Blinkit delivers surging Q1 profit for Zomato

Bengaluru: Zomato reported a bigger-than-expected increase in quarterly profit on Thursday, fueled by soaring demand for its quick commerce offering Blinkit as well as its food delivery services.

The company's consolidated net profit rose to Rs 253 crore in the April-June quarter from Rs 2 crore a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 2.15 billion rupees, according to LSEG data.

Quick commerce companies such as Zomato's Blinkit, the Tata group-owned BigBasket and IPO-bound Swiggy's Instamart are seeing steady demand for home deliveries for a wide variety of products in urban areas.

The intense heat during the summer, which extended into June, also boosted demand for food and grocery home deliveries.

Blinkit's gross order value (GOV) - the total value of all orders - surged 130%, while the food delivery business's GOV grew 27 per cent.

They had risen 97 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively in the previous quarter, while Elara Capital had expected a GOV growth of 100 per cent and 20 per cent in the two segments, respectively.

""Despite multiple expansion plans and store additions, Blinkit has been able to improve EBITDA margin and move towards break-even EBITDA, so we expect potential earnings upgrades," said Karan Taurani, analyst at Elara Capital.

The Gurugram-based Zomato also raised its platform fee by 20% in April, helping boost margins.

The company's revenue surged 74 per cent to Rs 4,206 crore in the June quarter, beating analysts' estimates of Rs 3,928 crore, per LSEG data.

Its unit Hyperpure, which supplies raw materials to restaurants, saw a 96 per cent growth in revenue.

In its earnings presentation, Zomato said it was building another customer-facing vertical, an app called District (by Zomato), for dining-out, without specifying details.

The company's stock closed 2 per cent higher after it posted results, taking its year-to-date gains to 89 per cent.