Future Group Q3 FY'13 sales grow 6.5%

The company’s standalone business, posted a total income from operation of Rs 362 crore and EBIDTA of Rs 38 crore. The standalone business primarily includes its home and consumer durables retailing business.

The financial numbers are not comparable with September 2012 quarter due to the demergers of its lifestyle fashion businesses that included Central, Brand Factory, Pantaloons, among others.

The company’s largest subsidiary, Future Value Retail Limited (FVRL) operates Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar chains. FVRL’s posted a total income of Rs 1,954 crore for quarter ended September 2013, compared to Rs 1,835 crore for quarter ended September 2012, marking a growth of 6.5%. The company posted an EBIDTA of Rs173 crore for quarter ended September 2013, compared to Rs145 crore, marking a growth of 19.1%.

The company’s continued focus on improving efficiencies and productivity at stores and its merchandise mix helped gross margins improve from 25.1% to 25.7% year-on-year and EBIDTA margins improving from 7.9% to 8.9% year-on-year.

The company’s core retail business that includes all its retail business posted a turnover of Rs 2,317 crore and an EBIDTA of Rs 211 crore. The company is in the process of merging its wholly-owned subsidiary FVRL with itself and regulatory approval is pending on this process.

Same Store Sales Growth

The Same Store Sales Growth for FVRL, which operates Big Bazaar is 8%, while that for its standalone business, which includes its home and consumer durables chains Home Town and eZone is 7.4%.

Store Additions

During the quarter, Big Bazaar added its 12th Kolkata store and 11th store Mumbai store; strengthening its position in these cities. It also established its presence in Agartala and Kochi by adding its first Big Bazaar store in each of these cities.

During the quarter the company also opened eZone stores in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Mysore. The company also added HomeTown Express stores in Hyderabad and Lucknow.

The total gross addition during the quarter was 0.26 million sq feet space and total operational area increased from 10.27 million sq ft in the previous quarter to 10.34 million sq ft space.

Future Group