Pantaloon Retail sales rise 17%
The company’s sales grew 17% to R1,252.8 crore during the quarter, from a year ago. Same-store sales or sales growth at stores that have been open for at least a year, grew 12.7% for the company’s lifestyle business. However, its value retail business’ sales grew at 5.1%, while home retail business’ same store sales fell 3.4%.
The December quarter has been particularly good for most retailers as most of the festive period fell in this quarter, after muted sales for a year as consumer sentiment remained weak. Sales during the festive season improved significantly, indicating an improvement in consumer sentiments, the company said.
During the quarter ended December, peers like Titan Industries and Shoppers Stop too recorded higher same store sales growth, after quarters of slow sales.
UBS Investment Research’s Sunita Sachdev said a number of catalysts like PRIL’s restructuring, and improvement in discretionary spending, will bode well for the company, going forward. The brokerage has a ‘buy’ rating on the company’s stock.
However, the company posted a net loss for the first time at R20.41 crore for the quarter ended December, from a profit of R5.64 crore in the same quarter last year, due to provisioning of R15.5 crore for losses in a few recent investments. As on December 31, the company’s total debt stood at R5,431 crore. The company’s debt would fall by R2,820 crore, after the sale of the Pantaloons format to Aditya Birla Retail and the creation of Future Lifestyle Fashions (FLFL).
Be the first to comment.
