D-Mart retail chain operator Avenue Supermarts on May 8 clocked a healthy 52.6 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated profit at Rs 413.88 crore in the quarter ended March 2021, partly due to low base in the year-ago quarter that was hit by the COVID-led lockdown. The growth was driven by healthy operating income and revenue.
Profit after tax (PAT) margin at 5.5 percent in Q4FY21 has expanded from 4.3 percent in Q4FY20, said the company in its BSE filing.
Consolidated revenue from operations grew by 18.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 7,411.7 crore in Q4FY21, the company added.
"Significant disruptions have been seen from March 2021 onwards for the store operations. The restrictions and local level enforcements have become much stricter. In general, more than 80 percent of stores are operating for a significantly lower number of hours (not exceeding four hours per day) or are even shut for operations for one to weeks or shut on weekends. These shutdowns are having an adverse and severe impact on our revenues," the D-Mart operator stated.
At the operating level, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) increased 47 percent to Rs 613 crore and margin climbed 160 bps to 8.3 percent compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal.
Numbers were ahead of analysts' expectations. Profit was estimated at Rs 380 crore on revenue of Rs 7,303 crore and EBITDA was expected at Rs 586 crore with a margin of 8 percent for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.
In the year FY21, the COVID pandemic year, consolidated profit fell 15.6 percent to Rs 1,099.49 crore and revenue declined 2.9 percent to Rs 24,143.06 compared to the previous year.
To Know All Earnings Related News, Click Here
"FY21 has been a challenging year for our business. The year began amidst a strict lockdown post the emergence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) towards the end of the last financial year. The economy gradually opened post-May 2020 and the second half of the year was progressing towards recovery," said Neville Noronha, CEO & Managing Director.
"However, a much stronger second wave of COVID-19 infections hit the country towards the end of FY21 and has once again resulted in significant disruption to our business as several cities and towns have announced restrictions," he added.
During FY21, Avenue Supermarts said the company had seen degrowth across the key financial parameters of revenue, EBITDA and PAT. EBITDA during the year declined 18.1 percent to Rs 1,743 crore compared to the previous year.
The company said, "Sales mix has also seen a shift towards Grocery and FMCG products. Sales from General Merchandise and Apparel formed 22.90 percent of total revenue for the year as compared to 27.31 percent in the previous year. This is a result of consumer preference of need-based / essential goods shopping for a significant period during the year, reduced discretionary spending and significant restrictions on selling non-essentials during the early part of the year. This has also impacted our margins during the year. However, Q4 margins did indicate a revival of discretionary spends not seen in previous 3 quarters."
In the case of DMart Ready, Avenue Supermarts said it continued the expansion of e-commerce business and increased presence across the MMR region. In addition, it commenced servicing four new cities last year - Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad.