Zomato boss picks cues from Paytm founder on profitability

NEW DELHI: Zomato founder-CEO Deepinder Goyal on Tuesday congratulated Paytm and its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, after shares of One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, rose in the December quarter, and also hinted at working on its own profitability.

“Congratulations, @vijayshekhar and @Paytm on becoming profitable. Sorry, a bit late to the party - was so busy working on our own profitability,” he tweeted.

Earlier this week, Paytm received positive commentary from the global brokerages’ analysts after the fintech company achieved operating profitability with EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) before ESOP cost at Rs 31 crore, ahead of its guided timeline of September 2023.

Global firms such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, CLSA and Citi have raised their price target on Paytm by up to 119 per cent.

Citi, CLSA, and Goldman Sachs have recommended to buy the share post Q3FY23 earnings, while BofA maintained its ‘neutral’ rating.

Moreover, on February 9, Zomato will be sharing its December quarter earnings.

Last year, Zomato shared that its consolidated net loss decreased to Rs 251 crore for the September quarter, against Rs 430 crore in a net loss in the same quarter in 2021.

The revenue went up to Rs 1,661 crore against Rs 1,024 crore in the year-ago period, a significant 62.2 per cent jump, the company said in a statement.