Trent Ltd. is a retail operations company that owns and manages a number of retail chains in India. It is engaged in retailing / trading of apparels, footwear, accessories, toys, games etc. It operates through Westside', Landmark', Zudio' and 'Utsa' retail formats. The company operates Westside, one of India's largest and fastest growing retail chains; Star Bazaar, a hypermarket chain and Landmark a family entertainment format store. They have already established 200 Westside departmental stores measuring 1,600-2,400 sq.ft. floor space across 74 cities. The Westside stores have several departments to meet the varied shopping needs of customers. These include menswear, women's wear, kids' wear, footwear, cosmetics, perfumes and handbags, household furniture accessories, lingerie, and gifts. Well-designed interiors, sprawling space, prime locations and coffee shops enhance the customers' shopping experience.
Trent also operates the Star Bazaar hypermarket chain that provides customers an array of products that include staple foods, beverages, health & beauty products, consumer electronics and household items at the most affordable prices. Star Bazaar also includes a large range of fashionable in-house garments for men, women and children, exclusively available at the store. Since 2008, Trent has had a franchise and a wholesale supply arrangement with Tesco and its wholly-owned subsidiary in India, for Star Bazaar.
Trent holds 76% interest in Landmark Ltd, a family entertainment format store with a focus on toys, adult and young adult books, sports-related merchandise, tech accessories, gaming and stationery. Trent has a separate joint venture with the Inditex group for Zara stores. Trent has introduced a range of creative kitchenware through an exclusive tie-up with a British company Lakeland. Stores are currently present in Pune and Bengaluru.
Trent Ltd was incorporated in the year 1952 as Lakme Ltd. In March 1998, the company acquired 100% equity shares of Trent Ltd (formerly known as Littlewoods International (India) Ltd) from Littlewoods International Ltd, UK for a consideration of Rs 11.09 crore. Trent Ltd was amalgamated with the company with effect from July 1, 1998 and the name was changed from Lakme Ltd to Trent Ltd with effect from June 15, 1999. The company forayed into the retailing business post hive off of their cosmetics business to Hindustan Lever in 1997.
In the year 1998, the company established Westside, a lifestyle retail chain. They started their operations at Hyderabad and Chennai on December 15, 1998 and March 5, 1999 respectively. In April 28, 1999, they opened a store at Hughes Road in Mumbai and in August 2000, they opened a store in Pune.
In April 2001, the company opened a 12,000 sq ft Westside store in Karol Bagh, New Delhi and in June 2001, they opened the Kolkata store, admeasuring 18,000 sq ft. During the year 2002-03, Fiora Services Ltd became a subsidiary of the company, which is engaged in the business of rendering sourcing activities, clearing & forwarding and other related services to the company. The company opened two new stores New Delhi and Nagpur during the year. During the year 2003-04, the company opened their stores at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Noida, Mulund and Bangalore.
During the year 2004-05, the company acquired 100% of the share capital of Satnam Developers and Finance Pvt Ltd, which is engaged in the business of construction and development of real estate. They opened two new Westside Stores at Indore and at Andheri, Mumbai. In October 2004, the company opened their first hyper-market in Ahmedabad under the name of Star India Bazaar, thus marking the entrance of the company in a new sector of retailing.
During the year 2005-06, the company along with their subsidiaries acquired 79% interest in the partnership firm, Landmark Ltd, the largest book and music retailer in the country, which is poised for a rapid expansion for Rs 108.5 crore. Landmark Ltd has been converted into a public limited company and became a subsidiary of the company. Also, the company acquired 100% of the share capital of Nahar Theatres Pvt Ltd, the owner of premises from where the company operates their Westside store at Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi, at a cost of Rs. 28.33 Crores.
During the year, the company opened six new Westside stores located at Bangalore, Vadodara, Kolkata, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Delhi. They expanded their operations at Lajpat Nagar (Delhi), Noida and in Mumbai's Kala Goda. In May 2006, they opened a new Landmark store at Andheri in Mumbai.
