Rating Rationale
November 02, 2017 | Mumbai
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited
Ratings Reaffirmed
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities Rated Rs.1250 Crore
Long Term Rating CRISIL AA/Stable (Reaffirmed)
 
Rs.260 Crore Non Convertible Debentures CRISIL AA/Stable (Reaffirmed)
Rs.300 Crore Non Convertible Debentures CRISIL AA/Stable (Reaffirmed)
Rs.300 Crore Non Convertible Debentures CRISIL AA/Stable (Reaffirmed)
Rs.400 Crore Non Convertible Debentures CRISIL AA/Stable (Reaffirmed)
Rs.1250 Crore Commercial Paper CRISIL A1+ (Reaffirmed)
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL's ratings on the non-convertible debenture programme, bank loan facilities and commercial paper programme of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) continue to reflect the company's healthy business risk profile backed by the strong market position of apparel brands of the Madura division, favourable growth prospects of the Pantaloons division driven by strong brand image and pan-India presence, healthy financial flexibility and the benefits of the strong parentage of the Aditya Birla Group (ABG). These rating strengths are partially offset by the average financial risk profile with moderate debt protection metrics, the intensifying competitive landscape for the apparel sector in India, and the susceptibility of performance to economic down-cycles and to large annual addition of stores.

Analytical Approach

For arriving at its ratings, CRISIL has amortised the goodwill of Rs.1168 crores generated at the time of acquisition of the erstwhile Pantaloons Fashion & Retail Ltd (PFRL) from the Future group. CRISIL has also amortised the goodwill of Rs.628 crores and Rs. 64 crores, generated from the merger of PFRL with Madura division and the acquisition of exclusive franchise rights of Forever 21 respectively. The goodwill has been amortised over a period of five years from the date of acquisition.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description
Strengths
* Healthy business risk profile backed by strength of apparel brands of Madura division:
The Madura division of ABFRL has the leading men's apparel brands, namely Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, and Peter England. The division's brands enjoy a strong brand positioning. The franchise model of store expansion will reduce the capital requirement, thereby leading to sustenance of healthy return on capital employed (RoCE). The profitability of Madura division has moderated due to change in strategy on discounting and losses from new businesses; however, CRISIL expects the profitability to revive driven by the strength of the apparel brands in Madura.

* Favourable growth prospects for Pantaloons division driven by strong brand image and pan-India presence: ABFRL's Pantaloons division is the leader in the womenswear category and has healthy growth prospects driven by strong brand image, healthy geographic diversity, and improving profitability. Pantaloons division profitability has improved to 4.9% for fiscal 2017 as compared to 2.8% in fiscal 2014 driven by its focus on the value retail segment. It currently has a pan-India presence, with a network of 243 stores across over 70 cities and, industry-leading gross margin (45.9% in fiscal 2017) driven by high proportion of private labels.  The management plans to increase the store count by opening an additional 30 to 40 stores per year over the medium term. CRISIL believes that higher productivity of existing stores and faster turnaround of the new stores will benefit Pantaloons' business risk profile over the medium term.

* Strong management set-up and experience of the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) in consumer-facing businesses: ABFRL is expected to benefit from the group's experience of successfully handling consumer-facing businesses such as telecom, apparels, and financial services. The group has been able to substantially scale up these businesses, despite high competitive intensity in each of these segments.

* Healthy financial flexibility: CRISIL believes ABFRL's net cash accruals to remain strong going forward; this provides strong financial flexibility to the company. Further, the company has been able to refinance its debt at favourable terms, thereby reducing its interest rates and reducing repayments in the near term. ABFRL's repayments in fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2019 are Rs. 14 crores and Rs.100 crores respectively. ABG also considers retail sector as a focus area, and will continue to extend need-based support, managerial and financial, thereby benefitting its financial flexibility.

Weakness

* Average financial risk profile with moderate debt protection metrics: ABFRL has an average financial risk profile, due to high debt levels, leading to moderate debt protection metrics. Its debt stood at Rs.2045 crores as on March 31, 2017 ABFRL is expected to generate sufficient cash accrual to part-fund its capital expenditure (capex), term debt repayments, and regular working capital. Consequently, the ratio of debt-to-operating profit before depreciation interest and tax (OPBDIT) is expected to gradually decline from over 4 times for fiscal 2017.

* Intensifying competitive landscape for the apparel retail sector in India: The competitive landscape for the apparel retail sector remains high. Apart from ABG, many of India's large corporate groups, including the Tata group and Reliance Retail Ltd (a step-down subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd [rated 'CRISIL AAA/Stable/CRISIL A1+'] have ventured into apparel retail. Additionally, the sector has established players such as Lifestyle International Pvt Ltd (rated 'CRISIL AA/Stable/CRISIL A1+'), Shoppers Stop Ltd (rated 'CRISIL A1'), and Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd. Large global apparel chains such as Marks and Spencer Plc and Inditex S.A. have also entered into joint ventures with local partners to capture a slice of the market. However, CRISIL believes the strong brand franchise of Madura, coupled with the unique positioning of Pantaloons division, will benefit ABFRL

* Moderate susceptibility to economic down-cycles and to large annual addition of stores: ABFRL is also susceptible to economic down-cycles due to the discretionary nature of products. This renders the revenue and profitability of players susceptible to economic cycles. Furthermore, large expansion by retailers lead to pressure on their operating margin as earnings from existing stores do not adequately offset losses from high proportion of new stores added.
Outlook: Stable

CRISIL believes ABFRL will continue to benefit from the established position of its brands under Madura and the improving performance of the Pantaloons division.

