Titan loses its sparkle

Titan is the top loser on the BSE. It opened at its current intraday low at Rs.1160, down 9.7%. It has recovered a bit to Rs.1181 levels currently.

Titan has been beaten down because its Q2FY20 earnings missed the estimates and numbers came in very flat. On a 0.7% (YoY) rise in net sales at Rs.4435 crore, it posted a net profit of Rs.320 crore, up 2%.  A sharp fall in jewellery sales, a 30% rise in employee benefit expenses  and four times jump in interest outgo impacted the numbers.

The Jewellery business had a subdued quarter on the back of very high gold prices, recording an income of Rs.3528 crores as compared to Rs.3582 crores last year. The Watches business recorded an income of Rs.719 crores against Rs.676 crores in the previous year, a growth of 6.4%. The Eyewear business grew well, by 28.5% in the quarter, recording an income of Rs.154 crores as against Rs.120 crores last year. Other segments of the Company comprising accessories, fragrances and Indian dress wear grew by 33.2% in Q2 recording an income of Rs.44 crores.

The Company's retail chain stands at 1668 stores, as on 30th September 2019 with a retail area crossing 2.1 million sq.ft. nationally for all its brands.

At the earnings call yesterday, due to the higher gold prices detracting customers from buying jewellery, the management lowered guidance for jewellery sales growth to 11-13% in H2FY20 v/s 20% guidance given earlier. This has further eroded sentiments for Titan with brokerages across the board cutting target prices today morning.