Latest news with #MoreRetail
Mint
09-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
More Retail raises ₹400 crore ahead of 2026 IPO, eyes deeper push into smaller towns
Mumbai: Supermarket chain More Retail has raised around ₹400 crore from existing investors Samara Capital and Amazon, as well as new domestic family offices over the past 12 months, as it gears up for a public listing within the next year, two people aware of the matter said. The capital raise—separate from earlier rounds in previous years—will be used to fund the company's store expansion and operational growth, one of the two people said. More Retail managing director and CEO Vinod Nambiar confirmed the fundraise in an emailed statement, but Samara and Amazon did not respond to Mint's requests for comment. The fresh infusion comes as More Retail prepares to scale up its operations, expand into smaller cities and ramp up its role in powering Amazon's grocery delivery arm, even as losses persist and revenue shrinks. The company is reportedly targeting a ₹2,000 crore initial public offering (IPO) next year, with no secondary share sale planned. Read this | Neobank Jupiter in early talks to raise up to $50 million from existing investors to expand 'We've spent the last few years strengthening our fundamentals and building a robust, profitable, and scalable business model," Nambiar said. 'This consistent performance has reinforced the confidence of our existing and new investors, who continue to support our long-term vision and have invested (approximately) ₹400 crore in the last year." More plans to expand its hybrid retail model to over 2,000 stores by 2030, with a sharper focus on tier-2 and smaller cities, Nambiar said. The company had reportedly raised ₹387 crore from Amazon and Samara in FY24, ₹300 crore in FY23, and ₹400 crore in FY22. However, More clarified that the latest fundraise is distinct from those rounds and includes participation from both existing and new investors. Retail strategy More Retail was set up by the Aditya Birla group in 2006 and acquired in 2019 by Samara Capital and Amazon via Witzig Advisory Services, now More Consumer Brands Pvt. Ltd (MCBPL). Samara owns and controls 51% of MCBPL through its Alternative Investment Fund, while the remaining 49% is held by the Amazon Group. Over the past two years, the company has shuttered loss-making outlets, exited categories such as general merchandise, reduced hypermarket operations, and trimmed corporate headcount. It now operates over 750 stores in 270 towns, with a strong presence in southern and eastern India—down from more than 900 stores in FY22. Read this | Amazon-backed More Retail plans expansion of supermarkets in India The retailer has reduced its footprint in western and central India over FY23 and FY24 to focus on its core markets. In a November 2024 report, India Ratings said More would continue to benefit from its heavy concentration in South India (which accounts for over 70% of its stores), followed by moderate exposure in the north and east. The company has also become a critical part of Amazon's grocery delivery strategy, serving as a fulfilment layer for the Amazon Fresh platform. In India's top 14 cities, Amazon Fresh orders are fulfilled via a mix of warehouses and More stores; in the rest of the country, they are serviced entirely through More locations. As of September 2024, 277 More stores were fulfilling Fresh orders, up from 150 a year earlier—a number that is expected to grow further. According to the India Ratings report, the company faces challenges from increased borrowings and debt servicing obligations as it has been refinancing its existing debt due to weak cash flow generation on account of continued losses. It intends to continue funding its expansion and operational cash losses primarily through equity infusions, with little or no reliance on external debt, the credit rating agency added. Also read | Fast and furious: Early-stage startups tweak supply chain operations as they shift to quick commerce lane In FY24, More Retail reported a revenue of ₹4,148.7 crore, down from ₹4,506.7 crore a year earlier. Its net loss narrowed slightly to ₹532.6 crore from ₹550.3 crore, according to a report by Inc42. More faces tough competition from quick commerce players and traditional retailers such as D-Mart and Reliance Fresh. Platforms offering fast delivery and discounts are increasingly drawing urban customers away from kirana stores and traditional supermarkets.
