Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Yusuf, moderator for this conference. Welcome to the conference call of Route Mobile Ltd, arranged by Concept Investor Relations to discuss its Q4 and FY25 results. We have with us today Mr. Rajdip Kumar Gupta, Managing Director; Mr. Gautam Badalia, Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Raj Gill, Group Chief Financial Officer; and Mr. Vinay Binyala, Chief Strategy Officer. At this moment, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press star and one on your telephone keypad. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that some of the statements made in today's earnings call may be forward-looking in nature and may involve uncertainties and uncertainties. Kindly refer to slide number two for the presentation for the detailed disclaimer. Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Gautam Badalia, Chief Executive Officer. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I hope all of you are doing fine. I'm pleased to report that Route Mobile has delivered exceptional performance this quarter, achieving industry-leading revenue growth of 15.5% year-on-year, despite significant headwinds in the CPaaS sector. The communications industry is undergoing substantial structural changes, primarily driven by trust concerns around artificially generated traffic. This shift has prompted enterprises and OTTs to explore alternate communication technologies and reconsider their go-to-market approaches. While these changes have presented challenges across the CPaaS ecosystem and eliminated weaker competitors, they create strategic opportunities for established, globally diversified players like Route Mobile. As part of the Proximus Global umbrella, we are uniquely positioned to transform these market challenges into growth opportunities. I'll now spend a few moments on some of the key developments in Q4 FY25.
We launched a new AI-powered SMS spam and fraud protection solution under 365s quared, which is called 365s quared Guard. We have been awarded as a Platinum Winner for Conversational Commerce Solutions Innovation at the Telco Innovation Award 2025 by Juniper Research, honored with two prestigious Exchange for Media Awards for Demand Generation Vendor User of the Year and Best Use of MarTech in Travel, Hospitality, and Leisure. We anticipate several advances in digital identity and telco APIs for the upcoming year, and we are confident in our ability to lead these trends. Given the global uncertainties surrounding traffic regimes that could substantially impact enterprise and OTT communication spending, we have decided against providing specific guidance for 2025-2026. 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.
In Q4 FY25, we accelerated our synergy initiatives with the group. While our primary focus was on the cost of goods sold synergies, which temporarily diluted our direct margins or gross profit, we are confident in our ability to capitalize on high-margin cross-sell opportunities in FY26. This strategic initiative should significantly improve Route Mobile's direct margin profile moving forward. Our operating costs increased notably in FY25 due to strategic integrations with Proximus Global, including investments in more robust systems and processes, one-time incentives, and competitive compensation packages to retain top talent. Looking ahead, we are implementing targeted efficiency measures, including AI-powered automation of internal processes, which will drive our cost optimization strategy. Regarding the exceptional item for an MNO contract, we have delivered over $100 million in annual value with strong ROI for Route Mobile, even after accounting for the exceptional charge.
This charge was triggered in Q4 when a major global technology company began phasing out one of their key platforms while shifting to alternate channels for authenticator and notification service. Despite not meeting our FY25 guidance for revenue growth and EBITDA margin, we have excelled in free cash generation, achieving a remarkable 114% EBITDA to cash conversion. This success stems from enhanced working capital management and our strategic decision to pursue only such M&O deals where we have compelling business cases and appropriate contractual protections. Our new product initiatives have continued to thrive, demonstrating impressive 38% year-on-year growth in FY25. While WhatsApp Business Messaging margins were affected by Meta's pricing and incentive adjustments during the year, our product innovation remained strong.
In recognition of our solid performance, our board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 2 per share, bringing the full-year dividend to Rs 11 per share, which exceeds our guidance that we had rolled out previously. From a capital allocation standpoint, we'll continue to scout for bolt-on acquisitions to enhance the capabilities of the platform, and we shall continue to maintain our dividend payout ratio of 20% of the annualized PAT. I'll now hand over the call to Raj, followed by Vinay, who will walk us through the key financial highlights and performance indicators. Over to you, Raj.
Thank you, Gautam, and good evening, everybody. I'll quickly summarize our financial performance during Q4 2025 and for the full year before handing it over to Vinay. Starting with Q4, our Q4 revenue from operations grew by 15.5% year-on-year, slightly declining 0.7% sequentially to INR 11,755 million. Gross profit margin was 19.3% as compared to 21.8% in Q4 last year and 21.1% in the previous quarter. EBITDA for Q4 decreased by 2.8% year-on-year and 6.1% sequentially to INR 1,219 million. EBITDA margin contracted from 12.3% in Q4 prior year and 11% in the previous quarter to 10.4% in the current quarter. Profit after tax was INR 850 million, which is down 8.9% year-on-year. PAT margin declined from 9.2% in the previous year to 7.2% in Q4, which is in line with the previous quarter.
