Pantaloon's sales surge on reviving consumer demand

Kishore Biyani-led Pantaloon Retail’s same-store sales in May grew the highest in the last seven months, as a revival in consumer demand propped up the company’s sales numbers.

Same-store numbers in value retailing (led by Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar) grew 8.14 per cent — the highest since November — to Rs 339.58 crore, while lifestyle retailing grew 8.35 per cent to Rs 123.13 crore. Home retailing was down 28.27 per cent in May compared with the same month last year.

Same-store sales, a common metric in the retail industry, compares sales of stores that have been in the business for a year or more.

In absolute terms, the value segment grew by 20.40 per cent to Rs 398.24 crore, while the lifestyle segment grew 18.96 per cent to Rs 123.13 crore in May. Home retailing dropped by 11.61 per cent.

Though Pantaloon Retail Managing Director Kishore Biyani declined to comment on the May numbers, he had told Business Standard on Tuesday that consumption levels were looking up and even the home retailing segment was improving in the last two-three weeks.

“The home category has picked up in the last two-three weeks as home sales are improving and asset prices are going up,” Biyani had said earlier this week.

In November last year, Pantaloon’s same-store sales for value, lifestyle and home retail fell 13.78, 10.32 and 36.01 per cent, respectively.

“We are seeing a U-shaped growth in retail. It went down for some time, but it has picked up momentum from April onwards. We expect a double-digit growth in same-store sales from next quarter onwards,” Angel Broking analyst Raghav Sehgal said.

NEW LAUNCHES LINED UP FOR 2009

Pantaloon is planning to launch nine Central stores, a large lifestyle format, by 2009-end in cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Mumbai and others with a total area of 1.3 million square feet, the company said in a note to investors.

The company is planning to open six Big Bazaars, its hypermarket chain, and eight Food Bazaars in June and July 2009, the company said. It is also planning to open six eZone outlets, a chain of electronic and durable outlets, and two HomeTowns, a home solutions store, by July 2009.