Shares of Avenue Supermarts Ltd, operator of the D-Mart chain of stores in India, were locked in a 5% lower circuit on Monday after the company informed that half of its stores across the country were closed and the remaining were getting fewer customers due to Coronavirus-triggered lockdown.
At 12:14 pm, D-Mart operator shares stood at Rs 2,273.05, down 5% from their previous close of Rs 2,392.65. Interestingly, the stock has bucked the recent selloff seen in the equity markets, jumping nearly 25% since the beginning of this calendar year compared with a 25% decline in the benchmark BSE Sensex during the same period.
In an exchange filing over the weekend, Avenue Supermarts said that nearly 50% of its D-Mart stores remained closed for operations based on directive by the local authorities. Meanwhile, footfall at the stores that are open depend on movement and timing restrictions enforced by the local authorities, but overall, they were significantly lower than usual footfalls, the company added.
Avenue Supermarts also said that it has started e-commerce operations, managing home delivery and bulk deliveries to large housing complexes across the majority of its stores during the first week of April.
However, e-commerce and bulk deliveries to societies are initiatives implemented to only manage the current lockdown situation, it clarified.
D-Mart is currently selling just daily-use essential items such as grocery and FMCG products and has stopped sale of the non-essential items, including general merchandise and apparel.
Notably, Avenue Supermarts was running 196 D-Mart stores with a retail floor space of 7 million sq. ft. across 72 cities and towns as of 31 December 2019.
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