Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Go Fashion India Limited Q1 FY26 Earnings Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star 0 on a touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Gautam Saraogi, Promoter and CEO of Go Fashion (India) Limited. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Good evening and a warm welcome to everyone present at the call. Along with me, I have Mr. R. Mohan , our Chief Financial Officer and SGA Investor Relations Advisor. I hope you have all received the investor deck by now. For those who have not, you can view them on the stock exchange and the company website. In Q1 FY26, we reported revenues of INR 223 crores, broadly stable on a YoY basis. The quarter witnessed some temporary headwinds in our LFS channel and a few key partner stores, and supply chain disruptions arising from Bangladesh route blockade. Despite this, we are encouraged by a strong recovery in the data path, particularly during the EOSS, which reflects improving customer traction across our network. We continue to see improvement in our gross margins, which stood at 63%, driven by further easing of raw material costs and favorable product mix.
Our ASP stood at INR 805 as of June 2025, driven by a continuous shift towards value-added products. This transformation of a more premium offering highlights our evolution into a comprehensive bottom wear brand with increasing relevance across multiple product categories. We at Go Colors remain firmly committed towards strong unit economics and maintaining a healthy balance sheet. We continue to deliver best-in-class unit economics, reflecting in our full-price sell-through ratio of more than 97%. Our inventory days stood at 98 days, which we are going to further look to optimize further. Our strategy continues to center on positioning ourselves as a go-to destination for all our women's bottom wear needs by offering a wide range of products at accessible price points and catering to a diverse customer base. Moving to the operational metrics for Q1 FY26, moving on to store additions.
In Q1 FY26, we added 27 new stores, taking our store total to 803 stores. We remain on track to achieving a target of 120 net additions for the full year. During Q1 FY26, SSSSG declined by 2%, primarily due to softer footfalls. Additionally, temporary supply chain disruptions from Bangladesh route led to limited availability on those selected SKUs across some stores. Our advertising spend for the quarter stood at 2.1% in Q1 FY26. Moving to new business updates, we are in the process of rolling out new categories, including women's top wear and select men's wear, across 15- 20 stores. The initial launch will begin in the first week of August to the few stores, and then the rollout will happen over the coming months. Lastly, on our new business updates, I'm also happy to share that our international foray has been well received.
Our first store in Dubai is witnessing positive initial traction and customer response. We forward our first step would be to achieve low single-digit SSSG and improve store-level productivity and throughput. Second, we would grow our footprint by increasing the number of stores in our portfolio. FY26 onward, we aspire to open 130- 150 stores plus net additions going forward, given the lower store closure rates this year. Lastly, our focus would be to maintain a strong check on inventory levels, leading to a healthy balance sheet and improving RoCE and efficiency of the company. We remain confident in the strength of India's consumption story and expect to see a revival in demand in the upcoming quarters, driven by a successful upcoming festive season. As the environment improves, we are well positioned to capitalize on the recovery through our strong brand, disciplined execution, and expanding footprint.
With this, I would like to hand over the call to our CFO, Mr. R. Mohan, for the update on Q1 FY26 results. Thank you.
Thank you, Gautam, and good evening, everyone. I would now like to share the financial highlights for Q1 FY26. Our revenues for the quarter stood at INR 223 crores. Gross profit stood at INR 140 crores with a gross margin of 53% for the quarter. Our EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 69 crores, with the EBITDA margin at 30.8%. Profit after tax for the quarter stood at INR 22 crores, with a flat margin of 10%. RoCE and RoE, excluding Ind AS tax as on June 25, stood at 17.3% and 13.5% respectively. Cash and cash equivalents, including mutual funds and fixed deposits, stood at INR 247 crores as on June 30, 2025. With this, we will now open the floor for questions and answers.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star 1 on their touch-tone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star 2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We have our first question from the line of Sameer Gupta from India Infoline . Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question. Firstly, on the store closures, last quarter the guidance was that this year will be very low in terms of store closures, probably four to five maximum. This quarter itself has witnessed four store closures. I understand you've reiterated the store guidance, but any color on overall gross additions, and is there a risk that this year also will be undervalued in terms of store additions, given the environment we have started the year with?
Thank you, Sameer. Thank you for the question. These four stores, out of these four stores, one was an airport store, and that airport store basically went under renovation. Our store got closed because of that. The other second location, the location where our store was, that mall itself was doing a shutdown and transformation to a commercial property, so we lost our space because of that. The other two stores which had closed have closed in the normal course of business, but two stores have closed because of temporary shutdown in the facility where we were present, one being an airport store and one being the other mall. As far as guidance is concerned, I think our business development team also is well equipped, and I think we see a good number of store additions in the coming quarters.
