Shares of Avenue Supermarts, which owns and operates D-Mart stores, climbed over 4 per cent in early trade on Monday after it reported a 31.83 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 323 crore for the June quarter compared with Rs 245 crore in the same quarter last year. The scrip was trading 4.41 per cent up at Rs 1,419.20 at around 9.55 am (IST), while BSE Sensex was up 105 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 38,842 at around the same time.

Total consolidated revenue for the quarter rose 27.07 per cent to Rs 5,815 crore from Rs 4,576 crore in the same period last year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for the food and grocery retailer came in at Rs 597 crore in the first quarter compared with Rs 423 crore in the year-ago.

Ebitda margin improved to 10.3 per cent from 9.2 per cent YoY.

PAT margin also improved from 5.3 per cent in Q1 FY19 to 5.5 per cent in Q1 FY20.

Basic earnings per share (EPS) jumped to Rs 5.18 from Rs 3.93 during the same period. Brokerage firm ICICI Securities maintained ‘Hold’ rating on Avenue Supermarts with a target price of Rs 1,400.

“We see strong tailwinds for the business (huge growth potential in the Indian food - grocery market, sharp value-retail positioning with efficient backend operations and e-commerce initiative), but current valuations offer a low margin of safety,” the brokerage house said.