Eternal reported operating revenue of Rs 7,167 crore for the June quarter, up from Rs 4,206 crore a year earlier, while its net profit came in at Rs 25 crore against Rs 253 crore for the first quarter of FY25. Despite the steep fall in profit, Eternal’s stock gained 7.5% to close at Rs 276.50 on the NSE on Monday, buoyed by the rapid growth of its quick commerce arm Blinkit.
Blinkit’s gross order value (GOV) grew 140% year-on-year to Rs 11,821 crore during the quarter-surpassing the food delivery GOV for the first time. The fall in profits was also on account of expansion of Blinkit and the related spends on marketing and discounting in new markets, as has been the case over the last few quarters.
Also Read: Blinkit won’t cede quick commerce market leadership under any circumstance, says Albinder Dhindsa
Blinkit’s adjusted Ebitda loss for the April-June quarter came in at Rs 162 crore, compared with Rs 3 crore loss in the same period last year. The company, however, pointed out that Blinkit’s near-term margins appear to have stabilised. With roughly a year’s worth of new dark stores beginning to mature, it expects both percentage margins and absolute losses to improve. However, this also depends on the competitive intensity remaining at current levels.
Meanwhile, Eternal’s food delivery business, which has been in the slow lane for the past few quarters, is likely to enter an investment phase potentially at the cost of some margin expansion.
“Long term, we believe there is further scope of some margin expansion but the current focus is on ramping up investments to drive further growth in the business, while maintaining margins in the 5% (of net order value) ballpark,” Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Eternal, said in a letter to the company’s shareholders.