Positively, 120+, 130+ stores we should be able to deliver in this fiscal year.
Got it. Second is on the LFS channel, and there's a decline of 13% this quarter, and this is despite healthy additions in terms of outlets to LFS. I think there's a 12%-13% growth on a YoY basis. Any color on this decline and how should we basically look at this channel going forward? Is there a fuller number you have in mind and quarterly vagaries can continue?
See, so Sameer, I think, look, difficult to give a guidance on LFS right now for the next quarter, but in April and May, April and May, stockfalls were quite soft across retail. I mean, June onward, definitely the industry has seen a recovery in demand, but April and May was quite soft due to many reasons. One, it was moved, had actually come in March and not in April. In May, there were some geopolitical reasons also which affected certain store sales. I think LFS also got impacted because of that. We are quite optimistic that in the coming quarter, the LFS business should recover. I think this has been more of a one-time experience. I think from the next quarter onwards, the business with LFS should stabilize.
See, even look at a few quarters back, it has always been a very volatile channel for you. Last quarter before this was 29% growth, and a quarter before that was 3%. Is there any particular reason why it has been such up and down? I believe Reliance Retail is the big customer here, and they have gone through some consolidation phase. Is that really affecting the business?
I think, see, also one of the reasons for the volatile growth sometimes also happens because of the sudden additions of stores we also do with our LFS partners. In a particular quarter or in a particular window of period, if you add more number of stores, the revenue obviously will show higher. That is obviously one reason. Second reason, I think last year, same quarter, the EOSS was a lot earlier in one of our key LFS partners. That's why when we compare this Q1 with last year Q1, there is a decrease also showing. I think the volatility is also to do with the new store additions, what we have done because it gets booked in revenue. Obviously, there are footfall issues as well.
Yes, in some of our LFS partners, we have also seen a lot of consolidation at their level as well in terms of number of stores. They've also changed format and moved it from one format to the other, and we've lost out space. I think over the last one year, we have seen certain consolidation with our key LFS partner, which has also resulted in this volatility.
Okay, got it. I don't see any reason why this should not continue to be volatile in the future also, because all these factors are going to stay, right?
I think the volatility should be less. I'm quite optimistic that the coming quarters in the LFS business should be good. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I think we should be able to deliver good LFS numbers over the next few quarters.
Got it. I'll let you all tell me. I'll come back in the queue for any follow-ups. Thanks.
Thank you, Sameer.
Thank you. I remind all the participants, you may press star one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Avinash Karumanchi from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for asking my question. In this quarter, employee costs are seeing a sharp increase by 19%. What would be the reason behind that?
Two reasons, Avinash. One was obviously because we've added stores as well in Q1 and the earlier quarters. One is because of store additions, the number of employees has gone up. Secondly, our annual increments, which we give in our company, usually happen in April. The annual increments also are another reason for the employee cost to go up. Two reasons: one is obviously addition of new stores and new employees across EBO and LFS, as well as increments. One of the reasons why the percentage of revenue is showing high is because our revenue has not grown. That's also one of the reasons why employee cost as a percentage is high. I think it's three factors. One is new employee additions across new stores in EBO, LFS. Second, increments. The third is revenue being flattish.
Okay. Is it okay to assume like from on this quarterly basis or whatever the news source is, that will be the only incremental employee cost growth? Or it's like the productivity cost is the quarterly number that will.
As an absolute number, as an absolute number of employee costs, whatever employee cost would be increased will be basically the new stores what we add.
Okay, okay. That's right.
Can you delve more on this Bangladesh issue? Are you still continuing to see, because closer to 35%- 40% of your fabric imports will be coming from Bangladesh?
It's not so high, but during Q1, a lot of our shipments got delayed producing. What used to happen, many of our ties are made in Bangladesh, and it used to come by road. As you must be aware, the province of India had put a restriction on road transport, and all shipments had to be routed through the sea route. When we were calling in shipments from the sea route, and because of limited availability of vessels, the goods came in very late. Many of our SKUs, which do well in Q1, actually reached the store level pretty late. It reached probably the middle of June, and that impacted our sales a little bit.
Moving forward, I think some sides we have moved production to India, and which will be rectified by winter by 2026. I think some of the sides we have moved here, and the other side, we have ensured that the shipment timelines are met so that this delay does not happen again.
