Titan's revenue in June 2021 quarter doubled from a year ago when business was under complete lockdown for most part

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Titan's revenue in June 2021 quarter doubled from a year ago when business was under complete lockdown for most part
Titan's revenue has doubled in the last year.Titan
  • The second wave of COVID-19 notwithstanding, Titan has managed to navigate through well enough to double its revenue compared to last year.
  • However, that alone may not be enough, with investors and analysts alike reacting adversely to the quarterly update.
  • That said, Titan has a few silver linings that it can use to stage a rebound.
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Titan, India’s largest branded jewellery maker, seems to have rebounded going by the company’s quarterly update – its revenue in the June 2021 quarter more than doubled from a year ago.

However, when put into context, the low base effect from last year has had a major impact on the Tata group company’s numbers. Investors took the stock lower by nearly 2% in the first two hours of trade on July 7.

Titan's revenue in June 2021 quarter doubled from a year ago when business was under complete lockdown for most part
Titan share priceBSE / Business Insider India / Flourish

The jewellery maker had hoped to stage a recovery this year, but the second wave of COVID-19 could play spoilsport. Strict lockdowns last year resulted in temporary store closures across the country, leading to zero revenue in the month of April.

This time around, Titan said its stores were closed for more than half of the June 2021 quarter. It was especially worse in May, when its stores were operational for only 10% of the time.

In addition to this, Titan noted that the customer outreach initiatives that helped boost its sales last year were not undertaken this time, underlining that the humanitarian impact on customers was more severe during the second wave.
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In response to the quarterly update, analysts are not too upbeat on the company’s stock. Broking firm CLSA, for instance, downgraded the stock, giving it a ‘sell’ rating and a target price of ₹1,370.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley were relatively less critical, maintaining an ‘equal-weight’ rating while downgrading the target price to ₹1,358.

Watch and wearables business a silver lining



Titan’s watch and wearables business could provide the company with some hope – the segment staged a solid recovery, registering 280% year-on-year growth. However, this business still makes up for a small part of the company’s overall profits, but nonetheless, it’s a silver lining.

The sales recovery in June is another positive aspect – Titan noted that over 90% of its stores have reopened and the footfalls are higher than last year. It is worth noting that Titan’s franchises have online stores, too, but it is likely that footfalls in their offline stores play a major role in sales.
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In its mainstay business, which is jewellery, Titan notes that the mix of buyers has reached pre-pandemic levels, so the next quarter should give us a better idea about the company’s performance.

Analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services say that the mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery, brought into effect in June, will give a further boost to Titan’s franchise when compared to its peers.

SEE ALSO:

90% of Tanishq stores are now open: Ranjani Krishnaswamy, Titan Company

Kalyan Jewellers will be going up against Titan but remains sceptical of jewellery sector going fully online

Without weddings and fewer Indians in a celebratory mood, Titan’s sales to remain muted for the next 2 years

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