The impact of Covid19 can be felt far and wide. As demand has slumped amidst the fear, companies are facing the heat when it comes time to send out their latest reports. After reviewing reported disclosures, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has advised listed companies to reevaluate the financial impact of Covid-19 on their business.
SEBI noted in its circular, that many of the listed entities have made disclosures under LODR Regulations, largely suggesting shutdown of operations owing to COVID and resultant lockdowns. “Information relating to actions taken towards sanitation, safety, etc. were provided by some of the listed entities; the entities that disclosed the financial impact, is quite small,” it noted.
It’s been noted that global companies have been making full disclosures with regards to the pandemics impact and various other info like future operations, capital, liquidity, assets, etc. So, SEBI has advised companies to make sure all investors get access to updated info on time. They expect companies to assess the impact faced by the company on their finances, performance, etc. both quantitatively and qualitatively.
The impact faced by the economy can’t be quantified yet nor can any estimates be made as no vaccine has been developed to date. B2B e-commerce company IndiaMART started on a positive note in 2020 with over 10 crore users, but the company is finding it difficult to maintain it as cofounder Dinesh Agarwal said they could lose about 10-20% of its 147000 paying customer base every month if lockdowns continue.
MakeMyTrip and Yatra, some of the most impacted businesses, expects Q1 FY21 performance to be a major let-down as past year’s slowdown of aviation along with this pandemic could end up having a very negative impact on the business.
Matrimony is expected to perform admirably in its Q4 and overall FY20 they could achieve double-digit revenue growth in matchmaking and increased profitability. They couldn’t quantify the impact of Covid-19 but informed that its “robust” balance sheet will help it through the crisis.
Every nation is facing some major pressure and that is about to increase multifold if this pandemic is not put to a halt as society’s distress keeps mounting as each day passes by. Investors need a better understanding of how badly companies are affected by this pandemic.
