Avenue Supermarts Ltd.'s operating margin widened in the quarter ended September as it sold more profitable products.
The operator of the D-Mart chain of supermarkets said in an exchange filing its margin on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation expanded by 70 basis points to 8.7 percent in the three-month period. That, the company said, helped it beat the consensus of analysts' estimate of 8.5 percent.
The company's revenue rose 22.4 percent over the same period last year to Rs 5,990 crore in the September quarter, with net profit rising 47 percent year-on-year to Rs 323 crore. While its revenue was in-line with the consensus estimate, its profit fell below expectations.
Revenue growth in the September quarter was slightly lower than projections but gross margin improved over last year due to a better revenue mix, Ignatius Navil Noronha, the company's managing director and chief executive officer, was quoted as saying in the filing. He attributed the rise in profit margin to steady revenue growth and revision in corporate tax rates.
The company opened five stores in the September quarter, taking its total store count to 189.
It has added as many as 13 stores so far this fiscal, which Prabhudas Lilladher expects to rise to 28 by the end of 2019-20.
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