Omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart made significant strides towards profitability in FY24, narrowing its net loss to Rs 10 crore – down 84% from Rs 64 crore in FY23 – as the company’s operational performance improved significantly.
During the year, the Gurugram-based company reported a 43% year-on-year increase in operating revenue at Rs 5,428 crore, according to its financial statements sourced from Tofler.
The topline growth was, however, slower than in FY23, when Lenskart doubled its revenue over FY22.
The Temasek and SoftBank-backed company’s operating margins also grew significantly, with Lenskart clocking an Ebitda of Rs 856 crore in FY24, against Rs 403 crore in the previous fiscal.
For the ongoing financial year, Lenskart has hit an annual revenue run rate of $1 billion (around Rs 8,400 crore), ET reported last month.
In an interview with ET in October, Lenskart’s founder and chief executive officer Peyush Bansal had said the company is making a $200-million investment in its new manufacturing facility in southern India.
The company already operates a manufacturing unit in Rajasthan.
Bansal pointed out that the new investment comes at a time when the India market, which drives most of the company’s business, is profitable, and the same is reflected in its overseas operations as well at a consolidated level. “This gives us the confidence to further accelerate our growth,” he had said.
The firm’s omnichannel strategy, with its online stores and 2,500 retail stores, has been a key driver of its expansion. While its online channel has grown faster in the last two years than in the previous decade, Lenskart will continue to invest heavily in physical retail, planning to add 400 new stores this year.
Lenskart bagged the top honours at The Economic Times Startup Awards 2024, winning the coveted Startup of the Year – being recognised by an elite jury for its success in building a fast-growing, large-scale, omnichannel consumer retail venture while creating an entirely new category.
In FY24, 58% of the company’s revenue from sale of goods came from India, while Japan was its second largest market with a 14% contribution to revenue, followed by Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and other geographies.
On the expense side – Lenskart saw its marketing spends rise 20% on year to Rs 352 crore, while its costs on employee benefits increased 51% to Rs 1,086 crore.
On November 5, ET reported that a fund managed by US-based financial services major Fidelity marked up the valuation of Lenskart to $5.6 billion, reflecting a 12% increase in the company’s fair value in its books.
Lenskart competes with the likes of Tata group’s Titan Eye, which reported 5.1% year-on-year revenue growth in FY24 at Rs 724 crore. In its annual report, Titan Company, which runs the Titan Eye retail chain, pointed out that while FY24 kicked off with double-digit growth in the first half, unforeseen challenges emerged by September 2023.
“…our distribution channel, catering to optical shops, faced notable setbacks, leading to an overall performance slightly below our initial projections,” it had noted.
