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Tag: Sonata

  • Sonata Watches launches Poze: The new statement in trendy timekeeping

    Sonata Watches launches Poze: The new statement in trendy timekeeping

    Mumbai: Sonata, a renowned name in the watchmaking, is excited to announce the debut of its newest sub-brand, Poze. Aiming to capture the essence of contemporary fashion, Poze is designed with the modern youth in mind, offering a range of watches that complement their online persona and everyday style.

    Poze’s first line is a celebration of style and variety, crafted to suit both men and women who are actively seeking to elevate their fashion quotient. The collection is a reflection of today’s contemporary fashion, offering timepieces that add a touch of sophistication and trendy appeal to any outfit. 
    To kick off the sub brand launch, Sonata collaborated with the creative minds at DDB Mudra Group, a marketing and branding agency, to produce a captivating campaign film titled “What’s Your Poze?” The film not only showcases the unique charm of Poze watches but also invites individuals to explore their personal style and express themselves through the brand’s distinctive timepieces.

    “At Sonata, we are dedicated to bringing the latest in fashionable timekeeping to our discerning customers. With Poze, we continue this tradition by offering a range of watches that are as much about making a personal style statement as they are about timekeeping. We invite the youth to define their style statements with Poze’s stunning selection, available at price points that make fashion-forward timekeeping accessible to everyone,” said Sonata marketing & product head Prateek Gupta.

  • Sushant Singh Rajput: A beloved of brands

    Sushant Singh Rajput: A beloved of brands

    NEW DELHI: The sudden demise of popular actor Sushant Singh Rajput has shocked the entire nation. The beloved actor who successfully transitioned from television to films made a mark for himself in a short span. His speculative acting, cheerful smile and the humble attitude towards fans and others gained him a special place in the heart of millions. 

    Prime minister Narendra Modi also condoled his death, saying ‘a bright young actor gone too soon.’

    His aura wasn’t restricted to the film industry but trickled down to the advertising world also. He was among those stars who had a kitty full of brands and was recognised for his quality work instead of quantity. 

    In 2011, he was spotted for the first time in a TVC of LUX soap with Aishwarya Rai. In 2013, Pepsi announced him as a brand ambassador for its sub-brand Pepsi Atom. He was seen promoting the product in ad campaigns. Rajput endorsed multiple brands and a variety of products ranging from Kingfisher, Lux Cozi, Garnier Men, Nissan Terrano to Close up, Flying Machine and One Plus.

    However, clear with his choice, he refused to endorse a fairness cream, and even rejected a proposal of Rs 15 crore, as he found it racist. 

    In 2018, Rajput joined hands with NITI Aayog to promote women entrepreneurship and motivate women to come forward and build a vibrant ecosystem. At the same time, he was seen promoting NITI Aayog’s digital payments campaign transforming India into a less-cash economy. 

    For another cause, he partnered with DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance to launch the Behtar India campaign, with an aim to take India towards a healthier, cleaner and greener future towards building a better India.

    Here’s a look at his most appealing ad campaigns over the years:

    Donear NXG
    Menswear brand Donear NXG collaborated with Rajput as its new brand ambassador. He was seen promoting the latest collection of the brand. 

    BATA
    European footwear major Bata roped him as a brand ambassador in 2018 to promote its casual range of footwears, and help brand become more relevant and aspirational among the younger generation.

    Whirlpool
    In 2018, the brand announced the association of Rajput along with Kriti Sanon to promote its wide range of appliances, and help accelerate the brand’s value among the new age customers. The duo was seen promoting various products in different ad campaigns.

    Syska
    In 2017, when the brand forayed into personal grooming category, it roped Rajput as its first brand ambassador to connect with the target audience. The move was intended so that the brand becomes familiar not only in the metro but also in the non-metro cities.

    Sonata
    Tata Group’s affordable watch brand Sonata roped in Rajput in 2017. The brand intended to showcase the aspiration of younger generations by the bold choices they make. The ad film, Khud Par Yakeen Karo was highly praised by people.

