Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ankit Arora. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thanks, Manisha. Hello. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us on Arvind Fashions Limited earnings conference call for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. I'm joined here today by Kulin Lalbhai, Vice Chairman and Non-Executive Director, Shailesh Chaturvedi, our Managing Director and CEO, and Girdhar Chitlangia, our Chief Financial Officer. Please note that results, press release, and earnings presentation has been mailed across to you yesterday, and these are also available on our website, www.arvindfashions.com. I hope you had the opportunity to browse through the highlights of the performance. We'll commence the call today with Kulin providing his key strategic thoughts on our fourth quarter's performance. He'll be followed by Shailesh, who will share insights into business highlights and financial performance. At the end of the management discussion, we will have a Q&A session.
Before we start, I would like to remind you that some of the statements made or discussed on this call today may be forward-looking in nature and must be viewed in conjunction with risks and uncertainties we face. A detailed statement of these risks is available in this quarter's earnings presentation as well. The company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements publicly. With that said, I will now turn the call over to Kulin to share his views. Thank you, and over to you, Kulin.
Thanks, Ankit. A very good afternoon to you all. Thank you for joining us for the Q4 results. AFL delivered a strong quarter four financial performance and continued on its mantra of profitable growth, even though the macroeconomic environment continued to stay subdued.
We ended the year with our quarterly sales growing by 4%, aided by a healthy LTL of 4%, resulting in a retail channel growth of more than 10%. In line with seasonality, we had shifted our wholesale channel sales between Q4 and Q1, which negatively impacted our growth this quarter. We delivered on our commitment of expanding EBITDA margin for yet another quarter, with an improvement of 150 basis points to 13.5%. This was achieved despite our continued higher investments in advertising of around 100 basis points on a year-on-year basis.
On a full year basis, FY 2024 has been a year where we have delivered differentiated results, with sales growing by 5%, led by sharper focus and execution across the retail channels, even though we saw a large degrowth in the online B2B business. EBITDA grew by 15%, with an improvement of almost 120 basis points. Another significant achievement has been a robust improvement in our return on capital employed by 400 basis points to more than 16%. Over the last many quarters, we have undertaken multiple strategic interventions and initiatives to improve this metric, and we stay well on track to achieve a 20% plus ROCE in the near term. As we enter into FY 2025, we are pleased to see demand trends improving in the current quarter and expect growth to witness a strong uptake compared to quarter four.
We have significantly invested in multiple growth drivers and expect to benefit as consumer demand bounces back, backed by the strength of our marquee brand. We will continue to stay focused on our priority of accelerating the sales growth through innovative retail formats and a higher network expansion, coupled with further improvement in profitability and return on capital employed. I would like to now hand it over to Shailesh to take us through the specifics and more details about our financial performance.
Thanks, Kulin. Good afternoon, everyone. A pleasure to take you through the details of AFL's Quarter four results. We will cover Q4 results, full year FY 2025... FY 2024 results, and also some points on the way forward. Q4 continuation of subdued market condition and revenue of this quarter can be split into two parts. Part one is about U.S.'s business in January and February, and part two is about wholesale business of spring summer season supplies in February and March. We had delayed end of season sale in December because winter had not set in by December, and we did not want to discount so early. We did not discount winter wear till mid-January, and because of that, the peaking of U.S.'s happened in January and February, and in Q4, our retail sales grew by a healthy higher than 10% number.
There was full absorption of discounting in this quarter, whereas last year, some discounting had happened in December as well. We achieved our full season sell-through of fall holiday 2023 season, with very good like-to-like retail growth of 4% in this quarter. Given the delay in onset of winter and then of summer, we also adjusted our primary billing of spring, summer goods for wholesale channel in line with seasonality and saw lower billing in Indian channel and department store in quarter four. This will get hopefully realized in quarter one, with shift between Q4 and Q1. After a few quarters of destocking in online, Q4 saw healthy growth in online business, both online B2B as well as B2C.
Overall, revenue growth for AFL was 4% in quarter four, with the highest ever quarter four revenue of INR 1,094 crore and a two-year CAGR of growth of 13%. With higher retail channel mix, backed by cost efficiencies, EBITDA grew to INR 148 crore, a growth of 17%, 150 basis point increase, in spite of our wholehearted 100 basis point higher marketing investment. PBD for quarter four was INR 54 crore, which is the third continuous quarter in PBD in the range of INR 50-INR 55 crore. With this, AFL revenue has scaled close to INR 4,300 crore in full year FY 2025, FY 2024, where share of healthy and important retail channel has gone up by nearly 3% with growth in early teens. Similarly, online direct channel, B2C marketplace, has also gained nearly 3% in revenue mix.
The full year EBITDA reached INR 544 crore, 120 basis point improvement through better channel mix, 300 basis point improvement in gross margins, backed by annual retail like-to-like growth of 4%. The growth in EBITDA is 15%. This was despite 100 basis point higher investment in marketing in FY 2024, which was needed to keep our brand top of mind and very salient in market. At brand level, our efforts have been to offer differentiated and premiumize brand appeal. In quarter four, both Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein have delivered record performances, both in terms of top line and bottom line. US Polo Association has continued its lead leadership journey with impressive growth in EBITDA in quarter four, fueled by strong performance in retail channel as well as in online B2C channel.
The focus of USPA has been to strengthen its leadership with higher investment in marketing and in retailing. FY 2025-- FY 2024 saw a very impressive Legends campaign in USPA, including a mega event in Mumbai. The brand has moved forward in its journey of opening very large size, multi-storey, flagship stores across the country, which showcase all categories of the brand, including menswear, womenswear, and kidswear. Adjacent category like womenswear are showing good promise in USPA. Also, existing adjacent category like footwear, innerwear, kidswear are all poised for stronger growth forward. FY 2025-- FY 2024 saw good growth in Arrow across channels, despite difficult condition in the market and remains profitable at low single-digit EBITDA. Going forward, we expect Arrow business to scale up further and reach mid-single-digit EBITDA soon.
