Titan Co loses all shine

Titan Company is deep in the red today morning. It is currently down over 6% at Rs.347.25, with an intra day low of Rs.335. Volumes are up 4.5 times, with some 3.64 lakh shares changing hands in the morning trade.

The stock is down, disappointed with the Q4FY15 performance. The 15% (YoY) drop in jewellery business hit the sales, which fell mainly on account of absence of Golden Harvest Scheme (GHS). Net sales for the quarter was down 11% at Rs.2474 crore. The company got down its costs by 11% yet EBITDA was down 9% at Rs.230 crore but margins showed an improvement from 10.56% to 10.82%. Tax outgo came down 24% and a write back of deferred tax of Rs.6 crore is what ultimately helped the company end the quarter with a 4% rise in net profit at Rs.215 crore. Consolidate net profit for the year was at Rs.816 crore, up 11%.

The big downer was the GHS closure which truly impacted the company as it was contributing around 25-30% to the company’s overall sales. The outlook ahead is also not too optimistic. In a TV interview, the CFO of the company said that he expects demand to remain soft and expects margins to drop, though higher sales could help mitigate a sharp drop. Jewellery business is not expected to turnaround in the first half of current fiscal. The company is going ahead with its expansion plans and will be adding one lakh sq.feet in current fiscal.