Raymond shares hit Rs 2,000 level after Q1 results. Here's what Gautam Singhania says

Shares of Raymond on Friday hit the Rs 2,000-mark in Friday's trade after the company said its profit jump multi-fold in the June quarter and that it turned net debt free following the sale of FMCG business. Raymond said its profit soared 13.14 times to Rs 1,065 crore in the first quarter against Rs 81 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the quarter was up 4 per cent to Rs 1,826 crore from Rs 1,754 crore YoY.

Raymond said it was its strongest first quarter performance both in terms of revenue and Ebitda. "The company continues to demonstrate consistent profitable growth despite subdued consumer demand and challenging market conditions," it said.

Shares of Raymond rose 2.51 per cent to hit a high of Rs 2,021.95 crore on BSE.

Raymond's revenue was highest ever and Ebitda margin was strong at 13.8 per cent in a seasonally weak quarter. The company said its continued focus on casualisation and premiumisation in the branded apparel segment enabled a top line growth of 16 per cent.

"The real estate business continues to witness a strong demand for its offerings with a recent launch in July of premium residential project at Thane with RERA carpet area of about 1 million square feet with a revenue potential of over Rs 2,000 crore. The consumer demand for our real estate project at Thane continues to be encouraging," Raymond said.

Chairman & Managing Director Gautam Hari Singhania said Q1 was a momentous quarter for Raymond as it became net debt free post the sale of FMCG business.

"During the seasonally weak first quarter and subdued consumer demand, the company has recorded a strong and steady performance across businesses. The quarter witnessed a lesser number of wedding days compared to the corresponding quarter last year that was a dampener for consumer demand. However, going forward we are optimistic as festive and wedding season will set in during the second half of the year giving an impetus to the consumer demand across the country. The silver lining for the quarter was our recent value unlocking initiative of Lifestyle business demerger which is under progress," Singhania said.

Post demerger, Raymond will have two independent consumer facing net debt free listed entities for Lifestyle and Real Estate businesses and there is significant liquidity surplus of over Rs 1,500 crore at the group level to drive future growth, Singhania said in a BSE release.

Branded textile segment sales reported growth of 6 per cent at Rs 688 crore in Q1FY24 against Rs 648 crore in Q1FY23. Raymond said it witnessed an increasing consumer demand for its latest season offerings including innovative products, and gifting solutions for summer wedding season.

Ebitda margin remained healthy at 17 per cent.

"Branded Apparel segment reported top line growth of 16 per cent with sales at Rs 305 crore in Q1FY24 as compared to Rs 262 crore in same quarter last year. Continued demand for office wear and new offerings in casual wear contributed to the growth. The growth was witnessed across all trade channels and retail network. The segment reported Ebitda margin of 6.4 per cent,: it said.

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