These are early days of re-energizing FM brands, and FM 2024 season has seen fully developed new avatar of FM, including new cool merchandise for Gen Z and millennial consumers, with a new logo backed by rollout of a new store identity. The performance of FM in competitive MBO channel and value department store, and in 2024-odd renovated FM stores in spring/summer 2024 season now has been encouraging. While these are early days of improvement in FM, there is a visibility of early green shoots. We have clear improvement priorities ahead on FM in the next two seasons. On working capital front, Q4 saw stable GWC days with continuous tight control on inventory and debtors amid soft market conditions. Debtor days were lower by two days Y- on- Y, and stock turns remain close to four.
As we discuss what is ahead, let me refer to the three-year scorecard that we have put out in the investor deck. In the last three years, we have created a powerful platform of these five strong marquee brands with fantastic teams, new standards of shopping experience, with new store identity, high visual merchandising standards, and international way of storytelling. These are the which are driving like-to-like growth in recent times and will continue to drive like-to-like growth in future as well. And we have done this with increased marketing spend and keeping very strict hygiene on working capital and ensuring focus remains on profitable growth. EBITDA margin has improved by 150 basis points in the last year and by 370 basis points in FY 2022. With the backing of this strong platform, the key priority for FY 2025 is to up revenue growth.
Our brands remain top of consideration set, ready and prepared, and we benefit whenever market improves. Going forward, our aim is to put energy behind each of our top growth driver, including retail network expansion, like-for-like store growth, online B2C buildup, and growth of adjacent categories. Let me just touch upon two drivers here, starting with retail network expansion. FY 2024 saw gross addition of nearly 140 stores, 146 new stores into our network. Also, there was a one-time correction in terms of closure of large number of, large number of unproductive small stores to fuel profitability further and maintain healthy working capital. We expect net addition of sq ft in FY 2025 to be in 15%-20% growth over the current base, and with annualization of business of the stores that we opened last year in FY 2024, we expect higher revenue growth.
It will all surely depend on the market condition, but we remain surely hopeful of stronger growth ahead from where we are at Q4 FY 2024. Adjacent category expansion is another key driver of growth ahead. This is a higher than INR 500 crore profitable business for AFL across all five brands, and it's growing double digits. Footwear is where our already gained scale of close to INR 200 crore each. Once market conditions improve, adjacent categories offer potential of growing more than 15%, and these can reach 20% share of revenue in medium term. I've also added that in FY 2024, in soft market conditions, we saw annual like-to-like retail growth and online B2C channel has also grown at a very brisk pace.
A lot of growth obviously is linked to external market conditions, and business does get influenced by economic realities. But from 4% growth in Q4, we are confident of a stronger revenue growth ahead.
Thanks, Shailesh. Manisha, we can open it now for question and answer session.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Priyank Chheda from Vallum Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, team. Fantastic performance on the operating side. My question is on finish. Can we get some perspective on individual brand performance for the full year, not for the quarter, maybe in terms of growth and profitability? Has there something drastically moved versus last quarter? If that can be highlighted, would be great.
You know, when it comes to the brand wise, the picture is very similar to what we discussed in the last investor call. Tommy, CK, with the focus on premiumization in markets, continued to deliver very good top line, bottom line. U.S. Polo Assn. had a very good quarter, core in terms of EBITDA. In an annual level, you know, some channel, some brands have got impacted by a bit of a slowdown in online B2B business. But U.S. Polo Assn. delivered fantastic EBITDA, and it's like we said, it's a brand that's growing retail, it's growing marketing investment, it's growing adjacent category. I'm very happy to share and what we didn't discuss in the last investor call is that we opened five odd marquee flagship stores in the last quarter.
We opened up... These are like full building, multi-storage, 4,000-odd sq ft stores of US Polo, and they house the entire line of U.S. Polo from, you know, menswear, all the division, womenswear we have now started working on. So we started, after good response online, we started, selling it in offline in our stores. Also, we are testing a little bit of shop and shop in offline channel there. Kids wear is a big focus, has grown really well in quarter four, and we are pushing that, that channel forward. In addition to that, the footwear has got mainly impacted because of the BIS in confusion right now.
The government policy has changed, so currently in the footwear, the whole industry has a little bit of lower inventory and assortment is impacted, so that is a short-term blip. But if I compare to, you know, what happened in the previous investor call, I would say expansion of, flagship stores, is a big thing in US Polo. Arrow, very similar to what we said, it's, gaining scale. Brand has got good traction, the product lines are doing well, premiumization is happening. We are launching new stores. The EBITDA is break, break-even level, low single digit. And, from here we are hopeful that as the market sort of grows and we open more square foot, our platform is ready.
As the market improves, Arrow will also benefit and should reach mid-teens EBITDA, what we had said in the previous call also. FM, I just mentioned that now this season, first time, you know, whole new avatar of FM has reached market, and we are happy with what we are seeing in terms of the growth and the appeal with the channel and with the consumer. But very early days, we have a couple of more seasons to bring more energy behind Flying Machine. So, I think, markets remain subdued. Our platform, our brands are very salient, and whenever market improves, we've seen our brands do really well. So that's the sort of sum total of what has happened in quarter four.
Perfect. Perfect. I'll reflect back on the Arrow when we started this year, one year ago. We were very confident on the goal of the corrective action plan that we had set for Arrow to at least reach a good sizable EBITDA contribution coming from this brand. It's a sizable revenue brand, but yet the EBITDA performance has been slightly muted versus what we had thought. Anyway, exactly what has gone wrong, which has not performed well and what requires further to rectify that?
No, no, I, I would say we are fairly pleased with the way Arrow is moving forward. Yes, markets have remained tough. That's outside of our control. But if you go to some of the new Arrow stores, let's say example, there's a mall in Bengaluru, Phoenix Mall of Asia. You go there and look at the quality of Arrow stores, the merchandise we added, Autopress 1851 and premium line. I think the consumer, you know, traction on Arrow is very good. We're just waiting improvement in the market condition. The large department stores have improved in formal category. So, you know, there's nothing to worry about Arrow. I mean, it's gaining scale, it's remains profitable, and as the market improve, as we open more stores, it'll reach the stated.
