Raymond Lifestyle is anticipating high demand during an extended wedding season this year, which should result in strong sales in the second half of this fiscal, Chairman Gautam Singhania said on the day the demerged entity listed on stock exchanges.
"The wedding season is strong, and the coming 6-9 months should drive strong growth," Chairman Gautam Singhania told media persons on the sidelines of the listing event.
"Post the listing of Raymond Lifestyle, we have ambitious plans as we aim to expand our retail presence & unlock further shareholder value," Chairman Gautam Singhania had posted on social media handle X, a day before to the listing of the demerged entity.
Shares of Raymond Lifestyle ended the debut session on September 5 with mild losses, down nearly 2.5 percent.
Raymond's lifestyle business clocked a revenue of Rs 1,249 crore during the June quarter, down by 8 percent compared to a year ago. However, the management is confident that second half will see good sales, and the apparel company is preparing to ramp up portfolio as well as expand retail presence to capture demand this festive and wedding season. Raymond Lifestyle has set out a revenue growth target of 12-15 percent over next 3-5 years with a targetted EBITDA of Rs 2,000 crore by FY28.
What's giving Raymond Lifestyle confidence is an extended wedding season this year, lasting for up to 45 days and spread across 4-5 months. "this is one of the largest number of wedding days to come together", Sunil Kataria, CEO of the Lifestyle Business had said during the earnings call, indicating that the business promises to be 'very, very positive.'
"The weddings that did not happen in the first half are likely to come back together with a backlog towards the second part of the season," Kataria had said in August. The company said this year there were 'negligible' weddings during the April-May season, a factor that may have dampened the quarterly footfalls. An intense spell of heatwave during starting April and continuing all through June, as well as election-related restrictions too played a role.
Keeping these in mind, Raymond Lifestyle is now betting on a strong rebound during the second quarter of the fiscal. "With the festive season starting on towards end of second quarter and with very, very strong wedding dates in place, the second half of the year would be very, very good," said Sunil Kataria.
Kataria added that around 45 days or so before the wedding season, the business starts to see traction, so signs of a demand may be visible from the second quarter itself. "We would expect a gradual recovery happening in this quarter, and momentum picking up towards the second half itself."
Raymond Lifestyle houses brands like Raymond Ready to Wear, Park Avenue, ColorPlus, Parx, Made to Measure and Ethnix by Raymond. The menswear company plans to add 900 more stores to increase presence across cities.
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