Kishore Biyani’s flagship company Future Retail Ltd (FRL) reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 692.36 crore for the September quarter on Friday as the disruption from the coronavirus pandemic took its toll. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 165.08 crore in the same quarter last fiscal year.
Income from operations fell 73.86% to Rs 1,424.21 versus Rs 5,449.06 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal year. The company saw its total expenses during the quarter fall 58.8% to Rs 2,181.85 crore from Rs 5,304.80 crore in the July-September quarter of 2019.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the company’s business operations and financial results for the quarter and six months ended September 30, 2020,” the company said in a regulatory document.
FRL operates retail chain stores such as Big Bazaar, fbb, Foodhall, Easyday, and Nilgiris.
Biyani, who agreed to sell Future Retail to Reliance Retail for Rs 24,713 crore this August, is currently embroiled in a legal tangle with Amazon.com Inc, which has opposed the deal. Amazon and Future Retail have filed submissions in the Delhi High Court.
While FRL has filed a lawsuit against Amazon in the Delhi high court to prevent it from interfering in the RIL-Future deal, the American retail giant has urged immediate intervention by regulators Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Competition Commission of India (CCI) to stop the deal.
Amazon has accused FRL of violating acquisition rules, misleading investors, ignoring the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) award and acting against small shareholders of the indebted Future Group.
Amazon won a court order from the Singapore arbitrator on October 25 to prohibit FRL from selling its retail assets to RIL.
Amazon had held that all parties had agreed to arbitration before the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) and that the approved arbitration award is valid and legal.
Biyani had said on October 14 that the retailer lost nearly Rs 7 billion of revenue in the first three to four months of the pandemic due to store closures, forcing it to sell its business to RIL.
FRL shares closed unchanged at Rs 68 on the BSE
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