MakeMyTrip Limited Announces Details of Annual Meeting of Shareholders

NEW DELHI, India and NEW YORK, Sep 8, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- MakeMyTrip Limited

India's largest online travel company1 and the parent company of MakeMyTrip (India) Private Limited, MakeMyTrip.com Inc. and Luxury Tours & Travel Pte Ltd, announced today that the annual meeting of its shareholders will be held on Friday, September 30, 2011, beginning at 5:00 pm, Indian local time, at Ground Floor, Tower A, Plot No. 243, Udyog Vihar, Phase 1, Gurgaon -- 122016, India. The Company's notice of annual meeting and form of proxy were issued on September 6, 2011.

The Company's annual report on Form 20-F for the financial year ended March 31, 2011 (the "Annual Report"), containing its annual consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2011 and the auditors' report thereon, was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 2, 2011.

The Company's Annual Report, notice of the annual meeting, form of proxy and annual unconsolidated financial statements for the financial year ended March 31, 2011 are available on the Company's investor relations website at http://investors.makemytrip.com . Shareholders may also obtain a copy of these documents, free of charge, by sending a request by email to jonathan.huang@makemytrip.com.

About MakeMyTrip Limited and MakeMyTrip.com:

MakeMyTrip Limited, the parent company of MakeMyTrip (India) Private Limited, MakeMyTrip.com Inc. and Luxury Tours & Travel Pte Ltd, is India's largest online travel company1. The company's services and products include air tickets, customized holiday packages, hotels, rail tickets, bus tickets, car hire and facilitating access to travel insurance. Through its primary website, www.makemytrip.com , and other technology-enhanced platforms, the company provides access to all major domestic full-service and low-cost airlines operating in India, all major airlines operating to and from India, over 4,700 hotels in India and a wide selection of hotels outside India, Indian Railways and several major Indian bus operators.
SOURCE: MakeMyTrip Limited

MakeMyTrip extends focus to holiday deals

MakeMyTrip Ltd (MMYT) wants to reduce dependence on selling airline tickets and extend its focus to hotels and holiday packages, which have a wider profit margin, and is backing the strategy with the acquisition of firms that specialize in these areas.

“Till 2006-07, we were having 98% of business coming from products that are selling airline tickets,” Deep Kalra, founder and chief executive officer, MakeMyTrip.com, said in an interview. “We have now changed our product mix to 30:70 for the current year,” with the pure airline ticketing business having the lower share.

He said the company has adopted a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) strategy to buy firms closer to customers—selling niche holiday products such as pilgrimages, adventure tourism and luxury; closer to suppliers—having inventory from hotels, airlines and car companies; and technology companies that support these businesses.

MakeMyTrip is the parent of MakeMyTrip India Pvt. Ltd, that runs online travel website, www.makemytrip.com. The company was successfully listed on the Nasdaq in August 2010.

The company has $100 million cash on its balance sheet for proposed acquisitions, said Rajesh Magow, co-founder and chief financial officer. It has already embarked on its shopping spree.

In July, MakeMyTrip.com entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire 19.9% of Le Travenues Technology Pvt. Ltd, which owns www.ixigo.com, an online travel meta search engine, for $4.8 million. In May, it acquired a majority stake in Luxury Tours and Travel Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based travel agency that provides hotel reservations and excursion tours, for $3.4 million.

“MMYT has redefined patience. It struck to its intent amidst several companies that went bust during the dotcom crisis,” said Alok Kejriwal, chief executive officer at online company Games2win and a serial digital entrepreneur. “Kalra and his team executed the business in such a way that the business grew despite the lacklustre growth of the Internet in India—by going offline.”

Magow said the company wanted to be present in all spheres of travel with a focus on leisure and small and medium enterprises.

MakeMyTrip.com leads the online travel category for monthly unique users according to June data from ViziSense.com, an online audience and advertisement measurement platform, said its business head Amit Bhartiya.

Still, the reasons for broadening the business are evident.

The company could face challenges from airlines seeking to reach out to customers directly, Bhartiya said. New entrants could also take away value-conscious customers from time to time, he said.

Games2win’s Kejriwal warned that profitability could be an issue going forward.

“The risky part of MMYT is that it has sold a promise to investors of becoming profitable quickly,” he said. “MMYT needs to quickly show that it can grow both top line and bottom line to meet the expectations of investors on Wall Street.”

While announcing June quarter results, the company said it is optimistic about long-term growth prospects as the travel industry continues to increase capacity to accommodate the demands for travel by the fast-growing middle class and Internet population in India. Profit fell to $0.8 million from $1.3 million in the year earlier.

“The company is currently maintaining its fiscal 2012 full-year guidance range for revenue less service costs at $86-89 million as global economic uncertainties persist,” it had said at the time.