Titan slips 7% on cautious growth outlook; analysts bearish

Moneycontrol Bureau

Despite an extraordinary good quarter shares of Titan Company slipped 7 percent intraday on Friday. Investors are busy selling it on cautious management commentary indicative of weak consumer spending and poor festive demand.  The company CFO S Subramaniam says that the next two quarters are likely to be soft and the economy has not really turnaround yet while festive sales have been muted this time. However, he is hopeful that upcoming festive season will enable higher jewellery grammage.

Brokerages are also bearish on the stock and recommend selling. CLSA has reiterated sell rate given the earnings uncertainty on jewellery earnings in the context of falling gold prices and less attractive Golden Harvest (GH) scheme. "The temporary closure of GH benefitted comps as revenues grew by a strong 65 percent year-on-year The quarter was however marred with series of one-time items which impacted both revenues as well as Ebit," it says in a note.

Golden Harvest savings scheme which is a jewellery purchase scheme, under which the buyer was to pay a fixed amount every month with Tanishq for 11 months. The 12th month installment is paid by Tanishq. However, Tanishq (the jewellery brand of Titan) had to scrap it in this quarter on Ministry of Corporate Affairs notice that they are now termed as public deposits under the new Companies Act.