Amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail’s net profit for the fourth quarter was up by 45 per cent at Rs 2,247 crore.
The company’s revenues rose to Rs 46,099 crore in the Q4 of FY21 from Rs 38,242 in the same period last year. Despite the pandemic, the company added 1,456 stores opened during the year, and 12,711 physical stores were operational.
The revenue was at Rs 157,629 crore throughout FY21, lower by 3.3 per cent compared to last year.
Its net profit for the fiscal was Rs 5,481 crore which was marginally higher by 0.6 per cent. However, its cash profit for the year was Rs 7,457 crore lower by 3.1 per cent.
“Reliance Retail delivered a resilient performance against the backdrop of an unprecedented and challenging operating environment, arising from the Covid pandemic situation that emerged at the start of the year,” Dinesh Thapar, Group Chief Financial Officer at Reliance Retail said.
Reliance Retail includes fashion, lifestyle, jewelry, and grocery businesses. Grocery and fashion & Lifestyle businesses registered all-time high revenues and the strong growth in Consumer Electronics, was bolstered by higher Jio devices sales.
The Apparel & Footwear business delivered a strong quarter of double-digit growth, led by higher conversions and bill values. Trends registered a 2x growth in revenues from smaller towns, which contributed to 55 per cent of revenues. Whereas AJIO, too, sustained its strong momentum with 4x growth in revenues and a marked improvement across customer metrics and operating parameters over last year.
However, the emergence of the second wave of Covid-19 in March has led to fresh curbs and resultant disruptions, “adversely impacting footfalls, sentiment and operations. The business is well positioned and committed to relentlessly serve its customers in this volatile and uncertain environment and is taking decisive actions to secure its people as a foremost priority in these trying times,” the company added.
Despite the pandemic, in what is the largest fund raiser in the consumer/retail sector in India, Reliance Retail raised Rs 47,265 crore for 10.09 per cent stake from marquee global investors.