Saturday, August 23, 2008
Reebok Retail India set to bring in Classics
Reebok India has built up a lifestyle-product portfolio for apparel, shoes and accessories. It has signed up style icon Bipasha Basu and youth icon Yuvraj Singh to represent the fusion of fitness and lifestyle through Reebok merchandise. To be rolled out in the menswear and womenswear segment, Classics will cater to niche market of style-and-fitness conscious youth in the country.
Reebok India MD Subhinder Singh Prem told ET: “The lifestyle space will be a focused business for Reebok. We see more people interested in wearing stylised sportswear, and hence we will be rolling out up to 70 specialty lifestyle retail outlet stores by this year-end, besides existing 700 Reebok performance stores.” With the introduction of this new vertical, Reebok India expects to garner revenues of Rs 1,400-crore by this year-end. Reebok, currently, claims to enjoy 51% marketshare in the Indian sports-footwear and apparel market.
The global Classics collection to be launched in India will include lifestyle merchandise for dance, biking, NFL sports gear and street style. Besides these four ranges, the company will also launch designer products—a collection
under Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson name, jeans styled by cricketer MS Dhoni, Manish Arora collection, besides many other inspired by global sports like skating, et al.
Birla plans big expansion of lifestyle retail chain
Madura Garments Lifestyle Retail Company, a 100% subsidiary of AV Birla Nuvo, is working on setting up 12-14 stores to meet the fashion needs of the urban Indian man. The new store chain — The Collective — will open doors in Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi initially.
The retail initiative will bring in some of the world’s edge of the fashion, super-premium brands like 7 For All Mankind and True Religion to India for the first time. Then there is the enduring high-end names like Kenneth Cole, Ted Baker and Valentino entering the market through a distribution deal.
Going beyond apparel and accessories play, the company has roped in Paris-based Jean Claude Beguine to set up salon within the stores while Sonodea from the US will decide the music for the store. The retail chain is also enlisting the leading names on Saville Row for tailored suits, besides offering laundry and fabric-care services.
“There should be more than one reason to come to our stores,” says The Collective CEO George Santacroce, who has in the past steered several international brands in the US market. Mr Birla’s luxury foray is targeted at men in the 30-45 age bracket, with income ranging from $50,000 to $200,000. AV Birla Nuvo will invest around Rs 275 crore from internal accruals in the project over the next 3-4 years, adds company director Vikram Rao.
Mr Santacroce says the chain will essentially be a bridge between premium and luxury brands, with some degree of overlapping with luxury market. “There’s a long list of brands entering India’s pureplay luxury segment, and we leave that space to them,” he adds. However, be sure to find the apparel pricing in the store in the range of Rs 4,000 to about Rs 1 lakh for a suit.
So the brand check list will include Armani Collezioni, Versace Collection, Z-Zegna, Cheap Monday, Rock & Republic and footwear and accessories brands like Puma Black, Mandarina Duck, Bally and Church’s Footwear. It is believed that The Collective has inked agreements with 35 apparel and around 20 accessories brands.
“Accessories are the first acquisition in an emerging market as people change their bags, shoes and watches more readily,” says Mr Santacroche.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Vishal Retail offers good potential
Vishal Retail, one of the leading and growing companies in manufacturing and retailing of readymade garments (apparels), non-apparels and FMCG products, is a pioneer in discount retailing, focused on tier II and III cities in the country and is expanding its operations at a rapid pace. It operates in the industry which has posted tremendous growth numbers led by value retail and driven space addition and better growth in the existing stores over the last five years.
The company endeavors to facilitate the one-stop convenience with reasonably-priced products manufacturing at its own plant in Gurgaon, Haryana, Dehradun and Manesar with a capacity of 5,000 garment pieces per day in each unit.
The company has added of 3 million pieces per annum of garment manufacturing capacity in Dehradun and Manesar, 9 new warehouses with an area of 581,640 square feet and also implemented modules of SAP with an investment of around Rs 75 million.
The company plans to diversify the portfolio from apparel segment which accounts 61.2% of product mix to FMCG and non apparels both of which have a share of around 18% in folio mix. It has recently entered into an agreement with HPCL for opening retail outlets (store size varying from 500-1,000 sq ft) at selected fuel stations (around 1,000-1,500 locations). As per the contract, HPCL shall provide space to the company for either retail stores or warehousing at its mutually selected retail outlets. Launch of loyalty cards to attract customers, particularly females is also under planning process.
| Vishal Retail | |||
| Particulars | 2007 | 2008 | % Change YoY |
| Sales * | 6026.50 | 10053.10 | 67.00 |
| Net Profit * | 250.70 | 406.96 | 62.00 |
| EPS | 14.00 | 19.00 | 36.00 |
| EBIDTA | 694.30 | 1291.00 | 86.00 |
| Debt/equity | 1.9 (x) | 2.0 (x) | |
| *Sales, Net profit and EBIDTA in Rs million | |||
Vishal Retail registered a rise of 62% in net profit after tax at Rs 406 million for the financial year 2008 as against Rs 250.7 million in the previous year. The company reported earnings of Rs 19 a share in the year as against previous year`s earnings of Rs 14 a share. The total revenues of the company has increased by 68% from Rs 6,050.4 million to Rs 10,144.6 million for the period in comparison due to addition in retail space and increased footfalls.
During the fiscal 2008, EBIDTA margin has surged by 86% to Rs 1,291 million. The operating margin of the company seems to be under pressure due to organic expansion in manufacturing and human resource department, while strong network and rise in contribution from private labels can prove to be boosters for the same.
The total number of stores of the company has reached 126 stores spread across India, covering an area of 2,392,000 square feet. It has also maintained it consistency in customer service and operation which can be seen through rise of 2.03 times in daily footfalls at 182,396.
Vishal Retail has witnessed a rapid growth rate during the current financial year. Its garment manufacturing capacity is now around 4.5 million pieces per annum. With addition of new warehouses, it now has 29 warehouses with a space of 1.1 million square feet located in 8 key distribution centers and a fleet of 98 trucks and lorries.
All company locations are now linked through a company-wide VNC (virtual network connection) and video conferencing together with hotlines to provide online connectivity. This can be attributed to the implementation of SAP module with an investment of around Rs 75 million.
The Delhi-based company plans to open 70 more stores at a cost of around Rs 7 billion by the end of this year for which it is planning to raise around Rs 2 billion through a private equity route, while the remaining fund will be arranged through debt.
Vishal Retail is currently trading at a price of around Rs 390.40 a share. Shares of the company are trading at huge discount when compared with its peers. The company is valued at 20.55 times of FY2008 earnings.
However, the company faces significant competition in the retail industry. The competition can be faced from prominent players like Pantaloon Retail, Shoppers` Stop RPG, Trent and Lifestyle. Barring Kolkata, all the properties of the company are leased or licensed in company`s favor under various agreements. Disputes that may arise with owners of such properties may affect the profitability of the company. Raw materials including fabric are sourced from external suppliers, which constitute the largest component of manufacturing costs for garments. Rise in these input cost amid higher rate of inflation can dent the margins of the company.
To conclude, players focusing on value retail have grown much faster than those focused on lifestyle. The retailers are expected to pump in over USD 25 billion into the sector over the next four years to scale up their retailing operations and strengthen back-end systems. According to a research study, the domestic retailers who enjoy early entrant advantages at key retailing locations can look to gain a pan-India presence.