During the year 2006-07, the company opened four new Westside stores at Jaipur, Lucknow, Surat and Mysore. They also relocated their Pune store to larger premises and extended the Chennai store. The company received the prestigious NDTV Award of 'Retailer of the Year' and was also rated 'The Best Retailer' in the lifestyle category in a survey carried out by the Business World Magazine. In February 2007, Landmark Ltd along with their subsidiaries acquired 52.18% of East West Books (Madras) Pvt Ltd for a total consideration of Rs 1.14 crore.
During the year 2007-08, the company opened three Westside stores in Ahmedabad, Ludhiana and Delhi and two Star Bazaar stores in Mumbai and Bangalore. The subsidiaries of Landmark Ltd namely, Westland Books Pvt Ltd and Eastwest Books (Madras) Pvt Ltd merged together and formed Westland Ltd with effect from April 1, 2007.
In September 2007, the company made a strategic partnership with Benetton India Ltd for the commercial expansion of Sisley brand in India. They opened four Sisley stores during the year. The company transferred their Star Bazaar business, as a going concern, to their 100% subsidiary, Trent Hypermarket Ltd with effect from August 01, 2008.
During the year 2008-09, the company opened eight Westside stores, two Sisley stores and one Fashion Yatra Store taking the total number of Westside stores to 36 and the total number of stores under various formats to 42. In February 2009, the company entered into a MoU with Inditex Group to develop and promote Zara stores in India. Inditex would hold 51% and Trent would hold 49% stake in the proposed joint venture company.
On 4 November 2009, Trent Limited entered into definitive agreements for the sale of 14.03 lakh equity shares of Rs. 10/- each, held by the company in its unlisted subsidiary 'Landmark Ltd.' to TVS Shriram Growth Fund I for a consideration of around Rs 50 crore. Additionally TVS Shriram Growth Fund I will subscribe for a further 4.21 lakh equity shares of Rs. 10/- each in Landmark Ltd. at a consideration of around Rs 15 crore. Landmark is a leading book and music retail chain.
The Board of Directors had Trent Limited at its meeting held on 26 April 2010 approved the issue of securities by the company on a rights basis to its shareholders to raise an amount not exceeding Rs 500 crore.
On 22 July 2011, Trent informed the stock exchanges that the company has entered into an MOU with the Inditex Group to develop and promote Massimo Dutti stores in India. As per the MOU signed, ZARA Holding BV (an Inditex Group company) would hold 51% and Trent Ltd. would hold 49% in the proposed JV Company.
The Board of Directors of Trent Ltd at its meeting held on 29 September 2011 decided to seek the approval of shareholders for raising of additional long term funds of upto Rs 300 crore.
The QIP Issue Committee of the Board of Directors of Trent Ltd at its meeting held on 16 March 2012 accorded its consent for the allotment of 27.41 lakh equity shares at a price of Rs 912 per equity share to Qualified Institutional Buyers. Earlier, on 14 March 2012, the company successfully completed the Qualified Institutional Placement.
The Board of Directors of Trent Ltd at its meeting held on 4 July 2012 approved, an issue of upto 16.67 lakh equity shares to Tata Sons Limited, the promoter of the company and/or other companies in the promoter group on a preferential basis, in accordance with the provisions of SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009 (SEBI ICDR Regulations).
The Board of Directors of Trent Limited at its meeting held on 18 February 2013 approved to purchase from TVS Shriram Growth Fund I (the Fund) its entire shareholding of 18.25 lakh equity shares of Rs 10/- each of Landmark Ltd., a subsidiary of the company for a consideration of Rs 84 crores. Further, it has been agreed between the parties that the Fund would retain an option to invest in a minority stake in Westland Limited (also a subsidiary of Trent Limited) at a future date. Trent Limited would continue to pursue the build out of the Landmark format, increasingly focusing on family entertainment categories and seek to integrate these operations with the Westside business. This is aimed at realizing cost and other operating synergies.
