{"id":168218,"date":"2025-05-02T07:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T11:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/44.250.171.167\/?p=168218"},"modified":"2025-05-02T07:15:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T11:15:49","slug":"eternal-q4-call-highlights-blinkit-booms-margins-squeeze-and-2000-stores-on-the-horizon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/eternal-q4-call-highlights-blinkit-booms-margins-squeeze-and-2000-stores-on-the-horizon\/","title":{"rendered":"ETERNAL Q4 Call Highlights: Blinkit Booms, Margins Squeeze, and 2,000 Stores on the Horizon!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eternal Ltd, a food and grocery delivery platform, formerly Zomato, in its Q4 earnings call highlighted intensifying competition in quick commerce affecting margin expansion despite stable contribution margins. Food delivery growth slowed to 16% year-over-year against 20% plus guidance, with challenges in affordability, assortment, and delivery timelines. Management mentioned it\u2019s expanding stores into smaller cities while maintaining market share without matching competitors&#8217; subsidies. The company aims to improve food delivery times to 20-25 minutes rather than the unfeasible 10 minutes initially targeted. Company discontinued Zomato Every Day while preferring to partner with brands rather than creating private labels. Other key points included temporary rider supply constraints expected to resolve naturally and potential inventory model changes requiring approximately INR1000 crore in working capital.<\/p>\n<p>Eternal reported a 78% year-on-year net profit drop in Q4 FY25, missing estimates due to high taxes and Blinkit\u2019s expansion costs, adding 294 stores (total 1,301), with 40% underutilized. Revenue jumped 64% to INR5,833 crore, driven by Blinkit\u2019s 122% growth and Hyperpure\u2019s 93% rise, though food delivery lagged at 17% growth. Adjusted EBITDA fell 15% to INR165 crore, with margins at 1.2%. Rebranded to reflect its diversified portfolio, Eternal integrated Paytm\u2019s ticketing, boosting net order value 53% to INR17,440 crore, but shut unprofitable ventures and faces an antitrust probe alongside Swiggy and Zepto.<\/p>\n<p>Continue Reading: Unearth the Vital Insights from Eternal Ltd&#8217;s Earnings Call!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Financial\/Operational Metrics:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Revenue:<\/strong> INR5,833 crores, up 64% YoY.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Net Income<\/strong>: INR39 crores, down 78% YoY.<\/li>\n<li><strong>EPS<\/strong>: INR0.04, down 80% YoY.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Operating Profit:<\/strong> INR97 crore, down 40%.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stores Added (Quick Commerce):<\/strong> 294 stores in Q4.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Average Monthly Transacting Customers (Quick Commerce):<\/strong> Increased to 13.7 million from 10.6 million QoQ.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Outlook:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Quick Commerce Store Target:<\/strong> Plans to reach 2,000 stores within 6\u20139 months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Analyst Crossfire:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong> Quick Commerce Competition &amp; Food Delivery Growth Guidance (Manish Adukia &#8211; Goldman Sachs)? <\/strong>Competition has intensified, especially from new players and existing quick commerce platforms through aggressive discounting, marketing, and real estate expansion. This has suppressed margin expansion despite stable contribution margins. The 20% growth target is a long-term CAGR over 4\u20135 years, not an annual commitment. Growth is dependent on solving affordability, assortment, and delivery time challenges<strong> (Akshant Goyal &#8211; CFO).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Zomato Everyday Shutdown &amp; Store Rollout in New Cities (Aditya Soman &#8211; CLSA)? <\/strong>Zomato Everyday is being shut down not due to failure but limited scalability. While profitable in select markets, it won\u2019t move the needle materially. Most new stores are opening in non-top-8 cities, with similar breakeven timelines as earlier markets<strong> (Akshant Goyal &#8211; CFO).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Advertising &amp; Customer Fees, Commission Model vs. Subscription Delivery (Swapnil Potdukhe &#8211; JM Financial)? <\/strong>Advertisement income (~4% of GOV) is excluded from GOV and NOV, while customer fees (~3%) are included as per definitions. The company is observing Rapido\u2019s subscription-based delivery model but has no current plans to adopt it<strong> (Akshant Goyal &#8211; CFO).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Quick Commerce Market Share &amp; Tier 2\/3 City Demand, Competition &amp; Investment Priorities (Sutanu Ghosh &#8211; Bank of America)? <\/strong>Market share in quick commerce has been maintained despite intensified competition. The company sees strong adoption in smaller cities, prompting continued expansion. Despite intensifying competition in quick commerce, Zomato has not altered its investment priorities or adopted aggressive subsidies. Business performance remains resilient without needing course correction<strong> (Akshant Goyal &#8211; CFO).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Delivery Worker Shortages &amp; &#8216;Going Out&#8217; Business Performance (Gaurav Rateria &#8211; Morgan Stanley)? <\/strong>Last-mile delivery pressure is viewed as temporary. The gig workforce is expected to catch up with demand over time without structural cost increases. The decline is seasonal. Year-on-year GOV is still up 100%, and losses (~2\u20132.5% of NOV) are expected to remain steady while investment continues over the next year<strong> (Akshant Goyal &#8211; CFO)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Impact of Competition on Margins, Customer Retention Amid Competition (Vibhor Jain \u2013 Citigroup, Ankur Rudra &#8211; J.P. Morgan)? <\/strong>Competition is raising costs across last-mile delivery, marketing, and real estate. While contribution margins are flat QoQ, profitability would have been higher in a less competitive market. Despite new competitors, Zomato has not seen any loss of wallet share in areas with increasing store density<strong> (Akshant Goyal &#8211; CFO)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eternal Ltd, a food and grocery delivery platform, formerly Zomato, in its Q4 earnings call highlighted intensifying competition in quick commerce affecting margin expansion despite stable contribution margins. Food delivery growth slowed to 16% year-over-year against 20% plus guidance, with challenges in affordability, assortment, and delivery timelines. Management mentioned it\u2019s expanding stores into smaller cities [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1767,"featured_media":162998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9825,6351,392],"tags":[10169,8610],"class_list":["post-168218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earnings-call-highlights","category-consumer-stocks","category-earnings","tag-earnings","tag-food-delivery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/CC_Image_8.