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Online & instant: Reliance Retail, More and Spencer's begin seeing dark stores in good light
HighlightsReliance Retail, More Retail, and Spencer's Retail are opening standalone dark stores to compete with quick commerce platforms like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and BigBasket, which have captured significant market share in urban areas. According to NielsenIQ, ecommerce has seen a substantial increase, with a 40% growth rate, while traditional trade has experienced a decline, indicating a shift in consumer purchasing behavior towards online grocery shopping. More Retail has successfully launched 45 dark stores, with plans for an additional 100, while Spencer's Retail is piloting dark stores to enhance its quick commerce capabilities in cities with high demand. Chains such as Reliance Retail , More and Spencer's have started to open standalone dark stores to match the speed of their online competitors, company executives said. They had initially resisted the quick commerce model. Quick commerce platforms such as Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto and BigBasket have eaten into the share of kiranas and retail chains in the top eight to 10 cities, as consumers seek instant gratification of what was their monthly grocery shopping. Dark stores are mini warehouses that typically serve a 2-3 km radius, allowing faster deliveries of online orders. Dinesh Taluja, chief financial officer at Reliance Retail, recently told analysts that while the retailer wants to deliver online orders in less than 30 minutes, it has started to set up dark stores in 'some dark pockets' where there's enough volume and which cannot be serviced from its store network in this timeline. He said the country's largest retailer is at present using its 2,000-odd stores to deliver within a 3-km radius, covering 4,000 pin codes. Vinod Nambiar, managing director of More Retail , said the company has just set up 45 dark stores, with 100 more in the pipeline. It has set up some of these in New Delhi. High Shopping Engagement Online The Amazon-Samara Capital-owned retail chain has exited its brick-and-mortar operations in Delhi. It is eyeing Mumbai too, where it has no operations currently. Nambiar said a dark store is viable in high-demand micro markets—with high population density and many high-rises—provided the rent is manageable. 'There are standalone dark stores in cities where we have no operations, while in cities where we have stores—such as Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Cochin—we will convert a hybrid store (which does both store and online business) into a dark store as the market matures into online,' said Nambiar. More is the largest preferred seller in Amazon's food and grocery business, Amazon Fresh, in India. NielsenIQ , FMCG market researcher, in its report for January-March, said there was a shift towards ecommerce in metros, with high shopping engagement impacting share of modern trade and kiranas. NielsenIQ figures show the growth of ecommerce was largely volume-driven — up 40 per cent compared to a 2.2 per cent fall in traditional trade growth rate and 7.7 per cent decline in modern trade. The researcher said this was supported by increasing online shopper penetration, more purchase occasions and increasing basket sizes, or more units purchased per shopper. Spencer's Retail chief executive Anuj Singh told analysts on Friday that though dark stores are not a focus area, it has piloted one in Kolkata, where it felt the store reach was not sufficient for a 30-minute delivery. He said the company's quick commerce service currently processes 1.7 lakh bills per month, which it wants to take up to three lakh per month in this fiscal, with expansion into markets such as Lucknow and Varanasi.
Entrepreneur
13-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
More Retail Prepares for ₹2000 Crore IPO, Aims 3000 Stores by 2030
The report said that the listing will be mostly through a fresh capital infusion and most likely no offer for sale (OFS) component, as the Amazon-Samara's investment entity based in Singapore is unlikely to offload its shares as part of the IPO. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. More Retail, owned by the Amazon-Samara Capital partnership, is reportedly planning an INR 2,000 crore initial public offering (IPO) in the upcoming 12-18 months, with a dilution of approximately 10 per cent of its equity, said Vinod Nambiar, More Retail's managing director Vinod Nambiar, according to the Economic Times. The report said that the listing will be mostly through a fresh capital infusion and most likely no offer for sale (OFS) component, as the Amazon-Samara's investment entity based in Singapore is unlikely to offload its shares as part of the IPO. Amazon and Samara currently hold 51 percent and 48 percent of More Retail, respectively, with the remaining 1 percent held by high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) and various family offices. Initially, More Retail was a part of Aditya Birla Group, and then sold to its investors Samara Capital and Amazon, in 2019 for INR 4,300 crore. Since the purchase, the promoters have brought in INR 900 crore in capital, which was mainly used towards reducing its debt, according to Nambiar. According to the report, the company's remaining debt is part term loan and part non-commercial borrowings. Nambiar also told ET that the current business model is not capital hungry, as opening a More Retail store only costs INR 30 lakh because of the company's leasing model with all its real estate. Nambiar also said that the company will use the fresh capital through IPO to bolster its business operations and reduce some of its INR 500 crore debt. More Retail is also planning to expand its physical store presence to 3,000 by 2030. Currently, the company operates more than 800 stores across the country. More Retail enjoys a strong presence in South India, Haryana, NCR, Punjab, and West Bengal, while actively expanding to the eastern front through Jharkhand and Odisha this financial year. The retail chain has also exited saturated areas such as Mumbai.
