IndiaRetailBiz

Pantaloon Retail (I) Limited, the country’s largest listed retailer, part of Kishore Biyani-led Future group, posted 31 per cent growth in net sales for the Financial Year ended 30th June, 2009.

Net sales of the retailing company, which operates several multi-format retail chains across segments, for the year (2008-09) reached Rs 7,669 crore compared to Rs 5,841 crore of net sales during the previous year (2007-08).

Thanks, however, to steep increases of 30 per cent in employee cost, 75 per cent in depreciation and 87 per cent in interest charges, net profit of the company nose dived by 54 per cent during the year. According to numbers posted by the company, the net profit declined sharply from Rs 21.93 crore in the previous year (2007-08) to Rs 10.07 crore in this year (2008-09).

According to an earlier announcement, Pantaloon Retail is expecting to achieve a sales growth of 35 to 40 per cent during the current financial year (2009-10). The growth will be achieved through a combination of factors, major among which are, creation of new space, improvement in productivity, and efficient sourcing of products.