Quarter to quarter, there's no sort of disappointment or, you know, change in the Arrow, and we are as upbeat about Arrow as we were in the last quarter investor call.
Correct. So nothing to do with quarter- on- quarter. What I'm asking is the consumer cohort or the segments where we operate, so our consumer, their income would be fairly stable. Our consumer salary, record salaries are getting created in India, what we have been witnessing. So why would we say that the market condition is muted for our consumer, which is towards kind of a premium end? It's something which we're not able to, you know, map it out.
See, I think I'll break down your question into two parts. I would say the journey of Arrow that we set it up, it's going, forward. Whatever we said about exciting the consumer with the brand, it's happening, as we see. Now, it's a reality that in that price point that Arrow operates in, and the competitors, and we've seen the results, there is a market slowdown. We're gaining market share as seen in the department store rank in the formal trouser and shorts. Arrow has now become the top, you know, brand, in both the key department stores. So I would say that, Arrow progress has been good. Still not mid-single digit EBITDA, but that's a process. It'll happen, I'm sure it's gonna happen very soon.
Sure, sure. Now, on the innovative store format, which you have highlighted, you know, if you can further talk on what would be the total investment that we plan on this, all of these formats? And then your observation on to the Megamart versus Club A, seems to be very similar format, only difference being Megamart, seems to be having an upfront discount from day one. So is that not diluting a brand? Just wanted your clarity, why would we try out so many, so many multiple formats versus a, a very exciting Club 20 kind of a format?
So, you know, let me put your question, because, in your question, there was some clarification required, you know. See, let's first look at what is our objective. We want to drive the business of these five marquee brands, and profitably. The profitable growth of these five marquee brands is agenda. We don't want to get distracted, you know, we don't want to do new things, et cetera. We want to focus on the growing the, business of these five brands profitably. Retail is a very good opportunity. Our platform is ready. We understand this quite well. Now, in our business, we need to have an outlet model. Earlier, we hold entire old merchandise was sold through online channel, and we saw opportunity.
Our competitors were doing very large outlet business, and we were not present in that format largely. So we You know, and also high street, you need a big format, so that you can get car parking and consumers come into large format. So we created a you know, multi-brand outlet. Also, the size, like, you know, in single brand, you get shortage, and in multi-brand, you get your size in some brand or the other. So we opened this Megamart, and in last two years, it's really scaled up. Also, it gives us opportunity to liquidate with better realization and much faster cash realization. So that's one format called Outlet of these five brands. So Megamart is in the areas where the outlets are present and there are these outlet markets across the country.
So it's already there, and we opened large number of that store, and it's working really well, and, and that's something working well. Then we also saw that in, especially in high street, we see an, need for, again, a very large format. These are the premium high street, like Indiranagar or Bengaluru, where the, wedding consumers go, where special occasion consumers go, and they are very important high streets, of every city, and we didn't have a presence. So we created this premium, it is like a super premium format, where brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, the best part of U.S. Polo, Arrow, Flying Machine are there. So this is a completely different model. It's got nothing to do with Megamart. Megamart is in the outlet localities, and, you can fairly cost of retailing, everything is a very, very outlet.
Club A is a very premium format. Here, we don't discount, we don't sell old merchandise. It's a full price, special occasion customer, and we tested in one store in Indiranagar, in Bengaluru, and we found very good traction, and we see a lot of premium customers come, very nice parking, the high street frontage, it's a whole building, very, very impressive facade. And now, we've decided, based on the trial we did in Indiranagar, Bengaluru, to now put money behind this, and we'll expand it. So that is a completely different format. And third format is a footwear format called Stride, which is largely a footwear and accessory like handbag, and we've seen that traction in those categories for our brands. So we sell handbag and footwear in U.S. Polo, in Tommy Hilfiger, in Calvin Klein, et cetera.
So that's a completely, largely currently a mall business, in the accessories zone and the footwear zone of the mall, so it's a separate format. Coming to the investment level, the question that you asked, we remain, our mindset remains very asset-light, and most of the stores that we want to expand are with the FOFO model. And once we have done the trial, then most of the expansion of these innovative formats will be with asset-light mindset, with largely with FOFO model. And this will be to fuel the growth of adjacent category and the main categories of the existing five brands.
Perfect. Perfect. Just a last question. With the very overlap of this outlet model, are we planning to, you know, really scale down the MBO channel? And then how should we read 2% decline in whole of the year for this channel? Have we, have we lost out some market share in this MBO channel, too? I mean, how do we balance out both the, both the formats at the same time?
See, you know, let me just first clarify that, see, the MBO channel is a full price channel. Outlet is an old merchandise discount channel. Now, if you go to, let's say, Agra, Bachoomal, which is a key MBO, the top customers of Agra go there especially for the shopping, for their wedding occasion, et cetera. So they are not a discount retailer. All the key MBO, JadeBlue in Ahmedabad or, you know, similar, I can keep taking the names, they are all the top retailers of that city, and we are very proud to be present in a very large.
A market leading way inside their stores across the country, and it's a, you know, area of strength and, you know, we are building the full price business, the full season business of our brands with them, all our five brands, and it's a full price business. And here we've been very, very strict with hygiene and, you know, collection and inventory management, so that's the one business. So let's not. It is not an outlet model, so this is not a cannibalization or, outlet is not a cannibalization for MBO channel. That channel has grown in high single digits in the FY 2024, and it will continue to grow, you know, at its own pace. But we will be very strict with the hygiene of that channel. So outlet is not cannibalizing, you know, MBO business.
