Trent

YoY, it was a set of very flat numbers and sequentially, the numbers were very disappointing. This Tata group company has been consistently posting a dull set of numbers and it kept to its trend in Q4FY13 too. Recognized as the ‘Westside’ brand, net sales came in at Rs.211 crore, up 15% (YoY) , down 14% (QoQ). Other income of Rs.22 crore helped boost the sagging bottomline. Net profit came in at Rs.19 crore, same as in Q4FY12 but that had included a tax write back of Rs.11 crore. And QoQ, it was down 9%. The company has slashed its advertising and sales promotion expenses drastically, down 50% (YoY) and sequentially down 60%. But the consolidated performance for FY13 is not good, with the company posting a net loss at Rs.27 crore, down from the loss of Rs.38 crore in FY12.

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 and at the end of the year, it had 107 stores in all formats. 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 36.26%. 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 6.65% at end of Q4FY13. The big trigger has been the much anticipated FDI in retail and now that this has come through, one has to wait and see how this FDI changes things for the company.