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Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla expects the markets to return to normalcy in the latter half of FY22.
He was addressing Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Limited’s (ABFRL) shareholders at its 14th annual general meeting for the first time, after taking over as Chairman of the company’s board earlier this year.
Speaking about the company’s performance, he said despite hiccups, the company has been able to manage its debt levels, working capital, and sales.
The reported full-year revenue of the company for FY21 stood at ₹5,181 crore with 60 per cent recovery vs last year’s reported revenue of ₹8,743 crore. The company recorded an EBITDA margin of 12.9 per cent. Its debt peaked at ₹3,000 crore. However, it managed to reduce cost to the tune of ₹1,200 crore over last year.
“Your company is now poised to strengthen its leadership position in the industry even further,” he said adding that it was a direct outcome of the robust portfolio of brands, a wide distribution network, a digitally advanced organisational set-up among others. “The plumbing work is done. And now is the moment for a big leap to unlock the full potential of this business. We recognise the opportunity,” he added.
The company invested in two brands — Sabyasachi and Tarun Tahiliani — this year with an aim to expand its ethnic apparel segment.
It adopted a three-pronged strategy towards digital acceleration, revamped brand and consumer digital connections, accelerated partnerships with third-party e-commerce platforms, along with making its website presence stronger, and digitised its back-end operations.
“As a result of these shifts, our digital channel sales grew 40 per cent over the previous year,” he added.
The coming fiscal, he believes “is going to be a race to normalcy for the industry with re-invigorated market sentiments. We are looking at the new fiscal with a cautious optimism around markets and consumer preferences. The Indian economy is headed towards a steady recovery, glimpses of which we could see during the festive season of FY21.”
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