FirstCry’s first-quarter loss narrows as demand swells

Indian baby products retailer FirstCry’s quarterly loss narrowed from a year earlier on the back of strong demand, it said on Friday in its first earnings report since going public earlier this month.

The company’s consolidated net loss narrowed to 567.1 million rupees (about $7 million) in the quarter ended June 30, from 901.3 million rupees a year ago.

The childcare market in the world’s most populous country is growing rapidly, which bodes well for FirstCry, analysts have said.

The IPO of FirstCry, which competes with online kids’ store Hopscotch, Shoppers Stop and Flipkart-owned Myntra, was oversubscribed 12 times earlier this month.

FirstCry’s quarterly gross merchandise value, a key metric to track the monetary value of orders received, surged 17% from a year earlier to 23.18 billion rupees in the quarter.

Its revenue from operations also rose 17% to 16.52 billion rupees on strong demand for its products, which include baby diapers, toys, clothes and footwear.

Expenses rose about 13% to 16.03 billion rupees, owing to a 10.5% rise in raw material costs.

Shares of the company ended about 2% higher ahead of the results. They have fallen about 6% since the listing.