Indonesian e-commerce company PT Bukalapak.com Tbk (Bukalapak) said last Friday it has slipped into the red by recording a net loss of 1 trillion rupiah ($68.18 million) in the first quarter, as compared to a a net profit of 14.55 trillion rupiah ($991.99 million) a year ago.

Bukalapak said in a statement that its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) stood at -209 billion rupiah ($14.25 million) in the first quarter, an improvement of 44 percent year on year.

It also represented an improvement in adjusted EBITDA ratio to total payment value (TPV) from -1.1 percent of TPV in the first quarter of 2022 to -0.5 percent of TPV in the first quarter.

The company also recorded an operating loss of 1.18 trillion rupiah ($80.47 million) in the first quarter, which was a decline year on year primarily because the first quarter of 2022 benefited from a substantial gain in the value of the equity stake Bukalapak held in PT Allo Bank Tbk.

Meanwhile, Bukalapak continues to deliver positive business growth as its TPV in the first quarter grew by 19 percent year on year to 40.5 trillion rupiah ($2.76 billion).

Bukalapak’s TPV growth has been supported by the year on year growth of marketplace and specialty verticals TPV.

72 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.

Mitra Bukalapak’s first quarter TPV also grew by 9 percent year on year, to 18.7 trillion rupiah ($1.28 billion).

Mitra’s growth came from the expansion in its product range, which saw a 10 percent TPV increase in the sale of physical products year on year and an 8 percent TPV increase in virtual products and financial services compared to the same quarter a year ago.

At the end of March 2023, the number of registered mitra was 16.8 million compared to 16.1 million at the end of December 2022.

Bukalapak’s first quarter revenue grew by 28 percent year on year to 1.01 trillion ($68.89 billion), with Mitra Bukalapak’s first quarter revenues growing by 9 percent year on year to 515 billion rupiah ($35.12 million).

Marketplace exhibited strong growth with revenues increasing by 77 percent year on year to 517 billion rupiah ($35.25 million), driven by the higher take rate specialty verticals.

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

The first quarter general and administrative expenses (excluding stock based compensation) ratio to TPV was -0.8 percent versus -1 percent the same period last year.

Bukalapak’s overall contribution margin, calculated as gross profit after sales and marketing (S&M) costs, improved from -0.2 percent of TPV in the first quarter of 2022 to 0.3 percent of TPV in the first quarter.

Marketplace’s contribution margin improved from 0.2 percent of marketplace TPV in the first quarter of 2022 to 0.7 percent of marketplace TPV in the first quarter.

Mitra’s contribution margin also improved from -0.4 percent of Mitra TPV in the first quarter of 2022 to -0.1 percent of Mitra TPV in the first quarter.

In addition to its continued efficiency improvements combined with robust growth figures, Bukalapak also has a strong capital position with 20.3 trillion ($1.38 billion) of cash and cash equivalents and liquid investments which include government bonds and mutual funds as of the end of March 2023.

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