Titan says December 'sales in all divisions' hit by protests in various parts of country

New Delhi, Jan 4 () Tata Group firm Titan Company on Saturday said its sales in December were hit due to protests in the North East and other parts of the country.

"Sales in all divisions in the second half of December were also impacted to some extent due to forced store closures due to the protests in the North East and in many other parts of the country," the company said in a filing to the BSE.

Thousands of people held protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in various parts of the country.

The general economic slowdown in the economy leading to poor consumer sentiment and lower walk-ins has been a concern for the last few quarters, it said.

The company experienced different consumer responses in each of its divisions.

Retail sales in jewellery were better than expected at the beginning of the third quarter of FY'20, possibly due to a good wedding season and reasonable inelasticity of wedding jewellery, but growth in watches and eyewear were difficult to come by.

In the jewellery segment, the company itself did better and market share gains were evident, the company statement said.

"The division met its revised expectations for the quarter. While the revenue growth for quarter is 11 per cent, the retail growth was actually much better at 15 per cent," it said.

In the watch and wearables division, the growth for third quarter was flat compared to previous year.

After witnessing two strong quarters, the eye wear division revenue grew by only two per cent, primarily led by heavy competitive activity, lower primary sales to trade channels and the disruption in the second half of december due to the nation-wide protests. SID MKJ