Titan Ltd, a jeweller and watchmaker, reported on Friday that lower demand due to increased gold prices caused its standalone net profit to drop by 1% to Rs 770 crore in the April–June quarter from Rs 777 crore in the same quarter previous year.
In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the Tata Group company’s revenue from operations increased by 9% to Rs 11,263 crore, from Rs 10,306 crore during the same period previous year.
“In the recently presented Union Budget, the customs duty on gold imports in the country has been reduced from 15% to 6%,” Titan Managing Director CK Venkataraman stated. The jewelry sector will benefit in the long run from this trend. We anticipate that this shift will have a short-term impact, such as a value loss on duty-paid gold inventory that will be expensed over the following two quarters, but overall, we are positive about the benefits, as it creates a fair market for major enterprises like ours.”
“We saw inconsistent consumer trends in lifestyle categories in our first quarter results. He continued, “The growth metrics in watches and wearables and eyeCare were quite healthy. Titan’s jewelry business, which rides on the Tanishq and CaratLane brands and accounts for 88 per cent of overall revenue, reported a 10 per cent rise in revenue. While the unfavorable summer weather, the general elections, and fewer wedding days impacted retail walk-ins. Eight percent of the company’s income comes from the watches and wearables area, which saw a 12% increase in sales.
Titan announced a dividend of Rs 11 per share and reported a 7% increase in standalone net profit of Rs 786 crore for the January–March quarter (Q4) of the previous fiscal year.
Tanishq increased its global reach in Q4 by opening additional locations in Chicago and Dubai, bringing Titan’s jewelry business to 16 locations worldwide. Tanishq opened 11 new stores in India during the quarter, while Mia added 16 new locations.
Titan’s BSE shares ended the day 0.5% lower at Rs 3,450 a share on Friday.
