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EconomyCompanies

Eternal's profit nearly doubles to ₹125 crore as Blinkit races to 3,500 stores

Revenue at the parent of Zomato and Blinkit rose 78% to ₹24,138 crore in the September quarter. Quick commerce stayed profitable and the company raised its store target for March 2027.

From the editorial desk · GurugramPublished

Key points

  1. Eternal's net profit rose 92% to ₹125 crore in July-September, from ₹65 crore a year earlier.
  2. Blinkit's order value jumped 79% to ₹20,940 crore and it earned an adjusted EBITDA of ₹184 crore.
  3. The company now expects more than 3,500 Blinkit stores by March 2027, up from an earlier 3,000.

Eternal, the company behind Zomato and the quick-commerce app Blinkit, said on Wednesday that its quarterly profit nearly doubled, as the rapid expansion of Blinkit lifted sales and kept the quick-commerce arm profitable.

Net profit for July-September rose 92% to ₹125 crore, from ₹65 crore a year earlier and ₹92 crore in the June quarter. Revenue jumped 78% to ₹24,138 crore. Adjusted EBITDA, a measure of operating profit, nearly tripled to ₹666 crore.

The results came after the market closed. Eternal’s shares had fallen as much as 5% during the day before ending 2.71% lower at ₹311.75 on the BSE.

Blinkit carries the quarter

Blinkit is now the bigger part of the business by a distance. The value of orders on the app rose 79% from a year earlier to ₹20,940 crore, and its revenue grew 94% to ₹19,152 crore. Adjusted EBITDA reached ₹184 crore, up from ₹102 crore in the June quarter. Blinkit first broke even, with ₹4 crore, in the October-December quarter of last year.

The company opened 308 dark stores, the small warehouses that make 10-minute deliveries possible, taking the total to 2,751. It now expects to cross 3,500 by March 2027, against an earlier target of 3,000, and to have about 5,000 by March 2028.

“We now expect to cross 3,500 stores by March 2027,” chief financial officer Akshant Goyal said. Albinder Dhindsa, the group chief executive who built Blinkit, said: “Assortment expansion is one of our highest priorities.”

Food delivery steadies

Zomato’s food delivery business grew more slowly but more profitably. Order value rose 21.5% to ₹11,445 crore and adjusted EBITDA climbed 25% to ₹627 crore. Monthly transacting customers rose to 28 million from 27.2 million in the June quarter.

“Our long-term expectation for food delivery has always been over 20 per cent annual growth,” founder Deepinder Goyal said.

The going-out business, which sells tickets for events and restaurant bookings, grew order value 58% to ₹3,259 crore. Hyperpure, which supplies restaurants, had revenue of ₹1,154 crore, up 12.8%.

Cash and deals

Eternal’s cash pile fell to ₹16,475 crore from ₹18,288 crore, which the company put down to a seasonal build-up of working capital before the festive season.

The board also approved two deals. Eternal will take a 5.4% stake in Vivish Technologies, which runs the gated-community app MyGate, for about ₹156 crore, paying with its holding in the advertising firm Adonmo. It also plans to move its Indian going-out business into a subsidiary, Zomato Entertainment, through a slump sale for ₹130.76 crore in cash.

The shares will trade on the results for the first time on Thursday.