Now turning to the full year, revenue from operations grew 13.7% from INR 42.3 million in the previous year to INR 45,756 million in FY25. Gross profit margin decreased to 20.8% in FY25 versus 21.4% in the previous year. EBITDA grew by 3.3% to INR 5,278 million in FY25, with EBITDA margin at 11.5% versus 12.7% in the prior year. Profit after tax, adjusted for exceptional items, is lower by 5.3% year-on-year to INR 3,524 million, with a PAT margin of 7.7%. Cash and cash equivalents stood at INR 13,327 million, and net cash was INR 8,918 million as of March 31st, which are both significantly higher than the prior year. Days sales outstanding average over the year was 80 days in line with the previous year.
However, as of March 31st, DSO was 74 compared to 97 in the same period last year, with BPO at 68 days compared to 66 in the prior year, all contributing to a very strong cash flow conversion of 114% in FY25. I will now hand over to Vinay, who will provide some more color to our operational performance.
Thank you, Raj. Good evening, everyone. Adding to the update shared by Gautam and the financial highlights presented by Raj, I will run through the key business performance indicators for Q4 FY25 and full year FY25. Despite the material shifts and headwinds in the CPaaS market, as referenced by Gautam, we have successfully delivered industry-leading revenue growth of 13.7% in the year FY25. Revenue from operations, as Raj highlighted, grew from INR 40,233 million in FY24 to INR 45,756 million in FY25. In addition, we have delivered 38% growth in new product revenues in FY25, which reflects our platform's expanded capability in terms of addressing communication requirements of enterprises across various channels, not only in A2P SMS, but across IP-based messaging such as WhatsApp, RCS, etc., and email. To discuss some of the key business metrics, in volume terms, we processed 156 billion billable transactions in FY25.
We processed 39.3 billion billable transactions in Q4 FY25 versus 38.9 billion in Q3 FY25 and 34 billion in Q4 FY24. Average realization per billable transaction marginally decreased from 31.9% in FY24 to 29.4% in FY25, primarily due to the change in traffic mix. In FY25, we reported net revenue retention of 107% with 90% recurring revenue. You may refer to slide 11 of the earnings presentation for details. In terms of geography mix, India continues to be our largest market by termination, accounting for 50% of our revenue by termination. Slide 9 presents additional details on other geographies. Revenue contribution from tier-one CPaaS partners increased from 10% of total revenue in FY24 to 19% of total revenue in FY25, primarily from low-margin COGS synergies resulting from related party transactions. Slide nine presents our contribution from other verticals in the investor presentation.
In terms of human resources, we onboarded 53 new professionals, and 29 employees decided to move on during the quarter gone by. This is a quick summary of the quarter and year gone by. Thank you, and with that, we can open the floor for Q&A.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchstone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question is from the line of Jyoti Singh from Arihant Capital Markets Ltd. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. I just wanted to ask, like this, we are not able to make the guidance. What are further stance on that and what the guidance we wanted to give to shareholders and investors? Apart from this, volume side, we have seen growth in India in this quarter. Overall, if we see overseas and other regions, still we are in the growth. If you can guide.
Sure. Thanks, Jyoti. I'll take the first second question first. I think you're right. I think in the domestic volumes in India, you've seen a significant ramp-up. We've witnessed a little bit of a challenge in terms of the ILD volumes, largely, as I said during the commentary as well. Some of the customers, I mean, one of the large technology customers, they phased out one of their core platforms, and then they've also kind of moved to alternate channels, right? That led to a little bit of an impact in terms of the ILD volumes. From a rest of the world standpoint, the volumes have been slattish, so to say, on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Coming to the guidance, I think considering a lot of uncertainties around, we decided, I mean, and last year, I think was kind of a miss from a revenue and EBITDA margin guidance standpoint. I think we wanted to kind of first, I mean, focus on some of the integration efforts that we are doing with Proximus and then see to it, I mean, that the cross-sell synergies start to fructify before we really call out, I mean, some of the numbers, I mean, from a forward-looking standpoint. As I highlighted, I think during the commentary as well, we'll continue to kind of focus on driving industry-leading growth and also work towards some of the cost efficiencies so that we can drive that growth with some operating leverage as well.
Okay, thank you, sir. We just wanted to understand how the integration is going on with Proximus and also channel shift is going on overall industry. If you can guide us when we are seeing the better visibility in this sector.
No, so you're absolutely right. The integration efforts with Proximus, I think it's going in full swing. I think last year, what we were able to tap into was largely the cost of goods synergy, I mean, which essentially is the low-hanging fruit. We were able to identify routes which are beneficial, and thereby, I mean, garners down with the traffic from the group, right? That, I think, was the easier of the lot. I think we have done adequate enough and more training within the group now on cross-pollinating each other's products, which we can then kind of tap into our respective customers. We are very, very optimistic that I think we will start to kind of ring the right bells, I mean, from a cross-selling standpoint, in this financial year.
