Zomato’s Q4FY24 results were released yesterday, and the platform’s quick commerce platform, Blinkit, witnessed a threefold revenue surge. Blinkit turned EBITDA positive for the financial year as its revenue increased to Rs 2,301 crore for the financial year ending on March 31, 2024, as against Rs 806 crore in the last financial year.
Similarly, in the regulatory filing, the platform said that it plans to have 1,000 dark stores by March 2025. A dark store is a type of retail space or distribution center that caters only to internet buyers. The aim behind it is to increase the company's penetration in cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
Blinkit reported a negative adjusted EBITDA of Rs 37 crore for the January–March quarter, compared to Rs 203 crore during the corresponding period in the previous year. Blinkit is, meanwhile, also pursuing a vigorous expansion strategy, which it anticipates will have an effect on its adjusted EBITDA.
As of March 31, Blinkit had 526 stores. Talking about the company's expansion plans, Blinkit chief executive officer Albinder Dhindsa said, as per the Economic Times, “We are significantly underpenetrated in the top cities. Our second largest city (by GOV), Bengaluru, is less than 30% of Delhi-NCR’s GOV, with a similar gap in store count. The job for us over the next few quarters is to get Bengaluru and other large cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad to the penetration of Delhi-NCR, both in terms of store footprint and GOV.”
For the March quarter, Zomato recorded a net profit of ₹175 crore, up from a net loss of ₹188 crore in the corresponding period the previous year. The company's other income increased by 37% to ₹235 crore, which further helped the profit number.
Recently, brokerage firm Goldman Sachs said that Blinkit is now larger than Zomato's food delivery business. While the food delivery business is valued at Rs 98 per share, Blinkit is valued at Rs 119 per share by the brokerage firm.
