Bata India continues to put its best foot forward. The market is thrilled with the Q1FY18 performance of the company. From yesterday’s close of Rs.583.50, it opened stronger at Rs.600, going on to hit a new 52-week high at Rs.610.90.

The company took everyone by surprise with its results for the first quarter, beating all estimates. On a 10% (YoY) rise in revenue at Rs.743 crore, the company posted a 19% increase in net profit at Rs.60 crore.

EBITDA came in pretty strong at Rs.96 crore, up 12% though margins remained flat at 13% v/s 12.9%.

Good demand for the footwear plus steps like opening of 40 new stores, which led to a direct 15% growth in retail revenue helped. The company saw a gross margin improvement of 1% through introduction of value added products and change in the product mix.

Nationwide launch of Bata Insolia range of comfortable heels for women and a grand fashion event also helped Bata achieve this performance.

Bata India is the largest footwear retailer in India, offering footwear, accessories and bags across brands like Bata, Hush Puppies, Naturalizer, Power, Marie Claire, Weinbrenner, North Star, Scholl, Bata Comfit and Bubblegummers to name a few. It retails in over 1,290 Bata stores, on bata.in and in thousands of multi-brand footwear dealer stores pan-India.