Tanishq Q3 Sales Grow By 61%

Tanishq, the jewelry division of Titan Industries, continued to grow faster than the older watch business, posting sales of Rs.5.91 billion ($151 million) during the Oct-Dec 2007 quarter, up from Rs.3.67 billion ($93.59 million) last year. Watch sales during the same period grew from Rs.1.62 billion ($41.47 million) to Rs.1.95 billion ($49.82 million).

Titan reported a more than 50 percent increase in sales turnover during the period, and an 11 percent rise in net profit to Rs 308.4 million ($7.87 million).

During the nine months ended December 2007, the watch division sales grew by 20 percent to Rs.6.41 billion ($16.37 million) this year, while jewelry sales grew by over 61 percent to Rs.14.97 billion ($382 million). However, profit before interest and tax in the jewelry segment fell 42 percent, while watches saw a near 14 percent rise.

A company statement notes that the festival season sales have been an important driver for both divisions. Specifically, it showed that, despite the dampening effect of higher and more volatile gold prices, its relatively new foray into the mass gold jewelry market under the store brand Goldplus, received good response and recorded sales of over Rs.1 billion ($25.54 million) during the first nine months of the financial year. The company now has 20 Goldplus stores across the country in addition to 100 Tanishq stores.

The statement also noted that consumption of raw materials, mostly gold, rose to Rs.5.06 billion ($129.2 million), a 47 percent increase over the corresponding period last year.

Overall, with a sales turnover of Rs.22.05 billion ($563.07 million) in the first nine months of 2007-08, Titan has already surpassed its 2006-07 sales figure of Rs.21.36 billion ($545.45 million).