Pantaloon Retail net jumps 71.5%

CORPORATE SCOARCARD

The company's total income for the third quarter jumped by 57.3 per cent to Rs 1,355.9 crore as against Rs 861.9 crore during the period ended 31 March,2007.

The Kishore Biyani promoted firm opened 20 new stores during the quarter under preview, thus increasing the operating retail space to 7.30 million sq ft from 6.70 million sq ft.

 

However, Pantaloon's net profit for nine months ended 31, March 08 dropped by 7.79 per cent to Rs 93.44 crore as against Rs 101.3 crore an year ago. It registered a total income for the nine months ended 31 March,2008, at Rs 3671 crore compared to Rs 2291 crore for the same period last year.

The company plans to almost double its Big Bazaar hypermarket stores to 160 by the end of this year as it seeks to benefit from rising domestic consumption. Sales at all chain stores in India may rise eightfold to $97 billion by 2012, consultant Technopak Advisors Pvt. forecast.

The company will have as much as 11 million sq ft of retail space in the year ending 30 June,2008, and will almost double that to 20 million square feet by 30 June, 2009, Biyani has said.

Biyani has expanded his businesses to include consumer finance, retail broking and investment advice to get a bigger share of consumer spending in India.