Can you quantify what would be the impact because of this issue on the growth level?
Very hard to quantify, Avinash. It's a little difficult to quantify, but I'm guessing the impact would be a little impact. I wouldn't say that our revenue growth has got hampered only because of Bangladesh. I wouldn't say that, but I'm sure it would have had a small impact.
Okay. The last one is on the newer categories that you're going to introduce, like the top wear, bottom wear. I know that's too early to speak of that, but have you finalized your strategy, like what you're going to do? or is it going through organic or inorganic routes? How is it going to be?
See, I think, look, we are launching our first pilot store by end of first week of August, or maybe over the next seven or eight days, our first pilot store will open in Chennai, and our second pilot store also will open in Chennai. I think the first phase in which we had planned to open 10 to 15 pilot stores. Over the next few months, once these stores open, we will be able to throw more color of how these new categories are performing.
Okay. When you speak of store openings, are you going to, like earlier in last quarter, you said you'll be repurposing the existing large, like slightly higher stores to this one. Is that the case, or are you going to open that?
No, no, no. We are basically using our same store, which has extra space, and we are going to start using the additional space, which was unutilized earlier.
Yeah, okay.
We are not, as such, we are not doing any new signing.
Got it.
Out of the 10, maybe there'll be one store which is a new signing, but nine of them are existing stores which we are extending our space.
Sure. This top wear, this stylish instance, you're planning only to organic, or you aren't looking for, because there's cash sitting on boths.
I mean, look, ideally, anything you do in fashion and retail, you have to be very, very careful because inventories are a very big risk in retail business, especially in apparel business. I think our first idea and objective is to get this pilot right in the 10 to 15 stores. Once we have that experience, then only we will be able to decide how to take this pilot forward.
Okay.
We are keeping our focus only, as far as the new pilot is concerned, we are keeping ourselves very focused only to these 10 or 15 stores.
Got it. That's it from my end. Thank you.
Thank you, Avinash.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, I remind all the participants that you may press star one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Harsh Shah from Bandhan AMC. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, Gautam. Trying to understand, seeing you said that some part of our revenue was impacted because of, you know, this supply chain disruption. At the same time, we see that our inventory days have gone up, right? How do we ideally, basically, revenue would be, you know, basically disrupted because of stock out, I would assume, right? Because we would not be able to supply the relevant articles to the store, right? Other than your revenue, which would have actually led to lower inventory days, right? How do I kind of tally these two data points?
No, no, no. Yeah, I understand your question. Basically, what has happened is these goods which have come in, it has come in in June itself and inverted in June. It's not that the goods from Bangladesh did not hit the books in quarter one. It got inverted in probably a little later in quarter one, and it is showing in the inventory of the balance sheet. From an inventory days perspective, we are endeavoring, obviously, to maintain inventory days around 90 days. It is at around 98 days, which is stabilized in the coming quarter. I think from an inventory perspective, we have maintained a lot of discipline. This 98 days of inventory also includes the inventory which we have done for the pilot. If you actually see our bottom wear inventory, it has been getting optimized over a period of time.
Got it. My question was not on inventory days being high. My question was just to link these two statements, right?
Yes, I think, look, from the sales perspective, Harsh, from the sales perspective, it's very difficult to quantify how much impact did the supply chain issues have. I mean, it's very difficult to quantify because once the piece and inventory does not stick to a store, you cannot, it's very difficult to calculate loss of sales. We are guesstimating that it would have had a small impact on the revenue.
Okay. Got it. These new stores, in terms of size, right, store size, are we opening slightly bigger stores now because, you know, obviously?
I'll tell you what we're doing. Our average bottom wear store is about 400, 500 sq ft. This store, the new concept what we are doing for the business wear and small men' s wear format, I think, look, the store sizes will range anywhere between 1,500 sq ft- 1,900 sq ft. Because, luckily, from our network of stores, we had many stores which were more than 1,500, we were able to accommodate this.
Earlier, what about when you had those stores? Were already 1,500 plus? Most stores were already 1,500?
Very less. I mean, we would have probably had about 20 out of our 800 store network, maybe about 25, 30 stores we would have, which are greater than 1,500. In those 20, 25 stores, we have selected only those stores which are performing very well, probably are good category stores, and those stores we are doing the pilot.
Incrementally, these 30 stores, what is the store size which you opened this quarter?
