India's ABFRL's revenue up 25% over pre-COVID levels in Q4 FY22

ABFRL’s consolidated EBITDA for Q4 increased 58 per cent YoY to ₹401 crore. A robust performance across categories led to 17.6 per cent EBIDTA margin this quarter. EBITDA margin expanded by more than 350 bps over the previous year, ABFRL said in a media release.

The e-commerce business of the company is currently operating at an annual revenue of ₹1,000 crore.

ABFRL closed the quarter with a net debt of ₹504 crore.

Each of the business segments of ABFRL posted a strong performance. Lifestyle brands’ revenues grew 34 per cent YoY, while EBITDA grew 77 per cent, on the back of revival of wholesale business and a strong retail LTL of 13 per cent. Product innovations and expansion into newer categories drove growth of the brand franchise. The business also continued its expansion into smaller town markets, building upon successful pilots carried out earlier this year.

Pantaloons business grew by 13 per cent over last year, despite disruption in large format stores due to COVID third wave. The e-commerce channel grew by 81 per cent YoY, with Pantaloons.com growing by 63 per cent over last year. Pantaloons doubled down on its aggressive network expansion agenda by opening 18 stores during this quarter, the company said.

Other businesses comprise of innerwear and athleisure, youth western wear and super premium brands. Inner wear and athleisure segment saw consistent growth over these quarters driven by distribution expansion through trade and e-commerce. Youth fashion segment consisting of American Eagle and Forever 21, recorded strong growth in the year.

Super premium brands, comprising of The Collective and Mono brands maintained their growth trajectory during this year; almost doubling in size over the pre-COVID period. Ethnic businesses also showed a sharp growth in revenue, with scale coming from both network expansion, new portfolio additions and category extensions. The business is currently operating at an annual run rate of ₹400 crore.

The onset of third wave had an effect in the early part of Q4. However, ABFRL’s business witnessed strong rebound, with March 2022 sales growing by 50 per cent over last year. The company expects this momentum to continue in the coming quarters of this year as well, the release added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)