Future Group stocks continue to fall after Amazon win in SC

Mumbai: Shares of Future Group companies tumbled on Monday, extending their declines from the previous trading session, after the Supreme Court last week upheld e-commerce giant Amazon's plea seeking to put on hold the ₹24,731-crore deal between Reliance Retail and Future Retail.

After Friday’s 10% decline, Future Retail shares tanked another 10% to close at ₹47.30. Future Consumer followed up Friday's near 9% fall with an 8% decline on Monday to ₹6.66.

Future Lifestyle Fashions and Future Enterprises also extended losses from the previous session and ended down 10% each.


Goldman Sachs said that while this court order would allow competitors to pursue Future Group, current regulations require a domestic partner with majority ownership for any foreign acquirer. “With the Future Group scaling back its store network, we view the strategic appeal of Future assets to Reliance Retail have potentially diminished,” said Goldman Sachs.

The legal battle between Future Retail and Amazon dates back to August 2020 when Reliance Retail had agreed to purchase Future Group's warehousing, wholesale and retail assets.

“Even if they file a review petition it will be a long shot for this deal to go through and if it does it will take a long time,” said Kush Katakia, founder, Beanstalk Advisory.

Over the last year, Future Retail’s revenues have been significantly hit by the coronavirus pandemic as well as a severe constraint on cash flows. Future Retail had reported a revenue of ₹6,437 crore for the financial year ended March 2021 and a net loss of ₹3,180 crore.

Future Group stocks are down over 20-40% so far this year. So far in August, they are down 21-26%.