The stores we are going to be opening, new stores we are going to be opening, are bottom wear stores. We are not going to be opening any new stores as far as the pilot is concerned. If we are 10 stores, our majorly are existing stores, and our pilot is very much restricted only to 10 or 15 stores which I mentioned. As far as new stores we are going to be opening through the year, the 120, 130 stores guidance I've given, it's purely related to our bottom wear.
Like 200, 500, what are changing?
Yeah, 400, 500 sq ft is going to be the average size, absolutely. Since we don't have proof of concept, we are not in a position to expand anything on the pilot.
Okay, got it. Thank you.
Thank you, Harsh.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Devanshu Bansal from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi, Gautam. Thanks for taking my questions. Gautam, the license has ended up like 4% this quarter, right? Our volume decline at the same store level is even lower, at 5%. This has been a trend, not only this quarter. There may be some disruption, but at least in the foreseeable period that has gone behind, we have seen such kind of a decline. I wanted to understand, as in, what steps are we taking to address this? You mentioned that premium products are doing better. Are we sort of planning to change the assortment? I want to hear your thoughts around that.
See, I think, look, we are not, see, our assortment is very, we have a very strong assortment in place. I think, look, product innovation and product placement has been upswing, not from today, even earlier times, Devanshu. We are not dramatically changing any assortment. We are just strengthening our product portfolio by coming out with new colors, by coming out with new products in the prompts and pants and trousers category. Even though sales have been low and it has been a tough quarter, we are not dramatically changing anything in our product strategy. I think we have a good set of products coming in over Q2 and Q3. We have actually six to seven new products for bottom wear coming in, which have been in the pipeline for the last six months.
By the launch of these few products, I think we are looking at a good quarter two and a quarter three ahead. From a product portfolio perspective, we have really strengthened our team and our portfolio. We are very bullish that we are looking forward to a good assortment over the next few months, starting from September .
Understood. Gautam, can you talk a bit about these products, as in which all are we in existing categories like leggings, pants, jeans, leggings, or?
I think we are strengthening our product, our pants and trousers category. I think this category has done fairly very well for us. If you see, that is the future of bottom wear. I think the five, six products we are introducing are more in the lines of pants and trousers only.
Pants and trousers. The range would be around INR 1,200, these are on the line.
Yeah, no, we're trying to keep it, we're trying to keep it very stockly priced. I think it will range between INR 1,000 and INR 1,200.
Okay, understood. Sir, we did invest in some leadership team in our MBO channel, and that was showing some level of traction in recent quarters. What kind of scale are we targeting in the near to medium term? If you could sort of share some insights.
See, very, very early days right now, Devanshu. I think, obviously the growth in MBO is showing very high because the base is small, right? We don't have any large, we are not having very large growth expectations in that channel. Yes, the channel will do very well. Like I said, that channel for us is more of a marketing channel, like how LFS used to be, where we are able to acquire customers who will eventually shop in EBO . For us, we are not going to go very gumbo on MBO and try to make it like a very, very big channel. For us, it's more of a product placement channel for us to acquire new customers. I think we are going to let it grow at a speed at which, at a healthy rate. We are not going to try scaling the channel too soon, too fast.
Early days, I think the traction has been good. We've had decent growth. Obviously, the base has been small. We like to wait and watch how this channel evolves. We have a company strategy also, I don't want to place our product in every MBO out there. We want to place it in the select large MBOs where our profile of customer is there and is also likely to shop in the EBO port side.
Fair enough. That's fair enough. Lastly, from my end, from a network expansion perspective, we are seeing that major expansion for you, if you see last 12 months has happened in tier two, three towns, right?
Yeah.
What is driving higher focus on these towns and cities for us? From LFS perspective also, that store count has seen a major increase.
Increase.
Which are the major players that we've added here? The expectations of revenue per LFS is broadly similar in these stores as well. Those are.
I think as an expansion strategy, we have always continued growing very well in tier one. As we have grown our network, we have started touching more tier two, tier three now. Initial responses have been very positive. We continue to grow in metros. I think tier one and metros have always done very well for us, and we will continue growing there as opportunity increases. A lot of our focus now is also to have horizontal growth and adding more new towns and adding more new markets. I think we've done that in the LFS also and in our EU network also. The initial response has been very encouraging.
Any new partners that you have added?
No, we've grown deeper. We have grown deeper with our existing partners. See, in Pantaloons, we were underpenetrated. We've added more stores in Pantaloons. In Reliance also, we were, to a certain extent, underpenetrated where we've added to a certain pocket of stores. I think in our existing partners itself, we've had a good expansion over the last three or four months.
