Titan profit triples on sales growth of 48 %

Bangalore, July 27 (UNI) A 48 per cent jump in income at Rs 666.59 crore has propelled profit after tax of Titan Industrie to Rs 12.64 crore during the first quarter of the current fiscal atleast 300 per cent more than the net profit earned for the corresponding quarter last year.

The Company Vice President and Chief Information Officer N Kailasanathan in a release here said that the turnover for the first quarter of previous fiscal was Rs 449.92 crore and profit before tax rose nearly five times to Rs 25.36 crore compared to Rs 5.26 crore recorded last year. Capital employed at Rs 579.23 crore at the end of the 1st quarter of the current year was also lower compared to 31st March 2007 by Rs 12.66 crore.

All the divisions of the Company have performed well the release said. Watch segment grew by about 15 per cent, with sales income increasing from Rs 148.68 crore during the first quarter of last year to Rs 170.92 crore during the corresponding period this year.

The jewellery segment grew significantly with sales income increasing from Rs 288.25 crore during the first quarter of last year to Rs 472.85 crore during this year. The Company's other products segment that include Eyewear, Precision Engineering, Machine Building and Clocks grew their sales by over 71 per cent from Rs 13.56 crore during the first quarter of last year to Rs 23.24 crore this year.

The Company's recent retail initiatives - GoldPlus jewellery stores for the mass market and Titan Eye+ eyewear stores for the prescription eyewear market were showing promising sales. While GoldPlus stores are present in 12 semi-urban towns, Titan Eye+ is being piloted in 5 stores across Bangalore and Nagpur.

UNI