Tata group-owned Trent’s third-quarter net profit more than doubled as sales zoomed during the festive season, led by its value retail format Zudio. The company reported its financial numbers on Wednesday, with net profit for the December quarter up 124.2% year-on-year to Rs 374 crore, ahead of Street estimates which had pegged the bottomline at Rs 260 crore.
Revenue for the third quarter grew 50.5% y-o-y to Rs 3,467 crore, as against analysts’ estimates of Rs 3,466 crore for the period. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) grew nearly 95% y-o-y to Rs 629 crore ahead of Bloomberg estimates of Rs 565 crore for the period.
The Ebitda margin stood at 18.1% versus 14% reported in the year-ago period. Trent’s shares jumped more than 19% intra-day on the BSE after the announcement of results during market hours. The stock closed at Rs 3,609.25 apiece on the BSE, up 18.94% from the previous day’s close.
“We continue to see growing relevance for our offerings, resilience in our business model choices and attractiveness of our differentiated platform. We will continue to expand and deepen our store presence with the aim of being ever more proximate and convenient to customers reinforcing our brand promise” Noel N Tata, chairman, Trent, said.
During the quarter, the company added 5 Westside and 50 Zudio stores across 36 cities including 13 new cities. As of December 31, 2023, Trent’s portfolio included 227 Westside, 460 Zudio and 28 stores across other lifestyle concepts. Fashion concepts registered Like-For-Like (LFL) growth of over 10% versus last year, the company said.
Emerging categories including beauty and personal care, innerwear and footwear continued to gain traction with customers. Emerging categories contribute to over 19% of its revenue. “Our online revenues continue to grow profitably through Westside.com and other Tata group platforms and currently contribute over 5% of Westside revenues,” Trent said in a statement.
The Star business, consisting of 67 stores (supermarkets and hypermarkets), continued to witness improved customer traction with growing sales densities. The business registered operating revenue growth of 26% year-on-year in the quarter under review, it said.