Page Industries reports a 7.9% revenue increase in Q1 amid resilient demand for innerwear and apparel, while managing cost pressures and supply chain issues with strategic product launches and operational enhancements.
Page Industries said first-quarter revenue rose 7.9% from a year earlier as demand for its innerwear and apparel brands held up, but profit came under pressure from higher raw material costs and temporary disruption at the end of June. The company also reported a 5.7% rise in sales volume, while inventory days improved to 66 from 73 at the start of the quarter, suggesting tighter working capital control. According to the earnings call summary, management remains confident of double-digit volume growth for the full year, with stronger performance expected in the remaining three quarters.
The latest quarter was shaped by a structural change in trade schemes under the annual rate contract system, which spread incentives more evenly through the year rather than concentrating them in the first quarter. Karthik Yathindra, the chief executive, also said logistics and manpower issues near quarter-end left about three days of billed stock undelivered, which hurt reported primary sales even though secondary sales were stronger. The company said these factors, rather than any weakening in demand, explain part of the gap between underlying volumes and reported revenue.
Cost pressures weighed on margins. Deepanjan Bandyopadhyay, the chief financial officer, said inflation in cotton and synthetic inputs forced the company to take a measured price increase in mid-May, following another rise in January linked to product improvements. Because of FIFO accounting, the benefit of the May increase will flow through more fully in the second quarter. Even so, the company kept its EBITDA margin guidance at 19% to 21% for the year, after Q1 margin came in at 20.3%.
Page Industries is also leaning on new products and technology to support growth. Yathindra said the JKY Groove street fashion line has sold well and that a new Disney and Marvel merchandise tie-up should contribute more meaningfully in the second quarter. He also pointed to work on a consumer data platform and a distribution management system, both aimed at improving product targeting, inventory turns and operational efficiency. On the production side, the company is scaling its Odisha and KR Pet facilities, while in e-commerce it is shifting more sales to an outright model to suit quick commerce and improve last-mile execution. Analysts at Business Standard have separately said the company’s outlook has improved on stronger volumes, realisations and premiumisation, though they noted the valuation remains rich.
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