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Informist, Tuesday, May 5, 2026

By Shakshi Jain

NEW DELHI – Hypermarket chain Vishal Mega Mart Ltd. is expected to post a healthy year-on-year top line and bottom line growth for the March quarter, helped by a steady rise in same-store sales and addition of new stores. Further, the net profit growth of the company for the reporting quarter is expected to be more than double the revenue growth due to higher other income and a lower interest expense, according to analysts.

If analysts' consensus estimates hold, the company's year-on-year bottom line growth in Jan-Mar would be the highest in four quarters while the top line rise would be slightly higher than that in the trailing quarter. On a sequential basis, however, the bottom line would decline after a more than two-fold rise in the December quarter.

Vishal Mega Mart is expected to report a near-52% year-on-year growth in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter at INR 1.75 billion, according to the average of estimates from seven brokerages. This would, however, mean a sequential decline of over 44%. The net profit estimates range from a high of INR 1.88 billion by Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. to a low of INR 1.42 billion by Kotak Securities Ltd.

The offline-first retailer's consolidated revenue for Jan-Mar is expected to rise almost 19% on year but decline over 17% on quarter to INR 30.32 billion, as per the average of estimates. The highest revenue estimate is INR 30.67 billion by Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd. and the lowest is INR 29.70 billion by HDFC Securities Ltd.

In the year-ago quarter, Vishal Mega Mart had registered a consolidated net profit of INR 1.15 billion on revenue of INR 25.48 billion. For the December quarter, the company had reported a consolidated net profit of INR 3.13 billion on revenue of INR 36.70 billion.

"We expect higher PAT (profit after tax) growth led by higher other income and lower interest expense," Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd. said in an earnings-preview report.

Same store sales in Jan-Mar likely grew by a high single digit or low double digits year-on-year, according to analysts. This growth was likely driven by higher volumes across the apparel, fast-moving consumer goods, and general merchandise categories, according to Kotak Securities. 

Same-store sales growth refers to the increase in revenue of retail stores or restaurants that have been in operation for at least a year.

HDFC Securities estimates the company added 30 new stores in the March quarter and Kotak Securities placed the figure at 20. Emkay Global expects a net addition of 25 stores for the quarter.

The company is expected to close 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) with a new-store count closer to the upper-end of its guidance range of 80-100, according to Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Gunender Kapur's statement in the post-earnings conference call with analysts in January. In terms of same-store sales growth, the company would endeavour to maintain the run-rate of around 10% in the near and medium term, he had said.

In the December quarter, Vishal Mega Mart had net added 29 new stores. This took its overall store count to 75 on a net basis for the first nine months of FY26.

OPERATIONS, COMMENTARY

The company is expected to report INR 4.37 billion in consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation for the March quarter, according to the average of estimates from six brokerages. The highest EBITDA estimate is INR 4.5 billion by Motilal Oswal and the lowest is INR 4.2 billion by HDFC Securities.

Vishal Mega Mart had reported a consolidated EBITDA of INR 3.57 billion for the year-ago quarter and INR 6.05 billion for the December quarter.

Vishal Mega Mart has decided to keep its gross margins flat in FY26 and any gains from the rise in gross margin would be invested back into the company to improve the "quality of the business," Kapur had said in August. He had added that the company's EBITDA margin would continue to improve due to operating leverage.

Vishal Mega Mart is yet to declare a date for disclosure of its March-quarter results. Market participants will watch out for management commentary on the competitive landscape, demand trends, overall outlook for FY27, and the expansion strategy, brokerages said.

Tuesday, shares of Vishal Mega Mart closed largely flat at INR 125.08 on the National Stock Exchange. The stock is up over 4% since the company reported its results for the December quarter. It is down nearly 21% from its 52-week high of INR 157.6, recorded on Aug. 26. All the six research recommendations on Vishal Mega Mart available with Informist have a 'buy' or equivalent rating on the stock with an average target price of INR 171. This is almost 37% higher than Tuesday's closing price.

Following are the Jan-Mar earnings estimates for Vishal Mega Mart, in INR billion, from seven brokerages in descending order of the estimate of net profit:

End

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

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