Titan Company Limited on Tuesday posted a profit of Rs 1,047 crore during the third quarter of FY25, marginally lower than Rs 1,053 crore recorded during the corresponding quarter of FY24. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 17,740 crore, reporting a growth of 25.25 per cent in comparison to Rs 14,164 crore recorded during the third quarter of previous financial year. The company said that profitability was impacted by the change in custom duty on gold.
CK Venkataraman, Managing Director, Titan Company, said, “The custom duty related losses on the inventory (held at the time of the duty change) have been fully realized in this quarter and hence the profitability is lower to that extent.”
The previous Union Budget, presented on July 23, had announced a significant reduction in the import duty on gold. In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said, “To enhance domestic value addition in gold and precious metal jewellery in the country, I propose to reduce customs duties on gold and silver to 6 per cent and that on platinum to 6.4 per cent.”
Titan’s Q3 performance across segments
Jewellery: Total Income for the quarter grew 26 per cent over Q3FY24 to Rs 14,697 crore. The India business posted a growth of 25 per cent in the same period. Titan said that the festive quarter brought consumer cheer with secondary sales recording a 28 per cent growth buoyed by higher gold prices, wedding related purchases growing by 29 per cent and healthy same store sales growth of 22 per cent respectively compared to Q3FY24. Per Titan, gold jewellery and coins continued to be a preferred choice amongst consumers, together, clocking a strong 27 per cent growth over Q3FY24. EBIT came in at Rs 1,398 crore. Normalizing for the custom duty impact of Rs 253 crore, Q3FY25 EBIT was Rs 1,651 crore, clocking a 11.2 per cent margin. During the quarter Tanishq opened 11 new stores (net) while Mia added 13 stores in the domestic market.
Watches & Wearables: The business recorded a total income of Rs 1,128 crore, up 15 per cent over Q3FY24. The domestic business grew 14 per cent in the same period. Analog segment recorded a 20 per cent growth over Q3FY24 primarily led by Titan brand clocking 18 per cent growth in the same period. Consumer preferences for premium brands was also visible with international brand sales clocking a retail growth of 30 per cent over Q3FY24. Meanwhile, the wearables segment declined by 20 per cent with both Average Selling Prices and volumes declining by 8 per cent and 7 per cent respectively compared to Q3FY24. The company added 23 stores (net) in Q3FY25 comprising 12 stores in Titan World, 10 in Helios and 1 in Fastrack respectively.
EyeCare: Total Income stood at Rs 194 crore in Q3FY25, up 16 per cent over Q3FY24. International brand sales recorded a growth 56 per cent over Q3FY24. Within product categories, Sunglasses sales outpaced others growing 35 per cent while Frames and Lenses grew in mid-double digits over their respective Q3FY24 numbers. The division closed 3 new stores (net) during the quarter in Titan Eye+.
Emerging Businesses: The Emerging Businesses comprising Indian Dress Wear (Taneira), Fragrances, Fashion Accessories (F&FA) recorded a total income of Rs 118 crore, growing 5 per cent over Q3FY24. Taneira recorded flattish sales for the quarter. Fragrances recorded a healthy growth of 27 per cent over Q3FY24 led by 23 per cent growth in SKINN. Within Fashion Accessories, excluding the discontinued Belts & Wallets segment, Women’s Bags (IRTH & Fastrack) clocked a growth of 25 per cent over the same period last year. During the quarter, IRTH opened its first store in Mumbai, followed by a store opening in Chennai. Taneira opened 1 new store in Salem, Tamil Nadu during the quarter, taking the total store count to 82 stores covering 42 cities.
CK Venkataraman said, “The festive quarter gone by firmly established the FY25 growth trajectory after a muted Q1 and healthy Q2. Jewellery saw its strongest quarter (yet) for the fiscal year, growing well in excess of 25 per cent at a retail level. Consumer preference for gold, both as adornment jewellery and as a store of value continued to remain fairly strong. Our analog watches clocked a healthy retail growth of 20 per cent, reinforcing Titan’s customer value proposition in the eyes of the consumer. EyeCare’s retail growth returning to double-digits was encouraging.”
International business performance
The International Jewellery business recorded an income growth of 64 per cent to Rs 569 crore compared to Q3FY24, largely led by growth from the North America region and new store expansions. Other Businesses comprising primarily of analog watches grew 86 per cent compared to Q3FY24. During the quarter, 2 new Tanishq stores were opened, one in Dubai and Seattle each. The Jewellery international footprint now stands at 20 stores consisting of 18 Tanishq stores and 2 Mia stores. Titan Eye+ international presence stands at 4 stores.
“We are committed to investing in the growth of all our businesses and specifically the emerging ones to help them scale faster. We remain optimistic on our performance and hope to end the fiscal year with a good growth over FY24,” CK Venkataraman concluded.