Route Mobile Q4 FY25 results: net profit down 36.7% to ₹60.28 crore, revenue up 15.5%

How did Route Mobile perform in Q4 FY25?

Route Mobile’s consolidated revenue for the January–March 2025 quarter was ₹1,175 crore, up ₹157.97 crore or 15.5% from ₹1,017 crore in Q4 FY24. Other income was ₹12.11 crore and total income was ₹1,187.11 crore. Total expenses rose to ₹1,083.43 crore from ₹920.96 crore, and EBITDA was ₹121.89 crore, down ₹3.55 crore or 2.8% from ₹125.44 crore. The EBITDA margin fell 1.9 percentage points to 10.4% from 12.3%.

Profit before tax was ₹78.95 crore, down ₹30.44 crore or 27.8% from ₹109.39 crore. Tax was ₹18.67 crore against ₹14.23 crore, leaving a net profit of ₹60.28 crore, down ₹34.88 crore or 36.7%. Profit attributable to owners was ₹56.58 crore against ₹88.10 crore, and basic EPS was ₹8.98 against ₹14.05. On a standalone basis, revenue was ₹208.38 crore and profit after tax was ₹25.76 crore.

Against Q3 FY25, revenue was ₹8.79 crore or 0.7% lower, EBITDA was ₹7.93 crore or 6.1% lower and the margin was 0.6 percentage points lower at 10.4%. Net profit was ₹25.19 crore or 29.5% lower, while basic EPS fell ₹4.12 to ₹8.98. Total income was ₹1,187.11 crore against ₹1,192.42 crore, and total expenses were ₹1,083.43 crore against ₹1,085.47 crore.

What changed in Route Mobile's costs and profit?

Total expenses rose ₹162.47 crore or 17.6% year on year, mainly reflecting higher employee cost, which increased ₹8.74 crore or 17.1% to ₹59.99 crore. Finance costs were ₹8.10 crore, up ₹0.58 crore or 7.7%, while depreciation was ₹22.22 crore, up ₹0.37 crore or 1.7%. Other expenses declined ₹0.32 crore or 0.7% to ₹44.54 crore, and there was no cost of materials.

Other income increased ₹0.59 crore or 5.1% to ₹12.11 crore. The quarter included an exceptional charge of ₹24.73 crore, compared with an exceptional gain of ₹1.80 crore in Q4 FY24. Tax increased ₹4.44 crore or 31.2% to ₹18.67 crore. Against Q3 FY25, employee cost was ₹11.66 crore lower, finance costs were ₹1.16 crore lower and other expenses were ₹3.83 crore lower; other income was ₹3.48 crore higher. Q3 FY25 had no exceptional item.

How did Route Mobile do in FY25 as a whole?

For FY25, consolidated revenue was ₹4,575.62 crore, up ₹552.33 crore or 13.7% from ₹4,023.29 crore in FY24. Total income rose ₹558.64 crore or 13.7% to ₹4,622.41 crore from ₹4,063.77 crore. Profit before tax was ₹426.11 crore, down ₹28.97 crore or 6.4% from ₹455.08 crore.

Profit after tax was ₹333.93 crore for FY25, down ₹54.91 crore or 14.1% from ₹388.84 crore in FY24. Basic EPS declined ₹9.26 or 15.4% to ₹50.69 from ₹59.95. Revenue therefore rose for the full year while profit and EPS were lower than in FY24.

What do the balance sheet and cash flow show?

At 31 March 2025, total assets were ₹3,825.72 crore against ₹3,780.82 crore at 30 September 2024. Total equity was ₹2,464.08 crore against ₹2,367.33 crore, while borrowings fell to ₹440.96 crore from ₹530.91 crore. Cash and cash equivalents were ₹850.40 crore against ₹760.25 crore, trade receivables were ₹932.77 crore against ₹852.72 crore, and trade payables were ₹684.43 crore against ₹644.53 crore.

FY25 operating cash flow was ₹602.48 crore, compared with negative ₹97.59 crore in FY24. Investing cash flow was negative ₹260.14 crore against negative ₹2.12 crore, while financing cash flow was negative ₹33.79 crore against positive ₹158.02 crore. Capital expenditure was ₹21.32 crore, compared with ₹35.61 crore in FY24.

How has Route Mobile done over the last 8 quarters?

Revenue rose in each of the last eight quarters on a year-on-year basis. It reached ₹1,183.79 crore in Q3 FY25 before easing to ₹1,175 crore in Q4 FY25. The earlier low in the reported series was ₹967.34 crore in Q1 FY24, while the high was ₹1,183.79 crore in Q3 FY25.