    He debuted with Zee TV’s popular daily soap Pavitra Rishta and soon entered Bollywood with his first film Kai Po Che! in 2013. The actor was critically praised for his performance in the film. His films such as PK, Kedarnath, Shuddh Desi Romance and MS Dhoni: The Untold Story helped him achieve tremendous success and established him in the Bollywood industry. He also played the role of an Indian detective in Byomkesh Bakshy for which he received critical acclaim. His latest movie, Chhichhore, won applauds from the audience. The actor will be posthumously seen in his last film Dil Bechara which was slated to release in May but postponed due to ongoing lockdown. The film will be  released online.

  • Q2-17: Ad exp up, gold hedging helps Titan’s numbers

    Q2-17: Ad exp up, gold hedging helps Titan’s numbers

    BENGALURU: The Titan Company Limited (Titan) which believes in delivering value through brands had higher advertising spends (ad spends) in the quarter ended 30 September 2016 (Q2-17, current quarter) as compared to the corresponding year ago (y-o-y) quarter Q2-16. The company’s ad expense in the current quarter was up 9.4 percent y-o-y at Rs 98.08 crore as compared to the Rs 89.64 crore in Q2-16.

    The company’s bottomline (Profit after tax- PAT) increased 23.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 180.76 crore in Q2-17 as compared to Rs 146.35 crore. Total comprehensive income (TCI) in the current quarter was increasedfurther by a gain of Rs 100.26 crore due hedging instruments for gold price hedging, the unutilized portion of which Titan recognised as an expense head in its profit and loss statement. TCI in Q2-17 was 89.7 percent higher y-o-y at Rs 269.37 crore as compared to Rs 141.97 crore in Q2-16.

    Segment Performance

    Titan has 4 revenue segments – watches having five majorwatch brands –Titan, Xylus, Nebula, Sonata, Fastrack, and three point of sales brands – World of Titan, Helios and Fastrack; Jewellery with Tanishq, Zoya, Gold Plus from Tata and sub brand Mia; Eyewear under the Titan EYE+, Fastrack, Glares and Cabana brandsand ‘Other’ such as precision engineering among others.

    Titan’s Jewellery business is its major revenue generating stream that contributes more than70 percent to the company’s revenue.  In the current quarter, jewellery business revenue was almost flat (grew 0.2 percent, grew by Rs 4.79 crore) y-o-y to Rs 1,987.51 crore (74.3 percent of net sales) from Rs 1982.72 crore (73.9 percent of net sales). The company says that performance of the diamond studded jewellery segment was much better than plain gold segment.

    The company’s Watches division is the next major division in terms of revenue contribution. Revenues from watches declined5.2 percent (reduced by Rs 28.75 crore) y-o-y to Rs 52.369 crore (19.6 percent net sales) from Rs 552.44 crore (20.6 percent net sales).  Titan explains the reason for the decline in a release that says the Watches division continued to exhibit a decent performance in the domestic market but the overall business declined due to lack of growth in some of its international markets as well as its service business which went through re-structuring.

    Titan’s Eyewear business which contributes about 3 to 4 percent to the company’s revenue, reported 6.6 percent (increased by Rs5.86 crore) y-o-y growth in revenue to Rs95.19 crore (3.6 percent of TIO) from Rs 89.33 crore (3.3 percent of TIO).

    Titan’s TIO in the current quarter was also flat (declined 0.2percent, reduced by Rs5.57 crore) y-o-y to Rs 2,675.77 crore from Rs 2,681.34 crore.

    Advertisement spend trends

    Please refer to fig A below for Titan’s Ad expenses over a nineteen quarter period starting Q4-12 (quarter ended March 31, 2012) until the current quarter. It may be noted that Titan has started reporting its numbers as per the Indian Accounting System (IND AS) since Q1-17 and hence the numbers in the charts may not be accurate – this report and the charts are meant as an approximate representation of the company’s numbers.

