by 33% YoY to INR54.5b (in-line) in 3QFY19. However, the company continued facing margin pressure (gross margin down 170bp YoY to 14.7% 13 January 2018 off a high base), mainly due to its focus on price competitiveness. Consequently, EBITDA increased by a modest 7.5% YoY to INR4.5b (5% miss), with the margin contracting 200bp YoY to 8.3%. PAT, too, grew by a marginal 2.1% YoY (8% miss) to INR2.6b due to lower other income (-37% YoY) and higher depreciation/finance cost (+33%/36% YoY). DMART added nine new stores in 9MFY19, (four in 3QFY19), taking its store count to 164. The store addition trend appears similar to last year 10 new stores added in 9MFY18. We, however, note that DMART tends to accelerate store addition toward the fiscal-end (14 new stores added in 4QFY18). In 4QFY19, too, it is likely to add 13-14 new stores.