Arvind Ltd., one of the largest integrated textile and branded apparel players, has recorded 10 per cent growth in its consolidated revenue at Rs. 2,465 crores for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, as against Rs. 2,233 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. For the financial year, the company reported 15 per cent growth in revenue at Rs. 9,236 crores. Net profit after tax was higher by six per cent at Rs. 332 crores.
Mr. Jayesh Shah, Director and Chief Financial Officer, said: “In the context of demonetization and sharp increase in cotton prices as well as appreciation of the rupee, our performance is quite satisfactory. We will continue to have a double-digit growth in the current financial year led by robust growth in our brand and retail business”.
On the textiles front, the revenue growth was over eight per cent, primarily driven by nearly 25 per cent growth in garment revenue. The company’s brands and retail business clocked a robust 22 per cent revenue growth. In the current year, Arvind’s overall top line is expected to grow by 12-15 per cent. Arvind’s strategy to continue vertical integration in textiles will get further momentum as it will complete the first phase of its investment in Ethiopia.
Arvind’s Technical Textiles business has done better than what it did in the whole of last year sequentially as well as year-on-year. Overall, the business is growing at a pace of 25-30 per cent, and all the businesses that it is in have started generating positive returns.
Mr. Jayesh Shah said: “We continue to remain as bullish on the Technical Textiles business. The current goal is to touch Rs. 1,000-crore turnover in the next 1-1.5 years. The business has grown by nearly 30 per cent this financial year. We have got some of the best collaborations and joint venture partners and we are investing in people and technology that would allow us to make this business fairly large over a period of time. Currently our turnover from Technical Textiles is about Rs. 700 crores”.
Talking about investment, Arvind has indicated that it would be investing close to Rs. 100 crores in Ethiopia to set up garment manufacturing plants in phase-1. The company would be investing close to Rs. 200 crores in Textiles and Garments in India and an additional Rs. 175 crores in its Branded Apparel business in the current financial year.