    During the nineteen quarter period under consideration in this report, Titan’s Ad spends were the highest in Q1-16, both in absolute rupees and in terms of percentage of TIO. Lowest Ad spends during the same period in absolute rupees and in terms of percentage of TIO waslowest in Q4-13 at Rs 66.63 crore and 2.5 percent of TIO respectively.

    Also, during the nineteen quarter period under consideration in this report, Titan’s ad spends show a linear increasing trend in terms of absolute rupees as indicated by the broken blue trend line, while ad spends in terms of percentage of TIO show a slow linear decline as indicated by the broken maroon line in Fig A.

    public://TITAN-AD.jpg

    Company Speak

    Titan Managing Director Bhaskar Bhat said, “This was an extremely good quarter for the Company with respect to profits. All businesses of the company recorded profits in the quarter. The Jewellery business had an extremely good studded jewellery activation and the Watches business launched its second smart watch, Juxt Pro. All our retail channels grew. The festive season has commenced very well. For the Dussehra to Diwali festive period, Tanishq registered a growth of 39 percent over last year. In watches, for the same period, our World of Titan stores grew by 14 percent and Helios stores by 11 percent in retail sales.”

    Note:(1)Titan has started reporting its numbers as per the Indian Accounting System (IND AS) since Q1-17 and hence the numbers in the charts may not be accurate – this report and the charts are meant as an approximate representation of the company’s numbers.

    (2) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • Q2-17: Ad exp up, gold hedging helps Titan’s numbers

    Q2-17: Ad exp up, gold hedging helps Titan’s numbers

    BENGALURU: The Titan Company Limited (Titan) which believes in delivering value through brands had higher advertising spends (ad spends) in the quarter ended 30 September 2016 (Q2-17, current quarter) as compared to the corresponding year ago (y-o-y) quarter Q2-16. The company’s ad expense in the current quarter was up 9.4 percent y-o-y at Rs 98.08 crore as compared to the Rs 89.64 crore in Q2-16.

    The company’s bottomline (Profit after tax- PAT) increased 23.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 180.76 crore in Q2-17 as compared to Rs 146.35 crore. Total comprehensive income (TCI) in the current quarter was increasedfurther by a gain of Rs 100.26 crore due hedging instruments for gold price hedging, the unutilized portion of which Titan recognised as an expense head in its profit and loss statement. TCI in Q2-17 was 89.7 percent higher y-o-y at Rs 269.37 crore as compared to Rs 141.97 crore in Q2-16.

    Segment Performance

    Titan has 4 revenue segments – watches having five majorwatch brands –Titan, Xylus, Nebula, Sonata, Fastrack, and three point of sales brands – World of Titan, Helios and Fastrack; Jewellery with Tanishq, Zoya, Gold Plus from Tata and sub brand Mia; Eyewear under the Titan EYE+, Fastrack, Glares and Cabana brandsand ‘Other’ such as precision engineering among others.

    Titan’s Jewellery business is its major revenue generating stream that contributes more than70 percent to the company’s revenue.  In the current quarter, jewellery business revenue was almost flat (grew 0.2 percent, grew by Rs 4.79 crore) y-o-y to Rs 1,987.51 crore (74.3 percent of net sales) from Rs 1982.72 crore (73.9 percent of net sales). The company says that performance of the diamond studded jewellery segment was much better than plain gold segment.

    The company’s Watches division is the next major division in terms of revenue contribution. Revenues from watches declined5.2 percent (reduced by Rs 28.75 crore) y-o-y to Rs 52.369 crore (19.6 percent net sales) from Rs 552.44 crore (20.6 percent net sales).  Titan explains the reason for the decline in a release that says the Watches division continued to exhibit a decent performance in the domestic market but the overall business declined due to lack of growth in some of its international markets as well as its service business which went through re-structuring.