That will really kind of drive some margin, the direct margin kind of improvement for the year. In terms of some of the structural changes that have been that is happening, I think, across the industry right now and which the industry is trying to grapple with, the good thing is, I think the weaker, I mean, it's leading to the weeding out of a lot of weaker players, so to say. Today, most of the large global enterprises prefer working with large established players where they can kind of have high reliability and credibility in their relationship. That's where, I think, as Proximus Global, as Route Mobile, we stand a fair chance. In the past, I think we have won a few large deals. Unfortunately, I mean, some of them were not kind of contributing meaningfully, I mean, during the year gone by.
Some of those strategic partnerships, the deals that we have won, I mean, in FY26, you will see some meaningful kind of contribution from some of those strategic partnership deals that we have won. Just the last point on that, I think the world will also gradually kind of move from, I mean, this AIT is a big, big kind of a nuisance value in the industry, and this has really caused a lot of trust issues with large enterprise, I mean, the largest e-commerce companies of the world. I mean, they've called it out explicitly in some of their statements as well. I think we'll have to kind of graduate to some of the more advanced technologies like network APIs. We are already working on the telco API stack. Some of these investments into the futuristic technologies, I think, will be very important.
As we speak, I think we are testing some of these things with some of the large enterprises. If, I mean, once we are able to garner some success on that, we can really have a much more advantage on that.
Thank you, sir. Really well explained.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Swapnil Potdukhe from JM Financial Ltd. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Gautam, I would like to understand what kind of revenue contribution currently we have from Telesign or, broadly speaking, cross-sell revenues from Proximus?
For the quarter gone by, Swapnil, for the quarter gone by, the revenue contribution from Telesign was close to 14%.
Okay. Any incremental cross-sell from Proximus or we are still yet to get?
Not really. I mean, it was largely, I mean, the synergies that we've been able to kind of tap into right now, largely, I mean, is around the cost of goods sold. Some of the cross-sell initiatives, we've seen some good progress in terms of pitch to clients, in terms of some advanced level of discussions, but nothing has fructified in terms of numbers yet.
Yes. Gautam, just to add, Swapnil had asked here. I think we need to also understand there are certain discussions which we are now, let's talk about BICS as a part of Proximus Global. Route Mobile and BICS, I think, are jointly working on certain solutions, especially on the 365squared Guard and our firewall solution. Being BICS has more reach, especially in the operator ecosystem. We are definitely going to leverage on that relationship what BICS has. I think we are already in discussion with multiple operators about our firewall solution as well as the new spam filter which we have built. Apart from that, I think the world is moving towards RCS also, and we are definitely looking out a platform play in this.
Since we have deployed our RCS platform with Robi Axiata, which is live last one year, we would love to take this entire stack to the operators all across the globe where BICS has a huge presence. I think that is exactly where we are looking at this RCS platform play a big way. We are already in talks with multiple operators for this solution. We believe in this particular year, we will have a few good operators who are going to be onboarded with our RCS platform as well, and plus the spam filter.
Got it. Thank you. In the opening remarks, there was a mention of some impact on the gross margin because of the related party business. I'm presuming this is Telesign. Now, yeah. I just wanted to get a sense as to what kind of gross margins are we getting in the Telesign business and next stop Telesign currently?
Yeah. I think, Swapnil, I think we've kind of highlighted in the past. I think it should blend around our EBIT margin levels. Considering, I mean, some of the cross-sell synergies didn't fructify. Effectively, I mean, the dilution was a little more than the EBIT margin.
As revenue from our related parties increase going forward, how should we think about your gross margins? Is 19% the new norm? Yeah.
Yeah, Gautam, let me just answer the first part, then we can add the second part. I think, Swapnil, we need to understand that there are two parts, which is a pure messaging piece and then the platform play. When we talk about the platform play, whether it's a 365- spam filter or RCS platform or a CPaaS in a box solution with operators, we are looking at definitely a high margin game over there. That is the one play which we would love to play along with BICS for the long term. I think we believe in the coming future, this margin is definitely going to be much higher than the SMS margin. Gautam, over to you.
Yeah. So Swapnil, just to answer your query. So, I mean, right now, what we have been able to tap into is largely the cost of goods sold synergy, right? And which, from a maturity standpoint, I think we've kind of fully kind of reached, I mean, nearly, I mean, the maximum, I think, that we could have reached. I mean, we'll still be scouting for more there, but I think we believe at this point in time, I think we are nearly there in terms of that. So I think that's on the, as I said, I mean, these are relatively at a lower margin level. And as Raj Gill alluded, that most of the other cross-sell synergies that we're talking about are at a significantly higher margin. Going forward, we shouldn't see the direct margins to kind of get further diluted.
