Shares of Avenue Supermarts, which operates retail chain DMart, fell 5% to below ₹ 4,000 to ₹ 3,946 per share. The decline came after the company’s March 2025 quarter business update, which was below analysts’ expectations.
DMart Shares Drop After Q4 FY25 Business Update
In an exchange filing on Thursday, the company reported standalone operating revenue of ₹ 14,462 crore in the March quarter, up 16.67% from ₹ 12,393 crore in the same quarter last year (Q4FY24).
Record Store Expansion – 28 New Stores in Q4 :The company opened 28 new stores in the quarter, the highest in the last 4 years.
FY25 Store Count Reaches 415: The total store count has now increased to 415.
Targeting 10–15% Store Growth Rate Long Term
The company added a total of 50 new stores in FY 2025, higher than FY 24 (41 stores) and FY 23 (40 stores). This number was also better than analysts’ estimates (40 stores). The company had already set a target of maintaining a store growth rate of 10-15% in the long term in its Investor Day.
Results were weaker than expectations
However, the company’s results in the December quarter were weaker than expectations, as store performance was affected due to quick commerce (faster online delivery) in metro cities—though the impact was less than in Q2FY25.
Axis Securities had said in its Q3 report that DMart will face challenges in improving store metrics in the coming time. There are 4 reasons for this.
1. Increasing pressure from organized competitors (Reliance, Star Bazaar, Zudio) and online players (Zepto, Blinkit, Instamart), due to which market share is decreasing in metros and smaller cities.
2. Giving more discounts to reduce competition will affect profits.
3. Demand for discretionary spending (non-essential goods) is still weak, and improvement is expected only from FY26.
4. New and larger stores take longer to perform, impacting overall performance.
Pricing pressure puts pressure on growth and margins: Analysts believe that recent funds raised by quick commerce companies (such as Zepto, Blinkit) have increased competition.
While DMart’s “value-based model” may work with quick commerce in the long run, pricing pressure will put pressure on its growth and margins in the near term.
