In an Analyst meet, the Sr. Executives of Pantaloon Retail India Ltd including founder Chairman and Pioneer of Indian Retail Kishore Biyani sounded positive about the business. Here is an excerpt from the same.
- Consumer demand has picked up sharply in the last two weeks, and the company has various alternate funding plans to expand its business
- The management has also expressed its intention to improve transparency through better communication with investors.
- Consumer spending in some categories [Food, Apparels] is nearly back to the peak witnessed in the last 18 months.
- Home Town Retail had been particularly badly hit in this downturn; it is now witnessing a sharp reversal in growth trend, furniture and furnishings.
- Management still cautious about costs. Growth should not be chased but should be well measured
- Entering new business shall be calibrated
- No employee addition in the past 6 months but company managed to add 10% new retail space [see chart below]
- Future Group is not interested in picking any struggling retail business in India but believes competitors like Aditya Birla, Tata, Shoppers’ Stop etc are likely to continue to build their retail businesses and will emerge as some of India’s significant retailers.
The chart below shows format wise retail space of Pantaloon / Future Markets Consumer Group, so far the largest retailer in India.