Future Retail Q4 profit up 17 per cent

For the fourth quarter Future Retail posted a 17.3 per cent increase in net profit.

Net sales increased 24 per cent. Same-store sales growth in the quarter was 13.3 per cent.

Future Retail is the operator of stores such as Big Bazaar, Easyday and Foodhall.

For the year ended March, Future Retail’s profit saw a 25-fold jump. Total income for 2016-17 more than doubled. Same-store sales growth for the financial year was 12 per cent.

Future Retail currently operates 901 retail stores across 240 cities covering a retail space of 13.8 million sq ft. The flagship Big Bazaar will also be expanded to 350 outlets from 235 currently in three to five years.

The company has built up a supply chain logistics capacity to handle 5,000 stores and centralised procurement facilities and strategic tie-ups with various FMCG companies are in place.

Future Retail plans to expand its neighborhood store chain Easyday to 4,000 outlets in five years from 538 stores currently. The expansion will include 136 stores of Heritage Fresh located in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, which it acquired in November.

The retailer has a multi-pronged strategy to boost profitability by expanding its small store network, increasing margins in the food and fast-moving consumer goods portfolio, building an omni-channel network, increasing stock velocity and leveraging its customer data across group companies to increase sales per customer.