Trent

This Tata group company, recognized as the ‘Westside’ brand, had a dull Q2FY13. Sequentially, topline at Rs.214 crore rose 3%  but higher operating costs, especially purchase of stock-in-trade and employee expenses, pushed down the operating profit to a meager Rs.18 lakh compared to Rs.6 crore (QoQ). Other income of Rs.13 crore came to the rescue or else it could have ended the quarter in the red. Net profit was a Rs.9 crore, down 31%.

Trent runs lifestyle chain Westside, Star Bazaar, a hypermarket chain, Landmark, a books and music chain, and Fashion Yatra, a complete family fashion store and Sisley, a premium clothing store. Trent has planned to add 11 more stores to Westside this fiscal. Promoter stake is low in the company at 32.61% but it has come up from 28.60% as at 30th June 2012, held by the Tata group. Institution holding is 36.17%. Azim Premji’s fund – PI Opportunity Fund holds 4.03% stake and Singapore-based investment management company Arisaig Partners has hiked its stake from 1.57% at end of Q4Fy12 to 8.11% stake at end of Q1FY13 and now it has come down to 6.65%. The big trigger has been the much anticipated FDI in retail and now that this has come through, it could be a major game changer for the company.