Net profit reached a high of ₹113.64 crore in Q3 FY24 and a low of ₹60.28 crore in Q4 FY25. EBITDA margin peaked at 12.7% in Q1 FY24 and fell to 10.4% in Q4 FY25, after standing at 11.0% in Q3 FY25. The latest quarter therefore showed lower revenue, profit and margin than the preceding quarter.

Which businesses drove the quarter?

India revenue was ₹242.76 crore, up 17.8% from ₹206.04 crore in Q4 FY24. Segment EBIT was ₹41.98 crore, compared with ₹19.24 crore, and the reported EBIT margin was 17.3%. Inter-segment revenue was ₹0 crore, while EBIT was ₹3.04 crore against negative ₹2.97 crore.

Overseas revenue was ₹978.98 crore, up 8.0% from ₹906.43 crore in Q4 FY24. Segment EBIT was ₹54.65 crore, down from ₹87.32 crore, and the reported EBIT margin was 5.6%. India recorded higher revenue growth than overseas, while overseas reported lower EBIT than in the year-ago quarter.

What else did the company announce?

The board approved the audited standalone and consolidated results for the quarter and year ended 31 March 2025. It recommended a final dividend of ₹2 per equity share of ₹10 each, subject to shareholder approval, taking the total FY25 dividend to ₹11 per share, including interim dividends of ₹6 and ₹3 per share. The board also appointed Makarand M. Joshi & Co as secretarial auditors for FY25-’26 through FY29-’30, subject to shareholder approval, and appointed Nicolas Lecomte as internal auditor for FY25-’26.

The board also recorded the lapse of 500 stock options due to an employee’s cessation of employment. It appointed Koen Van Parys and Gautam Badalia as directors of Route Mobile (UK) Limited, and Koen Van Parys, Sharad Kumar and Gautam Badalia as directors of Routesms Solutions FZE. The company also submitted an investor presentation to the exchange.

What did the auditors point out?

Walker Chandiok & Co LLP issued an unmodified opinion on Route Mobile’s audited standalone and consolidated annual financial results for FY25. The auditors said the consolidated statement presented the results in accordance with Regulation 33 of the SEBI Listing Regulations and gave a true and fair view under the applicable Indian Accounting Standards.

The report included an Emphasis of Matter concerning a subsidiary’s recoverability of an advance made to a vendor under a provision for a significant onerous contract. The subsidiary’s auditor drew attention to arbitration initiated by the company against the vendor and a counterclaim filed by the vendor. The report did not state a going-concern qualification, and the board’s filing described the statutory audit opinion as unmodified.

What did Route Mobile's management say?

Management withdrew specific FY26 revenue-growth and EBITDA-margin guidance, citing global traffic-regime uncertainties and the ongoing Proximus Global integration. CEO Gautam Badalia said, “we have decided against providing specific guidance for FY25-26. However, I want to assure all stakeholders that Route Mobile remains committed to outperforming industry growth rates while implementing enhanced cost efficiencies to drive stronger profitability in this uncertain environment.” The company also maintained a 20% annualised PAT dividend payout policy and was reviewing excess cash for possible return through corporate actions.

Management said Telesign contributed about 14% of Q4 revenue through low-margin COGS routing synergies, contributing to margin dilution. It also referred to an exceptional charge of about ₹28 crore arising from an MNO shortfall after a technology customer phased out a platform. Badalia said, “we have delivered over $100 million in annual value with strong ROI for Route Mobile, even after accounting for the exceptional charge.” The company retained focus on new-product growth, RCS, 365squared Guard and bolt-on acquisitions in CPaaS and AI.

How did Route Mobile shares react?

After the filing appeared after market hours, the stock was down 0.3% after five minutes, up 0.3% after 15 minutes and up 0.8% after 30 minutes. From the previous close of ₹960, the reaction-day close was down 2.2%. By the next day’s close, the stock was down 4.7% from the pre-results close, and by the fifth session it was down 0.7%.

The industry median was down 1.9% on the reaction day, down 2.4% by the next day and up 3.9% by the fifth session. Route Mobile’s move was therefore 0.3 percentage points below the industry on day one, 2.3 percentage points below it by the next day and 4.6 percentage points below it by the fifth session. Earlier reaction-day moves were down 0.1% on 28 January 2025, down 2.9% on 21 October 2024, down 0.2% on 19 July 2024 and down 5.6% on 6 May 2024.

How did other Other Telecom Services companies do?

Five other Other Telecom Services companies had filed for the quarter, with a median revenue growth of 6.4%. Four peers grew slower than Route Mobile and one grew faster than Route Mobile. Route Mobile’s consolidated revenue growth was 15.5%.

Of the four peers for which profit was compared, two reported higher profit. The peer figures were recorded as of 6 November 2026, while Route Mobile’s result under comparison was the Q4 FY25 filing announced on 7 May 2025.