By Kosaku Narioka

Avenue Supermarts Ltd.'s fourth-quarter net profit rose 42% from a year earlier thanks partly to higher revenue despite the Covid-19 pandemic, which had started to weigh on sales in March, the Indian operator of DMart stores said Saturday.

Net profit for the quarter ended March 31 rose to 2.71 billion Indian rupees ($35.7 million), the company said.

On a stand-alone basis, net profit was INR2.87 billion, slightly exceeding the estimate of INR2.81 billion from a FactSet poll of analysts.

The group's fourth-quarter revenue increased 24% to INR62.56 billion.

Avenue Supermarts said that the lockdown measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus have restricted operations, causing sales and customer visits to drop. Revenue fell more than 45% in April, although the revenue at some stores is now trending closer to pre-pandemic levels, the company said. 



  Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com