This is a separate business. Now, coming to your question on the growth of the wholesale channel, like we said, that we've been very, very watchful on stocking, and especially in the department store, we've been, you know, very careful in inventory level. We are not overstocking the, that channel, and that's where reason our primaries to that channel has been a little slow. And this quarter, it will switch over to the quarter one. So if you look at the quarter one data also and overall spring, summer, I think there'll be a small growth in that channel also. So don't, let's not confuse between the outlet channel and the MBO channel. They are completely different distribution, different cities and, you know, MBO, you can go to many large number of cities.
Outlet, we don't go into so many large number of cities.
Perfect. Perfect. Very clear. Thanks for answering all the questions. Just on the feedback discussion that we had last quarter, we have to yet improve on the basic disclosures, like brand-wise, store counts on maybe pre-India EBITDA numbers. If that happens, I mean, it would be very great. Thank you all, for the answers.
Welcome!
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all the participants, please limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we will request you to rejoin the queue. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Palash Kawale from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for the opportunity, and congratulations for the good set of results. I hope I'm audible. Sir, my question is related to categories. So, if you could give some data about what is the size of the categories, like footwear, kidswear, innerwear, and womenswear, and what kind of margins are you making there?
See, two of these categories have already become more than INR 200 crore reach. That's kidswear in US Polo, and we do kidswear in Tommy Hilfiger. US Polo, in its segment, is a market leader, and Tommy kidswear in its own super premium category, also is a market leader. And there's an opportunity to open many more exclusive stores of US Polo kidswear, and we will put energy behind that. So that's already crossed INR 200 crore mark. It's a market leader in its segment. It's fairly profitable and, you know, close to double-digit EBITDA there. So it's a very good business.
Kidswear also, post-COVID, there was, you know, closure of lot of kidswear local brands, and that opportunity came up, and we, in India, the way we structure it, so secular growth going forward, and we want to capitalize on the growth opportunity in the kidswear segment. We are very well-placed brand in U.S. Polo and also Tommy Hilfiger. That's the one part. Second, piece is the footwear, where our company invested really ahead of time, and, you know, we have really benefited from that focus on a dedicated footwear business. We have a separate team, and that business now is also reaching close to INR 300 crore mark, and it's close to double-digit EBITDA again. Again, a market leader, both in the online places.
With its price format, we are going aggressively behind offline distribution. In our own stores of U.S. Polo, we do a very good share of revenue from the footwear and very profitable business for us. We also do footwear business in womenswear. Just launched last year. It's showing good promise. We've also done small trial of Flying Machine footwear, which is again showing good promise. Also, Tommy and CK, in their own super premium way, they do a business of footwear, you know, in their stores. Currently, footwear is bit of under challenge on supplies because of the new government regulation, BIS, where we need certification. So there is a bit of confusion right now, and the inventory levels and the distribution online, offline is a big challenge.
But I'm sure, this will sort of pass in the next couple of months, and this business will continue to grow at very, very high, you know, growth going forward. And then we also have other accessories, like, you know, adjacent category, like innerwear, and we also have small handbag, et cetera. So we will continue to expand those categories. Womenswear has been the recent introduction, which is showing good promise in US Polo. In other brand, like Tommy, CK, we do fairly good business of handbag and apparel. So, these are the four categories where, you know, we are putting a lot of effort, which is footwear, which is innerwear, which is kidswear and womenswear.
Overall, this is higher than INR 500 crore business, and it is growing in double-digit. You know, currently, the share is more than 15%, and I think as the market improves and the growth accelerates and we open more distribution, this, in the medium term, has a potential to reach to 20% of our AFL revenue.
Thank you, sir, for the detailed answer. So my next question is related to FM brand. So what kind of margins are you making there, and how do you see margins shaping out in next two years?
See, margin shaping up in next two years? Yes. Currently, you know, currently, you know, Flying Machine is in a, like I mentioned in my comments, it's a, new avatar. This is a season we actually launched with a new cool merchandise, new logo. We've seen encouraging response. The growth in the current market condition, also the growth rates are fairly good. Beyond that, we don't want to give you too much of brand color, but, you know, this is a, a brand where definitely we want to see better margin in the next few years.
Okay, sir. Thank you for that. Sir, and the destocking in online B2B is done, or there's still some room there?
See, what has happened from the peak of the COVID business, there is a realignment happening in the online world, and the industry is moving from wholesaling to the portals, what we call B2B, towards what is known as a marketplace, B2C, where the whole shopping experience is controlled by us, where we hold the merchandise, we decide the merch, the assortment, we do the online exclusive styles, and we deliver it at the prices that we want and not sort of a heavy discounting et cetera. So there's a sort of a healthier business and a long-term business. So not just us, the whole industry is moving from B2B to B2C. Currently, B2B is a slightly bigger revenue business than B2C, but B2C is showing a lot of promise.
You know, the business has almost doubled in FY 2024. It's showing very good traction, and we will continue to transition the business from B2B to B2C, the way the industry is also doing. So in next couple of quarters, we will continue to see this transitioning of B2B to B2C. And overall, we expect that the online business will stabilize and grow further because when I look at a long-term view, there is a set of consumers whose first choice of discovery and shopping is online, and that new customer, whether is a millennial or a Gen Z customer, will eventually buy online. So we will stay heavily invested behind the online channel, but we transition to a better version of online business.
Okay, sir, thank you for that. So just last question on account, account keeping, bookkeeping. So, what is the ad expense for whole year?
Our advertising you said, right?
Yes, yes.
So we are close to 4% of our sales in advertisement, which is almost 100 basis points higher than what was in the previous year.
Okay. And how do you see it going forward? It would remain around 4%, or, will it be increased?
It will remain stable at this level. And, I, I would say that we will not leave any stone unturned if we need to invest more, but the kind of visibility I have in the next year, I think it will remain stable, close to where the current numbers are.
Okay, sir. Thank you for your detailed answer. That's it from my side.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shreyans from Swan Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello, can you hear me now?
Shreyan, your voice is slightly echoing. If you can use the handset that'll be better.
