New Delhi, May 31 (IANS):  Online food aggregator Zomato saw its shares sliding on Friday after global financial services company Macquarie forecasted about a 50 per cent decline in the company's share price in the next 12 months owing to fierce competition.

Zomato shares fell over 5 per cent, before recovering a bit, and was hovering around Rs 173 a piece.

The global brokerage firm has reiterated its "underperform" rating for Zomato, giving its stock a price target of Rs 96.

According to reports, Macquarie also saw downside to both consensus forecast and margins for Zomato-owned quick e-commerce platform Blinkit.

The report came as Blinkit turned adjusted EBITDA positive in March. Zomato aims to reach 1,000 Blinkit stores by the end of FY25.

Zomato registered a profit of Rs 175 crore in Q4 FY24.

Earlier, brokerage firm Emkay Global had maintained a buy rating on Zomato with a target price of Rs 230 per share.

A Goldman Sachs report also said that Blinkit has become more valuable than Zomato's core food delivery business.