Spencer Retail plans Rs 1,500 cr in expansion

New Delhi, May 9: Spencer's Retail, a unit of RPG group's flagship power utility firm CESC Ltd, today said it will invest Rs 1,500 crore over the next 12 months to increase the presence of its large format stores. "Spencer will invest Rs 1,500 crore over the next 12 months to increase the number of our large format stores to 75 from the current 31," CESC Vice Chairman Sanjiv Goenka told reporters here. The company has launched two such large format stores today with a total investment of Rs 60 crore.

The company currently operates 400 small stores, which will be increased to 650 by March 2009, he added. The company is also hopeful of 'multiple' tie-ups with international firms in the next six months. Mr Goenka said he expected the retail chain to post a revenue of Rs 1800 crore for the year ending March 2009, up from Rs 1000 crore a year ago. Spencer's had earlier forecast FY 2009-10 revenue to touch Rs 3000 crore.

UNI