DMart CEO Ignatius Navil Noronha turns billionaire amid a bull run

Avenue Supermarts Ltd operates the DMart retail stores, shares of which have seen a 113 per cent jump in 2021. On Monday, the company's shares were trading 10 per cent higher.

Asianet Newsable English

Mumbai, First Published Oct 18, 2021, 1:46 PM IST

Ignatius Navil Noronha has now become a billionaire professional manager after the Avenue Supermarts Ltd chief executive officer saw his wealth grow manifold riding the surge in company shares.

Avenue Supermarts Ltd operates the DMart retail stores, shares of which have seen a 113 per cent jump in 2021. On Monday, the company's shares were trading 10 per cent higher.

Noronha sold over 52,000 shares of DMart in September to hold a 2.02 per cent stake (1,30,74,043 shares) in the retail company. In June this year, his stake in the retail company was at 2.03 per cent.

Under Noronha, who completed his management degree from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, the consolidated profit of Avenue Supermarts Ltd jumped massively to Rs 418 crore in the September quarter. The earning comparatively in the corresponding quarter of last year was Rs 199 crore. This, despite the challenge posed by Reliance JioMart, Amazon and Flipkart.

The value of the 2.02 per cent stake held by Noronha is now pegged at over Rs 7,700 crore.

The IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021 recently featured Noronha as the richest professional manager living in India.

While talking about the company's performance, Noronha said DMart revenues grew by 46.6 per cent over the corresponding quarter of last year after the Coronavirus-related lockdown restrictions were eased further.

DMart has 187 stores that are two years or older. The retail giant has done a soft launch of DMart Ready in Surat and Vadodara.