D-Mart Q3 Results: PAT improves 7% YoY to Rs 590 cr; significantly misses forecasts
Avenue Supermarts Ltd on Saturday reported a 6.7% year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December to Rs 590 crore. The bottomline was way below the estimated figure of Rs 672 crore.
Consolidated revenue increased 25.5% on-year to Rs 11,569.05 crore, largely in line with what the company had shared in the provisional update earlier this month.
Higher expenses and a sharp contraction in the profitability dented the bottomline in the quarter.
Operating profit, calculated as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), rose 11.4% on- year to Rs 965 crore, but operating margin contracted by a sharp 106 basis points to 8.34%.
The contraction in margin was steeper than the 40-60 bps fall estimated by analysts. Total expenditure increased 27% YoY to Rs 10,789 crore, with staff cost rising nearly 19% to Rs 192.31 crore.
During the quarter, the company added just 4 stores. This is half of what it had in the September quarter. The total store count as of December 31 stood at 306. Brokerage Motilal Oswal Securities had expected the retailer to add 12 stores in the third quarter and take the total count to 314.
For the nine months ended December, the total revenue grew by nearly 45% on year to Rs 31,496 crore, and operating profit increased by a strong 64% to Rs 2,877 crore. As a result, the profit after tax surged 78.4% YoY to Rs 2,051 crore.
Shares of the company, owned by equity market veteran Radhakishan Damani, ended 1.2% down at Rs 3,863.70 on the National Stock Exchange. The stock was a laggard in 2022, having lost about 13%, when the benchmark Nifty 50 gave over 4% positive return.
