Titan Sees Sharp Covid-19 Impact On Q4 Revenue; Eyewear Segment Drops 20%

With shopping malls shut and weddings postponed, Titan's jewellery revenue for the division declined by 5 per cent in the January-March period due to lost sales in March in spite of 16.5 per cent sales growth in the preceding months of January and February, according to a quarterly update by the company.

“This implies March sales for the company’s jewellery division would have shrunk by half in our view,” said Abneesh Roy, Senior VP, Edelweiss Financial Services.

The watches and wearables division grew by 1 per cent despite significant loss of sales in the month of March, said the Bengaluru-headquartered company. However, the disruption in March because of the Covid-19 situation led to a 20 per cent decline in eyewear segment revenues for the quarter.

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“Consequent to the serious disruptions in operations in March, revenue growth for the quarter and consequently for the year has been impacted severely. The company is working out its strategy to manage this crisis with particular focus on ensuring adequate liquidity is available till normalcy returns. Cost will be another major focus area for the company in these trying times,” said Titan.

Other businesses including fragrances and ethnic wear witnessed a strong growth of 42 per cent during the quarter over the same period last year. In fragrances, Fastrack perfumes is now available across over 1,800 outlets and ecommerce channels. The company’s ethnic wear brand Taneira opened two stores during the quarter, one each in Mumbai and Bengaluru, taking the total store count for the business to 12 covering five cities.

Suparna Mitra, who was head of sales and marketing of watches has been appointed as CEO of the watches and wearables division after Ravi Kant retired on March 31.