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Titan Co.suffered a loss in the quarter ended June as stores remained shuttered during the Covid-19 lockdown and consumers spent less on discretionary items.
Net loss of India’s largest branded jewellery maker stood at Rs 270 crore compared with a profit of Rs 370.73 crore a year ago, according to an exchange filing on Monday. Analysts tracked by Bloomberg had pegged the loss at Rs 117 crore.
The owner of ‘Tanishq’ brand and namesake watches saw its revenue fall 62.3% over the year ago to Rs 1,862 crore—higher than the Rs 1,814.90-crore forecast. That came as the company’s sales in its jewellery segment, which accounts for 80% of total revenue, declined 56% year-on-year.
India confined its 1.3 billion citizens to their homes as it aimed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. That shut businesses and left millions jobless, pushing the economy on course for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades. And as uncertainties rose, a flight to safe havens led to an eye-popping rally in gold prices.
Titan said 83% of the company’s stores had opened by the end of June. But even then many of them were not operating for all days.
The company also reported an operating loss of Rs 246 crore during the reported three-month period. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation stood at Rs 565 crore in the year-ago period.
“With the negative consumer sentiment prevailing in the quarter, discretionary spends were very low and specifically impacted our watches business and diamond-studded jewellery,” Titan said in a release.
Titan shares rose 1.5% ahead of the quarterly results, compared with a 0.4% gain in the benchmark Nifty 50 Inde
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