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
More Retail plans Rs 2,000-cr IPO in 2026 to aid expansion, reduce debt
Amazon and Samara Capital-backed supermarket chain More Retail is planning to raise around Rs 2,000 crore through an initial public offer (IPO), which is expected to hit the market in the calendar year 2026, a top company official said on Monday. The proposed fund-raise plan will be mostly through fresh capital infusion, with no significant offer-for-sale component, as promoters, Samara Capital and Amazon, who hold 51 per cent and 48 per cent stake respectively, are unlikely to offload their shares, he said, adding that the remaining stake is held by family offices. "We are looking at an IPO in 12-18 months, depending on valuation and market conditions. We hope to raise Rs 2,000 crore, and the current promoter dilution could be about 10 per cent," More Retail Managing Director Vinod Nambiar said. He said the funds will be used primarily to expand the store count to 3,000 by 2030 and to make the company nearly debt-free. The current debt stands at about Rs 500 crore, consisting of loans and non-convertible debentures (NCDs), the company official said. Both promoters have a long-term commitment to the business and pumped in Rs 900 crore over the past five years in addition to the acquisition cost of Rs 4,300 crore. "More Retail raised Rs 150 crore in the last 120 days from family offices to benchmark valuation," Nambiar said. The retail chain, which is expanding aggressively, is set to cross 1,100 stores soon and aims to become EBITDA-positive with Rs 60 crore profit in FY'26, he said. The company reported a Rs 65 crore EBITDA loss in FY'24, as per Ind AS accounting standards. "It will take two years to achieve PAT-level profitability," he added. The retailer is also deepening its partnership with Amazon Fresh. Currently, 270 of its stores serve Amazon Fresh, and this number is expected to rise to 370 by July, and further to 500-600 stores by the end of the current fiscal year, Nambiar said. The company's offline and hybrid store count is projected to exceed 1,100 by FY'26, while the number of 'dark' outlets will also grow from the existing 40 to 100 by then. 'Dark' stores only cater to online orders. Most of the expansion will take place in smaller towns, and during the current fiscal, Jharkhand and Odisha will be added to its footprint, Nambiar said. More Retail currently has a strong presence in South India, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, and the NCR, having exited from Delhi city and Mumbai. Meanwhile, Nambair said West Bengal is a key market and the company is the largest in West Bengal in terms of the number of stores. The company has 109 stores in Bengal and will add 90 outlets in the next two years.>
The Hindu
12-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
More Retail plans ₹2,000-crore IPO in 2026 to aid expansion, reduce debt
Amazon and Samara Capital-backed supermarket chain More Retail is planning to raise around ₹2,000 crore through an initial public offer (IPO), which is expected to hit the market in the calendar year 2026, a top company official said on Monday. The proposed fund-raise plan will be mostly through fresh capital infusion, with no significant offer-for-sale component, as promoters, Samara Capital and Amazon, who hold 51% and 48% stake respectively, are unlikely to offload their shares, he said, adding that the remaining stake is held by family offices. "We are looking at an IPO in 12–18 months, depending on valuation and market conditions. We hope to raise ₹2,000 crore, and the current promoter dilution could be about 10%," More Retail Managing Director Vinod Nambiar said. He said the funds will be used primarily to expand the store count to 3,000 by 2030 and to make the company nearly debt-free. The current debt stands at about ₹500 crore, consisting of loans and non-convertible debentures (NCDs), the company official said. Both promoters have a long-term commitment to the business and pumped in ₹900 crore over the past five years in addition to the acquisition cost of ₹4,300 crore. "More Retail raised ₹150 crore in the last 120 days from family offices to benchmark valuation," Nambiar said. The retail chain, which is expanding aggressively, is set to cross 1,100 stores soon and aims to become EBITDA-positive with ₹60 crore profit in FY'26, he said. The company reported a ₹65 crore EBITDA loss in FY'24, as per Ind AS accounting standards. "It will take two years to achieve PAT-level profitability," he added. The retailer is also deepening its partnership with Amazon Fresh. Currently, 270 of its stores serve Amazon Fresh, and this number is expected to rise to 370 by July, and further to 500–600 stores by the end of the current fiscal year, Nambiar said. The company's offline and hybrid store count is projected to exceed 1,100 by FY'26, while the number of 'dark' outlets will also grow from the existing 40 to 100 by then. 'Dark' stores only cater to online orders. Most of the expansion will take place in smaller towns, and during the current fiscal, Jharkhand and Odisha will be added to its footprint, Nambiar said. More Retail currently has a strong presence in South India, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, and the NCR, having exited from Delhi city and Mumbai. Meanwhile, Nambair said West Bengal is a key market and the company is the largest in West Bengal in terms of the number of stores. The company has 109 stores in Bengal and will add 90 outlets in the next two years.
