Spencer’s, the retail arm of the Rs 9,000-crore RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group said it may float a separate company for its backend business. “We could actually independently float a backend company. It will be an identical mirror image of shareholding”, said group chairman Sanjiv Goenka.
The new company, said Goenka, will be formed keeping in mind the rules of the new business which may lead to a consolidation in supply chains across retail companies.
“Ideally at the backend, there should be three four supply chains catering to a gamut of retailers. This is still a way off though. The new company however, should be a separate profit centre,” Goenka said, while admitting that the process would take time. “Indian consolidation at the back end will not happen in a jiffy,” he said.
Goenka said Spencer’s would meet its breakeven target by July 2013. Its sales per square feet have improved from Rs 750 per month last year to Rs 1150 per month in 2011. As of June 2011, Spencer’s had 220 stores, down 148 from 368 stores in 2008.
Of these, 200 operate on the supermarket model and 20 as hypermarkets.