Spencer’s Retail FY26: ₹1,800 Crore in Revenue, ₹1,387 Crore in Cumulative Losses, and a Company That Has Finally Stopped Shrinking

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1 — At a Glance

Spencer’s Retail closed FY26 with consolidated revenue of ₹1,800 crore — down 10% year-on-year, extending a contraction that has erased nearly ₹850 crore of annual revenue since the FY20 peak. The PAT loss for the year was ₹249 crore, landing almost exactly where FY25 did (₹246 crore), marking six consecutive years of losses. The cumulative PAT loss from FY20 through FY26 stands at ₹1,387 crore.

The number that pulls against this trajectory: Q4FY26 consolidated revenue grew 6% year-on-year to ₹436 crore — management’s first reported quarter of positive YoY growth “after a long time,” per the May 2026 concall. The gross margin for the full year improved 90 basis points to 20.5%. EBITDA for FY26 was ₹15 crore, compared to ₹13 crore in FY24 and a distorted ₹60 crore in FY25 (which management said included a large one-off from lease-termination accounting on the store closures).

The worry signals are structurally significant. Net worth on a consolidated basis has eroded to negative ₹913 crore. Borrowings (including lease liabilities under Ind AS 116) rose to ₹1,919 crore at March 2026 from ₹1,571 crore a year prior. Working capital limits were running at 90–95% utilisation for twelve months through December 2025, per CARE Ratings. The store count stabilised at 121 — no closures in Q4 — after the company shut 46 stores during FY25, concentrating what remains in East India.

The tension, in one line: the shrinkage has stopped, the losses have not.

2 — Introduction

Spencer’s Retail Limited is a creature of corporate restructuring as much as retail ambition. Incorporated in 2017, the company was born when the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group carved the retail business of the erstwhile Spencer’s (then a wholly owned subsidiary of CESC Limited) into a separate listed entity. In 2019, it paid ₹300 crore — settled via cash and debt assumption — to acquire Nature’s Basket Limited (NBL) from Godrej Industries, adding a premium food-and-grocery specialty chain to its portfolio.

FY25 was the year the scalpel came out. Management exited 49 stores — closing all Spencer’s outlets in the NCR and southern India — shrinking from 167 stores to 121, with 90 Spencer’s and 31 NBL stores remaining. The footprint reset was the company’s explanation, per the concall, for the FY26 revenue decline: the year began with a structurally smaller base.

FY26 brought stability in store count (121 through December 2025, per CARE Ratings) and the first quarterly YoY growth in Spencer’s core format in several quarters. Management launched a paid loyalty program (₹500 per year, with up to ₹600 per month in cashback at ₹10,000 monthly spend) in July 2025, scaling to approximately 100,000 members by year-end. Online sales through the “Jiffy” platform reached approximately ₹200 crore for FY26, a 37% increase year-on-year.

The board, at a meeting on May 21, 2026, approved the audited FY26 results along with an ESOP grant of 2,49,000 stock options for eligible employees. CEO Anuj Singh was re-appointed as Managing Director for three years via postal ballot, with the result declared on March 14, 2026. CFO Manjir Basu joined in September 2025, replacing Sandeep Banka.

3 — Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?

Spencer’s Retail sells groceries, wine, meat, electronics, fashion, and the precise category of “personal care” that earns it a Gourmet and a Patisserie section in the same store. The company operates under two formats: convenience (small-format) and hypermarket (large-format) stores, all under the “Spencers” brand. Its brand positioning — “Makes Fine Living Affordable” — covers a lot of philosophical ground between the patisserie counter and the FMCG aisle.

Its three entities tell the full story. Spencer’s Retail Limited (SRL) is the mothership: a multi-format retailer offering 100,000+ SKUs across FMCG, fashion, food, staples, general merchandise, personal care, home essentials, electricals, and electronics. Nature’s Basket Limited (NBL), a 100% subsidiary, is the premium grocery play — 18,000+ SKUs, focused on multi-cuisine cooking needs, international food, and healthy alternatives, with specialty sections like L’exclusif. The third entity, Omnipresent Retail India Private Limited (ORIPL), is the e-commerce arm — an omnichannel platform and delivery agent for food, grocery, fresh, apparel, general merchandise, and liquor, operating the “Jiffy” quick-delivery service.

As of December 31, 2025, the consolidated entity operated 121 stores across 24 cities in 8.92 lakh square feet. Spencer’s geography is heavily eastern India — approximately 82% of SRL’s standalone revenue came from East India in 9MFY26, per CARE Ratings, following the full exit from NCR and southern India.

Spencer’s private brands contribute approximately 10–11% to total sales, per CARE. Non-discretionary products form roughly 72% of SRL’s product basket and 88% of NBL’s, which is the business model’s structural floor — shoppers may forgo the wine, but not the vegetables.

NBL, concentrated in Mumbai and Bangalore with 31 stores, ran into its own wall in FY26. Management attributed NBL’s underperformance in the May 2026 concall to an internal inventory mismatch: too much stock in slow categories like processed and canned food, and insufficient availability in fresh produce — the “daily or weekly bought” categories that drive footfall. A new CEO, Lakshman (previously with Future Group, More, and MedPlus), was appointed to lead the turnaround. NBL’s membership programme “Elysium” was at 9,000 members, with a stated internal aspiration of 30,000.

The structural question the business model lives with: a grocery-and-premium-food retailer that is geographically concentrated in East India, contending with quick commerce platforms (Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto), organised national chains, and its own cost structure — all from a position of deeply negative net worth.

4 — Financials Overview

Figures are consolidated, in ₹ crore.

Quarterly Results — Q4 FY26 (March 2026)

*EBITDA per the arithmetic: PBT (-₹66 Cr) + Interest (₹45 Cr) + Depreciation (₹23 Cr) = ₹2 Cr for the standalone operating profit line. The concall framed Q4 consolidated EBITDA at approximately ₹2 crore.

The QoQ revenue decline is seasonal — Q3 (December quarter) includes festive demand; Q4 does not. The YoY comparison is the more relevant: Q4 FY26 marked the first positive YoY quarterly growth for Spencer’s standalone “after many quarters,” management said in the May 2026 concall.

Concall Highlights (Q4 & FY26)

Management described Q4 as a “respectable quarter” and attributed the YoY growth to three operating levers: assortment and inventory optimisation toward velocity (faster-moving SKUs), the paid loyalty programme (100,000 members by year-end, contributing 20–22% of monthly sales), and Spencer’s online platform Jiffy (~₹200 crore for FY26, +37% YoY). FY26 gross margin improved ~90