Dear Friends
We are living in unprecedented times. Never has the whole planet shut down forbusiness with people huddled in fear. For us everytime we see light at the end of thetunnel it only turns out to be an onrushing train.
Based on what we had decided in the previous year we continued to close loss makingstores while being very careful in opening new ones.
Little did we know that there were bigger plans than ours in the universe. By the timethe biggest crowd puller to our stores Valentine's Day came around the effects of Covid19 were already being felt across markets with footfalls down at malls across thecountry.
Our best quarter in terms of retail sales turned ended badly with the month of Marcha non performer.
The first quarter of the current year just about managed to open it's innings asstates across the country slowly unlocked themselves. Some sectors will see Zero Saleseven in the second quarter.
We have had to shut quite a few stores which had become unviable due to lack offootfalls in their areas.
Globally retail that falls into discretionary spending is struggling with storesdoing an average of 20% to 25% of their pre Covid 19 sales. People are just not going outto shop. Our government just released figures where India's GDP has shrunk by almost 25%in the Apr to Jun quarter.
We continue to tighten our belts while planning for a post Covid Vaccine world wherethe fear of social interactions will no longer be there.
We can only hope pray and plan for a brighter tomorrow and wish that everyone our ourstakeholders customers employees vendors stay safe and well.
Yours Truly
Anil Moolchandani
Chairman & Managing Director
Archies Limited