Okay, there were some challenges in.
I'm sorry to interrupt.
Yeah, it's okay. No, it's okay. Yeah.
No, no. Please go ahead. Please finish your question.
Go ahead.
Keep going.
Yeah, sorry. I was thinking from Reliance Retail, which is our largest partner, there were some challenges. Are those challenges behind us, or do you expect some?
I think it's behind us. I think the majority of the consolidation, which was happening with Reliance, I think it's done. I'm guessing so. I think in the coming quarters, the volatility, like I mentioned to even Sameer and mentioned, the volatility should be less. I think this over the next few quarters, the business in LFS should do well.
Fair enough, Gautam. That's it from my end. Thank you.
Thank you, Devanshu.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahul Agarwal from IKIGAI Asset. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hi, Gautam. Very good evening. There are two questions. Firstly, just to start with on SSSG. Now, it's been some time, a lot of Indian retail brands are going through this slowdown into SSSG. Obviously, they're positioned differently for their own category. As you know, to consolidate everything, it looks like we're seeing some slowdown, of course, in terms of growth. If I look at same cluster growth, that has also come down to very low single digits. Other retailers do look back internally to figure out, you know, how can we ramp up SSSG, right? There are a lot of things which are working on product, creating customer delight, maybe something on the marketing side, on the channel side, and stuff like that.
Most of our reconfiguration of stores is already done, which I think was more of an internal decision, purely because this environment gives us time to do that and focus on our selected stores. Going forward, is there anything more we can do? My sense is that if we add 120, 130 stores this year, that would, of course, entail some flat outflow. That will, for certain periods, have an impact on consult P&Ls because new stores will have higher throughputs, but they will have higher costs to start with. Maybe if this environment doesn't really improve, we all hope that festive season brings more and more positives here. In case it doesn't improve, it will have a lot of pressure on both P&L accounting profitability as well as both on cash flow.
Anything internal you would like to highlight where we can actually also put some more time there, maybe to increase variety or whatever else it is to figure out, first figure out SSSGs and maybe SCSG. Maybe let's go a bit slower on new additions because my sense is even these rentals, the retailers I've been talking about, not necessarily declining. Some pockets yes, but some pockets no. I'm sure that tier two, tier three cities won't have that kind of inflation, but I'm sure that also adds to cost side. Sorry for the long question, but the question has to be.
No, I understand, Rahul. No, I understand. I just want to clarify this.
Yeah, I was.
Happy to clarify.
No, no, I completely hear you, and you made a very, very valid point because P&L, unit economics, balance sheet, cash flow are very, very important line items. We also, as a company, have evolved and endeavored to grow profitably with maintenance of margins. See, I think, look, as senior management, we are trying all levers to ensure that we reach a mid-single-digit type of SSSG over the next few quarters. We are not, we are turning every stone. We are putting an effort in every aspect to make that happen. I think that is something we, as management, will achieve, and we are very positive that we will do it over the next few quarters. Now, as far as expansion is concerned, your point is very well right that in a slow environment, expansion can be a tricky subject. I think, look, the idea is expansion with caution.
We've always expanded very carefully where we know that our format of store will work. If you've seen the recent store openings also and the store openings that are going to be coming in the near future, we are focusing to go into more virgin markets where we are not present. We are making a new customer base, and that will give us additional revenue. I think one aspect is in our existing current markets to drive SSSG and enter new markets cautiously, select the right real estate so that it does not have an impact on our P&L. These are two separate things which we are approaching with two different types of strategies. One portion, as far as expansion is concerned, and the other is trying every lever possible to ensure that we are able to get SSSG.
Whether it is through product evolution, whether it is to explore interesting marketing opportunities, we as senior management will do every lever to ensure that we get to that number.
Got it. Next, is it like any new competition you're seeing in your category purely from a like-to-like product perspective? Any thoughts on that?
See, honestly, from a competition perspective, there is no direct competition. There's no real development as far as direct competition. Yes, there are some few direct competitors I mentioned in my earlier calls as well. Yes, there is a lot of indirect competition which is happening not only for bottom wear, but even for top wear as well. See, today, there are many entrants in retail. Many brands have come into retail in men's wear and women's wear who are having extensive bottom wear and top wear collection. I think new entrants of brands in the market have not only impacted only us, but even the entire retail ecosystem. I think competition more from a wider subjective perspective, yes, there are new entrants, but not for dedicated bottom wear alone.
