Future Enterprises defaults on interest payments of NCDs

NEW DELHI: Future group firm Future Enterprises Ltd (FEL) on Tuesday reported a fresh default on interest payment of non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

FEL, which is having financial troubles, had last week also informed default on interest payment of another non-convertible debenture. Before that it had on September14, 2020, defaulted in payment of commercial paper of Rs 90 crore.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, the company said it has defaulted on interest payment of Rs 16.11 crore for a gross principal amount of Rs 332 crore.

"The company is unable to service its obligations in respect of the interest on non-convertible debentures due on September 27, 2020, since September 27, 2020 was holiday, interest was due on September 28, 2020," said FEL said.

The obligation had a coupon rate of 9.60 per cent per annum and was paid on half-yearly basis on March 27 and September 27 each year.

Last month, the board of the FEL had approved amalgamation of the Future Group entities -- Future Retail with the company to facilitate Rs 24,713 crore deal to sell the retail and wholesale business to Reliance Retail, owned by oil-to-chemical conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd.

FEL develops, owns and leases retail infrastructure for the Future Group. It handles backend operations of the retail business of Future the group.

On August 29, 2020, Future group had announced to sell the retail and wholesale business to Reliance Retail.

It announced to merge key group companies including Future Retail, Future Lifestyle Fashions, Future Consumer, Future Supply Chains and Future Market Networks into FEL.

On September 15, FEL had reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 322.92 crore for the first quarter ended on June, 2020.

Its revenue from operations was down 87.31 per cent to Rs 179.39 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 1,414.73 crore of the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Recently several of lenders of Future group firms have invoked the pledged share of the promoters in several group entities, reducing their stake.