Mumbai, Aug 20, 2024, IANS

Mumbai, Aug 20 (IANS) Online food delivery platform Zomato saw a block deal on Tuesday where 21 crore shares (around 2.4 per cent equity) worth Rs 5,438.5 crore changed hands. The block deal, likely by Antfin Singapore, was executed at an average of Rs 258 per share. The Zomato stock was marginally down at Rs 259.58 apiece in the morning trade after the block deal. Antfin Singapore Holding last held a 4.24 per cent stake in the food aggregator valued at nearly Rs 10,000 crore. According to reports, the stake sale also triggered a 90-day lock-in period, before Antfin can execute another round of equity sale. It was earlier reported that Antfin was planning to offload 1.54 per cent shares worth $408 million in Zomato. The food delivery giant’s share rose 12 per cent after the company reported strong Q1 results. The company posted over 126 times growth in net profit to reach Rs 253 crore in the April-June quarter (Q1 FY25), from Rs 2 crore in net profit in the same quarter last year. The Deepinder Goyal-run company reported 74 per cent growth (year-on-year) in revenue to Rs 4,206 crore in Q1 FY25. Zomato's gross order value (GOV) has increased by 27 per cent to Rs 9,264 crore in Q1 of the financial year 2024-25. Meanwhile, quick commerce company Blinkit's gross order value (GOV) rose 130 per cent to Rs 4,923 crore, compared to the year-ago period. The food delivery platform aims to get to 1,000 Blinkit stores by March 2025 and plans to get to 2,000 stores by the end of 2026 while remaining profitable. Most of these stores will be added to the top 10 cities.