    Titan’s Eyewear business which contributes about 3 to 4 percent to the company’s revenue, reported 6.6 percent (increased by Rs5.86 crore) y-o-y growth in revenue to Rs95.19 crore (3.6 percent of TIO) from Rs 89.33 crore (3.3 percent of TIO).

    Titan’s TIO in the current quarter was also flat (declined 0.2percent, reduced by Rs5.57 crore) y-o-y to Rs 2,675.77 crore from Rs 2,681.34 crore.

    Advertisement spend trends

    Please refer to fig A below for Titan’s Ad expenses over a nineteen quarter period starting Q4-12 (quarter ended March 31, 2012) until the current quarter. It may be noted that Titan has started reporting its numbers as per the Indian Accounting System (IND AS) since Q1-17 and hence the numbers in the charts may not be accurate – this report and the charts are meant as an approximate representation of the company’s numbers.

    During the nineteen quarter period under consideration in this report, Titan’s Ad spends were the highest in Q1-16, both in absolute rupees and in terms of percentage of TIO. Lowest Ad spends during the same period in absolute rupees and in terms of percentage of TIO waslowest in Q4-13 at Rs 66.63 crore and 2.5 percent of TIO respectively.

    Also, during the nineteen quarter period under consideration in this report, Titan’s ad spends show a linear increasing trend in terms of absolute rupees as indicated by the broken blue trend line, while ad spends in terms of percentage of TIO show a slow linear decline as indicated by the broken maroon line in Fig A.

    public://TITAN-AD.jpg

    Company Speak

    Titan Managing Director Bhaskar Bhat said, “This was an extremely good quarter for the Company with respect to profits. All businesses of the company recorded profits in the quarter. The Jewellery business had an extremely good studded jewellery activation and the Watches business launched its second smart watch, Juxt Pro. All our retail channels grew. The festive season has commenced very well. For the Dussehra to Diwali festive period, Tanishq registered a growth of 39 percent over last year. In watches, for the same period, our World of Titan stores grew by 14 percent and Helios stores by 11 percent in retail sales.”

    Note:(1)Titan has started reporting its numbers as per the Indian Accounting System (IND AS) since Q1-17 and hence the numbers in the charts may not be accurate – this report and the charts are meant as an approximate representation of the company’s numbers.

    (2) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • Q2-2016: Ad exp down 30.5 percent; watches sales grow, jewellery pulls down Titan’s numbers

    Q2-2016: Ad exp down 30.5 percent; watches sales grow, jewellery pulls down Titan’s numbers

    BENGALURU: Last quarter (Q1-2016) Titan Company Limited (Titan) spent the highest amount towards advertisement (Ad spend) both in terms of absolute rupees and percentage of Total Income from Operations (TIO) at Rs 128.84 crore and 4.8 percent of TIO.  This quarter (quarter ended September 30, 2015, Q2-2016, current quarter), Titan reduced its Ad Exp by 15.4 percent YoY to Rs 89.52 crore (3.3 percent of TIO as compared to Rs 105.83 crore (2.9 percent of TIO) and reduced Ad exp QoQ by 30.5 percent from the figures mentioned above for Q1-2016.

    Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

    Segment Performance

    Titan has 4 revenue segments – watches having the brands –Titan, Xylus, Nebula, Sonata, Fastrack and Zoop; Jewellery with Tanishq, Zoya, Gold Plus from Tata, Mia and Fq teen diamonds; Eyewear under the Titan EYE+ brand and ‘Other’ such as precision engineering among others.

    Titan’s Jewellery business is its major revenue generating stream that contributes more than 70 percent to the company’s revenue.  In the current quarter, jewellery business revenue reduced 32.9 percent (declined by Rs 1,000 crore) YoY to Rs 1,929 crore (72.7 percent net sales) from Rs 2,929 crore (82.2 percent of net sales). The company’s Watches division is the next major division in terms of revenue contribution. Revenues from watches grew 4.4 percent (increased by Rs 23 crore) YoY to Rs 546 crore (20.6 percent net sales) from Rs 523 crore (14.7 percent net sales).  Titan explains the reason for the decline in a release that says that retail sentiment has been extremely poor in this quarter and that the watches division, backed by activations for both Titan and Fastrack brands grew in income by 4.4 percent. A new sub-brand ‘SF’ by Sonata in the adventure sports segment was launched during the current quarter.