Hi. First of all, congratulations to the team on a good set of numbers. So my first question is more to Kulin and Shailesh. So we start FY 2025 on a clean slate. We have five brands. Most of the cleanup is now done with. We are ending with about 16%-17% ROCE, 0.5% at equity. So I think we are in a fairly comfortable position now, and you also highlighted in your presentation that, you know, you're seeing growth rates better than Q4 to come in from next year onwards. So just wanted to pick your brain on how do you look at the overall market?
You were earlier guiding for 12%-13% of top line growth, and most consumer companies that we talked to are also seeing some green shoots in consumer demand. So, we have brands that play across both value as well as premium. So, you know, internally, how are you guys looking at FY 2025, FY 2026, now that every, all the cleanup that we're talking about is done? Thank you so much.
Kulin, you want to start, and I'll maybe continue forward after that?
Yeah, I'll start. So thanks for the question. I think the last year has been a year where we've really built a very exciting platform to scale up our growth to the next, you know, level. I think we've made the investments in the brands. We have really upped the game in terms of the retail experiences that we want to offer in all of these brands. And we have an extremely strong, you know, balance sheet with very high level of newness and freshness in inventory. So I think the hard work has allowed us now to really look forward to a stronger growth cycle in the coming year.
And as Shailesh mentioned earlier, once our all these formats are scaling up, our square footage addition comes in, and, you know, as the adjacent categories also scale up, and we didn't talk about it too much today, but I personally believe the productivity engine of the company is in very, very good shape. So in a very bad market, we've been able to give an LTL growth. So, you know, in a even a neutral/slightly positive market, I feel LTL is also a lever very much poised for a much higher level of delivery.
The markets have remained weak, as we said. So I think with all of these things coming together, you will see in FY 2025 a significantly better growth than in FY 2024. Once the market conditions become a little bit more neutral, I'm very confident that the higher range of that 12%-15% growth targets is very achievable with the portfolio that we have and the growth drivers that we have in place. You want anything else, I can just, kind of, supplement?
No, no, that helps. My second question is, sir, like now retail has grown by 300 basis points. So just wanted to understand, going forward, what is the kind of mix that we look at in terms of channel? Do you think retail has more scope? Can it become 50% of our business and online 25 and MBO 25? So what is, what is the number that we are targeting? Because clearly, retail sales have, from my understanding, better ROCE for us. So that is one question. The second part to it is, just in terms of, some understanding you could give us in terms of ROCE, which channel is better for us in terms of ROCE, if you could rank them?
You know, first question, yes, retail is definitely a very healthy channel for us. Higher GP from brand side, also very right, cash conversion also quite right. So, we believe in it, and, you know, last two to three years, a lot of investment, like Kulin mentioned, we have put behind to improve our productivity, like-to-like growth. And even in the core market, we've grown last year at 4%. Now, the strategy for channel going forward is what we say, direct to consumer. So we want to continue to focus. Even last year, you see the two channels have really grown, and both have added, you know, almost 3% revenue share. One is the retail that you mentioned, and the other one is the online B2C, which has almost doubled, and it also gained share.
We believe that, in both the channels, we see the white of the eye of the consumer, and it gives us an opportunity to, you know, directly influence the consumer choices, through good shopping experience, through assortment that we can control. We can use the machine learning to throw out the right merchandise to the consumer on the front end. So we are very clear that these direct channels, the retail and offline and B2C in online, are the priorities. And already you will see last year also, both the channels have added a share of mix and have grown handsomely. And also, both are adding very good margin improvement for the company.
So these channels will continue to be focused, and our mindset is asset light, so we will sort of grow the retail channel and all the innovation that we are talking about largely through the franchisee route, FOFO model. And then our ROCE and those channels are very, very healthy.
Could you just help us understand which format gives us the best ROCE in terms of order?
So, I'll not be able to really exactly tell you, because that's something which is what we don't disclose. But, just to give you some sense, of course, MBO and retail are the best channels for the ROCE business because... But please understand, you know, the absolute ROCE effect, which is what you get in retail channel, is the highest, because you're able to drive the full-price business and with a higher gross margin. So from that standpoint, that's where we are focusing a lot more on retail with a significant higher amount of controls in retail and on the working capital and, better inventory management. Our capital employed remains under control, and that's where you see our ROCEs going up, and that's where the investment is, what Shailesh also spoke about.
Okay, thanks. And my last question would be on PVH. So what is the kind of revenue, EBITDA and PAT that we would have done for this year, FY 2024? And similar to that would be what are the PAT losses in Arrow? If you could just help us understand that number now that the whole year is over.
Shant, so we don't really give exactly revenue, EBITDA, PAT, ROC, all of these metrics brand-wise, but to give you some sense, of course, PVH being in on the premium side of it, as to what Shailesh mentioned, would have grown slightly better than, of course, the company-wide average, and they are benefiting from the entire premiumization trend. However, as to what Shailesh said, on all the other parts of business, U.S. Polo also continues to do extremely, extremely well. Of course, there is a way to go on Arrow and Flying Machine. Arrow, of course, losses have meaningfully and significantly come down over the last few years, and you are seeing the entire benefit on margins and ROCE is getting better because all of these focused effort is what we are yielding.
There is, of course, an internal target and, you know, journey to go, but of course, we need external environment support. But we stay confident of moving all our metrics, what we have delivered over the last three years, continue to inch upwards as we look out for FY 2025 and 2026.
Okay, and my last question would be to Kulin. So Kulin, you know, the kind of growth that we're seeing in the premiumization happening in India, you know, you look at companies like Ethos delivering 20% growth every quarter. So just wanted to understand, in terms of Tommy CK, you know, obviously, we've had some baggage in the past, and maybe that's why we're being a little conservative on the growth aspect. But do you think, you know, now you push the pedal a little more of higher in terms of Tommy CK? You know, where there is an aspiration there.
We've been seeing numbers of The Collective in ABFRL, you know, they are posting strong numbers. And, you know, the whole market also seems to be, you know, favoring premiumization as a story. So just wanted to understand, you know, are you, are you being a little conservative on, on that aspect on Tommy CK, just, and being a little conservative? Or do you think now is the time, you know, you capture that growth that is there to, for you to take, you know? You have such strong brands on your side.
