Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited — Q1 FY24
ABFRL reported Q1 FY24 consolidated revenue of INR 3,196 crore (+11% YoY) and EBITDA of INR 353 crore (11% margin), with PAT loss of INR 162 crore.
bearish
high
✓ Verified against BSE filing
Claim Ledger
Did management answer the analysts?
Every material analyst question, graded on whether management actually answered it — with the verbatim exchange and quantitative claims checked against filed numbers.
59%Questions answered3Evaded / deflected11Questions auditedContradictedNumbers vs filing
Answered
Medium priority
Why did Madura margins improve despite negative LTL?
Asked by Nihal Mahesh Jham, Nuvama
Management directly attributed margin improvement to cost reduction initiatives.
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Question
Despite the negative LTL, the margins have improved. Is that maybe a moderation in the sales and marketing or anything to do with the channel mix, just to clarify?
Vishak Kumar, Director and CEO of Lifestyle Business
Largely driven by cost reduction initiatives... That is primarily why the margins have been strong.
Declined
High priority
Plans to turn around TCNS brand?
Asked by Nihal Mahesh Jham, Nuvama
Management declined to comment, citing premature timing.
deferred to later
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Question
Any further comments on how we plan to turn this brand around in terms of the growth?
Vishak Kumar, Director and CEO of Lifestyle Business
This is probably a bit premature for us to talk about it. Let's get the process complete.
Partial answer
High priority
Debt number and expected losses from Tamara and Reebok?
Asked by Nihal Mahesh Jham, Nuvama
Provided debt number and Reebok outlook but deferred on Tamara losses.
gave debt but not Tamara losses
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Question
If you could give the debt number and also the expected losses, both from Tamara and the Reebok business for this year.
Vishak Kumar, Director and CEO of Lifestyle Business
Reebok, we don't expect any losses. Reebok is a profitable business on a full year basis. On, Ashish, debt on thirtieth June, net of cash is INR 2,100 crore.
Evasive
High priority
Need to change Pantaloons approach given underperformance?
Asked by Varun Singh, ICICI Securities
Attributed underperformance to macro factors without addressing strategic changes.
blamed external factorsno specific changes
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Question
Given we have cut down on our store addition guidance... Anything you wish to share over there, given general quarter of under performance in Pantaloons?
Sangeeta Pendurkar, CEO of Pantaloons
We feel very confident of our strategy and our proposition... I think these last 2 quarters are more mired with the fact that there were 2 aspects... general macroeconomic slowdown, and yarn price increases.
Evasive
Low priority
Percentage of Pantaloons stores older than 3-4 years?
Asked by Varun Singh, ICICI Securities
Did not answer the percentage question; provided store additions instead.
gave absolute number instead of percentage
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Question
What percentage of stores will be more than 3-4 year old?
Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director
In last 3 years, we have added 120 stores.
Partial answer
High priority
Outlook for losses in ethnic wear business?
Asked by Varun Singh, ICICI Securities
Explained reasons but did not quantify expected losses or timeline.
no specific loss guidance
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Question
The losses have mounted significantly. If you wish to talk about how should we expect this number to pan out on a steady-state basis?
Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director
This quarter was particularly compounded by the fact that the wedding dates were few... Tasva is the only one which business which will require large funding for first few years.
Answered
Medium priority
Cost control initiatives in Pantaloons until demand picks up?
Asked by Gaurav Jogani, Axis Capital
Confirmed cost-saving measures and pointed to margin improvement.
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Question
Are there any initiatives or strategies that we are implementing to at least control the cost in the interim until the demand kind of pick up?
Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director
We have taken sufficient measures, therefore, the improvement in margin from Q1 over Q4 reflects large part is the cost saving...
Answered
High priority
Slow down store expansion given high debt?
Asked by Gaurav Jogani, Axis Capital
Acknowledged moderation in capital-led expansion.
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Question
Is there any thought... maybe we can go down, slower on store expansion bit in the interim?
Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director
We have 2 kinds of expansion models... Pantaloons, about 70, 75% to 80% of stores, which are largely capital-led, and there we'll moderate as we go along.
Evasive
Medium priority
How to improve Pantaloons sales per sq ft?
Asked by Samir Gupta, India Infoline
Deflected from sales per sq ft to ROCE and EBITDA margin.
reframed to different KPIs
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Question
Sales per sq ft metric... is trending below 8,000... How do you look at improving the sales throughput metric?
Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director
We look at many KPIs... The ones that matter are return on capital and EBITDA margin... We have achieved all this on a very low capital employed base.
Answered
High priority
Difference in demand momentum at premium vs value price points?
Asked by Ashish Kanodia, Citi
Clearly explained demand differences across segments.
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Question
Is there a difference in demand momentum at, say, a higher price point versus, say, a lower price point?
Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director
Yes, the difference exists... The premium end are also not fully insulated from it, but a large part of that reason is also linked to the wedding dates during this period.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Any external fundraise for TMRW this year?
Asked by Ashish Kanodia, Citi
Indicated possibility but no firm timeline.
no commitment on timing
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Question
Are you looking at any external fundraise happening, maybe this year in the TMRW entity?
Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director
We will look at maybe towards the end of the year or somewhere around that for a fundraise. It's difficult to predict with any degree of certainty about the timing.
Answered
Medium priority
Investment per Tasva store and store addition target for FY24?
Asked by Vikas Jain, Equirus
Provided specific store count and investment range.
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Question
What is the kind of capacity required to put up one new store, and what are the targets for FY 2024 in terms of stores addition for Tasva?
Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director
We're talking about 40 stores for this year. Typically... anything between INR 75 lakh to INR 1 crore is fairly the investment in a Tasva store.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pantaloons EBITDA margin 17.5% in 9 months of last year | 17.5% | 11% | Overstated vs filing |
| Innerwear business size about INR 500 crore last year | ₹500 cr | ₹3,196 cr | Understated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.