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":161151,"url":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/zomato-ltd-q4-fy24-earnings-conference-call-insights\/","url_meta":{"origin":168218,"position":0},"title":"Zomato Ltd Q4 FY24 Earnings Conference Call Insights","author":"Praveen","date":"May 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Key highlights from Zomato Ltd (ZOMATO) Q4 FY24 Earnings Concall Quick Commerce Expansion Blinkit plans to double its store count in the next 12 months. Expansion will be focused on top metro cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. Target is to increase penetration in under-served areas within these cities. Delhi\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Concall Highlights&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Concall Highlights","link":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/category\/earnings-call-highlights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/CC_Image_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/CC_Image_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/CC_Image_1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/CC_Image_1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":166595,"url":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/zomato-q3-2024-2025-call-highlights-food-delivery-slowdown-blinkit-growth-rapid-store-expansion\/","url_meta":{"origin":168218,"position":1},"title":"ZOMATO Q3 2024-2025 Call Highlights: Food Delivery Slowdown, Blinkit Growth &#038; Rapid Store Expansion!","author":"Praveen","date":"January 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Zomato Ltd., an Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company, in its Q3 earnings call discussed about a broad-based slowdown in food delivery, while addressed that Blinkit's take rate declined due to product mix changes in electronics and general merchandise. The company achieved rapid dark store expansion, reaching 1,000\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Concall Highlights&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Concall Highlights","link":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/category\/earnings-call-highlights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/CC_Image_8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/CC_Image_8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/CC_Image_8.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/CC_Image_8.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":129975,"url":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/earnings-infographic-highlights-of-zomatos-q4-2022-results\/","url_meta":{"origin":168218,"position":2},"title":"Earnings Infographic: Highlights of Zomato\u2019s Q4 2022 results","author":"Nishad","date":"May 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Online food delivery giant Zomato Ltd\u00a0(NSE: ZOMATO)\u00a0reported its fourth-quarter 2022 results. The company reported consolidated revenue of \u20b91,350 crores for the full year ended on 31st March 2022. Zomato suffered a net of \u20b9360 crores or \u20b90.47 per share compared to a previous year\u2019s loss of \u20b9134crores or \u20b90.21 per\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AlphaGraphs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AlphaGraphs","link":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/category\/infographics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ZomatoQ422.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ZomatoQ422.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ZomatoQ422.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ZomatoQ422.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ZomatoQ422.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":130126,"url":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/zomato-ltd-q4-fy22-earnings-conference-call-insights\/","url_meta":{"origin":168218,"position":3},"title":"Zomato Ltd Q4 FY22 Earnings Conference Call Insights","author":"Praveen","date":"May 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/JgcWD51y2A4 Key highlights from Zomato Ltd (ZOMATO) Q4 FY22 Earnings Concall Q&A Highlights: Chirag Shah from CLSA asked what proportion of incremental customer acquisition is organic. Akshant Goyal CFO replied that more than 50% of new users every quarter are still organic, which means CAC is lower vs. standalone food\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Concall Highlights&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Concall Highlights","link":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/category\/earnings-call-highlights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ZomatoQ422.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ZomatoQ422.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ZomatoQ422.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ZomatoQ422.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ZomatoQ422.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":132191,"url":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/zomato-ltd-q1-fy23-earnings-conference-call-insights\/","url_meta":{"origin":168218,"position":4},"title":"Zomato Ltd Q1 FY23 Earnings Conference Call Insights","author":"Praveen","date":"August 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Key highlights from Zomato Ltd (ZOMATO) Q1 FY23 Earnings Concall Q&A Highlights: Analyst asked about path to profitability for ZOMATO. Akshant Goyal CFO replied that on a cash flow basis, in 1Q23 the company was positive on cash flow. The next target is to get ZOMATO to adjusted EBITDA breakeven\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Concall Highlights&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Concall Highlights","link":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/category\/earnings-call-highlights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Earnings-Coverage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Earnings-Coverage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alphastreet.com\/india\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Earnings-Coverage.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":150945,"url":"https:\/\/alphastreet.com\/india\/zomato-q1-2023-earnings-stay-tuned-for-the-live-earnings-call-and-real-time-transcript\/","url_meta":{"origin":168218,"position":5},"title":"Zomato Q1 2023 Earnings: Stay tuned for the live earnings call and real-time transcript","author":"Chirag Gupta","date":"August 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Food Delivery giant Zomato is poised to report is Q4 FY24 earnings today. Zomato\u2019s adjusted revenue growth is expected to be 10.2% QoQ and 47% YoY and overall adjusted EBITDA margin to improve to -3.9% as a proportion of adjusted revenue versus -7.2% in Q4FY23. 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