So, Northstar as a company is to drive profitability, right? We want to make this a very high return on capital employed company, a company where the growth comes alongside extremely strong key cash flow generation. And if your question is, if you have to choose between heavier growth and dilution of cash flows and growth, that is something we will not do. Now, coming to your question on Tommy and CK, I think these brands have had industry-leading growth. A very interesting fact is that the size and scale of a Tommy CK is possibly four times larger than any other brand in their class, in terms of the price point and the bridge to luxury segment. So they are examples of an exceedingly large, dominant franchise, and I don't think on any dimension we have had a lack of ambition.
The number of stores and square footage which are being added, the way Tommy is now the most searched, brand, in the lifestyle space online. So these are all numbers which clearly show that there is no lack of imagination or ambition. We will not push the growth of these formats, any of our five formats, beyond what we believe to be the healthy way we need to grow these brands.
Even look at our investor deck, we clearly mentioned there that we had record year growth in terms of top line, bottom line, and both the brands have grown across the channel, whether it's in online space or own retail channel, shop in shop. So we had a wonderful.
Hello? I think we lost you. Hello.
Yes, I will connect back. The management line has been connected.
Shail, please go ahead.
No, I think Shailesh was answering the question, I think.
Yeah, you know, what Kulin said, and I also said that, there's no lack of ambition. The performance has been outstanding in Tommy CK, so yes, I mean, these are the leaders in the market.
Okay. And just last question, sir, what is the kind of store addition that we envisage, both in Tommy and CK? And my question was, was because, you know, last four years, we've seen about 10, 12 store addition in Tommy and CK combined, and, you know, that business is about 100% ROC for us. So that question was more on, on, on that bit.
So, you know, let me first say that the overall AFL strategy that we want to add, you know, close to 15%, you know, space from where we are today. And there'll be also some reduction because 3%-4% of cleaning up our distribution happens every year. It's healthy. So that's the overall strategy at AFL. Coming to Tommy CK, they are in super premium space. They're already present in very large number of cities, both are present in more than 70 cities of India. Very few international brands of that quality and price are available in so many cities. And as and when the new city emerges or new distribution emerges, we will expand.
Also, a brand like Club A is a very good opportunity to expand high-street distribution of Tommy CK, along with other three brands. So again, I'm saying that there, we leave no stone unturned in the successful market-leading brands, but it has to be done, like Kulin said, in a quality way. We'll not compromise just for the sake of expansion, but it has to be done in a quality way, and we are leaders because over last 18, 20 years, we've built it in a very high quality, and that will be the handwriting going forward also. We will not compromise.
Okay. I'll send it back to you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rajiv from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. So, regarding PVH, this brand, because this is largely asset-light, barring the stores you have bought last year, the margin structure is largely stable, is it? Or there is operating leverage still there?
Yeah, so, you know, the margins are quite healthy. We're very happy with the EBITDA percentage, but, you know, there is a scope further, as we sort of scale the brand forward, further efficiency possible. So there is surely leverage possible in these brands also.
So you in your opening remark, you mentioned that PVH has done record profit. That was for the full year, not for the quarter, right?
For the quarter also, and a very good numbers combined, if you see, the performance of Tommy CK has been very, very good in quarter four also.
But this minority interest number, we see there is a YOY decline, right?
Yeah, so, you know, it also includes the Flying Machine, and, you know, that number. So, Tommy has done really well. Flying Machine is a business, like I said, that we are reworking and quarter to quarter there could be, you know, data there. So overall, when you focus on Arrow and Tommy, and CK, they had a very good quarter four also, and they had a very good quarter, full year also.
Sure. In regard to this, Ruff & Tuff and Newport thing, which was held for sale, and you brought from ABFRL to AFL, and what are we looking to revive these two, and what is the idea here?
Yeah. So, just to give you a perspective, Rajiv, this is just a movement between the holding company and the subsidiary and the holding company. Sorry, this is largely being done to optimize tax and cash flow purposes. You know, you would realize that there is no impact on the consolidated financial. At this stage, you know, I would just like to reiterate that, you know, our focus is to keep working on the five marquee brands and keep working on them to improve our performance and profitability.
Perfect. On the wholesale business, is it possible to specify how much is SOR now? What percentage of the wholesale is SOR?
So, Rajiv, we will not be able to discuss the financials on a business model-wise numbers. But as to what you can see, our focus is continuing to drive the retail channel, which is where, of course, we have tightened the controls, and, of course, making the entire working capital a lot more efficient over the last three years, and doing the entire bit on stock terms and better profile.
No, so I was just wondering, because, you know, if you are moving away from SOR, the inventory number which you share on the deck versus this thing, there is an increase on that bit, right? Which is an SOR inventory. I was wondering.
Accounting representation, Rajiv, the way we look at our business is essentially the entire whole universe of inventory, whether it's lying at our doors or inventory, which is potentially can probably get returned from the doors, which is where it has that ecosystem and, you know, allowing in terms of customers. So it's the right prudent way when we report into our presentation, but it's only the thing, the differential number is shown as other current assets, which is a part of the balance sheet. It's just an accounting thing. But for all practical purposes, the way we look at our inventory is including that return on the asset, which is shown as other current assets on the balance sheet side.
That's the number of totalities, what you see in my investor deck when I put out.
No, I understand that. My only thing is that delta number has increased, right?
Rajiv, you should look at that number on a full year to full year basis, because there will be some channels, there'll be some, you know, billing, which is what we will ship. There will be some seasonality, which is what you see playing. You should look at that number on a full year to full year. As a percentage of sales, that number would have largely remained stable. I don't have the exact number for the full year as a percentage, but that number wouldn't have meaningfully changed for the FY 2024 versus FY 2023.
