IdeaForge slips 6%, hits lowest level since listing post Q1 results

Shares of IdeaForge Technology slipped 6 per cent to Rs 1,008.05 on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade after the drone maker announced its first quarterly results since its stock market debut last month.

The stock was quoting lower for the sixth straight day, falling 13 per cent during the period. It was also at its lowest level since its market debut on July 7. The market price of the company has corrected 25 per cent from its record high level of Rs 1,344 touched on listing day. However, the stock is still trading 50 per cent higher over its issue price of Rs 672 per share.

For the April-June quarter (Q1FY24), IdeaForge reported 54 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in its consolidated profit at Rs 18.86 crore as against Rs 41.25 crore in the year-ago quarter (Q1FY23). The company had reported loss of Rs 5.42 crore in the previous quarter (Q4FY23).

Revenue from operation was down 2.2 per cent YoY to Rs 97.07 crore from Rs 99.27 crore. Reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) margin contracted to 29.4 per cent from 55.5 per cent in Q1FY23. However, on a sequential basis, the company's revenue from operations grew 151 per cent from Rs 38.66 crore in Q4FY23 with Ebitda margin of 3.1 per cent.

The management said that given the nature and nascent stage of the drone industry in our country, the company’s business performance is not immediately comparable on a quarterly basis.

Aligning with the sectoral opportunities, the company is actively pursuing new product development and business models. The management said it remains committed to being the flag bearers of performance, reliability, and autonomy in this sunshine sector.

The company hit a major milestone for its SWITCH UAV contract deliverables as it successfully delivered a large batch to the client. The company has also received recognition from various institutions for its pioneering work in the field of drone technology, the management said.

IdeaForge is the pioneer and the preeminent market leader in the Indian unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market, with a market share of approximately 50 per cent in the industry. They had the largest operational deployment of indigenous Unmanned acrial vehicle (UAVs) across India, with an IdeaForge manufactured drone taking off every 5 minutes on average for surveillance and mapping as of fiscal 2023.

Beyond the UAVs, they undertake a full integration of their payloads, communication system and packaging. Ideaforge also built their own software stack required for flight safety, autopilot sub-system, battery, power, and communication in their UAVs.