In fact, we believe, I mean, it should meaningfully improve from here and should steady around, I mean, our last few quarters' historical levels.
Is that a short-term guidance or a medium-term guidance? I'm just trying to understand, will there be a few quarters where we'll be in this current range and gradually there will be an improvement, or you're suggesting that once Q4 FY25 switches, we will have a recovery on our gross margin?
As the cross-sell synergy starts to ramp up, Swapnil, you will see that improvement coming through. I mean, whenever we start to kind of start hitting those cross-sell numbers, I think we will see meaningful improvement coming through. We anticipate, I think, in the next few quarters, we'll definitely see meaningful improvement there.
Got it. There is another question with respect to the write-off that you had in one of the MNOs. I just wanted to get a clarification. Is this related to Vodafone first? Secondly, can you explain why you had to take a write-off on the receivable side? What were the circumstances? There is also a mention of non-fulfillment of short-term contracts. I mean, there are multiple things mentioned there, but better clarity would be appreciated on this.
Yeah. I mean, I'll not call out the name of the party, I mean, due to confidentiality kind of aspect. I think we've generated more than $100 million of value, annual value, to that MNO. We had a slightly about INR 28 crore higher target than what we've kind of delivered. That INR 28 crore, that shortfall was largely around a technology company, a large global technology company, first of all, phasing out one of their platforms. The second thing was essentially on their moving to some of the alternate channels for communication. That led to a tad bit of an impact on the ILD volumes for Q4, which had an impact in terms of the overall commitment that we had with the MNO.
We had to, I mean, essentially, that gap was kind of captured as part of an exceptional charge to the P&L. Notwithstanding that charge, I mean, even if we adjust for that charge, I think from an ROI standpoint, we would have generated more than mid-teen, close to mid-teen kind of, I mean, close to, I mean, $15 million plus kind of ROI on that deal.
Gautam, as you understand, I mean, this would be airtight contracts, I would presume, that you would have with the MNO. I mean, it still does not answer why exactly would any established MNO would want to not pay you according to the terms of the contract?
No, no, no. We had an annual commitment with that MNO, right, by virtue of which we have an exclusivity on the network. We were able to deliver, as I said, over $100 million. We were short by about INR 28 crores there. As part of the contract, that INR 28 crores was kind of an impact that we had to take on our P&L. I think from an ROI standpoint, we've generated, I mean, we definitely would have loved to kind of fulfill the commitment had this ILD impact not kind of fructified in Q4, which unfortunately was kind of out of our control. Having said that, I think overall, as part of this deal, I think we have made decent ROI for the business.
Okay. Just the last one on your balance sheet side. We have seen our borrowings almost double from around INR 200 crore to INR 450 crore. Now, since we are also generating decent SPFF, why exactly are our borrowings rising and that too in a meaningful manner? Even if it is a, let's say, working capital-related borrowing, but still, the content seems to be quite huge now.
No. Swapnil, I mean, this was taken kind of only for a six-month period. I mean, essentially, again, I mean, at the backdrop of a contract where we had to kind of make the payment to a supplier. It would have entailed a lot of cash pooling. I mean, we have kind of created a security in India and then through some treasury. I mean, we have some positive carry, I mean, in terms of the cash deposits that we have. From that perspective, I mean, this loan will get retired, I think, in the next two-three months' time. I mean, per se, as you rightly said, we have close to, I mean, over INR 8.5 billion of cash, net cash on the books. I mean, some of these loans, I think, will be retiring, I think, over the next few months.
Got it, Gautam. Thanks a lot for giving the opportunity and all the details.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Dipesh from Emkay Global. Please proceed.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. A couple of questions. First, about the synergy benefit you indicated. How do you expect this platform-led synergy to play out? My understanding, you indicated about messaging synergy largely played out. Platform is which yet to play out. If you can provide some context, how you expect it to scale up? What are the markers, let's say, which you try to track in terms of whether progress is up to the mark or not? That is question one. Question two is about the cash balance. What would be our net cash balance at the end of FY 2025? Let's say when we are generating very healthy cash flow, why we still stick to 20% kind of payout?
If you can just give some thought process about how you would intend to utilize cash, what we are generating, and what is there on the balance sheet apart from M&A? M&A, which would be the focus area, let's say, where we intend to invest in the business? Thank you.
Yeah. Raj, do you want to take the platform, cross-sell platform?
