Shoppers Stop Q4 net loss at Rs 24.10 crore

Retail chain Shoppers Stop Ltd on Friday said its consolidated net loss narrowed to Rs 24.10 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2021. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 127.22 crore in the January-March quarter a year ago, Shoppers Stop said in a regulatory filing

Its total income declined 3.7 per cent to Rs 704.70 crore during the period under review as against Rs 731.76 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Business recovery till Mid-March had been very encouraging. However, with the surge in COVID cases, we witnessed a drop in footfall resulting in a drop in revenue, Shoppers Stop MD & CEO Venu Nair said. Business recovery till Mid-March had been very encouraging.

The business rapidly recovered from the pandemic in Q4 FY21. The recovery in footfalls and sales had begun in Q3 vs preceding quarters and it continued in Q4. For the quarter, we had 90 per cent of FY20 sales, the strongest recovery in the last 4 quarters, Shoppers Stop said in a post-earnings statement.

With the pandemic in India, taking a severe turn in the second half of March, the year has ended on a sombre note, it added. Shoppers Stop total expenses fell 16.6 per cent to Rs 728.94 crore in Q4 FY21, as against Rs 873.91 crore.

For fiscal 2020-21, its net loss widened to Rs 267.16 crore. It had reported a net loss of Rs 142.02 crore in the previous fiscal. Its revenue from operations declined 43.6 per cent to Rs 1,973.20 crore. It was Rs 3,498.11 crore in FY 2019-20.

On the recovery, Nair said Shoppers Stop rebound in Q3 and Q4 exhibits the inherent strength of the brand and the business. We expect the business to remain resilient amidst uncertainty in the near term and see through the current health crisis. Over the medium term, the company will continue to prioritise maintaining volume-driven growth momentum, expanding inorganically and continue to sustain costs to grow the overall profitability, he said.

Share of Shoppers Stop Ltd on Friday settled at Rs 209 on BSE, up 0.41 per cent from its previous close.