Fair. And is it possible to, let's say, comment on the, let's say, health of the inventory? How much is, let's say, a season old, how much is a year old inventory in your system?
So now we are very happy with the inventory quality. Even Kuldeep in the earlier comment mentioned that we've never had a fresher round of inventory, and we are very you know the freshness index in our inventory is very, very good, and we've been very selling inventory close to the market, and that's one of the reasons you've seen the Q4 to Q1 shift is happening. We're very watchful, and our health of inventory is very good, and bulk of our inventory is less than one year old.
Great. Thanks a lot. That's all from my side. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jatin Sangwan from Burman Capital. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking my question. As we, as I can see in Q4, we have reached an EBITDA margin of 13.5%. Now, going sequentially, Q1, which is, like, the lowest for us, are we confident of maintaining the similar margin in Q1? And also, what kind of margin improvement are we looking for FY 2025, and also in the medium term, let's say in the next three years?
See, as far as quarter-to-quarter EBITDA comparison, see, we are a very seasonal business, so sequential, you know, EBITDA percentage don't make like we have a quarter, which is more wholesale. There are quarters where we have more end of season. So when we look at the EBITDA of quarter one, we will compare it with the quarter one of last year, because that will be the right way to look at it, rather than comparing it with the current 13.5% in the quarter four. Second point is that, what is the guidance on EBITDA? We've been saying that, you know, we want to increase the EBITDA by at least 100 basis points, good times even a higher stretch of 150 basis points.
Now, if you look at our journey of last three years and the scorecard that we have found out, our EBITDA increase is much higher than that. Even in the last year, you know, in all the current market conditions, we've seen a 120 basis point improvement in financial FY 2024. So, EBITDA improvement and a profitable growth. So while we keep priorities to now up the revenue growth from where we are in quarter four, but we will never lose sight of the profitable growth. So the EBITDA improvement continues to be our mantra of profitable growth, and we hope to continue on this journey of close to 100 basis point improvement. Yes, there are some time markets are very hard, sometimes markets can be very favorable also, so.
The attempt will be to grow EBITDA by at least 100 basis points.
Got it. Thank you. As I can see, employee expenses have increased on both QOQ and YOY basis. Were there any hikes or one-offs in the employee expenses?
See, no, don't, please look at quarter data on employee. If I look at the annual data for a company with a data increase of 15%, our employee cost have only gone up by 7%. And this is what really minimum required to be competitive in the space to be a good employer. Also, when we look at this cost in the last quarter, we've seen good saving on the overhead side, the travel cost, et cetera. So overall, you know, we remain very efficient on the employee cost, plus the overhead cost that we have. So I don't think there's a need to read too much into the employee cost. Please look at the annual increase of 7% in FY 2024.
Okay, got it. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Niraj Mansingka from White Pine Investment Management. Please go ahead.
Thank you. I just one question. Can you share about the category performance? How these various categories performed during the quarter and the year?
See, earlier in the call, we did say that, you know, adjacent category, different categories we built. In the core category also, if you look at the core focus, bulk of our business comes from T-shirts, shirts, jeans, chinos, et cetera, and winterwear, e-co. Our sales tools in fall already have reached whatever our target was for the full season. So we remain very focused, and whenever we got the feedback on a product line in our roadshow has been very encouraging. So we are very happy with the product engine and the category engine that's working for us, and we'll continue to, you know, make our categories very relevant and modern.
I was more looking for, you know, footwear versus innerwear and kidswear, and what is the growth in percentage and what is the share right now? Some color there.
Sure. So in this very same call, we had tried to answer this question little more in detail, and I'm again repeating that we have these four businesses. Kids wear already crossed INR 200 crore mark, very market-leading business. Growing in quarter four, growth is more than 20% in that business, and on a regular basis, this business can grow close to 15%. We have another big business, which is, you know, more than INR 250 crore business, which is footwear across U.S. Polo, men, women, Flying Machine, we've done a little bit of trial. Tommy Hilfiger have a footwear business. Currently, tmhat business has not grown in the short term because of the BIS confusion, and we're not able to bring in, we're not able to import inventory.
So there is a short-term issue there, but that business has grown more than 20% if you look at the last three years. And once the BIS confusion gets done and the new policy gets implemented, we will be able to bring in the new inventory and sell it. So that, if I take a medium term lens, this business will continue to grow close to that 20%. And then we have the business of womenswear we launched. So overall, the adjacent categories are more than INR 500 crores. These are at high teen share, could become 20% in the medium term, and they're growing more than 15%.
Okay. Similar, same related. What can you share about the U.S. Polo women's wear, and what is the experience you have to date?
See, let me qualify, very early days of that business, couple of seasons only, and very, very early days, we started that business with online first mindset. We want to test it with the young, modern consumers on online players, and we saw good traction. We saw good promise. So now we have started fourth season. Few, actually, weeks, not even a season of in the offline channel, we added few shop-in-shops. We are now putting it in our flagship store. Showing very good promise, good, good performance, but it's very early days to read into it.
Okay, and, sorry, I'm taking more question. And FM, when do you think will break even on EBITDA.
See, in as far as the Flying Machine is concerned, the improvements have just started, and we will need, you know, a couple of more seasons to reach a point where we can talk about it, but performance will improve for sure. That we are very confident of. Where it will reach a point where, you know, on profitability, et cetera, time will tell. It's premature for me to put a guideline or a date, but we are focused on putting the right inputs right now, so we are going all out to put the right input behind the brand Flying Machine.
And, you know, just to add what Shailesh said, you know, please also note that, you know, Flying Machine is our single most brand where it had the significant dependence on online, and of course, that has seen a significant degrowth in this year. So of course, Flying Machine would have had a slightly more than its wallet share compared to all other brands impact of that. It's all external led. However, what Shailesh said is, you know, we have done everything, whatever is in our control, whether it's new retail identity, new product architecture, pricing, newer stores with new retail retail identity. So all of that, whatever is in our control, we have made adequate investments and investment behind the team in this year.
