Shoppers Stop Q4 net profit at Rs 26.2 cr

MUMBAI: The K Raheja group promoted retail chain, Shoppers Stop Ltd, has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 26.2 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31 as against Rs 27.1 crore for the same quarter previous fiscal.

Retail turnover for the company during the quarter increased 38% to Rs 235.60 crore as against Rs 171.20 crore in the year-ago period.

The board of directors has recommended a 15% dividend for the fiscal and also approved fund raising of about Rs 500 crore through a rights issue, said a company release.

"The results are not comparable as the company re-estimated the useful life of certain classes of assets, resulting in higher depreciation charge by Rs 10.11 crore during the quarter," Shoppers Stop customer care associate and managing director BS Nagesh said.

During the quarter, the retailer inked a 50:50 joint venture with the Swiss group Nuance for airport retailing and won contracts for two greenfield airports including Hyderabad and Bangalore. Shoppers Stop also signed a memorandum of understanding with Home Retail Group of UK (Argos) for catalogue retail venture and acquired a 19% stake in Hypercity Retail (India) Ltd.

For the fiscal, retail turnover of the company rose 32.7% to Rs 899.50 crore from Rs 677.96 crore while net profit stood at Rs 26.20 crore as against Rs 27.10 crore in the previous fiscal.