Upside Scenario
* Significantly reduced debt levels, leading to improvement in debt protection metrics, and
* Healthy operating performance of Madura division, combined with significant and sustained improvement in operating performance of Pantaloons division

Downside Scenario:
* Increase in debt levels, leading to weakening of debt protection metrics
* ABFRL is not able to sustain the improvement in operating performance

About the Company

ABFRL is the apparel retail venture of the ABG, which has merged the Madura division (earlier a division of Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd (rated 'CRISIL AAA/Stable') with erstwhile Pantaloons Fashion & Retail Ltd (PFRL) on January 9, 2016, with appointed date of April 1, 2015. PFRL has been renamed to ABFRL subsequent to the merger of Madura division and PFRL. The Madura division is the holder of leading brands in the country, whereas PFRL holds the departmental stores under the 'Pantaloons' format. As on September 30, 2017, the company operated on a retail area of 6.7 million sq ft, with over 7,000 points of sale and over 1,800 exclusive brand outlets.

For fiscal 2017, ABFRL reported a net profit of Rs.53 crores (net loss of Rs.110 crore for the previous year) on revenues of Rs.6671 crores (Rs.6060 crores for the previous year). For the six months ended September 30, 2017, ABFRL reported a net loss of Rs.30 crores (net profit of Rs.44 crores for the corresponding period of the previous year) on an operating income of Rs.3588 crores (Rs.3314 crores for the corresponding period of the previous year).

Key Financial Indicators
Particulars Unit 2017 2016
Revenue Rs. Cr. 6671 6060
Profit After Tax (PAT) Rs. Cr. 53 -109
PAT Margins % 0.8 (1.8)
Adjusted Debt/EBITDA Times 4.1 4.6
Interest coverage Times 2.34 2.25

Any other information: Not applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments. The CRISIL complexity levels are available on www.crisil.com/complexity-levels. Users are advised to refer to the CRISIL complexity levels for instruments that they consider for investment. Users may also call the Customer Service Helpdesk with queries on specific instruments.
Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)
ISIN Name of Instrument Date of Allotment Coupon Rate (%) Maturity Date Issue Size (Rs. Crs.) Rating Assigned with Outlook
INE647O08024 NCD 22-May-13 9.20% 22-May-18 100 CRISIL AA/Stable
INE647O08032 NCD 5-May-16 8.84% 12-Apr-19 200 CRISIL AA/Stable
INE647O08040 NCD 31-May-16 8.73% 31-May-19 300 CRISIL AA/Stable
INE647O08057 NCD 10-Oct-16 8.20% 20-Apr-20 400 CRISIL AA/Stable
INE647O08065 NCD 17-Mar-17 7.70% 17-Jun-21 260 CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Commercial Paper NA NA 7-365 days 1250 CRISIL A1+
NA Long Term Loan NA NA 04-Sep-2018 3.07 CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Long Term Loan NA NA 23-Mar- 2022 4.7 CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Long Term Loan NA NA 23-Mar-2022 4.7 CRISIL AA/Stable
NA External Commercial Borrowings NA NA 11-Jan-2018 0.92 CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Cash Credit NA NA NA 59.1 CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Working Capital Demand Loan NA NA NA 29 CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Proposed long term bank loan facility NA NA NA 34.733 CRISIL AA/Stable
Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2017 (History) 2016  2015  2014  Start of 2014
Instrument Type Quantum Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Commercial Paper  ST  1250  CRISIL A1+    No Rating Change   27-04-16 CRISIL A1+    --    --  -- 
Non Convertible Debentures  LT  1260  CRISIL AA/Stable    No Rating Change  27-04-16  CRISIL AA/Stable    --    --  -- 
Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  1250  CRISIL AA/Stable    No Rating Change  18-11-16  CRISIL AA/Stable    --    --  -- 
            27-04-16  CRISIL AA/Stable/ CRISIL A1+           
Table reflects instances where rating is changed or freshly assigned. 'No Rating Change' implies that there was no rating change under the release.
 
Annexure - Details of various bank facilities
Current facilities Previous facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating
Cash Credit 591 CRISIL AA/Stable Cash Credit 541 CRISIL AA/Stable
External Commercial Borrowings 9.2 CRISIL AA/Stable External Commercial Borrowings 9.2 CRISIL AA/Stable
Long Term Loan 12.47 CRISIL AA/Stable Long Term Loan 18.19 CRISIL AA/Stable
Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility 347.33 CRISIL AA/Stable Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility 331.61 CRISIL AA/Stable
Working Capital Demand Loan 290 CRISIL AA/Stable Working Capital Demand Loan 350 CRISIL AA/Stable
Total 1250 -- Total 1250 --
Links to related criteria
CRISILs Approach to Financial Ratios
Rating criteria for manufaturing and service sector companies
Rating Criteria for Retailing Industry
CRISILs Criteria for rating short term debt

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