Bata losses mount in 2003

Bata India Ltd (BIL) reported yesterday that its net losses had shot up to Rs 26.05 crore for 2003 against Rs 7.4 crore in the previous year. Sales rose to Rs 716.7 crore from Rs 704.79 crore in the previous year.

"The results of 2003 were in fact better than 2002 but for one-time additional accruals for long-term agreements, catch-up charges on account of unfounded pension and write-off of deferred tax assets", said P K Nag, director of finance.

BIL had launched a scheme to reduce its workforce by 1500 for an estimated Rs 37.7 crore. State Bank of India, the lead banker, had agreed to finance the manpower optimisation program with a pay-back period of 1.7 years.

Bata's retail business increased 106 per cent against the previous year.

BIL in a press release said, "Following the restructuring of retail operations to focus on customer profile to create appropriate shopping environment for different segments, and the various initiatives taken by the company during 2003 to bring down operational and fixed costs, the retail business is expected to bounce back with improvement in the overall profitability."

Bata is also remodeling as many as 250 stores. This was expected to help achieve significant growth in sales.

Bata's vision in the coming days was to touch the magic figure of 100 million pair mark in sales from 60 million pairs today.

In the course of restructuring its retail division, it plans to open 40 flagships, 120 city and 800 family stores through a combined strategy of opening new stores and closing unviable ones.