Mukesh Ambani’s retail business grew over a fifth and its profit doubled in the last three months, contrary to what many had expected. The second wave of the pandemic did not hurt Reliance Retail, which contributes to nearly a quarter of the conglomerate’s bottomline, as much as the street had expected it to.
The profit was helped by “judicious cost management and buoyed by investment income of ₹551 crore,” the company said in a statement.
On the other hand, the street was expecting a sober quarter. Analysts at Goldman Sachs, a global investment bank, had expected fewer people to visit its stores due to the second wave of the pandemic. And it did play out that way. Footfalls were down 46%, the company revealed.
However, the company also added another 123 stores just in the last three months. The company will commission over 700 new stores as COVID-related restrictions are lifted. Reliance Retail has 12,803 stores, as of 30 June, 2021.
“The focus on scaling up digital commerce and merchant partnerships helped partially alleviate the loss of business due to store closures. These streams contributed a sizeable 20% of retail sales in the quarter,” the company added.
What worked for the company(source)
“The focus on scaling up digital commerce and merchant partnerships helped partially alleviate the loss of business due to store closures. These streams contributed a sizeable 20% of retail sales in the quarter,” the company added.
What worked for the company(source)
