Titan content with festive quarter earnings led by growth trend in jewellery division amid the pandemic

Tata-owned Titan Company said the festive quarter ended December saw its jewellery segment posting double digit growth while watches and eyewear business achieving close to full recovery, helping its business bounce back to normal amid Covid-19 outbreak.

“The company had been expecting a good festive season given the fact that there were signs that customers wanted to feel good by stepping out and shopping after six months of being restricted primarily to their homes. Q3 did not disappoint. The jewellery division crossed the recovery phase to growth phase and other two large divisions have also moved much closer to full recovery,” Titan stated in a filing to the BSE.

The company that sells watches, jewellery and eyewear said it witnessed 15% growth (excluding sale of raw gold) in jewellery division in the third quarter driven by pent-up demand for bridal jewellery. Most weddings were postponed in the first half of the fiscal due to pandemic-led restrictions.

Improving walk-ins and sale in metros, especially in sub- Rs 1 lakh category and studded segment, sustained growth even after Dussehra-Diwali season. Ticket size continued to be higher due to higher gold rates and higher share of wedding-related products but 100% recovery in buyers (number of invoices) is yet to be seen, the company stated in its quarterly update.

Ecommerce led the recovery of watches and wearables division which clocked a recovery rate of about 88% driven by surge in footfall in shopping zones and sale of multiple products or higher ticket size product in a single invoice.

Eyewear division clocked a recovery of 92%, compared to the revenue of the same quarter last year. Other businesses such as Indian wear brand Taneira noted a revenue recovery of about 80%.

Titan had posted 8.59% increase in revenue to Rs 6225.89 crore in the same quarter in 2019 driven by good festive and wedding season. The jewellery division revenues were up by 10.6% in Q3 over 2018. Income from watches had registered marginal decline of 2.4% over 2018 on account of poor December month for sales.

Courtesy: Economic Times