    Titan’s Eyewear business which contributes just 2 to 3 percent to the company’s revenue, reported 14.3 percent (increased by Rs 11 crore) YoY growth in revenue to Rs 88 crore (3.3 percent of TIO) from Rs 77 crore (2.2 percent of TIO). On a YTD basis, (6 months of the current fiscal), Titan says that the decline in profits from this segment is due to higher Sales promotion and Advertising costs in the first quarter.

    As a consequence of the huge decline in revenue from Jewellery sales, Titan’s TIO in the current quarter fell 25.6 percent (reduced by Rs 919.59 crore) YoY to Rs 2,673.48 crore from Rs 3,593.07 crore. Net Sales fell 25.5 percent (reduced by Rs 910 crore) YoY to Rs 2655 crore from Rs 3565 crore. Qoq, the TIO decline was much lower at 1.3 percent from Rs 2708.59 crore. QoQ, net sales in the current quarter reduced by 1.2 percent (reduced by Rs 32 crore) as compared to Rs 2,687 crore.

    Advertisement spend trends

    Please refer to fig A below for Titan’s Ad expenses over a fifteen month period starting Q4-2012 (quarter ended March 31, 2012) until the current quarter.

    As mentioned above, during the fifteen quarter period under consideration in this report, Titan’s Ad spends were the highest in the previous quarter (Q1-2016), both in absolute rupees and in terms of percentage of TIO. Lowest Ad spends  during the same period in absolute rupees and in terms of percentage of TIO were in Q4-2103 at Rs 66.63 crore and 2.5 percent of TIO respectively.

    During the fifteen quarter period under consideration in this report, Titan’s ad spends show a linear increasing trend in terms of absolute rupees as indicated by the broken blue trend line, while ad spends in terms of percentage of TIO show a slow linear decline as indicated by the broken maroon line in Fig A.

    Please refer to Figure B below. As mentioned above, the company’s TIO in Q2-2016 fell 25.2 percent YoY and reduced 1.3 percent QoQ. During the fifteen quarter period under consideration in this report, TIO shows a linear increasing trend as indicated by the broken orange trend line in the figure below.

    PAT in Q2-2016 at Rs 145.39 crore (5.8 percent margin) reduced 39.4 percent YoY from Rs 239.98 crore (7.3 percent margin) and reduced 3.8 percent QoQ from Rs 151.06 crore (6 percent margin). PAT in absolute rupees and in terms of percentage of TIO (margin) show a linear increasing trend as indicated by the broken military green and broken grey trend lines in the figure below during the fifteen month period under consideration in this report.

    Company Speak

    Titan Managing Director Bhaskar Bhat said, “This was an extremely challenging quarter for the company and we witnessed an income decline of 25 percent. While our watches business witnessed a growth of low single digit at 4.4 percent the jewellery business had a difficult quarter with a decline over last year. The industry saw a tough period with gold imports declining significantly. The decline in jewellery sales was also on account of discontinuation of our Golden Harvest Scheme. The Eyewear business continues to register double digit growth. All our brands are working on new product and marketing campaigns for the festive season ahead.”

  • Q1-2016: Titan ad spends up 30% at Rs 128.84 crore

    Q1-2016: Titan ad spends up 30% at Rs 128.84 crore

    BENGALURU: Titan Company Limited (Titan) spent the highest amount in absolute rupees and in terms of per centage of Total Income from operations (TIO) towards advertisements in the quarter ended 30 June, 2015 (Q1-2016), during a 14 quarter period that has been considered in this report. The company‘s ad spend in the current quarter at Rs 128.84 crore (4.8 per cent of TIO) was 29.8 per cent more than the Rs 99.25 crore (3.4 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2015 and 60.4 per cent more than the Rs 80.30 crore (3.2 per cent of TIO) in the immediate trailing quarter.

    Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

    Businesses and Brands

    Titan has three revenue segments – watches comprising the brands –Titan, Xylus, Nebula, Sonata, Fastrack and Zoop; Jewellery with Tanishq, Zoya, Gold Plus from Tata, Mia and Fq teen diamonds; and ‘Other’ such as eyewear under the Titan EYE+ brand, apparel and eyewear also under Fastrack brand and precision engineering among others.

    Segment Performance

    Titan’s watches business in Q1-2016 recorded a growth of 9.1 per cent with income of watches business growing from Rs 444.19 crores to Rs 484.54 crores. The Jewellery income in Q1-2016 was Rs 2072.03 crores as against Rs 2325.27 crores, a decline of 10.9 per cent. The company says that jewellery business continues to face regulatory pressures that have an adverse impact on sales. Titan’s Eyewear business grew by 19.7 per cent from Rs 89.21 crores last year to Rs 106.77 crores in Q1-2016. The company’s other businesses including Precision Engineering grew by 36.3 per cent, to Rs 46.85 crores in the current quarter.

    The companys says that it has put together plans to stimulate demand for all its product categories through innovative advertising campaigns and new product launches in the coming quarters.

    Retail expansion continued with a net addition of 22 stores across all its businesses in Q1-2016, ending the period with a retail area of over 16.2 lakh square feet nationally. Titan’s retail chain is now 1223 stores strong, as on 30 June, 2015 and is expanding with growth plans in place for all its retail businesses – watches, jewellery and eyewear.

    Advertisement spend trends

    Please refer to Fig A below. As mentioned above, during the fourteen quarter period starting Q4-2014 until Q1-2016, Titan’s ad spends were the highest in the current quarter, both in absolute rupees and in terms of percentage of TIO. Lowest ad spends in absolute rupees and in terms of percentage of TIO was in Q4-2103 at Rs 66.63 crore and 2.5 per cent of TIO respectively during the same period.

    During the fourteen quarter period under consideration in this report, Titan’s ad spends show a linear increasing trend in terms of absolute rupees as indicated by the broken blue trend line, while ad spends in terms of percentage of TIO show a slow linear decline as indicated by the broken maroon line in Fig A.

    Please refer to Figure B below. The company’s TIO in Q1-2016 fell 6.3 per cent to Rs 2708.59 crore as compared to the Rs 2891.44 crore in Q1-2015 but was 8.5 per cent more than the Rs 2496.19 crore in Q4-2015. During the fourteen quarter period under consideration in this report, TIO shows a linear increasing trend a indicated by the broken orange trend line in the figure below.

    PAT in Q1-2016 at Rs 151.06 crore (six per cent margin) declined 14.8 per cent as compared to the Rs 177.27 crore (6.1 per cent margin) and was 29.8 per cent lower than the Rs 215.09 crore (9.6 per cent of TIO) in Q4-2015. PAT in absolute rupees and in terms of percentage of TIO (margin) show a linear increasing trend as indicated by the broken military green and broken grey trend lines in the figure below.

    Company speak

    Titan managing director Bhaskar Bhat said, “The first quarter this year has been an extremely challenging one. Retail sales for both our core businesses watches & jewellery, have been below expectations due to reduced walk-ins. May and June, in particular were poor months. Rural demand too was affected due to lower realizations and monsoon conditions. With good monsoon in sight and festive season ahead, we look forward to a better year ahead. ”

  • Titan’s Q4-2014 q-o-q Ad expenses down 26 per cent

    Titan’s Q4-2014 q-o-q Ad expenses down 26 per cent

    BENGALURU:  Titan Company (Titan), formerly known as Titan Industries, reported a (-25.98) per cent drop in advertisement expenses (Advt Exp) in Q4-2014 at Rs 87.37 crore (3.12 per cent of Income from Operations or Op Inc) as compared to the Rs 118.04 crore (4.18 per cent on Op Inc) in the immediate trailing quarter Q3-2014, but 31.13 per cent more than the Rs 66.663 crore (2.55 per cent of Op Inc) spent in the year ago quarter of Q4-2013.

