Trent Shares Surge 7% to Lead Sensex and Nifty Gainers After Strong Q2 Earnings Beat
Shares of Tata Group’s retail heavyweight Trent Ltd rallied as much as 7% on Friday, touching an intraday high of Rs 3,060 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The sharp uptick propelled the stock to the top of the benchmark Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex leaderboards, lifting the company's market capitalisation past the Rs 1.60 lakh crore threshold.
The strong buying interest followed the retailer's financial results for the second quarter of FY27, announced post-market hours on Thursday, which eased investor concerns over moderating consumption and high valuation multiples.
Q2 Earnings Highlights
Trent reported strong performance across its core retail formats, aided by operating leverage and continued footprint expansion:
- Consolidated Revenue: Grew 21.9% year-on-year to Rs 5,873.14 crore compared to Rs 4,817.60 crore in the year-ago period.
- Net Profit: Consolidated net profit increased 25.4% year-on-year to Rs 468.09 crore against Rs 373.42 crore in Q2 FY26.
- Operating EBITDA: Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) surged 37% to Rs 785 crore.
- Standalone Operations: Standalone revenue from operations advanced 22.5% to Rs 5,788 crore, while standalone net profit rose 8.6% to Rs 490 crore.
Operating margins expanded across the board, benefiting from stable gross margins at flagship brands Westside and Zudio, along with operational efficiencies across supply and inventory distribution.
Network Milestones and Category Growth
A key operational catalyst was Trent's flagship value-fashion format, Zudio, crossing the 1,000-store milestone during the quarter. As of September 30, Trent operated 311 Westside stores, 999 Zudio stores (including seven overseas locations in the UAE), and 32 outlets under other lifestyle concepts, spanning over 18.5 million square feet across 339 cities.
Emerging categories—which include beauty and personal care, innerwear, and footwear—continued to scale rapidly, contributing over 21% of total revenue. Meanwhile, Westside’s digital presence on the Tata Neu platform supported online revenue growth of 20% in the first half of the fiscal year, representing over 6% of the brand's sales. In the grocery segment, the Star network posted over 20% revenue growth, taking its total footprint to 87 stores across 13 cities.
Brokerage Calls and Price Targets
The earnings beat prompted positive revisions from leading domestic brokerages:
- Elara Securities: Upgraded the stock to a 'Buy' rating with a raised target price of Rs 3,600, citing attractive entry valuations following the recent pullback from highs and raising standalone revenue and EBITDA estimates.
- Nuvama Institutional Equities: Maintained a 'Buy' recommendation with a revised target price of Rs 3,466, highlighting mid-single-digit like-for-like retail expansion and operating margin gains.
- Systematix Institutional Equities: Retained a 'Hold' rating with a revised target price of Rs 3,242 based on a sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) framework, while flagging risks including discretionary demand volatility and execution challenges in aggressive store densification.
Leadership Succession
Alongside its quarterly numbers, Trent informed stock exchanges of an upcoming leadership change. Noel N. Tata will retire as Chairman and Director of the company effective at the close of business hours on November 11. The board of directors has approved the appointment of Bahram Vakil as the incoming Chairman, effective November 12.
