Reliance Retail on July 30 reported a 17.2 percent decline in revenue to Rs 31,663 crore. Operating profit margin fell to 2.3 percent versus 4.7 percent in the year-ago period. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) was lower than street estimates at Rs 722 crore, a fall of almost 60 percent.
The company reported a net profit of Rs 431 crore despite 50 percent of its stores being fully shut and 29 percent operating partially.
The management said the consumer electronics and fashion and lifestyle businesses were hit particularly hard by the cessation of activity during the lockdown period.
The firm opened 69 new stores during the quarter under review and more than 250 stores across formats and geographies were in various stages of development before activities was restricted on account of the coronavirus pandemic. These will be commissioned in due course.
Reliance Retail’s business footprint spans across 11,806 retail stores in over 7,000 towns with 28.7 million sq ft of retail space.
"A hallmark of the quarter was the significant and swift progress across the breadth of the business on activating digital commerce and strengthening omni-channel capabilities, to supplement the strength of the existing offline store network", the firm said.
Our consumer facing businesses became the life-line for individuals and businesses with our Retail and Jio teams working hard to ensure millions got essential goods and services through the lockdown", Chairman Mukesh Ambani said.
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