Not every development ‘material event for disclosure’: Future Retail tells BSE

Hours after the shares of Future Retail tanked amid the Singapore International Arbitration Centre’s (SIAC) refusal to exempt it from being party to the Amazon-Future Coupons arbitration proceedings, the Kishore Biyani-led retail giant has issued written updates to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on both the matters.

The company said it had raised jurisdictional objections to its inclusion as it was not party to the contract involved in the case, which began in October. However, on November 25, the SIAC dismissed the plea under Rule 28.1 of SIAC Rules 2016, and ordered for the arbitration to move ahead. It will now constitute an arbitrary tribunal to proceed.

Read: Days of Future (Retail) past: A timeline of the Biyani founded retailer’s face-off with Amazon

In the clarification letter, Future Retail said, “Every stage of the proceedings would not lend itself to being a material event for disclosure under Regulation 30 of the LODR Regulations and this disclosure is being made out of abundant caution to avoid any speculation given Amazon’s media strategy of having every development reported and converted into a line of communication with stock exchanges.”

As for the significant movement in share prices -- the company shares rose 10% three days ago and dipped 4.95% on Thursday -- Future Retail said, “We have nothing to report or comment about the increase in the price of shares of the company. The movement may be purely driven by speculative market forces and from the company's perspective, we have no comment to offer on the increase in the price of shares.”

It added that the company follows its Corporate Governance Code for the purpose of intimating stock exchanges and dissemination of information, including those that may be considered price-sensitive or related to the business operations of the company.