Future Retail gleams in new avatar
With 45 per cent stock appreciation in February and almost 100 per cent in 2017, Future Retail stands as an unexpected winner on the bourses. While some part of the rally may be fuelled by impending public issue of Avenue Supermart (which operates DMart retail chain), the improvement in the company's financial performance post the restructuring exercise is also rewarding the stock.Future Retail was re-listed in August 2016, and has seen its net profit surge consecutively for the last three quarters-total profit for nine months of FY17 was Rs 245 crore. In its new avatar, the company is projected as a pure-play retailer focused on increasing same-store sales, improving product offerings and more importantly maximising capital deployment. In other words, unlike its earlier model of taking debt to expand business, Future Retail will predominately be asset-light, incurring only working capital costs. From FY15 till now, working capital days has reduced from 168 days to 104 days and...28-02-2017