    Note: Rs 100 lakh = Rs100,00,000 = Rs 1 crore = Rs 10 million

    Titan has three revenue segments – watches with five major brands – Titan, Xylus, Nebula, Sonata and Fastrack; Jewellery (the largest segment in terms of revenue and consequently profits) with Tanishq, Zoya, Gold Plus from Tata, Mia and Fq teen diamonds; and ‘Others’ that include eyewear under the Titan EYE+ brand, apparel and eyewear also under Fastrack brand and precision engineering among others.

    Over nine quarters staring from Q4-2012 until Q4-2014, Titan’s Advt Exp shows an upward trend in terms of absolute rupee value, but a drop in terms of Advt Exp as percentage of Op Inc.

    During FY-2014, Titan spent 7.25 per cent more towards Advt Exp at Rs 404.43 crore (3.7 per cent of Op Inc) as compared to the Rs 377.09 crore ((3.73 per cent of Op Inc). Though the Advt Exp in terms of absolute rupees in FY-2014 was higher, in terms of percentage of Op Inc, the drop in Advt Exp was 0.03 per cent.

    Please refer to Fig 1 and Fig 1A below for Titan’s Advt Exp trends.

    Titan’s Op Inc for Q4-2014 at Rs 2803.38 crore was 4.77 per cent more than the Rs 2675.77 crore in Q3-2014 and was 7.28 per cent more than the Rs 2613.24 crore in Q4-2013. In FY-2014, Titan’s Op Inc at Rs 10915.79 crore was 7.94 per cent more than the Rs 10112.67 crore in FY-2013.

    PAT for Q4-2014 at Rs 206.44 crore  (7.36 per cent of Op Inc) was 24.68 per cent more than the Rs 165.57 crore  (6.19 per cent of Op Inc) in Q3-2014 and 11.61 per cent more y-o-y than the Rs 184.97 crore (7.08 per cent of Op Inc). PAT for FY-2014 at Rs 741.14 crore (6.79 per cent of Op Inc) was 2.2 per cent more than the Rs 725.18 crore (7.17 per cent of Op Inc) in FY-2013. Please refer to Fig 2 and Fig 2A for Op Inc and PAT details.

    The company says that weak consumer demand continues and this is affecting growth in both watches and jewellery. It claims that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given approval to it for hedging of its gold inventory on international commodity exchanges – brings back efficiency to hedging.

    Titan says further that issues with gold supply in the market persist – high premium on gold continues encouraging smuggling and though the sale of gold coins has resumed the uptake has been very lukewarm.

    It avers that Titan’s focus on retail network expansion continues – 39 stores (44000 sq. ft.) were added during

    Q4-2014 across divisions. Year-to-date there has been an addition of 125 stores (180,000 sq. ft), including 30 TitanOne conversions.

    Titan informs that it has entered into a JV agreement with Montblanc for single brand retail trade in India

  • Titan’s Q3-2014 higher q-o-q advertising spend helps improve income

    Titan’s Q3-2014 higher q-o-q advertising spend helps improve income

    BENGALURU: India’s largest specialty retailer, Titan Company (Titan), formerly known as Titan Industries, reported a 25.11 per cent increase in ad spends to Rs 118.04 crore in Q3-2014 as compared to the Rs 94.35 crore during the immediate trailing quarter that resulted in a 15.74 per cent jump in operating income to Rs 2650.46 crore as compared to the Rs 2290.02 crore in Q2-2014.