Got it. The takeaway essentially is that there is no stone which is unturned on getting the SSSG back. Intentionally, we'll try, in terms of just whatever internally we can do apart from the external market, we'll do whatever they want. That is taken care of, right?
No, no. I would like to reemphasize on one thing. We will try to recover SSSG and we will recover SSSG. Also, whatever expansion we do, we will ensure that the unit economics of the business as far as cash flow, balance sheet, EBITDA, all those unit economics and hygiene factors are well maintained.
Perfect. Moving to the second question on the LFS side, 2,600 outlets. Yeah, just from a potential perspective, my sense is LFS at 2,600 should largely cover most of the LFS network available for Go Fashion to cover. Is that understanding right, or do you think there is enough?
No, see, I think, look, as of now, if I look at my current channel partners, I think we are very deeply penetrated with all our channel partners. Maybe a few stores here and there might be missing, but we are majorly covered. Future LFS expansion is going to happen like how the LFS partners are going to be also adding stores. I think like the likes of Reliance, Pantaloons, Shoppers, like they are continuing to expand. As and when they keep expanding, our network of stores also with them will increase. As far as adding new partners are concerned, we have more or less added all LFS partners who are keeping external brands except Max. Max is the only partner where they're having external brands, but the GoColors is not present.
Apart from Max, we are present at Lifestyle, we are present at Shoppers, we are present at Pantaloons, Reliance. I think from that perspective, we have covered all channel partners. As and when how they keep increasing their network of stores, we will also keep increasing our network with them.
Right, right. Going forward, the 2,600 and the 4,000 in terms of the store addition will be more linear in line with how the LFS.
Yeah, more linear and more stable. Yeah, more stable.
Okay, got it. Just one last question on LFS. I'm sure the current network is not fully utilized in terms of their own throughputs. See, the businesses, I understand. Let's say environment for the 12 months is normal. This INR 200 crore business from LFS from the current network, how much can it take out? That's the question.
Very hard to estimate right now, Rahul. To give guidance on how much LFS business will grow is very difficult. Look, our company endeavor, as a company, is always to grow positively across all our channels. Right now, for me to give a guidance on LFS business would be a little tough. Maybe end of quarter two, once you know how quarter two has gone as far as LFS is concerned, I'll be in a better position to give a guidance maybe at the end of quarter two.
I think I was asking the potential, not the guidance. In terms of if I have to utilize all these 2,600 LFS stores, what could be the potential? When it happens, it doesn't matter. Just wanted to know the potential.
See, if we have probably added 200 plus stores in quarter one, which is a 10% increase on our current LFS network, it should result in the short term of at least 7%- 8% increase in revenue for LFS business because we've added 10% of our LFS network. If I offhand, if I have to tell you what it could take out, currently, whatever number is receiving, it should at least give 8%- 9% more sales because we've added 200 plus stores.
Got it. That basically means that the existing network prior to 1Q is fully utilized, like whatever, INR 200 crore sales maybe.
Yes, I mean, yeah, of course, there will be an SSSG element in that as well in your existing network. That is very hard to estimate right now. From just pure from a network expansion perspective, because you're asking what could be the peak sales based on the current number, because we've added 200 stores, at 200 stores, which is 10% increase in network, should bring in 8% to 10% of increase in revenue.
Perfect. Got that. That's it really from my side. I wish things to improve further on. All the best for the rest of the year.
Thank you, Rahul.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prerna Jhunjhunwala from Elara Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. I just wanted to understand. You mentioned that there were softer footfalls during the quarter. Any particular reason that you could attribute this, and how much impact it would be having, like what kind of footfalls would be? Maybe conversion rates?
Prerna, see, April and May had softer footfalls because Eid's design came early. The Eid footfalls, actually, the benefits came in March, and April was a little subdued because of that. May, some part of May got impacted also because of some geopolitical reasons in certain regions. I think April and May were quite soft. There was a slowdown in retail, which has been continuing. In June onwards, I'm sure you also heard other retailers also saying that there has been a recovery June onwards. We've also seen that recovery. I think April and May were a little subdued because of some external factors.
Okay. How do we see the store openings that you mentioned, that you are opening in new virgin markets? From 120 stores that you are planning to open this year, how much would be in new virgin markets and how much would be in the existing?
