Bata India has reported stable June-quarter earnings. RK Gupta, CFO of the company, spoke about the results and shared outlook for FY20.

“In the first quarter our same-store-sales growth was 6.5 percent and we expect the trend to continue,” said Gupta.

He further said that the contribution from the premium segment is at 50 percent. “Growth in the premium segment was 3-4 percent higher than average,” he added.

On new stores, Gupta said, “During this quarter we have added 33 new stores and at the same time have closed around 8-10 stores where either location was not good or we were not getting profit as per our estimates. In addition to that, we have opened around 20 franchise stores.”

“In this year (FY20) we are planning to open 80-100 new stores and at the same time we may close down around 20 stores,” he said.

On the margins front, he said, “Margin improvement is not in our hand. There are some other compelling factors also; government policies, raw material prices, but we are working towards the improvement of our margin.”

With regards to the demand, the CFO said, “Demand is all-around; in metros, tier-I and tier-II demand is higher compared to tier-III and tier-IV.”

“Our franchise stores will cover tier-III, tier-IV and below and at the same time through our known retail channel we capture tier-III, tier-IV and below which gives good result to us,” added Gupta.

First Published:Aug 5, 2019 10:51 AM IST