Aditya Birla Lifestyle Brands Limited — Q2 FY26
ABLBL reported Q2 FY26 revenue of ₹3,238 crore, up 4% YoY, with EBITDA of ₹338 crore (margin 16.6%, +125bps YoY).
neutral
medium
✓ 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.
73%Questions answered0Evaded / deflected11Questions auditedContradictedNumbers vs filing
Partial answer
High priority
Quantify Forever 21 impact on base quarter growth
Asked by Gorov Joani, GM Financial
Management gave a topline impact but did not quantify bottom-line impact as asked.
no bottom-line quantificationonly topline impact given
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Question
If you can quantify the impact of forever 21 in the base quarter so that will help us to appreciate the growth for the remaining of the portfolio.
Vishak (CEO)
the overall growth would have been better by 1% if the forever 21 business was not considered.
Answered
Medium priority
Reason for sequential increase in depreciation and interest
Asked by Gorov Joani, GM Financial
Management explained the increase is due to new store additions and lease liabilities.
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Question
the deprecation has increased from 173 odd crores to 209 odd crores in two and likewise the interest has also gone up. So if you can help us out the reason for that.
JB (CFO)
these are the new additions and stores and whatever leases we sign for the new stores and I have to consider this as part of the depreciation and create the lead liability that is the impact
Partial answer
Medium priority
Future impact of Forever 21 on base
Asked by Archa Menon, Morgan Stanley
Management gave directional guidance but did not quantify the impact.
no exact numbers given
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Question
when we look at the quarters ahead with you what will be the impact of Forever 21 in the base now?
Vishak (CEO)
not too much it won't be very material on the base... we had started scaling down F21 last year itself from Q3 so there would be some business impact maybe for Q3 as well but by Q4 it would be insignificant
Answered
High priority
Reebok customer growth and pipeline challenges
Asked by Archa Menon, Morgan Stanley
Management provided specific growth percentages and addressed pipeline issues.
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Question
what is your customer phase growth like at an overall brand level and how should we be thinking about some of the pipeline and energy related challenges for the coming quarter?
Vishak (CEO)
9% was our same store growth in retail stores. In department stores, it was 12%. So at a consumer level it would have been an overall aggregated 10% plus overall growth.
Partial answer
Medium priority
GST impact on ABL portfolio and price changes
Asked by Archa Menon, Morgan Stanley
Management described the impact qualitatively but did not quantify the percentage of portfolio affected.
no percentage given
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Question
how has the portfolio been impacted? I mean what has been the percentage of the portfolio where you've had to take price changes and how would you sort of address it for that?
Vishak (CEO)
the immediate impact which we saw in Q2 which was more to do with the wholesale businesses etc. the transition impact waiting for IT configurations purchase orders etc that is behind us.
Answered
High priority
Consumer sentiment after government measures
Asked by Pasa, Aendas Spark Institutional Equities
Management clearly stated that consumption improvement is not yet visible.
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Question
how are you reading consumer sentiment and I'm not asking only for this month or this quarter because a lot of impetus from government has been put in to revive this. Are you seeing that at the broader level?
Vishak (CEO)
has there been an overall greater consumption in the market? I would say not yet visible.
Answered
Medium priority
Navratri impact on Q2 sales and margin expansion drivers
Asked by Shria Bahiti, Anadwati Institution Equities
Management answered both parts: Navratri impact and margin expansion drivers.
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Question
how did navatri impacted the Q2 sales for us and also I wanted to understand this 120 bit margin expansion. So this was led by operating leverage but did it also help the impact of gross margin expansion in lifestyle and emerging brand segment?
Vishak (CEO)
Natri continued for us in the same pace as the overall like has been for the business... it was a combination of multiple things. A lot of cost reduction initiatives... when you have strong like for likes you get rent leverage.
Answered
High priority
Will secondary sales growth translate to primary sales in coming quarters?
Asked by Danchu Pansel, MK Global
Management gave a clear affirmative answer.
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Question
the underlying consumer level growth trend has been about 10%... however the reported numbers are lower... do you expect this 20 to add on to that 10% underlying growth trend in coming quarters?
Vishak (CEO)
As long as we continue doing these kind of secondary sales, that should translate to primary sales in quarters. Absolutely.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Reason for reduction in rent expense
Asked by Danchu Pansel, MK Global
Management explained the reason but did not quantify the impact on rent expense.
no quantification of conversion impact
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Question
there is a significant reduction in the rent expense reported by the company... is there some change in model because rent was typically the commission that we used to pay to franchises?
JB (CFO) and Vishak (CEO)
in one or two brands of ours we changed the model and now we are coming back... a few stores which would have got converted from franchisee to a coco cooperation.
Partial answer
Medium priority
GST transition impact on price points around 2500
Asked by Kunal Jeff
Management acknowledged the issue but did not quantify the impact on sales or margins.
no specific impact given
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Question
has it created any troubles for you in the portfolio especially around price points of let's say 2500 because there's a very sharp jump from 5 to 18?
Vishak (CEO)
the transition challenge we had to go through... I think that's behind us... we'll have to see how consumers respond to it.
Partial answer
High priority
Innerware segment decline and path to profitability
Asked by Samir Gupta
Management highlighted retail strength but did not provide a clear path or timeline to profitability.
no timeline for profitability
Read the exchange
Question
innerware is a segment which has been struggling for some time... what is the path to both recovery here and profitability here.
Vishak (CEO)
the highest like for like sales was in innerware... some 110 115 exclusive innerware stores which should have had an average 20 plus% like for like.
Answered
Low priority
Request for comparable numbers for FY25
Asked by Dwanchel, MK Global
Management agreed to provide the requested data separately.
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Question
we have made some reporting changes but we have not provided comparable numbers even for the last year... it would be very helpful if you could provide that.
JB (CFO)
we'll provide you separately.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall growth would have been better by 1% without Forever 21 | 1% | 4% | Understated vs filing |
| Like-for-like sales for innerware, Reebok, American Eagle weighted average 11-12% | 11.5% | 4% | Overstated vs filing |
| Reebok same store growth 9%, department stores 12% | 9% | 4% | Overstated vs filing |
| Innerware exclusive stores had 20%+ like-for-like | 20% | 4% | Overstated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.