BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian merchandise retailer and hypermarket operator Trent on Wednesday beat first-quarter revenue estimates, aided by an increase in footfalls and store expansion.
Consolidated revenue rose nearly 46% year-on-year to 26.28 billion rupees ($317.4 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared to analysts’ estimate of 22.81 billion as per Refinitiv data.
Like-for-like sales at its premium Westside and budget-friendly Zudio stores increased 12% year-on-year, even as inflation squeezed household incomes despite easing from last year.
Consolidated net profit rose more than 30% to 1.73 billion rupees ($20.9 million), while total expenses rose nearly 44% due to higher purchases of stock-in-trade and employee costs.
Tata Group-owned Trent, which also owns and operates the Star Bazaar hypermarket chain in partnership with UK’s Tesco, has been rapidly expanding its fast-fashion Zudio outlets.
The company said it added seven Westside and 40 Zudio stores in the quarter.
Last month, rival Shoppers Stop, which competes with Trent’s Westside stores, reported a more than 34% slump in first-quarter profit, hurt by discounts and investments to beef up its business.
Shares of Trent closed up 4.33% after the results.
($1 = 82.7870 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)