With its core sector play getting stuck in the midfield, Sanjiv Goenka is betting big on sports as a business. Goenka, who co-owns the Indian Super League's Kolkata franchise, Atletico de Kolkata, has tasted early success in his football foray and may now get into buying an Indian Premier League cricket franchisee. "Sports would be an important area of business for us as we go forward. We are looking beyond football. I am enjoying my stint in sports where ISL is growing in popularity and viewership. And you would see a greater presence from us," Goenka said. While Goenka refused to confirm any of the rumours floating around about him joining hands with India's ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni or Sachin Tendulkar to acquire an IPL team, he indicated group's plans to venture into cricket.
"There are rumours that we are tying up with Dhoni and also Tendulkar. I am not commenting on anything. In any case, everything would be known on December 8 when all these speculations would come to rest," Goenka told reporters during the earnings press conference of his flagship firm CESC Ltd, referring to the date on which bidding for new IPL teams replacing disgraced teams like Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals would take place. Goenka owns about 30% stake in Atletico de Kolkata with balance distributed between partners like former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, Ambuja Neotia group head Harshavardhan Neotia and investor Utsav Parekh.
A sports holding company Kolkata Games and Sports Pvt Ltd owns the club franchisee which is the defending champion of the first season of the Indian Super League 2014. The move comes as Goenka's recent investments in its flagship power business have suffered hiccups following slowdown in core sector and lack of demand for power. With its tariff at Rs 6.97 being lowest among metros and its 600 mw power plant in Chandrapur yet to sign firm Power Purchase pacts for its full generation, Sanjiv Goenka has been looking at diversifying into areas like renewable energy and also IT through acquisition of Firstsource Solutions while Spencer's Retail continues to suffer losses at the net level. Sports, it now seems, could well be the new growth driver for the group. Meanwhile, the group's power utility CESC Ltd has reported a net profit of Rs 195 crore for the quarter ended September 30, up 1.56% from Rs 192 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.
Net sales during the quarter stood at Rs 1,757 crore, up 6.68 per cent from Rs 1,647 crore a year ago. "The profit during the quarter was flat mainly because the tariff was unchanged. The demand for power was also flat in the period. Only from the month of September, we are witnessing some pick up as power demand was up by 4.4%," Goenka said. The average peak load factor during July-September was flat 92%, while the plant availability factor was up to 99.5 per cent in the same period, Goenka said. During the quarter under review, CESC''s fuel cost was down by 20.04 per cent year-on-year to Rs 423 crore, whereas total expenses went up by 6.99 per cent to Rs 1,424 crore.
Regarding CESC's retail arm Spencer''s, Goenka said the company was doing well and was expected to break even in the December quarter. "Performance of Spencer's is improving every quarter. The monthly average same-store sales crossed Rs 1,550 per sq ft during the quarter. We expect the company to break even in the October-December quarter," Goenka said. In the first quarter, Spencer's reported an average monthly revenue of Rs 1,477 per sq ft.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "sanjiv goenka")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}