OREANDA-NEWS. July 29, 2011. After an extraordinary growth in the last financial year, Titan Industries (Titan) has come up with yet another sterling performance during the first quarter of 2011-12. While the sales income grew by 62.5 per cent in Q1 over last year, the profit after tax for the same period grew by 76.4 per cent to Rs143.36 crore from Rs81.28 crore last year.

The overall growth and improvement in performance of the company in the first quarter has been triggered by good retail growth across all its brands and retail chains. The biggest contributor to growth has been the jewellery business which has had a dream quarter registering an income growth of 71.9 per cent. However the outlook for the next quarter or two is of some concern due to the continuing increase in the price of gold and more significantly, the substantial rise in the price of diamonds during the last six months.

The revenue of Titan exceeded Rs2,000 crore in a quarter for the first time. The company recorded a growth of 62.5 per cent in income, growing from Rs1,260.24 crore last year to Rs2,047.93 crore this year in Q1. The company’s PBT stands at Rs196.55 crore in Q1 as against Rs108.63 crore during the same period last year, registering a growth of 80.9 per cent. 

All businesses of the company have recorded good growth. The jewellery income in Q1 was Rs1,633.74 crore, a growth of 71.9 per cent over last year’s income of Rs950.54 crore. The watches business recorded an income of Rs313.06 crore as against Rs254.02 crore last year in Q1, a growth of 23.2 per cent. The company’s other businesses, eyewear and precision engineering, grew by 44 per cent to Rs77.45 crore. 

The company maintained the momentum of retail expansion across all its businesses and opened 30 stores in the first quarter. The company ended the quarter with a retail area crossing 8.7 lakh square feet nationally. The Titan retail chain is 696 stores strong, as on June 30, 2011, and is rapidly expanding with aggressive growth plans in place for all its retail businesses — watches, jewellery and eyewear. 

Titan has been ranked 15th in the 'Great Place to Work' study of best employees to work for, an improvement from the 19th position of last year. The company retained its number one position in this study for the second year in succession in the 'retail' category. Bhaskar Bhat, managing director, Titan, stated, “The year has begun well for us and Q1 has been a healthy quarter marked by good growth in retail and all other channels. People are our biggest asset and our company has once again been ranked first in the 'retail' category as a 'great place to work'.  The economy, however, is showing some signs of slowing down, with inflation being a major concern.”