Authors: JordanNEW DELHI: Stock of Avenue Supermarts, the parent of hyper retail chain D-Mart, fell 4 per cent on Monday even as the company reported 73 per cent annual rise in net profit at Rs 167 crore for the March quarter.The food and grocery retailer reported Rs 167 crore profit for January-March against Rs 97 crore in the year-ago period.It added 24 stores in FY18, of which 14 were added in the fourth quarter.The stock fell 3.76 per cent despite the jump in profit to hit a low of Rs 1,433.45 on the BSE.Deflation in staples, tax rates not being comparable, store addition not in line with expectation and base effect of demonetisation have made March 2018 revenue a little tepid.
Grooming talent and store addition shall continue to remain two main challenges as well as focus areas for the company, said Neville Noronha, CEO and MD, Avenue Supermarts.Total revenue for the quarter came in at Rs 3,810 crore, up 22.5 per cent yoy.
The company had clocked Rs 3,111 crore sales in the same period last year.
PAT margin came in at 4.4 per cent for the fourth quarter compared with 3.1 per cent a year earlier.