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Q3 FY26 Financial Highlights: Blinkit Achieves Profitability, Food Delivery Sets New Margin Record
Eternal Ltd. (formerly Zomato) reported robust financial performance for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 (Q3 FY26), ending December 31, 2025 [1, 3, 5, 34, 39]. A key development was Blinkit, the company's quick commerce division, achieving adjusted EBITDA profitability for the first time, reporting a profit of ₹4 crore [3, 21]. This marks a significant improvement from a loss of ₹156 crore in the preceding quarter [3]. Blinkit also demonstrated strong year-on-year Net Order Value (NOV) growth of 121% [1, 34]. Alongside Blinkit's profitability, the core food delivery business recorded its highest-ever adjusted EBITDA margin, reaching 5.4% of Net Order Value (NOV) [1, 3, 39]. The absolute adjusted EBITDA for the food delivery segment stood at ₹531 crore, an increase of 26% year-on-year [1, 3, 39]. Additionally, the B2B supplies business, Hyperpure, also turned adjusted EBITDA positive for the first time, posting a ₹1 crore profit [3, 19, 21].
Leadership Transition and Bernstein's Valuation Perspective
Concurrent with the strong financial results, Eternal Ltd. announced a significant leadership change. Effective February 1, 2026, Deepinder Goyal will step down from his role as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, transitioning to the position of Vice Chairman [9, 11, 12, 15]. Albinder Singh Dhindsa, currently the CEO of Blinkit, has been appointed as the new Group CEO, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals [9, 10, 11, 12]. This transition has been noted as a significant development for the company [9].
Regarding valuation, Bernstein has maintained its approach, focusing on an Enterprise Value to adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EV/Adj. EBITDA) metric rather than sales-based multiples [Source A]. While Bernstein previously initiated coverage with a target price of ₹390 in November 2025 [16], analysts at UBS have more recently set a target of ₹375, citing intense competition in the quick commerce sector [13, 26]. Bernstein's methodology involves applying a 35x multiple to the food delivery business and a 30x multiple to the quick commerce segment [Source A].
Sector Headwinds and Market Reaction
The quick commerce sector is experiencing intensified competition and rising discounting among major players, including Amazon and Zepto, leading some analysts like UBS to revise EBITDA estimates downwards and push back margin recovery timelines into FY27 [14, 20, 26, 32]. UBS has cut Eternal's quick commerce adjusted EBITDA estimates for FY26-27 by 15-20% [14, 32]. Despite these sector-wide pressures, Zomato's stock reacted positively to the Q3 results, surging 7.3% to an intraday high of ₹304.20 on January 22, 2026 [21]. The company's market capitalization is estimated to be around ₹2.74 lakh crore [33]. The P/E ratio as of January 22, 2026, shows significant variability across sources, with TTM figures ranging from approximately 293 to over 1,183 [4, 22, 24, 25, 28].