Trent shares fall over 8% as December quarter business update fails to enthuse investors

Shares of the Tata-group owned retail chain operator, Trent, fell as much as 8.34% to hit an intraday low of ₹4,060 on the National Stock Exchange on Tuesday, January 6, after its December quarter business update failed to enthuse investors. On the BSE, Trent shares dropped as much as 8.32% amid higher than usual trading volumes.

Trent post market hours on Monday informed exchanges that its standalone revenue in December quarter rose 17% to ₹5,220 crore compared with ₹4,466 crore in the same period last year. The company's store portfolio included 278 Westside, 854 Zudio (including 4 in the UAE) and 32 stores across other lifestyle concepts, Trent said.

During the quarter Trent added 17 Westside stores and 48 Zudio stores.

Trent third quarter business updates drew mixed reactions from global investment firms as faster store additions helped steady revenue growth, but concerns over a slowing growth trajectory persisted.

Citi said that standalone revenue rose 16.9% year-on-year (YoY), ahead of its 15.3% estimate. The beat was driven by higher-than-expected store additions, with Westside and Zudio adding 17 and 48 net stores, respectively, versus Citi’s estimates of 18 and 40. Year-to-date, Westside/Zudio have added 30/89 stores, compared with 16/220 in FY25, highlighting an acceleration in expansion.

However, Citi flagged pressure on productivity, with average revenue per square foot declining 15.7% YoY, broadly in line with expectations. The brokerage added that Q3 revenue per square feet was impacted by an early festive season, even as it benefited from a weaker base.

Morgan Stanley, however, maintained its positive view on Trent and said that Q3 standalone revenue growth was largely in line with estimates. It highlighted sustained momentum in store expansion, with Westside adding 30 stores in first nine months of current fiscal, nearly double the FY23–25 annual average of 16, while Zudio opened 48 stores in Q3, ahead of estimates.

Morgan Stanley pointed out that sequential revenue growth was lower compared with recent quarters.

UBS said that there was “no respite from the weaker growth trajectory,” noting that Q3 growth of 17% was weaker than expected and marked another soft quarter.

Meanwhile, Trent shares were witnessing higher than usual trading activity as trading volume in its shares spiked by 4.3 times to 24.46 lakh shares compared with an average trading volume of 5.75 lakh shares.

On the BSE, 1.02 lakh shares changed hands compared with an average of 66,000 shares traded daily in the past two weeks.

As of 9:44 am, Trent shares traded 7.11% lower at ₹4,115, underperforming the NIFTY50 index which was trading on a flat note with a negative bias.