Reliance Retail on Friday announced record-high revenue from operations at Rs 57,694 crore in the July-September quarter, up around 12% quarter-on-quarter, pushed by strong festive demand across all categories. On a year-on-year basis, the revenue was up about 45%.
However, the company’s Ebitda margins in Q2FY23 fell by 20 basis points to 7.4%, from Q1FY23’s 7.6%, hurt by increased input costs. It was at 6.1% in Q2FY22. The company’s financials also showed Reliance Retail’s earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased 15% sequentially to Rs 4,404 crore and 51% on a YoY basis, making it company’s highest-ever.
Further, its net profit in the three months to September increased to Rs 2,305 crore, up 36% YoY, pushed higher by an increasing customer base, which reached 221 million, a growth of 28% YoY.
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“The customer sentiment remains upbeat, the spending on discretionary category continues to grow. The business delivered all-time high revenues led by broad-based growth across the consumption baskets in the run-up to the festive demand, across geographies,” Gaurav Jain, head, strategy and business development, Reliance Retail, said in the post-earnings briefing.
Expanding on its omnichannel play, Reliance Retail saw over 180 million footfalls across formats in the quarter, implying a growth of 23% over the pre-Covid period, as it added 795 new stores, helping the count to surpass the 16,000 mark.
Further, leveraging its newly-inked partnership with Meta’s WhatsApp, 37% of orders received from the platform were first-time shoppers on JioMart and the company expects to continue the growth momentum going forward. Digital and new commerce now contribute to about 18% of Reliance Retail’s revenue.
However, existing customers continued to push the average bill value (ABV) higher. “We see that customers who are well over a year into the platform, their buying is now over four times higher when compared with shoppers who have just joined the platform,” Jain added. The company’s grocery division recorded its best-ever quarter while the pharmacy business doubled, and consumer electronics, fashion and lifestyle grew over 40% YoY.
Reliance Retail has also been focusing on increasing its revenue share from its private labels like Masti Oye noodles and others, as they launched new products. “We continue to strengthen our own brand play as well and launched several products in the quarter,” Jain concluded.