I am not sure about marketing spends at an absolute level as management is indicating that they are going to invest in areas where they are not very strong now. But, they also indicate that there are many pockets where the spends are excessive and returns not commensurate to spends, where it may rationalise. Even Jeevansathi has indicated that.
Sorry, I have no view on manyjobs.
The idea doesnât apply to matrimony platforms because most people just marry once and then uninstall the app. So chasing user growth/network effects will be a continuous process.
The company can do some operational streamlining by using adopting AI in their product.
disc: Have a tracking position.
My view of Q1 results-
Billings have grown from 117.5 crores to 126.2 crores. (7.4% y-o-y)
Number of paid subscription added remained flat.(-0.8% y-o-y)
So billings growth was led by ATV increase i.e. from 4395 to 4775. (8.6% y-o-y)
Albeit company has grown slower than its competitor Jeevansathi which saw 36% y-o-y growth, to 35 crores and turned cashflow positive of 6 crores mainly achieving so by slowing marketing spends. Spends down 21% y-o-y. As base is low compared to Matrimony and operating in different geography need to watch for coming quarters is whether the growth momentum is sustained entrenching itself as clear leader in region.
Increase in billing growth will be reflected in the revenue and profits for Matrimony in upcoming quarters as most of it is received in advance so can be seen from jump in deferred revenue from 72 crores to 83 crores. Thus Revenue and PAT doesnât truly reflect the increase in billings.
Growth in billings albeit flat marketing spends shows that competitive intensity has decreased and marketing spends as % of revenue can decrease in coming years. Further it can give room to spend in markets matrimony were not spending earlier such as North and other new ventures.
However scaling up of other ventures remain key monitorable mainly the serious dating platform, wedding services and Blue collar Jobs initiative.
Billings can touch 500 crores in current year which will be key monitorable and have to see in coming quarters whether company can potentially increase the growth momentum.
Disclosure- Biased and Invested
In this era of nuclear families and constant ego battles, instances of 2nd marriages is increasing a lot even though its unfortunate. In case of 1st marriages vs 2nd marriages, usage of online matrimony apps is considerable high vs usage of a traditional marriage broker due to privacy issues , relatives pressure etc⊠that also may add growth even though not quantifiable . But this unfortunate trend is only going to increase considering the current society situation
As the competitive intensity is reduced, marketing spends shall come down for sure. And some time in far future , non serious players shall sell away their matrimony biz to focussed player like matrimony.com ⊠this is also a probability if one takes a very long term view
Currently it seems like the market and investors have written off this company.
Presented #matrimony on valuepickr Mumbai meet on 15 Sep25
Few steps mgmt can take on this solid franchise with pricing power to unlock value
wind up some of the non-scalable LOSS MAKING NON-SCALABLE biz(s) it is incubating, will add 15-18 cr/yr to PAT
Reduce ad-spends in-line with what other competitors are doing
Be open to M&A considering dominant market share are mutually exclusive between matrimony & jeevansaathi
matrimony_20250914.pdf (723.0 KB)
Capital allocation risk- ( Divorsification thru startup investing)
Recently they started showing interest in investing in startups and made a new board member appointment to support that. This again is an uncertainty as it shall have its own learning curve and in the process cash burn. Result of the same may be visible only after 10 years. So cash available in the company and cash to generated by the company may be at risk. I think company hasnât put out clear capital allocation policy changes in the light of this new development which is required for valuing the company in the long term. Hope the company puts out clear policy regarding the capital allocation as it plays major in a cash generating low growth scenario for any company. If this risk is not addressed, company may not be in a position to buy competitors when opportunity arises in future whenever it is.
Low growth-( 3x volume growth in 25 years)
As I have seen a recent interview of founder stating his goal is to just triple registered users in next 25 years from current 8 million registered to 25 million users . This translates to very low growth and hence capital allocation becomes much more important.
Matrimony is doing its 3rd buyback in the last 4 years. And every time, the promoter has increased his stake by not participating.
Added to it is the recent purchase of shares by the promoter through open market. During Sep-Nov 2025, he has bought 2.89 lakh shares (~1.3% of the equity). Thatâs a very important point to be kept in mind while analysing Matrimony.
22564_MCL_Postal_ballot_notice.pdf (618.8 KB)
Check page 15 for purchase details
This is a very positive sign by the Promoter. Gives a lot of comfort to retail share holders.
Howerver the main question is growth is stagnating, OPM from near 20% few years ago, has come down to 10%. This has to change for rerating.
It seems the management is pushing for Growth . Thorough Channel checks and scuttlebut done have also confirmed this. Over the last few quarters quite a number of business heads have been hired to drive overall segmental growth (the same can be verified through LinkedIn ). To name a few they have hired new people to drive assisted matrimony, manyjobs , mandap and wedding services
It also looks like they have a major growth vector in manyjobs . Even though it is still in nascent beta testing stage, the management commentary shows confidence in this new vertical. They plan to take it pan India in a yearâs time. The business head of this business seems seasoned.
Management has not been SHY to state if some new ideas are not working like wedding loans which they cut losses immediately .this is a good sign. This is not the case with manyjobs . It seems like they have found a growth driver ex the core business.
Revenue growth for the last couple of years have been subpar. Expenses in advertising and employee have risen much faster than revenue growth. Infact there has literally been no revenue growth but expenses and risen by more than 50% , advertising expenses nearly doubled.
Advertising and employee expenses we should more or less expect at this same range. This year we should expect adverting at 180± crs and employee expenses at 140±crs. Donât think these expenses will come down . Marketing and employee expenses have peaked for the near future give or take 5+% more .
What we should really forward to is some good revenue growth considering all the efforts visible on ground . There is massive operating leverage to be unlocked . Revenue of 600++ crores will lead to disproportionate PBT and NET PROFIT over a 8-10 quarter period. Icing will be if manyjobs takes off.
Invested and biased.
