Trent plans Rs 65-crore capex
The Hindu Business Line — August 29, 2007

The Tata Group company Trent, well-known for its Westside chain of stores, has announced a capex of Rs65 crore for the next year and Rs250 crore for the next three years. "We will add four to five Westside stores in 2006-07 and increase the floor space to 3,30,000 sq ft in the next 15 months," Farrokh K Kavarana, director, said at the company's AGM.

Apart from the metro cities, Westside will come up in tier-II cities, he said. Two stores of 24,000 sq ft will come up in Pune, two in Hyderabad and one in Navi Mumbai. Of the 27 stores in 18 cities, 24 are leased upto a period of 21 years, while three are company-owned.

"Considering the real estate prices of today, we won't be able to buy any property, but going forward, will try to strike a balance between the number of leased and owned stores," said Kavarana.

The company will add 1,75,000 sq ft of floor space in Star India Bazaar, the hypermarket in Ahmedabad. Three hypermarkets will be launched, two in Mumbai and one in Bangalore, said Noel Tata, managing director, Trent.