Reliance Retail pre-tax profit rises 62.3% to Rs 2,727 crore
The retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) had posted a pre-tax profit or EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of Rs 1,680 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
Revenue from the organised retail segment of RIL during the quarter was up 27.40 per cent at Rs 45,327 crore as against Rs 35,577 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.
"Revenue growth was led by robust 35.7 per cent growth in Consumer Electronics, Fashion & Lifestyle and Grocery segments," said RIL in a statement.
Retail business has registered "highest ever revenue and EBITDA in a quarter yet again", it said.
During the quarter, Reliance Retail added 456 stores, taking the total store count to 11,316 stores with an area of 26.3 million square feet in nearly 7,000 towns. More than 2/3rd of stores are operated in tier II, III and IV towns, it said.
The company has reported an increase in the number of footfall in its retail stores by 42.6 per cent over the same period last year. It has witnessed over 176 million customers walk into its stores during this quarter with registered customers at 117 million, said RIL.
Commenting on the result, RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said: "I am pleased with the progress of our consumer businesses which continue to establish new milestones every quarter. We saw consistent same store sales growth and record footfall across our stores driven by our compelling proposition of great shopping experience and superior value."
The retail business also continues to improvise on concepts and revamp stores with a view to upgrading the customer experience.
During the quarter, the grocery business launched a new store concept 'Smart Point', a one-stop multi-purpose neighbourhood store that serves the everyday needs of customers covering fresh foods, grocery, pharmacy and assisted ecommerce.
While, in consumer electronics, it opened its 400th large format Digital store while in Fashion & Lifestyle, the 2000 store milestone was crossed.
"Across the consumption baskets, the performance was broad based with Consumer Electronics, Fashion & Lifestyle and Grocery, all delivering strong double digit growth (underpinned by healthy double digit like-for-like sales growth) and margin improvement in tandem," it said.
The Fashion and Lifestyle category delivered a strong performance in a relatively weak market. While in grocery, Reliance Fresh and SMART witnessed strong growth arising from "store expansion and volume growth in existing stores," it added.
"Overall, the results of Reliance Retail reflect a strategy that is on track and delivering, underpinned by sharp operational execution and a business model that keeps it well poised to deliver consistent, competitive and sustainable growth in the period ahead," it said. KRH MKJ