DMart operator Avenue Supermarts' Q1 profit rises over two-fold to Rs 95 crore YoY

Avenue Supermarts Ltd, which owns and operates retail chain DMart, on Saturday reported over two-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 95.36 crore for June quarter 2021-22.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 40.08 crore in April-June period a year ago, when the markets were under strict lockdown.

Revenue from operations was up at Rs 5,183.12 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 3,883.18 crore in the year-ago period, said Avenue Supermarts in a BSE filing.

Total expenses in the quarter were Rs 5,077.22 crore as against Rs 3,875.01 crore in April-June 2020-21.

On a standalone basis, revenue from operations during the quarter was at Rs 5,031.75 crore as compared to Rs 3,833.23 crore in the year-ago period.

"Revenues have grown by 31 per cent over the corresponding quarter of last year. This is because the lockdown periods were at different times in different regions during the quarter.

"Some cities announced early lockdowns and continue to have stringent measures in place even now while some cities eased the restrictions within 3-4 weeks after their early lockdown,” the company said.

Despite lesser hours of operations during this lockdown, it had more customer footfalls than in the same period last year and this has translated into higher sales, it said.

One of the key reasons for this is even though restrictions on operations were more severe, personal mobility was relatively less stringent than last time's, it said.

"Q1 FY 2021-22 saw a much stronger second wave of Covid-19 restrictions. We lost significantly more days or had a higher restriction on a number of hours of store operations compared to the same period last year," Avenue Supermarts CEO & Managing Director Neville Noronha said.

According to the company, now lockdown measures are gradually reducing across multiple cities.

"Across these multiple periods of lockdowns, we have come to realize that a store needs at least 45 days of unhindered operational time to get back to pre-Covid sales momentum. We have not seen any significant impact on our supply chain during the quarter,” it said.

The inventory is gradually moving towards normal levels and construction activity has also commenced at all sites, it added.