The Board of Directors of Trent Limited at its meeting held on 4 March 2013 approved the Scheme of Amalgamation and Arrangement (The Scheme) between Landmark Limited (Landmark), Fiora Link Road Properties Limited (Fiora) and Trexa ADMC Private Limited (Trexa) with the company under the applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, after considering the recommendation of the Audit Committee. The Appointed Date for the merger shall be 1 April 2013.
On 21 March 2014, Trent Limited announced that it has approved definitive agreements regarding an investment by Tesco PLC, UK (Tesco) in Trent Hypermarket Limited (THL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Trent Limited. The agreements envisage that Tesco Overseas Investments Limited (Tesco Overseas), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tesco, would purchase part of the equity shares currently held by Trent Limited in THL for an amount of approx. Rs. 150 crores and would separately subscribe to additional THL equity shares for an amount of approx. Rs. 700 crores. Following the conclusion of the proposed investment, Trent Limited and Tesco Overseas will each hold a 50% stake in THL. The proposed investment by Tesco Overseas is subject to necessary approvals. THL operates the Star Bazaar business.
On 24 April 2015, Trent Limited launched first Sport Zone store, the largest chain of sports shops in Portugal, in India at Bangalore. The innovative products and equipment developed and marketed by Sport Zone will be available to the Indian customers in franchised stores and shop-in-shops in department stores managed by Trent. The partnership plans to open five Sport Zone stores in India by end of 2016.
The Board of Directors of Trent Ltd. at its meeting held on 28 June 2016 considered and approved the sub-division of equity shares of the company having face value of Rs 10 per share into 10 equity shares of a face value of Re. 1 each.
On 28 October 2016, Trent Ltd. announced that its subsidiary Westland Limited has entered into a definitive agreement to divest its entire stake held in Westland Publications Limited to Amazon Eurasia Holdings S.A R.L. Westland Publications Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Westland Limited. Separately, Trent Limited, Westland Limited and Westland Publications Limited have also executed a business transfer agreement for the transfer of the publishing business of Westland Limited to Westland Publications Limited for a lumpsum consideration of Rs 39.80 crore.
On 18 January 2017, Trent Ltd. entered into a definitive agreement with Amazon Eurasia Holdings S.A R.L. for acquiring 26.03% of the share capital of Westland Limited, on a fully diluted basis, from Amazon Eurasia Holdings S.A R.L., thereby making Westland Limited a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.
The Board of Directors of Trent Ltd. at its meeting held on 19 July 2017 approved entering into definitive agreement with Trent Hypermarket Private Limited, a joint venture of the company, for acquiring their value fashion apparel business. The value fashion business presents significant synergies with the existing apparel business of the company.
On 28 December 2017, Trent Ltd. informed the stock exchanges that its wholly owned subsidiary Fiora Hypermarket Limited (FHL) has incorporated a subsidiary namely, Fiora Online Limited (FOL) for retailing business. FOL has been incorporated as a 99.99% subsidiary of FHL.
In FY 2017-18, the Company continued emphasis on aspirational fashionability to scale up exclusive brands in lingerie (Wunderlove) and cosmetics (Studiowest). It launched of a new warehouse ecosystem in Vapi to facilitate growing scale and mitigate risk exposure. It built omni-channel presence through Tatacliq. During FY'18, Trent had acquired value fashion apparel business Zudio' from Trent Hypermarket Private Limited (THPL).
In FY19, Company added 33 new stores in the portfolio. In FY' 20, 11 new stores were opened taking the total count to 49 stores across Mumbai, Pune, Banglaore, Kolhapur & Hyderabad. In the year 2020, it further progressed integration of stores and online for Westside concept, thereby extending reach to a growing audience.
During FY22, Company added 36 new stores and absorbed/ consolidated 10 stores.
During FY 2023, Company added 20 new stores and absorbed/ consolidated 6 stores.