Eternal Q3 Results: 10 key takeaways from earnings, competition to business outlook

Food delivery and quick commerce company Eternal reported a strong set of numbers on Wednesday, with the food delivery business - Zomato reporting a double-digit growth in its net order value (NOV) while its quick commerce and Hyperpure businesses also turned EBITDA positive on an adjusted basis. In a major development, Deepinder Goyal stepped down from the Group CEO role, with Albinder Dhindsa taking charge.

Eternal's earnings were announced after market hours and its shares today ended with 5% gains in anticipation of strong results.

Here are 10 takeaways from its Q3 earnings

1) Profitability

The company's consolidated net profit jumped 73% year-on-year to Rs 102 crore versus Rs 59 crore in Q3FY25. The bottom line surged 57% on a sequential basis.


The consolidated adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) increased 28% YoY to Rs 364 crore while increasing 63% QoQ as compared to Rs 224 crore in Q2FY26. B2C NOV grew 55% YoY and 11% QoQ to Rs 25,732 crore crossing Rs 1 lakh crore annualised.

2) Topline

The company's revenue from operations surged 202% YoY to Rs 16,315 crore in Q3FY26 versus Rs 5,405 crore in Q3FY25. It was up 20% quarter-on-quarter.

3) Food delivery (Zomato)

Food delivery NOV growth recovery continued in Q3FY26 as the NOV increased 17% YoY and 4.5% QoQ, improving meaningfully from 14% YoY NOV growth in the previous quarter. This was the second consecutive quarter of NOV growth acceleration following the bottom of 13.1% NOV growth in Q1FY26.

The GOV growth was 21.3% YoY and 5.2% QoQ.

The adjusted EBITDA margin reached an all-time high of 5.4% and the business delivered an absolute Adjusted EBITDA of Rs 531 crore for the quarter, a YoY growth of 26% and a QoQ growth of 6% versus Rs 503 crore in Q2FY26.

4) Quick commerce (Blinkit)

NOV growth remained robust at 121% YoY and 14% QoQ despite GST changes and seasonality. The like-for-like NOV growth stood at 130% YoY.

The company added 211 net new stores in the quarter taking the total store count to 2,027 stores as at the end of the quarter. Though it was about 70 stores short of the guidance of 2,100 stores.

The adjusted EBITDA margin as a % of NOV turned positive for the first time on a quarterly basis with Rs 4 crore adjusted EBITDA profit, improving significantly from a loss of Rs 156 crore in the previous quarter.

5) Going-out (District)

The NOV grew 20% YoY whereas adjusted EBITDA margin as a % of NOV declined to negative 4.7%, resulting in an adjusted EBITDA loss of Rs 121 crore in the quarter versus Rs 63 crore in Q2FY26 driven by continued investments in category creation.

6) Food supply chain (Hyperpure)

As for Hyperpure, the restaurant supply business continued to grow steadily at 33% YoY and 7% QoQ with total adjusted EBITDA margin turning positive for the first time resulting in an Adjusted EBITDA profit of Rs 1 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 5 crore in the previous quarter.

Also read: Eternal Q3 Results: Cons profit zooms 73% YoY to Rs 102 crore, revenue soars 201%; Deepinder Goyal steps down as CEO

7) GST impact

The GST rationalization had an impact on Blinkit business resulting in a lower NoV QoQ in Q3.

Dhindsa said that the GST applicable on Blinkit’s average basket decreased by 3 percentage points towards the end of Q2FY26 on account of rationalisation by the government. "Since NOV includes GST, this reduced our reported NOV by approximately 3 percentage points," he added.

The other reason he attributed to this slowdown was a pull-forward of festive demand to Q2FY26 from Q3FY26.

8) Competitive intensity

Dhindsa said that the company will continue being watchful of competition, but will largely focus on its own work as long as the competitive tactics don’t impact its business meaningfully.

"So far, there hasn’t been any noticeable impact of the recent increase in competitive intensity on our business quality, customers and our NOV market share. We don't believe you can build a strong quick commerce business on the back of heavy discounting. The tougher answers to growth are the only ones that last," he added.

9) Net working capital and capex

Chief Financial Officer Akshant Goyal said that the net working capital and capex was trending in line with the expectations. The main framework to evaluate capex and NWC investments is a robust ROCE, he said, adding that the company remains confident that its investments in capex and NWC will yield 40%+ ROCE over time.

NWC increase this quarter was in line with the growth in the business and also with further transition of the business to its own inventory - 90% now versus 80% in Q2FY26. "Capex per store is expected to continue increasing but we expect that to also result in higher productivity per store," Goyal said.

10) Food delivery outlook

Deepinder Goyal said that a modest improvement in the demand environment, especially during the second half of the quarter led to higher app opens and consequently higher-than-expected order volumes.

Moreover, full quarter impact of reduction in minimum order value to Rs 99 from Rs 199, for free delivery on Gold orders, led to higher ordering frequency from the more budget-conscious customers, he added.

Goyal however, highlighted that the company is not expecting sudden acceleration in food delivery as there's no specific tailwind out there that would drive windfall growth. "That said, we do expect YoY growth to inch up gradually towards 20% over time. That will come from two things: modest market share gains, and the compounding effect of persistent focus on affordability and selection. Nothing dramatic - just consistent execution adding up," he opined.

(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)