Our endeavor is to do at least 60%- 70% of our store openings in new virgin markets. See, what happens is even our existing markets, right, new opportunities come up. We are very committed to also adding stores in our existing markets as well. I think our endeavor and try would be to do at least 60- 70% openings in new tier two, tier three virgin markets.
Okay. Understood. How much of your sourcing will be from Bangladesh after shifting all the SKUs to India? I mean, major hesitations.
Very little. Very, very little. I mean, to begin with, it was not so much. There were certain important sales which we were doing from there. I think we are moving some of our sales to India because we don't know how India-Bangladesh exports team will be maybe after a few quarters. We don't know. We don't want to take the risk. We are moving some of our sales there. After moving some of our sales there, our exposure there would be very limited. Difficult to give a percentage number. I'll have to arrive at the number and I'll probably share it offline with everyone. The exposure will be very limited.
You tell me, can you do it so we can share it? Any comment?
Yeah, of course.
I understand your thoughts.
I'm not having it handy. Apologies for that. I'll definitely share it. I'll share it offline with everyone.
Okay. If I want to understand the SSSG growth of +2% that has been achieved in this quarter, will it also be an impact of Eid shifting? If, again, the way you mentioned it, footfalls were softer, it would be a one-off event rather than calling it a softer quarter?
See, I think, look, it's very hard to put a number to how much Eid has impacted our SSSG. It's very difficult to do that. I think Eid was one of the factors. Obviously, our supply chain goods coming in, maybe it was a small factor. I think the slowdown we have faced is multiple reasons. One, of course, the retail market also being a little slow. It's across all factors. It's very difficult to say how much Eid would have had an impact on our SSSG. Definitely, our April SSSG was deeply impacted because of Eid moving into March.
Okay. Understood. Sir, we saw some pledge-related movements in the month of July. Could you help us understand what would be the current pledge position?
Yeah, currently, I'll just tell you, just give me a second. See, currently, the number of shares we had reduced, about nine to 9.5 lakh shares, we had released the pledge in the month of July. July end we just released. Now our pending shares which are pledged are about 48 to 49 lakh shares, if I'm not wrong.
Okay.
Which I think on our holding would be 16%-17%. On the cap table, it would be about 8%.
Okay, so approximately 2% to leave on total cap.
200 basis points is what we've reduced since July end.
Okay. Okay. Understood, sir. Thank you, sir, and all the best.
Thank you, Prerna. Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Gaurav Jogani from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, Gautam. My first question again is with regards to the SSSG. Now, even if we total up the Q4 and Q1 numbers to, without the volatility of the LFS and even to do away with the volatility of the EOSS, the numbers look weak. The previous quarter's data is also weak. If you can dissect in terms of the volume growth also, because the volume growth on a per store EBO basis seems to be declining by around 7%, 8%, that too. Apart from this slowdown, what, what according to you is really impacting the growth?
See, I think, look, the growth of footfalls has definitely been weak over Q1. I would not disagree on that. The footfalls, obviously, the market sentiment to begin with was weak. Obviously, there are other things which have come in between which made it weaker.
The positive thing is that June onward, the overall retail industry has seen an uptick in demand. Hopefully, I think this for the industry should continue. When I look at my SSSG, yes, we are at - 2%. The one thing we notice in our SSSG is that even our oldest store, which is the FY15 or FY16 stores, they are still at a - 4% or - 5%. Usually, what happens in a - 2% kind of situation is that your oldest FY15 stores or FY14 stores are probably regrowing at 20%, which is not the case in our situation. Our oldest store also is probably only at - 4% or - 5%. When we see a recovery in demand, it will be across the stores of all financial years.
Hopefully, in the coming quarter, like I was also mentioning to Rahul, we as senior management are very, very motivated to bring back this SSSG to mid-single digits. I think we should be able to achieve it in the coming quarter.
Just to follow up here, even in July, do you think this demand recovery is sustaining?
No, July has been weak. We will have to wait and watch. Anyway, we do not track month- on- month SSSG because it becomes misleading. Sometimes the number of weekends also there are a mismatch. I think the best way to see SSSG is two, three months. Right now, for me to comment on July's performance will be very premature.
Sure. On the LFS part, last time in Q4, you did allude, as an annualized basis, we are looking to add only 100 odd LFS stores. Now, just in Q1 alone, we are seeing a start, I think, around 350 odd to 400 odd store additions itself. 200 stores, 200 stores, Gautam.