Yes, yes. Dipesh, I think it's a very good question. In fact, there are many firewall deals which we are working with BICS right now. BICS is front-ending some of these deals, especially in Africa and Latin America, certain markets. We believe these deals to be closed very soon. There are certain deals which we are going to announce very soon as well. In terms of a platform play, especially on an RCS platform, which is definitely a big need for many operators globally, and most of the operators are looking forward to have this platform. Our relationship with operators, because of BICS, is now, I think, the largest as compared to any CPaaS player in this world right now. Probably we are leveraging each and every single contract set point of BICS.
In fact, we are doing lots of workshops with operators, which we have started from the last three months. These workshops are playing really well in our favor because when we go and meet operators, we're not just talking about BICS solution, but we talk about Route Mobile solution, especially the CPaaS piece which we have, and this firewall piece which we have. I think jointly, we have got very good feedback from operators. I think we are definitely going to have multiple workshops with Asian operators also, where RCS is still at a very early stage, apart from India, as you say. The kind of connect we have in the Asian market and African market through BICS, I think these things are already in talk. We probably have a few decent discussions, which we will announce very soon. Yeah, Gautam.
Yeah, Dipesh. On the cash bit, I think, I mean, we've continued to maintain kind of the guidance and of rolling out 20% of the analyzed PAS. Besides that, I think we'll also kind of look at, we just have other avenues by which, right, which I mean, we can kind of also look at returning any excess cash to the shareholders through some corporate actions. Besides that, I think, as we speak, I mean, we are working on a few small bolt-in, bolt-on kind of opportunities which can really help us kind of have, I mean, greater capabilities in terms of the platform. I mean, it could be things around CPaaS powered by AI. Some of those areas, I think we are really kind of looking at a few opportunities at this point in time. Yeah, Dipesh, what was your answer?
Yeah. One more point, Dipesh, just to add. I think travel SIM is a big market right now. We as a group have a brilliant solution through BICS travel SIM. I think we would love to lead this travel SIM solution for the operators, especially where Route Mobile has a good connect right now. In fact, we have reached out to a few of the operators in our part of the world, and I think they have shown great interest in our travel SIM solution also.
Understood. Just on the follow-up on the BICS-related firewall, whether the margin profile of that would be like what we make in related-party transaction, or it would be organic route kind of margin profile? Because if it is, let's say.
No, no. Dipesh, I've already shared that the margin on the platform play and the firewall is much, much higher than the messaging side of the business.
That way will return, right? It would not be the.
Yeah, yeah. Dipesh, we will have the software margins there.
Sorry. Okay. We will have a higher margin in that side. I think you haven't provided net cash at the end of fiscal 2025. If you can give that number, what was the number?
Net cash was 8,918 million INR.
Yeah. That is fairly, let's say, INR 8 billion-odd is a fairly large number. Considering our CapEx requirement is fairly low annually, do you think this kind of cash balance is what we intend to retain and accrue over a period of time? Because 20% payout seems to be very low considering the kind of cash we generated in fiscal 2025.
It's a fair kind of an observation, Dipesh. I think we are in the midst of a review, I mean, summer review, I mean, at the group level. As I said, some of the excess that we have, we'll definitely want to return it back to the shareholders through certain corporate actions. We'll come back to you at an opportune time. As I mentioned, some of these things are at a drawing board right now, and we'll come back once we have something more concrete.
Sure. Last question on related to platform versus messaging. Let's say you indicated the related-party transaction is roughly 14% of revenue in quarter four. Considering, I presume, right now platform play is practically insignificant, if one want to look at three years out, what kind of mix do you expect between messaging and platform play in our related-party revenue mix? Thank you.
Dipesh, I think the platform play, as I said, it's a long-tail cycle, and definitely, we don't want to give any guidance on that. I can just assure to the investors that we are definitely going towards a very different kind of direct margin game right now with BICS right now. Gautam, if you want to add anything to this.
No, fairly put. Dipesh, at this point in time, we do not want to call that out. I mean, we would want some successes to kind of come through and then kind of give some contextual guidance on that.
Fair point. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Prasad Padala from SBI Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, everyone. I'm Adal.
Yeah. Hi, Prasad. Yes, you are on.
Yeah. Hi. So Gautam, if I look at your EBITDA margins, from last quarter Q4 FY 2024, it was almost like 12.3%. This quarter, it has fallen almost like 200 basis points from there. One, I understand maybe, I mean, at a gross profit level, you might have a lower gross profit for the related-party messages. At an EBITDA level, conceptually, there should not be any gap, right? If you can actually clarify, first, what is the impact because of the related-party messages? That would be helpful.
Yeah, yeah, Prasad. So essentially, what has actually transpired at the operating overheads level, I think we've been able to kind of capture some efficiency. There was some benefit, I think, that we were able to kind of drive vis-à-vis Q3. I think the weakness that you see in EBITDA margin largely is flowing from the DM impact, which is to a large extent contributed because of, I mean, as I said, the lower margin COGS synergies with the group.
