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India’s Titan Sees Sales Recover
May 2, 2021 8:56 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Titan Company’s sales and profit jumped sharply in the first three months of 2021, benefiting from lower gold prices and a favorable comparison with last year’s shutdown.
Group revenue — including subsidiaries — rose 59% year on year to INR 75.51 billion ($1.02 billion) in the fourth fiscal quarter ending March 31, the Indian jewelry retailer reported Thursday. Net profit leaped 66% to INR 5.68 billion ($76.4 million).
Sales were weak during the same quarter a year earlier because of the Covid-19 lockdown that went into effect during March, Titan pointed out. Sales rebounded this year in the jewelry, watches and wearables category, as well as in eyewear. The period in question finished before the latest partial lockdowns that cities such as Mumbai and Delhi have imposed amid a second coronavirus wave.
“The decline in gold prices during the quarter also gave impetus to the consumer demand for the [jewelry] industry,” the company said in a presentation for investors. “The division witnessed…broad-based growth, with strong growth in both metro and non-metro towns, [the] wedding segment and across price bands.”
Jewelry sales rose 71% to INR 66.78 billion ($898.5 million), with watch sales almost flat at INR 5.59 billion ($75.2 million). The jewelry business saw an increase in the number of buyers and the average amount each customer spent. However, profit margins for both jewelry and watches were “muted” because of a greater contribution from less lucrative products, such as gold coins and wearables, and a smaller proportion coming from studded jewelry.
For the full fiscal year until March 31, group revenue rose 3% to INR 218.3 billion ($2.94 billion) as a recovery in the second half outweighed a heavy slump during the height of the Covid-19 crisis. Still, profit dropped 35% to INR 9.74 billion ($131 million).
“The financial year ended March 2021 has indeed been a most testing one for the company, with the pandemic hitting its operations very significantly, particularly in the first half of the financial year,” said C.K. Venkataraman, Titan’s managing director. “But the bounce-back of the company on the revenue front so quickly, led entirely by the complete support of our customers and the total dedication and innovative spirit of our employees and business associates, has been extremely gratifying.”
Image: A Titan watch. (Shutterstock)
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Tags:
C.K. Venkataraman, Delhi, Gold Coins, India, Jewelry, mumbai, Rapaport News, retail, Titan, Titan Company, watches, wearables
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