Sales income for Titan Company in Q1 2016 dropped by 5.9 per cent largely on account of an extremely weak consumer sentiment and absence of the Golden Harvest Scheme in jewellery this year. The sales income declined from Rs 2,853.66 crores last year to Rs 2,686.7 crores in Q1 and the profit after tax for the same period dropped by 14.8 per cent to Rs 151.06 crores this year. The company’s PBT stands at Rs 203.61 crores in Q1 as against Rs 240.47 crores during the same period last year registering a drop of 15.3 per cent.
The watches business in Q1 this year recorded a growth of 9.1 per cent. The income of watches business grew from Rs 444.19 crores to Rs 484.54 crores. The jewellery income in Q1 was Rs 2072.03 crores as against Rs 2325.27 crores, a decline of 10.9 per cent. The jewellery business continues to face regulatory pressures that have an adverse impact on sales. The company’s eyewear business grew by a healthy 19. 7 per cent from 89.21 crores last year to Rs 106.77 crores in Q1 this year. The company’s other businesses including precision engineering grew by 36.3 per cent to Rs 46.85 crores this year.
The company has put together plans to stimulate demand for all its product categories through innovative advertising campaigns and new product launches in the coming quarters.
Retail expansion continues with a net addition of 22 stores across all its businesses in the first quarter, ending the period with a retail area of over 1.62 mn sq ft nationally. The company’s retail chain is 1223 stores strong, as on 30 June 2015 and is expanding with growth plans in place for all its retail businesses – watches, jewellery and eyewear.
Commenting on the Q1 numbers, Bhaskar Bhat, Managing Director of the company stated, “The first quarter this year has been an extremely challenging one. Retail sales for both our core businesses watches and jewellery, have been below expectations due to reduced walk-ins. May and June, in particular were poor months. Rural demand too was affected due to lowe realisations and monsoon conditions. With good monsoon in sight and festive seasons ahead, we look forward to better year ahead.”
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