I mean, I do not understand because let's see, even if you assume 0% margin from those related-party messages, right? Because 14%, let's say, even if you take 0%, the impact maximum should be 140 bps . There is an impact outside of that also, right? I mean, for example, I see that your employee expenses have gone up by 17%, while your gross profit is almost flattish.
No, you're talking about the full year, Prasad. You're talking only quarter.
No, I'm also talking about only quarter. I think maybe it would be helpful if you can actually clarify on the related-party absurd margins on gross margins and EBITDA margins. I think that would be very helpful for the investors.
Yeah. Sure, sure, Prasad. I think what I see on the numbers, right, on the operating overheads vis-à-vis the previous quarter, there is a drop, right, in absolute numbers. I think what's kind of impacting the EBITDA is largely flowing from DM, and that's largely to a large extent attributable to the related-party transactions, which today, I mean, for all practical purposes, the cost of goods sold synergies. I mean, essentially, the route optimization that we have been able to provide to the group, that's happening at arm's length, which has been kind of approved by one of the Big Four. I mean, as I said, it's at a tad lesser than the EBIT margin for the company, which is what is causing the impact.
Got it. Okay. I mean, if it is just a tad lesser, I'm just wondering why there is a 200 basis points drop in the EBITDA margin year- on- year. That's the only question I'm asking.
Oh, year- on- year. You're talking about it year- on- year or Q of Q?
No, year on year. I'm talking about.
Oh, year on year. So you're right. Okay, okay, okay. Now I get the context. Year on year, if you were to look at the numbers, I think the cost base for the company has increased, I mean, from what it was a year back. There has been a significant increase in the cost base. Prasad, I mean, that's what I wanted to call out in the commentary as well. I think as management team, we are committed to optimize a lot of those costs. Some of these cost base recalibration happened during the course of last year, owing to, I mean, the closure of the M&A deal and then the integration efforts and stuff. Some of them were kind of consolidated.
As we speak right now, I think the management, I mean, and that's also been a guidance by the board to work on cost optimization. As management teams, I mean, we are committed to drive some of those initiatives by kind of focusing on automations powered by AI in the ecosystem and also focusing on kind of removing the redundant layer within the company.
Got it. Okay. Thanks.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Prateesh Jeda from Lucky Investments. Please go ahead. Prateesh, your line is unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. As there is no response from the current questioner, we will move to the next question from the line of Anmol Mittal from SMC Private Wealth. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. As you quoted, there are two large deals out there.
Sorry to interrupt. This is not clear. Your voice is not clear. Request you to please use your handset, sir.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. As you quoted, there are two large deals out there which will contribute in the use of the company in the coming future. What is the margin from there we can expect? The second question is there. As you mentioned about the 365g uard, the new digital platform, and there are many initiatives which the company has taken till now regarding spam and fraud control solutions. As this segment looks very lucrative from the initial view, what is the expected amount of contribution in sales and profit come from here in future? It is a superior margin business for us. Hello. Am I audible?
Yeah, you are. I think we missed the flow. Can you please kind of reiterate your query?
Sure, sir. I think.
So the.
So the.
I got the.
Hi, Prateesh. I think Anmol, right? Hi, Anmol. I think the other question is that I've already mentioned that there are lots of synergies and there are lots of discussions going on right now with the various operator enterprises along with BICS. We are at a very early stage to give any kind of a guidance, but we are very much sure that the guidance, the direct margin is going to be much, much higher than what we make on messaging right now. That's the only thing I can share with you right now.
What about the fraud and spam control solution platform?
I think it's a great thing to have this solution inbuilt in-house. We, as a company, have deployed this solution with operators in Asia. We do see this is a very basic requirement going to be with multiple operators because of the kind of digital fraud happening all across the globe. We do see this as a great opportunity where operators are definitely looking out to deploy this kind of solution. I think probably we will give more clarity in our next earning calls on how things are moving out right now.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Nirmam from Unique PMS. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. My question is on the balance sheet. We have a few advances and deposits given to suppliers. By when do we expect these to be adjusted or flowing to the cash flows?
Yeah. The deposits would flow into the cash flow, I mean, within the, I mean, over the next few months. That I think will get kind of unwound during the course of the next few months. In terms of the advances that we have with certain telcos, again, I mean, these are kind of renewed on a six-monthly basis with some of them. They're mostly, I mean, short-term in nature. I think for one of the telcos, as I think I mentioned in the notes, we have also a legal dispute, right? I mean, that's now kind of gone into an arbitration. We will share more light on that, I mean, as and when, I mean, we have more and more color on that arbitration proceedings.
