Titan reports Q1 net loss of ₹297 cr

Tata group firm Titan Company Ltd on Monday reported a consolidated net loss of ₹297 crore for the June quarter, impacted by lower income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company had reported a net profit of ₹364 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal.

Total income during the quarter under review declined 61.21% to ₹2,020 crore as compared to ₹5,208 crore earlier, Titan said in a regulatory filing.

Titan Company Managing Director C K Venkataraman said: "The severity of the disruption in business due to the pandemic impacted the company's performance resulting in an unprecedented loss for the company. The recovery in business, particularly in the jewellery business is encouraging and we expect to get back to normalcy by the fourth quarter of this year." 

Titan Company said the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affected its performance severely, with retail outlets closed for a major part of the quarter, resulting in a decline in income.

"While stores started opening in May, post unlock 1.0, even as at end of June 2020, only 83% of all the stores opened and even for stores that opened, many of them were not operating for all days.

"The recovery rate of revenue started improving slowly and as of June it was 21% for the watches and wearables division, 77% for the jewellery division and 25% for the eyewear division," the company said, adding that consumer sentiment was impacted severely due to the economic downturn.

Titan said the impact of the lockdown resulted in the jewellery division recording an income of ₹1,783 crore for the quarter, as compared to ₹4,047 crore last year, a decline of 56 per cent. 

The watches business saw income drop 90% to ₹75 crore as against ₹715 crore.

Titan's eyewear business revenue dropped 80% to ₹30 crore as against ₹149 crore earlier.

Shares of Titan Company Ltd settled 1.57% higher at ₹1,107.80 on the BSE.