Consumer sentiment relatively muted in Q2: Noel Tata, Trent chairman

Mumbai: Noel Tata, chairman of Trent Limited, said consumer sentiment remained relatively muted and coupled with seasonality led to retail businesses facing headwinds, after the Tata Group company reported a 40% increase in net sales for the quarter ended September.

The retailer that runs Westside and Zudio, saw revenue of Rs 4036 crore while net profit increased 46% year-on-year to Rs 423 crore, missing Bloomberg's estimate of Rs 431 crore.

Trent shares fell 6.54% on the BSE on Thursday to close at Rs 6,498.45 apiece.


The company said that in an otherwise subdued consumer market, key initiatives, including with respect to product offerings, store portfolio and operating supply chain, helped.

"In the forgoing context, the team has delivered strong results across brands, concepts, categories and channels in the second quarter. The market opportunity associated with building brands and a pure play direct-to-customer business like ours remains immense. We continue to pursue our expansion programme and deepen our store presence with the aim of being ever closer and convenient to customers.," Tata said in a statement.

Trent opened 43 stores during the quarter - seven Westside stores and 34 Zudio stores, including one in Dubai. As of September, its store portfolio comprised 226 Westside stores, 577 Zudio stores and 28 stores across other lifestyle concepts across 184 cities. The company said the gross margin profile of Westside and Zudio remained consistent.

It said it is seeking to explore additional avenues of growth and recently launched its first Zudio store overseas in the UAE and the Zudio Beauty concept in India.

The emerging categories including beauty and personal care, innerwear and footwear account for about 20% of Trent's revenue. Westside.com, together with the Tata Neu super app, continued to grow profitably and the combined online reach contributed about 5% of Westside's revenue, the company said.