Raymond Ltd. registered a top-line growth of 7.4 per cent in FY 2014 over the previous year. At standalone level, its gross revenue from operations stood at Rs. 2,185.91 crores as compared to Rs. 2,034.51 crores in 2013. Its operating profit before tax stood at Rs. 64.6l crores as against a loss of Rs. 6.82 crores the previous year. Net profit for the year was Rs. 88.12 crores against a loss of Rs. 47.84 crores reported the previous year.
These points have been highlighted by Mr. Gautam Hari Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director, Raymond Ltd., at the company AGM.
Coming on the group’s performance, Mr. M. Shivkumar, Chief Financial Officer, Raymond Ltd., observed that the consolidated sales for the year rose by 12 per cent to Rs. 4,548 crores and EBITDA stood at Rs. 553 crores, a growth of 24 per cent over the previous year. PAT for the year grew to Rs. 108 crores from Rs. 29 crores. The Park Avenue sales for the year stood at Rs. 334 crores, ColorPlus at Rs. 210 crores, Parx at Rs. 118 crores and Raymond Premium Apparel at Rs. 140 crores. The group’s ‘Makers’ brand has been doing well and has registered a double-digit growth in the last six to seven quarters. The brand sale has increased to Rs. 102 crores during 2013-14.
The group’s garmenting business grew by 28 per cent, thanks to higher exports. Over the last six to eight quarters, there has been a structural shift in the industry with demand shifting to India from high labour cost countries and Bangladesh.
Denim sale grew by 27 per cent to Rs. 252 crores. However, margins were impacted due to rising cotton prices and growing price competition in the domestic segment. Shirting fabric business exports picked up in the last quarter of the year, while shirting sales expanded grew by 32 per cent at Rs. 92 crores, driven by both domestic and export demand.
Mr. Shivkumar further disclosed that total exports increased by 27 per cent for the year against 23 per cent the previous year. As for investments, the company is planning to raise capex to around Rs. 250 crores to strengthen its leading brands, widen its market share, as also to aggressively expand its exclusive store network and capacities in the export-driven business.
Research & development
Raymond’s R&D wing continues to develop new products for both domestic and export markets. Some of the major developments during the year were the introduction of the Kapok, the lightest cellulosic natural fibre in the world, the Pluto Next, an all-wool collection with the advantage of being washable in machine, and the True star, a fabric which is especially engineered to provide woolly finish to create demand in poly wool. Further, the company completed its suit manufacturing plant in Bangalore during the year.
Retail stores
Raymond has moderated its retail expansion roll-out to cover a larger number of class IV and V cities. The company has 946 retail stores, including 43 overseas stores, across all formats as of March 31, 2014.
Raymond manufactures the world’s finest fabrics, from wool to wool-blended worsted suiting to specialty ring denims and high value shirting. After making a mark in textiles, the group forayed into garmenting through highly successful ventures like Silver Spark Apparel Ltd., EverBlue Apparel Ltd. (Jeanswear) and Celebrations Apparel Ltd. (Shirts). It also has some of the most highly respected fabric and apparel brands in its portfolio such as Raymond, Raymond Premium Apparel, Park Avenue, ColorPlus, Parx, Makers and Notting Hill.