REDFY Rediff com India Limited (CE)

Rediff.com’s overall performance in the past two quarters signaled the emergence of an internet media business model in which fee-based revenue is the key driver and online advertising is in a supporting role. Revenues from such fee-based businesses contributed to 54% of the India Online Revenue in the immediate past quarter.

Such fee-based businesses for the quarter grew 31% on a year over year basis and helped to some extent offset a decline of 22% in advertising revenue. Overall revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, declined 8% compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

Our diligent focus on analytics helped us achieve industry metrics for these businesses during the recently completed quarter, such as a 26% take rate (fees earned as a percentage of value of products transacted), a 14% positive product margin and a merchandise return rate as low as 14%.

“We are witnessing a change in our revenue streams where the revenues from the fee-based businesses are playing a leading role supported by the traditional display advertising revenues. We believe our strength lies in our ability to grow and monetize the 16 million + unique users coming to our site every month through various offerings for consumers and small and medium enterprises. The use of data science to monitor key business metrics is helping us keep our business performance on the growth path,” said Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman and CEO, Rediff.com India Ltd.

According to ComScore Media Metrix, Rediff.com’s reach in India grew 17.5% on a year-on-year basis to 16.5 million unique users in a market which grew just 1% in the same time period.

Further details of Rediff.com’s results for the second fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2014 are appended in tabular form to this press release. A script of the earnings result conference call held on October 22, 2014 will also be made available on Rediff’s Investor Information website at investor.rediff.com.

About Rediff.com

Rediff.com (NASDAQ: REDF) is one of the premier worldwide online providers of news, information, communication, entertainment and shopping services to Indians worldwide. Founded in 1996, Rediff.com is headquartered in Mumbai, India with offices in New Delhi, India and New York, USA.

Safe Harbor

Except for historical information and discussions contained herein, statements included in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and reflect our current expectations. Forward-looking statements are identified by certain words or phrases such as "may," "will," "aim," "will likely result," "believe," "expect," "will continue," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "contemplate," "seek to," "future," "objective," "goal," "project," "should," "will pursue" and similar expressions or variations of such expressions. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that may be projected by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the slowdown in the economies worldwide and in the sectors in which our clients are based, the slowdown in the Internet and IT sectors worldwide, competition, success of our past and future acquisitions, attracting, recruiting and retaining highly skilled employees, technology, acceptance of new products and services, the development of broadband Internet and 3G networks in India, legal and regulatory policies, managing risks associated with customer products, the widespread acceptance of the Internet as well as other risks detailed in the Form 20-F and other reports filed by Rediff.com India Limited with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Rediff.com India Limited and its subsidiaries may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. Rediff.com India Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company.

  STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2014  

(All figures are in US$ millions, unless otherwise indicated below)

        Quarter ended September 30   2014     2013 Revenues     India Online 3.17   3.18   US Publishing 0.48   0.78   Total Revenues 3.65   3.96  

Cost of Revenues*

(2.75 ) (2.61 ) Gross Margin 0.90   1.35   Gross Margin % 25 % 34 %

Operating Expenses*

(3.77 ) (2.97 ) Operating EBITDA (2.87 ) (1.62 )

Depreciation/Amortization

(0.44 ) (0.75 ) Interest Income 0.26   0.32   Gain on Sale of Investment -   2.74   Miscellaneous income 0.04   0.35   Foreign Exchange gain (loss) (0.01 ) 0.02   Net loss before income taxes (3.02 ) 1.06   Tax -   -   Net loss (3.02 ) 1.06   Net loss per ADS (in US dollars), basic (0.109 ) 0.038   Net loss per ADS (in US dollars), diluted (0.109 ) 0.038   Weighted average ADSs outstanding (in millions) 27.59   27.59   * Stock-Based Compensation included in:     Cost of Revenues 0.00   0.01   Operating Expenses 0.12   0.13    

Notes

• Each ADS represents one half of an equity share.
• The above numbers are subject to audit. An audit could result in adjustments which would result in the audited numbers varying from the numbers set forth above.
• The company established an ESOP trust for the benefit of employees, which has acquired 1,015,000 shares (equivalent to 2,030,000 ADSs). These shares are treated as treasury stock and therefore are excluded from the EPS calculations.

Non-GAAP Measures Note

Operating EBITDA and non-GAAP operating expenses are the non-GAAP measures in this press release. These measurements are not recognized under generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”).

Operating EBITDA represents loss from operations prior to adjustments for depreciation/amortization, non-recurring items and other income or expense and tax. However, other companies may calculate operating EBITDA differently. Operating EBITDA is not intended to represent cash flows as defined by generally accepted accounting principles and should not be considered as an indicator of cash flow from operations. We have included information concerning Operating EBITDA in this press release because management and our board of directors use it as a measure of our performance. In addition, future investment and capital allocation decisions are based on Operating EBITDA. Investors and industry analysts use Operating EBITDA to measure the Company’s performance compared to historic results and our peer group. The reconciliation between Operating EBITDA and net loss, the GAAP measure, is as follows:

RECONCILIATION FROM OPERATING EBITDA TO NET INCOME QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2014  

(All figures are in US$ millions)

        Quarter ended September 30   2014     2013 Operating EBITDA (Non-GAAP) (2.87 ) (1.62 ) Depreciation / Amortization (0.44 ) (0.75 ) Interest Income 0.26   0.32   Gain on Sale of investment -   2.74   Miscellaneous income 0.04   0.35   Foreign Exchange gain (loss) (0.01 ) 0.02   Net loss before income taxes (3.02 ) 1.06   Tax -   -   Net loss (GAAP) (3.02 ) 1.06    

Non-GAAP operating expenses represent our operating expenses comprised of sales and marketing, product development and general and administrative expenses excluding depreciation and amortization. We have used non-GAAP operating expenses measure to compute our Operating EBITDA. A reconciliation of GAAP operating expenses to non-GAAP operating expenses is as follows:

RECONCILIATION FROM GAAP TO NON-GAAP OPERATING EXPENSES QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2014  

(All figures are in US$ millions)

        Quarter ended September 30   2014     2013 Operating Expenses (GAAP) 4.22   3.69   Depreciation/Amortization (0.44 ) (0.75 ) Foreign Exchange gain (loss) (0.01 ) 0.02   Operating Expenses (Non-GAAP) 3.77   2.97  

Rediff.com India Ltd.Mandar NarvekarInvestor Relations and Corporate Affairs ContactTel.: +91-22-6182-0000Email: investor@rediff.co.in