SP Apparels to open 15 Crocodile stores

Coimbatore-based SP Apparels Limited, a garment manufacturing and export company which retails the Crocodile brand in India, plans to roll out 15 more company-owned Crocodile stores across the country by the end of this fiscal at a total investment of Rs 2 crore.

The locations include New Delhi, Noida, Jaipur, Mumbai, Chennai, Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Nagpur, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Vadodara and Mysore.

SP Apparels, which forayed into the Indian retail market by acquiring around 70 per cent shareholding in Crocodile Products Private Limited (Crocodile India) last year, currently has 10 company-owned stores in the country, besides 50-odd franchisee-owned outlets. It opened its second exclusive Crocodile retail store in Hyderabad on Monday.

Addressing mediapersons, P Sundar Rajan, managing director of SP Apparels, said, "Given the considerable buoyancy in tier II and tier III markets, we plan to acquire additional retail space of 1 lakh sft to the existing 40,000 sft by being present in 30 tier II and tier III cities by March 2009."

Having expanded into the domestic women's wear market with the acquisition of India's western women's wear brand 'Natalia' early this year, the company is now looking at tapping the men's wear segment.

"We intend to add another 10 product lines in the men's accessories segment including footwear, perfumes and sunglasses in the next financial year," he added. At present, it has 15 product lines.

The company's export division recorded a topline of Rs 268 crore for the year ended March 2007, registering a growth of 40 per cent.

This fiscal, it expects the division to garner Rs 300 crore, backed by bulk orders from international retailers and importers in Europe and the US.

"Our retail division has already set the base by strengthening existing markets and penetrating newer markets, recording a growth rate of 25 per cent in retail sales. Driven by this, we expect to more than double our domestic sales turnover to Rs 25 crore this fiscal, from last year's Rs 12 crore,"Sunder Rajan said.