     

    Titan has three revenue segments – watches with five major brands – Titan, Xylus, Nebula, Sonata and Fastrack; Jewellery (the largest segment in terms of revenue and consequently profits) with Tanishq, Zoya, Gold Plus from Tata, Mia and Fq teen diamonds; and ‘Others’ that include eyewear under the Titan EYE+ brand, apparel and eyewear also under Fastrack brand and precision engineering among others.

     

    Facing a slowdown in the economy along with inflation resulted in weak consumer demand. Titan says that its jewellery segment witnessed a sharp decline in demand. The other factors that affected the jewellery segment’s performance included: average gold price during the quarter was 10 per cent lower than previous year level; RBI’s ban on gold-on-lease facility continues even today; Issues with gold supply in the market persist – premium on gold was above 10 per cent of gold rate in the quarter; Sale of gold coins was discontinued to help the government’s efforts to reduce CAD.

     

    During the nine month period that ended December 31, 2013, Titan’s ad spend was up by 2.13 per cent at Rs 317.06 crore as compared to the Rs 310.46 crore during the corresponding period of last year. Operating revenue for the current nine month period was 8.26 per cent higher at Rs 8028.77 crore as compared to the Rs 7415.92 crore during the corresponding period of last year. Titan had spent Rs 377.09 crore during FY2013.

     

    However, the company’s Q3-2014 operating revenue was 13.64 per cent lower than the Rs 2962.89 crore in Q3-2013. PAT for Q3-2014 at Rs 165.57 crore too was 11.29 per cent lower than the Rs 186.65 crore in Q2-2014 and lower by 18.81 per cent than the Rs 203.92 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year. Its nine month PAT for the current period at Rs 534.70 crore was 1.2 per cent lower than the Rs 540.21 crore during the corresponding period of last year.

     

    Let us look at the percentages of total revenues spent towards advertising by Titan…

     

    Last fiscal (FY2013) Titan spent Rs 377.09 crore or 3.73 per cent of its total revenue of Rs 10112.67 crore.

     

    During the nine month period in the current fiscal, Titan’s ad spend was 3.91 per cent of total revenue of Rs 8112.41 crore, while during the nine month period of the previous fiscal, its ad spend was 4.14 per cent of revenue of Rs 7415.92 crore.

     

    During Q3-2014, Titan spent 4.41 per cent of its total revenue of Rs 2675.77 crore; in Q2-2014, ad spend was 4.05 per cent of total revenue of Rs 2328.97 crore, while in Q3-2013 it spent 3.6 per cent of total revenue of Rs 3017.8 crore.

     

    The watch segment revenue during Q3-2014 at Rs 455.58 crore grew by 2.97 per cent as compared to the Rs 442.36 crore during the immediate trailing quarter and 7.54 per cent more than the Rs 423.53 crore in Q3-2013. The result from this segment at Rs 51.3 crore was 10.49 per cent more than the Rs 46.43 crore from Q2-2014 and 0.29 per cent more than the Rs 51.15 crore in Q3-2013.

     

    Titan’s jewellery segment had revenue of Rs 2126.67 crore for Q3-2014 which was 18.28 per cent higher than the Rs 1798.07 crore in Q2-2014, but 15.45 per cent lower than the Rs 2515.24 crore in Q3-2013. Its result for Q3-2014 at Rs 216.9 crore was 9.96 per cent lower than the Rs 240.89 crore in Q2-2014 and 12.03 per cent lower than the Rs 246.57 crore in Q3-2013.

     

    The ‘Others’ segment of the brand reported revenue of Rs 116.52 crore during Q3-2014 which was 2.15 per cent more than the Rs 114.07 crore in Q2-2014 and 18.58 per cent more than the Rs 98.26 crore in Q3-2013. This segment returned a loss of Rs (-1.68) crore in Q3-2014; loss of Rs (-0.25) crore is Q2-2014 and a profit of Rs 1.7 crore during Q3-2013.

     

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