Okay. We do expect these to start getting cleared by this financial year.
That's correct. That's correct.
Okay, sir. Yeah. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Jimmith from MK Global. Please go ahead. Jimmith, your line is unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. As there is no response from the current questioner, we will move to the next question from the line of Dipesh from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Just wanted to get quarter four EBITDA margin on non-GAAP basis because it appears that it is corrected more than what it appears on reported basis. If you can share that number, nine months, it was 12%. If I look full year, it is 11.5%. So can you share what is the number for quarter four? Thank you.
Sure. Give me a second, Dipesh. Dipesh, it would be around, I guess, 10%. I can reconfirm that offline.
Yeah. So there is a sizable decline if I look, let's say, adjusted margin because that is one better way to look at it, how margin is tracking. Can you help us reconcile that for?
Yeah, yeah. We will take this up offline. Largely, Dipesh, it's flowing from the DM impact.
Understood. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Siddharth S from VDAI. Please go ahead.
Glad to connect with you, sir. Recently, I guess around a month ago, you said you were going to launch this 365s quared app which is powered by AI. One main thing which I wanted to look into this was as Route as a whole is backed by Proximus Global, which is a global CPaaS company. I just wanted to understand that you facing the current industry backgrounds, assets, will Proximus be any, will it be any way to back up Route assets? What kind of potential revenue contribution can this 365s quared platform bring to the top line of Route Mobile?
Siddharth, I was.
Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah, nothing. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Siddharth, as I already mentioned, some of the in-house product which we have built, and especially plus the RCS platform which we have built by Route Mobile, with the help of Proximus Global is already helping Route Mobile to take us to the various operators globally where BICS has a direct reach. I think that is the biggest advantage we have as a CPaaS player right now as compared to any other CPaaS player in the market, where we have an advantage of being BICS as a part of Proximus Global. I think jointly, we are working on strategy. As I said, we are having multiple workshops with operators which we have started a few months back.
Every single month, we are going to have one or two workshops with operators where we are not going to talk only the Route Mobile messaging solution, but apart from the 365 and the BICS solution as a combined solution offering. In terms of revenue potential, I can just tell you it's completely a platform play, and you can understand the kind of margin we can generate from the platform play. I'm not sure to add anything to this.
Got it. The other thing would be that the current industry backlashes that you are facing as, and I totally understand that when industry was doing, when you are performing on a good scale, what would you give us an outlook on the industry going forward and how it will exactly correlate with Route Mobile assets in terms of some guidances that would be possible?
As far as the company is concerned, even there is a shift happening from, say, messaging to other OTT channels. We as a company are fairly well placed in that ecosystem as well. We are a premier partner with Meta. We do have lots of solutions. If you see our overall growth in the omnichannel space, I think we grew almost by 35% year-on-year basis, I think, if you see that number. We are still onboarding lots of banks, lots of enterprises on these channels, especially RCS and WhatsApp, and plus the email solution which we have. With this cross-sell and upsell opportunity which we bring together as one group, including Telesign and BICS, I think now we have access to multiple customers which are captive customers all across the globe.
I think if we now have a full story and full idea that what to sell and how to sell and which customer to sell, I think probably we will see all these synergies kind of spring out in our numbers in this particular year.
Okay. Got it. I mean, it looks very impressive on the track record that you mentioned with respect to the company. What would you give an outlook with respect to the industry assets?
As far as the industry as it's concerned, if you see Route Mobile's performance is definitely industry-leading numbers. Even in terms of growth, in spite of having so many headwinds in the market, we are still performing better as compared to some of the competition, if you see, right now. I think I can only tell you the similar synergies which we are working right now with as a group, I think we do see a great potential in the coming quarters. That's the only thing I can share with you right now.
Got it. Just a small clarification to the first question that I asked, the 365s quared would be a potentially high-margin player, right?
Yes, indeed.
Sure. Sure. Thanks for the opportunity to us. Great connecting with you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Amit Agicha from HG Hawa . Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening. Am I audible?
Yeah. Hi. We can hear you.
Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. My question is like a little from bird's eye view, like if you see the firm's past 10 years, we faced in March 2016 over INR 367 crore, and now they are INR 4,576 crore because roughly like 12 times you can say. The profit has jumped from, say, like INR 63 crore to INR 334 crore, which is not even six times. Can you just guide us what is reducing the profit because the expenses are really not being controlled? Plus another question was connected to the cash which the company is having, the balance sheet shows like big cash is available, and plus still the loan is also available there. That's my question, sir.
