On path of profitability: Ritesh Agarwal's OYO estimates revenue to be US $751 mn in 2022-23

OYO founder and group CEO Ritesh Agarwal estimates the revenue of its hospitality and travel-tech firm to be USD 751 million in 2022-23 on the back of which it expects to post its first operating profit in a full year.

At an employees townhall held this week, Agarwal is understood to have shared how the company has been able to gradually strengthen its financials after overcoming the challenges of the pandemic.

The company expects its revenue in FY23 to be USD 751 million, up 19 per cent from USD 629 million in FY22, he told the employees through a presentation during the townhall.

In the first half of the fiscal year, OYO posted an adjusted EBITDA of USD 8.3 million. It had registered an adjusted EBITDA loss of USD 37 million in the same period of FY22.

For the second half of the fiscal, continued momentum on topline coupled with margin expansion and healthy operating leverage are expected to result in USD 24 million adjusted EBITDA, he added.

On the back of improving financials, Agarwal said OYO is progressing towards its "first ever full fiscal year of EBITDA profitability".

When contacted for comments, OYO spokesperson declined to comment.

Agarwal had recently tweeted that OYO had witnessed a record 4.5 lakh-plus bookings on New Year's Eve, its highest bookings per hotel per day for India in the last five years.

He told the townhall that the company's hotel business has been witnessing a strong growth in monthly revenue per hotel, also known as Gross Booking Value (GBV).

Last week, Oravel Stays Ltd, which operates travel tech firm and brand OYO, had said it will refile its draft public listing applications by the middle of next month. Earlier this month, capital markets regulator Sebi had asked the company to refile the draft IPO papers with certain updates.

In September 2021, OYO had filed preliminary documents with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for a Rs 8,430 crore IPO.

The launching of the IPO was delayed due to the then volatile market conditions making the company prepare to settle for a lower valuation at around USD 7-8 billion instead of the USD 11 billion it was targeting initially.