So however, you know, we have seen green shoots of our success very early, but, you know, we are seeing for sure the improvement and our reducing of our salience over online and driving that business in line with other brands, which is what we want to do through retail format. So that's where is what how I would put it, you should read about Flying Machine.
Got it, got it. Thank you. Thank you so much for your answers.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Gautam Rathi, from CWC. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi.
Hi.
Shailesh, and implementing our great performance. You know, one thing which is very.
We can't hear you. Can you please speak closer to the handset?
Hello, can you hear me now?
Yeah, it's better.
Yeah. You know, I was just saying, great performance, guys. Really, really, appreciate all the effort you guys have put in. I just wanted to understand, this cash flow that we've generated this year, right? We've generated more than INR 200 crore of operating cash flow. So on that lines, is there any further scope for us to work around? And are we... So the question is: Are we at the optimum level in terms of inventory and debtor days, or do you see is there any further scope for you to improve that number here?
So, t hanks for the question. We still believe, of course, the low-hanging fruits of this entire efficient working capital management is in the bag. However, if you ask us, you know, as Shailesh and Kulin also mentioned briefly, is, you know, the entire retail engine and the retail transformation journey over the last three years, we have traversed a long way. Of course, is a significant room for us to kind of even take the channel mix higher? Absolutely, yes. And will that have a positive impact on working capital? Absolutely, yes. So having said that, of course, we have our internal targets far more of tall order in terms of even improving the stock turns, even from a current level.
While of course, we are at probably amongst the top quartile or amongst the gold standard companies in having the 4x inventory returns. But can we improve? We believe we can, and there are a lot of initiatives, strategic interventions, which is what we are driving internally. So cash flow, the way you look at it, yes, there is a room for us to drive even more efficient working capital. But you will need to look at in the line of the fact that, you know, there could be times where you need to invest in behind the brands and in the working capital to chase growth. But we will be very, very prudent, and you've seen the hygiene over the last few years.
We'll not compromise on any of those parameters going ahead, and as the growth comes back, we see our cash flow even getting better from the current level, which is what you witnessed in FY 2024.
Yeah. And so the point out there was, you know, that the whole... So you are saying one of the vectors for you to improve working capital will be the move away from the increasing mix of retail, right? Is one vector. I'm just trying to also understand the entire exercise that was done with the vector. Has all the benefit of that flown through, or is there a bit of it yet to... Can we see more benefit out there?
The question is, you know, has all the part of the low-hanging fruit come through, or is there some bit of it which is still yet to come through this year, apart from just the retail mix shift?
So, you rightly said that retail mix improves the debtor. The cash conversion is faster. So that's true, and we have sure aspiration to increase the share of revenue further for all the reasons that we've discussed. Coming to the Vector part, there are these transformation needed, because we are now already at four turns. And now from four, every, you know, 0.1, 0.2, it requires transformation in thought process, working on the merchandise in a new way, doing shorter lead time, et cetera.
Coming specific to the Vector project, that project is on, and we're very happy with the progress of that. But I would still say that it's not the end of the gains from that project. I see we are greedy about it, and we see a lot of, you know, scope of benefits coming from that in next couple of years further. So it's not the end of the road with Vector. It is definitely, you know, opportunity to go further and improve the stock terms further from that project.
So related to that, you know, Shailesh, when do you see us becoming a debt-free company?
I mean, you know, I want to be cautious, but, you know, our game plan is that l et me answer it in a way, and probably if you want it, we can give a date also. But, you know, the point is that, see, the business is throwing a certain amount of cash. We don't... We have a capital, asset-light mindset. We don't have large capital, you know, being kind of spent in through stores or through technology or any of those things, or acquisition.
So the entire, you know, cash flow, whatever, after the working capital need for growing the business wholesale, we will pay down the debt. So that's for sure going to happen, and it'll happen as we go along. So today, where we are, another two to three years, probably, why not? I mean, we could become a debt-free company. The journey is on, depends on the market conditions.
So I don't want to say if markets are tough, it may take longer. If markets are feeling more positive, it can happen faster. But the journey is on, and whether it happens in X years or X plus one year, the time will tell, but clearly, that journey is on.
No, no, I fully appreciate that. And one last question was just, you know, on the women's wear side, you know. You know, I just visited one of your stores, and it looks like a fairly decent amount of space which you have dedicated and the thing that you're trying, you know.
How fast can this become a very relevant category for us, you know? Because it's in your core category, it doesn't have to be adjacent. So how do you think about that as a vector for growth? Because it is something, you know, which, where you don't need the market to grow, you know. Just would love to get your thoughts on how you're thinking about that category. Is that gonna be a bit more gradual, or could there be some surprises out there in terms of growth in that category?
I see where we are today. We are very early stage. So if I have to say a couple of, you know, one more season, two more season, it'll be gradual. Because we want to be very data-driven and, you know, very scientific in our thought process, see the data and grow that. Now, the point is, wherever we put the line, we will give a full representation. So the store you went to, you would have seen a good representation, because unless you offer choice to the women consumer or any consumer, they will not buy. So just sort of a token space in some store don't won't help. So wherever we go, we will give wholehearted representation, but we will not expand it very fast.
We will do it sensibly, but the day we see, you know, that our CP is right, we can go very aggressively thereafter. We, we've done something similar in footwear. We took time to test it out. We saw different channels, Strides we open in small town, big town, high street. Once we saw it was meeting our, you know, expectation, now we're putting a lot of money behind it and expanding very rapidly. And same thing will hopefully happen with women's wear. It'll take some more time for us to check out everything, and then we'll expand.
No, no, this is grow, this is good. Thanks a lot, and all the best to you guys.
Thank you. Thanks a lot. Yeah.
Thank you. Due to paucity of time of the management, that will be the last question for the day. I will now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, everybody, for joining us on the call today. If any of you have any further questions or any follow-up, please feel free to reach out to us, and we, we would be happy to answer them offline. Thank you, and have a good day.
Thank you. On behalf of Arvind Fashions Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.