Kishore Biyani-led Future Group is planning to exit its specialty retail businesses with a view to scale up its apparel and food segments.
The Economic Times reported citing Biyani that the Group plans to sell its HomeTown brand (home furnishings business) and shut down Planet Sports (sportswear arm). It is also going to merge its electronics chain Ezone with the Group’s hypermarket chain BigBazaar.
The retail major hopes that its fashion apparel and food products units will be the main growth drivers for the company and help it scale up revenues by up to four times by 2021.
The firm, which is particularly bullish on its food segment, is also expected to cut down prices of its FMCG and fashion items to attract more clients.
An email query sent to Future Group seeking more details on the development did not elicit any response till the time of filing this report.
As part of a larger strategy, the Group earlier this year reshuffled the portfolios of some top executives and hired a new marketing head to boost revenue growth at its consumer, supply chain and retail businesses.
The group appointed Devendra Chawla as chief executive of Future Consumer Ltd and PV Sheshadri as CEO of Future Supply Chain Solutions. The group also appointed Jishnu Sen as chief marketing officer of Future Retail Ltd.
Future Consumer Enterprise Ltd, the food and consumer goods arm of the Group, offers a range of products that include Tasty Treat (processed food), Nilgiris (dairy and bakery), Sunkist (beverages), Swiss Tempelle (personal care), Kara (beauty on the go) and CleanMate (home care). It distributes its products through retail chains such as Future Group’s Big Bazaar, EasyDay, Heritage and Nilgiris outlets as well as Metro Cash & Carry and Tesco Star Bazaar.
Future Group has sealed numerous merger and acquisition deals in the recent past to expand its operations. Last November, the group entered the wholesale business by tying up with the UK-based Booker Group.
In the same month, it acquired the retail and allied businesses of Hyderabad-based Heritage Foods Ltd.
Future Group, the second-biggest brick-and-mortar retailer after billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail Ltd, had earlier acquired Big Apple and Bharti Retail. It had also purchased Nilgiris, a South India-based chain, in November 2014.
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