Just Dial stock hits 10% upper circuit on 3-fold growth in Q3 profit

Shares of Just Dial, now a part of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, were locked in a 10% upper circuit on Monday, in an otherwise weak broader market, after the internet technology company reported robust earnings for the December quarter of 2022. In contrast, the BSE benchmark Sensex declined nearly 300 points intraday to 59,964 levels, led by metal and auto stocks.

The Just Dial stock opened 6.1% higher at ₹621 against the previous closing price of ₹585.15 on the BSE. Extending opening gains, the stock touched its upper circuit limit of 10% at ₹643.65, driven by spurt in buying activities. As many as 1.2 lakh shares changed hands over the counter on the BSE as compared to the two-week average volume of 5,060 scrips. The market capitalisation surged to ₹5,426.4 crore.

The share price of the local search engine touched a 52-week high of ₹957.50 on January 21, 2022, while it hit a 52-week low of ₹520.30 on June 20, 2022. The stock has fallen 27% in the last one year, while it rebounded 13% in a six-month period. In the last one month, the smallcap stock has risen 8.5%, while it gained 9% in a week.

For December quarter of 2022 (Q3FY23), Just Dial reported nearly three-fold growth in its net profit at ₹71.3 crore, while revenue grew 39.3% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹221.4 crore. Adjusted operating EBITDA, excluding ESOP expenses, stood at ₹29.4 crore, up 194% YoY, while the EBITDA margin stood at 13.3%, an improvement of 381 basis points on a sequential basis. The company said that it had ramped up hiring in previous 3-4 quarters across technology, content, sales and marketing teams which resulted in higher employee expenses in recent quarters.

The company said that total traffic (unique visitors) for the quarter stood at 15.68 crore, up 9.8% YoY and 0.2% QoQ. Around 85% of traffic originated on Mobile platforms, 10.9% on Desktop, and 3.6% on our Voice platform.

Total active listings stood at 3.5 crore as on December 31, 2022, an increase of 11.4% YoY and 3.3% QoQ. 1,123,874 listings were added (net) to the database during the quarter. Out of total listings, 2.08 crore listings were geocoded as on December 31, 2022, up 16.6% YoY. Total Images in listings stood at 13.18 crore, up 16.2% YoY and up 4.1% QoQ.

Active paid campaigns at the end of quarter stood at 521,880, up 19.3% YoY and 3.6% QoQ. Continued robust paid campaigns addition of 18,040 for the quarter was led by continued focus on signing up the majority of customers on monthly payment plans.

In September last year, Reliance Retail, the retail arm of Reliance Industries, had acquired sole control of a 25-year-old search and discovery firm. In July 2022, Reliance Retail had announced a deal to buy a controlling stake in Just Dial for ₹3,497 crore.