Sure. Sure. I think on the cash bit, I think we called it out, right? I think we are in the midst of kind of our summer review. I think we'll come back. We're looking at a few bolt-on acquisition opportunities to call out a 20% kind of analyzed PAT dividend payout. Besides that, I think any excesses that we believe we have, I mean, we'll definitely look at returning back to the shareholders. In terms of the business, I think you're referring to, from what period to what period you mentioned? Sorry, if you can just repeat that.
2016 to 2025, like 10 years.
Yeah. Yeah. So 2016, the base of the business was very small at that point in time. The IRD business was priced at, I mean, less than $0.01, right? And then we were making like 30-40% kind of direct margins. As the prices in the IRD ecosystem started to increase, and that increased from like 10 paisa to, I mean, as today, I mean, it goes to $0.04-$0.05. I mean, in absolute terms, we are making definitely a lot more. I think what has happened is in terms of the percentage margin, it has kind of led to significant dilution. Hence, what you see as the revenue ramp-up does not necessarily kind of rectify into your EBITDA margin expansion.
What are the company's internal growth targets for EBITDA margin for the coming year?
As we mentioned, I mean, at this point in time, I mean, considering some of the integration efforts and the global uncertainties, we are not calling out a number there. I think we would definitely want to kind of do better than the industry, both in terms of revenue and drive more cost efficiencies within the company to drive better profitability.
Just the last question. Can you please help me out with what is the employee strength for the account current?
841 employees as of March end.
Thank you so much.
All the best for the future.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Amit Chandra from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. My question is a follow-up in terms of the impact that we have seen on the gross margin. As I said, we have 14% contributions from the related party volumes, which had the impact. The math is not matching. In terms of the volume from this third party or the related party volume, has it peaked at 14%, or do we see that increasing more from here? What I am asking you to say is that if it increases more from here, can we see further impact on the gross margin? You have said that the gross margin is expected to improve from here. What confidence do you have having that?
Sure. Sure. Sure. Amit, I think yeah. I think we are more or less, I think, close to the peak in terms of the low margin cost of goods and also synergies. This was easier to crack. I mean, considering, I mean, it was just the route optimization. We have been able to tap into that in a big way during the year gone by. Now, if you were to just kind of slice the direct margin or gross margin between related party and all the other third parties, if you adjust the related party gross margin, we've seen marginal improvement in the gross margin metric vis-à-vis the previous quarter, right? A last part of that was largely because of the armstrong pricing with the related party, which was causing the dilution.
Okay.
So we've seen.
Hope that answered.
All the impact that we have seen on gross margins in this quarter is because of the higher related party volumes. There is another part of the business, the margins have improved, basically.
Yes, Amit. You're right.
Okay. So on the.
Also.
Amit, for the quarter, I mean, there could be a marginal dilution here and there. I mean, on average, I think it is steady. I think the large impact is because of the related party.
Okay. Fine.
The second question is you said that we have done $100 million kind of revenue for the VI deal. This $100 million is obviously for the full year. Still, we have missed around $2.5 million, which we have made the provision for. For the next year, the target remains the same or it's a moving target? Here also, because our previous understanding was that the minimum revenue commitment was much lower from the $100 million mark. Also, despite doing $100 million, we have to pay or we have to make a provision of INR 25 crores. That is not, we're not able to understand that.
Amit, I think what actually transpired was, I mean, things that transpired towards the end of the quarter. I mean, other than that, I think we were running at kind of a good average to kind of meet the committed obligation last year. Now, for the next year, I think considering, I mean, some of these global uncertainties and all, we've had detailed negotiations, discussions. I think the commitment amounts have significantly reduced. Contractually, there are now safety nets into the agreement that if the headwinds were to kind of go beyond a certain or get impacted beyond a certain threshold, there are kind of levers in the contract which can kind of lead to a lower commitment amount from our perspective. I think from an FY 2025-2026 commitment standpoint, I think we have enough caution in terms of the obligation that we have.
We have kind of baked in the risk of some of the uncertainties that we could kind of envisage at this point in time. Besides that, as I said, I mean, there are safety nets into the contract which allow us to downward revise the commitment if things were to go, I mean, bad beyond a certain threshold.
Okay.
Lastly, if you can give some number around what percentage of our volumes and revenue is from IRD, basically, or the international messaging, if you can give that for the full year.
Sorry. Sorry. What is it?
IRD volumes and revenue contributions for the full year.
Amit, we do not call it out categorically. I mean, India happens to be 50% of the revenue. And as a rule of thumb, about two-thirds of the revenue comes from IRD. I mean, I can just give you kind of a ballpark sense on this.
Okay. Okay, Robin. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take this as the last question for the day. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Raj Gill, Group Chief Financial Officer, for the closing comments.
Yes. Thank you, everybody, for your attention. With that, we will close the call. I wish you all a good end of the day and see you next quarter. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. On behalf of Route Mobile Ltd, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.