Future Retail nears 52-week low; slumps 21% in eight trading sessions

The stock down 3% to Rs 444 on BSE in early morning trade, quoting close to its 52-week low price of Rs 423 touched on October 8, 2018.

Shares of Future Retail were trading 3% lower at Rs 444 in early morning deals on Friday. The stock was
trading lower for the eighth straight day after the government tightened rules for e-commerce companies. The stock was quoting close to its 52-week low price of Rs 423 touched on October 8, 2018, on BSE in the intra-day trade.

In the past eight trading days, Future Retail has slipped 19% from Rs 564 on December 24, 2018, as compared to a marginal a 0.12% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Retail engages in the retail of household and consumer products through departmental store facilities under various formats in India. It operates multiple retail formats in hypermarket, supermarket, and home segments.

The government last week announced changes to e-commerce policy to check predatory pricing and deep discounting.

According to market buzz, Amazon’s deal with Future Retail is not progressing in the wake of policy changes. Amazon is in talks to pick up a 10 per cent stake in Future Retail for Rs 2,000 crore through foreign portfolio investor (FPI) route. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT

“The company evaluates various possibilities, including in relation to business association with third parties, which is always a subject matter of further feasibility studies and the need for requisite consents in accordance to the applicable laws,” Future Retail had said in August on clarification of news report that "Google, Paytm Mall may team up to shop for Future Retail stake".

“At present, since there has been no such decision taken by the board of directors of the company there is no disclosure obligation that would have otherwise triggered”, it added.

“Increasing competition from both brick and mortar and online players could impact overall same store sales growth (SSSG) of Future Retail. Competition from online delivery players, such as, bigbasket.com. grofers.com, etc., remains a key threat. Also, change in FDI norms can lead to further competition”, CARE Ratings said in press release on November 2018.

Going forward analysts at Antique Stock Broking expect margin expansion in Future Retail to continue, led by improved visibility of performance and profitability of Hypercity and small format stores and consistent growth in the fashion business.

At 10:08 am, Future Retail was trading 2% lower at Rs 450 on BSE, as compared to a 0.07% decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 429,879 equity shares changed hands on the counter on the BSE and NSE so far.