Titan Company advances after Q3 update

Titan Company rose 1.58% to Rs 1157.55 after the company's jewellery division met its revised expectations for the Q3 quarter.

In an exchange filing made on Saturday, the Tata Group company announced its update for the quarter ended on 31 December 2019.

"The general economic slowdown in the economy leading to poor consumer sentiment and lower walk ins has been a concern for the last few quarters. The company experienced different consumer responses in each of its divisions. Retail sales in jewellery were better than expected at the beginning of the quarter, possibly due to a good wedding season and reasonable in-elasticity of wedding jewellery, but growth in Watches and Eyewear were difficult to come by. Sales in all divisions in the second half of December was also impacted to some extent due to forced store closures due to the protests in the North East and in many other parts of the country", Titan Company said.

The company's management in Q2 earnings call had revised its growth target of its 'jewellery' division for H2 FY20 from 20% to 11-13%.

The jewellery division witnessed revenue growth of 11% in Q3 December 2019, meeting its revised expectations for the quarter. The retail growth was actually much better at 15%. While the industry witnessed reasonable growth in the festive season, the company has done better which is evident in the market share gains.

The third quarter growth of the 'Watches & Wearables' division was flat compared to previous year. Market for watches itself is estimated to have declined by around 4% due to poor customer sentiment and this led to primary sales to trade and e-commerce channels declining sharply.

After witnessing two strong quarters, the 'Eye Wear' division's revenue grew by only 2%, primarily led by heavy competitive activity, lower primary sales to trade channels and the disruption in the second half of December due to the nation-wide protests. Growth for the year as a whole was good at 14%.

Fragrances continue to increase its distribution reach and witnessed good growth in excess of 20% during the quarter over the same period last year.

'Taneira', Titan's sarees division, opened three stores during the quarter, one each in Mumbai, Bangalore and NCR, taking the total store count for the business to ten covering five cities.

Among its subsidiaries, Titan Engineering and Automation (TEAL) continued to grow at very strong pace of 55% in Q3 on back of strong order book and winning new orders with global clients.

CaratLane's growth for the third quarter stood around 65% despite the softness in the market.

Further, CRISIL has upgraded its rating on the long-term bank facility of the company to 'CRISIL AAA/Stable' from 'CRISIL AA+/Positive.' BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) included Titan Company in its benchmark stock index with effect from 23 December 2019.

Also, Ronnie Talati, CEO of the Eyewear division, retired on 31 December 2019 after serving the company for 36 years. Saumen Bhaumik who was Chief Sales & Marketing Officer in Eye wear, has been appointed as CEO of the Division. Saumen has spent nearly 30 years in Titan in various capacities, the company concluded.

The company's consolidated net profit fell 1% to Rs 302.79 crore on a 1.7% rise in net sales to Rs 4600.71 crore in Q2 September 2019 over Q2 September 2018.

Titan Company is engaged in offering watches, jewelry and others. The company's segments include watches, jewellery, eyewear and others.

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