Net sales declined 29.7% to Rs 715.97 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019. Pre-tax loss stood at Rs 32.33 crore in Q3 December 2020 as against a pre-tax profit of Rs 61.63 crore in Q3 December 2019. The Q3 result was declared after trading hours yesterday, 15 January 2021.
The festive demand during Q3 FY21, coupled with a quantum leap in the company's digital journey, enabled the business to move forward during the quarter. This was evident in its footfall across stores and online website. Apart from this, Shoppers Stop's efforts to reach out to customers, and service them through constant engagement resulted in a better recovery, the company mentioned in its press release. Conversion and memo sizes continued to be higher than last year. The East zone performed better and so did Tier II and Tier III cities as compared to the metropolitan cities. Delhi NCR was impacted in December 2020 due to the local unrest.
The company reported a positive EBITDA after three quarters, driven by a recovery in demand and various initiatives on costs optimization. As per GAAP income Statement, EBITDA dropped 38.31% to Rs 125.90 crore in Q3 FY21 over Rs 204.10 in Q3 FY20. The company's savings continue and as on date, it have saved Rs 390 crore as against last year, despite eleven new stores that were added during the last year.
Commenting on the Q3 performance of the company, Venu Nair, the customer care associate, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Shoppers Stop, stated: Business recovery during the festival period has been encouraging. The festive period helped footfall into stores and also generated higher digital sales. Our focus on digital initiatives such as, White Glove Service (video assisted initiative), Yellow Messenger services (chat enabled), Appointment Services (through website and app), etc. has engaged customers to a new level and contributed to our growth in Q3.
Post lockdown, there has been sequential growth month-on-month (M-o-M), accentuating its digital journey. Omni-channel sales reported 3x growth year-on-year (Y-o-Y). Servicing its customers from store chain, apart from warehouses, has enabled to service its omnichannel customers faster; which helped omni-channel sales to contribute 6% of total sales, an increase of 440 bps over last year. Shoppers Stop continues to optimize the user interface on its app/website, page download optimization, advanced analytics to achieve personalization and reduction in delivery time to its customers.
Shoppers Stop's rights issue worth Rs 299.17 crore was over-subscribed, which helped the firm to repay its debts aggregating to Rs 125 crore. After a gap of two quarters, the firm is back to being a debt free company, with a net cash balance of Rs 46 crore. The company's cash and bank deposits are at Rs 224 crore as of 31 December 2020.
Shares of Shoppers Stop declined 2.75% to close at Rs 206.75 on Friday, 15 January 2021.
Shoppers Stop is a leading premier retailer of fashion and beauty brands established in 1991. Spread across 89 department stores in 44 Cities, the company also operates premium home concept stores (11 stores), 132 Specialty Beauty stores of M.A.C, Estée Lauder, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Smash box, Jo Malone and Arcelia, occupying an area of 4.5 million sq. ft.
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