Future Group to invest in expanding retail presence

The Future Group has decided to pump in over Rs 500 crores in 2015-16 to grow retail network. The company aims to open 20 stores of Big Bazaar, six to seven stores of Central and 10 Brand Factory stores, while increasing the store count of its convenience format chains such as Big Apple, KB’s and Nilgiris from 350 to 750.

At the end of this fiscal, the group increased number of Big Bazaar stores to 184 from 164. Big Bazaar contributes almost 90 percent share of Future Retail’s revenues. There are close to 30 Central and 40 Brand Factory stores, which are housed under Future Lifestyle. The convenience formats are part of Future Consumer Enterprise.

Big Bazaar and FBB have also announced several promotions including a 52-week campaign called Crazy Weekends, where deals and discounts will be available at Big Bazaar stores every weekend, the company has also roped in actors Varun Dhawan and Katrina Kaif as brand ambassadors for FBB.

For the nine-month period ended December 2014, Future Retail had a net profit of Rs 63.75 crores and revenue of Rs 7,418.3 crores. For the same period, net profit for Future Lifestyle Fashions stood at Rs 12.39 crores on revenue of Rs 2,280.65 crores. Future Consumer Enterprise reported net loss of Rs 53.08 crores for the period, on revenues of Rs 942 crores.