DMart Q4 results: Standalone net profit rises 7% to Rs 466 crore

Radhakishan Damani-promoted retail chain DMart on Saturday reported 7% rise in standalone net profit at Rs 466 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2022. 

Standalone revenue rose 18% to Rs 8,606 crore during the quarter ending review. 

Commenting on the performance of the company Neville Noronha, CEO & Managing Director, Avenue Supermarts Limited, said: "January 2022 started extremely well but then the Omicron wave of Covid‐19 reduced the momentum over the middle of the month. These waves typically hurt the high margin and discretionary items more. As is the trend of the past, recovery does take 40‐50 days after restrictions are removed or anxiety of a Covid wave recedes. 

"Omicron was a milder wave and hence had a significantly lower negative impact. March 2022 month again had robust recovery and very satisfactory like for like growth vis a vis March 2021. In general, the quarter performance and past two waves of stop‐start‐stop give us extreme confidence on the resilience of the business to recover in the short term."

On Friday, the company's scrip on BSE closed 0.8% lower at Rs 3,234.95.

For the fiscal ended March 2022, Avenue Supermarts' consolidated net profit grew 35.74% to Rs 1,492.40 crore. It had reported a net profit of Rs 1,099.43 crore in the previous financial year.

In 2021-22, its revenue from operations jumped 28.3% to Rs 30,976.27 crore. It was Rs 24,143.06 crore in FY21.

Talking about DMart's growth in the brick and mortar segment for FY22, Noronha said the company ended the year with growth across key financial parameters of Revenue, EBITDA and PAT.

"Two years and older, DMart stores grew by 16.7% during FY2022 as compared to FY 2021. We have 214 stores that are 2 years or older. Our sales from General Merchandise and Apparel moved slightly up at 23.40% as compared to 22.90% in the previous year," he added.

In FY22, D-Mart opened 50 additional stores, taking the total to 284 stores.

"Our store footprint continues to grow across the country. We had a record opening this year primarily because of delayed openings in the previous year due to Covid," he said.

Its e-commerce business DMart Ready also had gradual expansion during the year, which is present in 12 cities across the country.

"Post Omicron wave, the e-commerce business has slowed down its growth trajectory. However, in general, we are quite happy and excited about this business. We are learning every single day. DMart Ready has again had a tremendous year. Topline sales this year were slightly more than double that of last year," Noronha said.

At a fundamental level, D-Mart believes that for grocery, e-commerce is a channel of convenience while brick and mortar is still the channel of joy, except for the effort to reach the store and the time to wait at the checkout.

"Each has its own unique magic. We will operate both channels to the best of our abilities with a mindset to improve on these principles and ensure that the value to the shopper remains supreme," he said.