Indonesian e-commerce firm PT Bukalapak.com Tbk (Bukalapak) has achieved profitability in financial year ended December 31, 2022 (FY22) on investment gains.

Bukalapak said in a statement on Tuesday that it achieved a net profit of IDR 1.98 trillion ($126.12 million) in 2022 as compared to a net loss of IDR 1.68 trillion a year ago.

The company recorded an operating income of IDR 1.76 trillion in FY22, as compared to an operating loss of IDR 1.71 trillion a year ago, primarily due to the marked-to-market gain from the investment in PT Allo Bank Tbk.

The group, however, remained in the red in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22), posted a net loss of IDR 1.64 trillion.

According to the statement, the group continues to deliver positive business growth with total processing value (TPV) in the 4Q22 grew by 20 percent year on year to IDR 41.8 trillion.

75 percent of the company’s TPV is from outside the Tier 1 regions of Indonesia, where it continues to see strong growth in all-commerce penetration and digitizing trends among offline micro retail stores.

Its Mitra Bukalapak continued to generate solid growth with TPV jumped 17 percent year on year to IDR 19 trillion in 4Q22.

As for the full year, Mitra Bukalapak TPV increased by 31 percent to IDR 73.6 trillion from last year.

The growth was driven by an improvement in its product mix and a broader range of service offerings to Mitras.

At the end of December 2022, the number of registered Mitra was 16.1mn versus 11.8 million at the end of December 2021.

Meanwhile, Bukalapak’s 4Q22 revenue grew by 97 percent year on year to IDR 1.03 trillion, whilst FY22 revenues grew by 94 percent year on year to IDR 3.62 trillion.

Mitra Bukalapak’s 4Q22 revenues grew by 63 percent year on year to IDR 522 billion, while FY22 revenues for Mitra Bukalapak surged 141 percent year on year to IDR 1.97 trillion.

Mitra Bukalapak’s contribution to the company’s revenues increased to 54 percent in 2022 from 44 percent a year earlier.

The company continues to focus on its strategy to deliver positive and sustainable profitable growth, while simultaneously managing its expenses.

The company’s FY22 general and administrative expenses (excluding stock based compensation) ratio to TPV was 0.9 percent compared to 1.1 percent a year ago.

Bukalapak’s overall contribution margin, calculated as gross profit after sales and marketing (S&M) costs, improved to 0.2 percent in 4Q22 from -0.1 percent of TPV a year ago.

The management is pleased to have reported an increase in positive overall contribution margin this quarter.

According to the statement, Bukalapak marketplace’s contribution margin improved to 0.6 percent of marketplace TPV in 4Q22 from 0.3 percent of marketplace TPV a year ago.

Meanwhile, Mitra’s contribution margin improved to -0.3 percent of Mitra TPV in 4Q22 from -0.5 percent of Mitra TPV a year earlier.

Bukalapak’s adjusted losses before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization stood at IDR 235 billion in 4Q22, an improvement in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) ratio to TPV to -0.6 percent of TPV in 4Q22 from -1.1 percent of TPV a year ago.

Whilst pleased to have reported a FY22 net profit, the group acknowledge that the focus should be on the operational numbers which is why the management team would prefer to focus on the adjusted EBITDA number.

In addition to its continued efficiency improvements combined with solid growth figures, Bukalapak also has a strong capital position with IDR 20.3 trillion of cash and cash equivalents and liquid investments which include government bonds and mutual funds as of the end of 4Q22.

With the average quarterly interest income and improved quarterly EBITDA, Bukalapak said it will have a cash runway of more than 50 years.

Bukalapak is a group of tech-based companies and a technology super-enabler for Indonesia’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) transformation and various business verticals.

Building on its heritage serving more than 120 million users and over 20 million Indonesian MSMEs through its various solutions, and as the first publicly-listed Indonesian technology company, the firm is now focused squarely on using technology to enable today’s digital lifestyles for both Indonesian MSMEs as well as Indonesians in general, across numerous verticals from marketplace, finance and fintech, offline to online, merchant solutions and procurement.

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