steps remain and are you waiting or reliant on the SEC here in the U.S.? Is it something on the Indian side? Any additional color there I think would be helpful.

Speaker 0

Not on that side, given that, you know, it's more of a regulatory process, there isn't too much else that I can share at this point of time. Apart from the fact that, you know, we do have a strategy in place that we're executing on. It does entail working with multiple regulators in different jurisdictions, multiple law firms, right across different markets. It is a time-consuming process, but it's definitely something which is absolutely top of mind for us and the board.

Speaker 1

Okay. I guess as a bit of a follow-up, what were the quarterly operating expenses tied to this effort? I mean, was it material?

Speaker 0

In the current quarter, they were not as material. In the last quarter, it was quite significant. In the current quarter, they were less so. Yeah.

Speaker 1

Okay.

Speaker 0

The recording memory tells me right next. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Speaker 1

I appreciate it. Thank you, guys.

Speaker 0

Thank you, Scott. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask any further questions, you can do so now by pressing STAR, followed by one on your telephone keypad. We have another question from Mal Ramesh. Your line is open.

Speaker 3

Hello. Morning, everyone. I just wanted to check, you know, I see that the gross booking for the company has increased by, if I remember right, like 9% or so. I thought that overall travel has grown by double digits. Is it because of, to some extent, the low growth in terms of air travel? Is Yatra not gaining or losing market share in the air and maybe gaining in hotels and meetings?

Speaker 0

Hi, good morning. Yes, you know, in terms of your question, the overall industry growth rate on the aviation side would have been maybe slightly higher. For Yatra specifically, what has happened is there are two parts to our business. One is the corporate business, which is the larger part of our gross bookings, and then we've got the consumer business. While the corporate business was growing and has grown well ahead of the market, the consumer business declined marginally. This is what you see as the weighted average impact of the two. The consumer business got impacted to a certain extent also on account of the macro factors in India, with there being a political skirmish with Pakistan in the month of May, and then there was a large air crash in the month of June, both of which negatively impacted consumer sentiment when it came to travel.

Business travel, on the other hand, recovered quite promptly. Hence, the business travel arm of Yatra was able to grow at a rate which was much higher. The B2C business did lag behind a bit. On the hotels and packages, given that the hotels and MICE packages are largely on the corporate travel side, there you see growth rate which is well ahead of market.

Speaker 3

Okay, thank you. What's the share of your business, corporate travel business, consumer? It used to be what, two-thirds, one-third? Is it higher now?

Speaker 0

Yes, sir. Corporate is about two-thirds and consumer is one-third.

Speaker 3

Okay, still maintaining the ratios. Okay, thank you. I just have a question on a different topic.

Speaker 0

Yeah.

Speaker 3

You were going through restructuring of companies, merging every company into whatever Yatra Limited. Is that going to provide any significant savings or it's not a material amount?

Speaker 0

There will be some saving which will be there. Plus, there will be tax saving as well, which will happen. In India, the tax saving impact of that will be about, you know, approximately $0.5 million plus a year.

Speaker 3

Okay, thank you. That's very helpful. Thank you. I have no more questions.

Speaker 0

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Just a quick reminder at STAR one to register for any further questions. I can confirm we have no further questions, and that concludes the question and answer session. I would like to hand it back to management for some final closing comments.

Speaker 0

Thank you, operator. I'd like to thank all of you for joining the call today. If you have any further questions, you can reach out to our IR partner at ICR. Thank you once again for participating in today's call, and we look forward to your support going forward. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you for dialing in. I can confirm that does conclude today's conference call with Yatra Online Inc. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect, and please enjoy the rest of your day.