See, we got the right opportunity from our existing channel partners, and we are very thankful to them. We got the right opportunity, and it was also aligning with those cities where we wanted to also be part of. You know, luckily, we got those outlets, and we've added in Q1. In Q2 and Q3, I don't foresee too many LFS additions because we've just added a good number of stores. We are pretty decently penetrated with our existing partners. I think over Q2 and Q3, the LFS additions would be more stable.
Okay. Gautam, lastly, on the gross margin ratio, we have a decent gross margin expansion. How should we look at the gross margin levels on an annualized basis and going ahead?
See, I think it will be in that range of 62- 63% . I think 63% is what we have delivered in Q1. I think we will be in that range between 62%- 63% or 62%- 63% and up. We will be in that range.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Gautam. Thank you for answering my question.
Thank you, Gaurav.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vatsal Mody from Arisaig Partners . Please go ahead.
Hi, Gautam. I just wanted to understand on the LFS side of things. There are a few structural issues and some transient issues. Would it be possible for you to tell us from a June-July perspective, have the numbers become positive or are they still in negative currency? The context here is obviously for the quarter. Based on our numbers, it seems like an excellent number.
I think, Vatsal, see, from July, we haven't got the final monthly numbers from LFS yet. From a June perspective, LFS is marginally negative.
Got it. Got it. Improvement, but still not positive.
Not fully there yet. Not fully there yet.
In your mind, is this primarily to do with the broader footfalls issue, or is there anything else that?
No, it is a broader footfall. It is broader footfall. It is also some consolidation which has happened also among our LFS partners. I think it's a combination of both.
Understood. The last question is in terms of the seasonality, like for instance, Eid was in the previous quarters. In the next couple of quarters, is there any change like this that you expect, Diwali or Ganesha Tuesday, whatever it might be? Anything significant that could affect the numbers?
Not to my knowledge. I don't think so, but I'll have to just look at the calendar and reconfirm. To my knowledge, I think it's pretty much in line with what was last year.
Got it. Got it. That's it. Thank you.
Thank you, Vatsal.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rajiv Bharti from Nuv ama. Please go ahead.
Hi, Gautam. Thanks for the opportunity.
Hi, Rajiv.
Yeah.
Hi.
Sure.
There was one question with regard to market share because our volumes have been consistently going down. Is by channel, do we have any, I mean, any new information on are we losing market share? Because the data which is present on the slide is data in chains.
Correct.
there any context in terms of sales share or market share in various formats, like EBOs?
We don't have a channel-wise. I know our data, what we present in the investor deck, is outdated. In fact, we are doing a new market study with Technopack, which should be ready in the next couple of weeks. We'll probably be presenting that data in the next investor deck. I think from a market share perspective, I don't think we've lost market share. I don't think we've gained market share. I'll be able to, we'll be able to give a more clear picture when the study is over. Maybe next quarter or in the investor deck also we'll put it, and I'll be able to clarify this question next quarter. From what as Senior Management we look at, I don't think we've lost market share.
In terms of, let's say, articles per bill, has that number changed materially?
That has actually stayed very steady. Our units per transaction have been 2.2, 2.3, and when I compare it on a YoY basis, it's been absolutely the same.
You said volume?
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
No, no, no, please go ahead.
No, I was saying, see, basically, the units per transaction has remained the same. Suppose if on an SSSG level, we have been at - 5%, our number of base sets also would be down 5%. It's a clear result of number of footfalls. The customer who's walking into a Go Colors store is actually buying the same quantity on an average what it was probably last year. I think the SSSG volume SSSG, which is - 5%, the base sets also would be - 5%.
Got it. Does it show that the newer stores, actually, the article per store is actually materially lower than like the older stores? I mean, the difference between the two.
I'll tell you, one thing is sure, right, and this is probably for the entire industry. The new stores in a subdued environment tend to underperform. That is something which we have seen across the industry. If our historical stores start struggling during a subdued environment, a new store is barely new, right, without any issue. A new store also tends to have the same subdued performance. I think as the, now, since you know we've heard that retail has started picking up, maybe in the coming quarters, you'll see better performance from the newer stores as well.
I'm saying this is because if I do article sold in a new store versus old store, I mean, just some crude math, it used to be close to 69%-70% earlier, and now it is 50%. New stores.
This is what?
Material inventory.
Sorry, this?
Article storing units. Sold per store. Number of articles. Based on the volume material. Can I ask you one?
No, no. Rajiv, the new store versus old store contribution, I'll come back with that exact data. What happens is you would have probably divided it by the closing number of stores. Sometimes the stores would have opened last minute, and you would have divided as a denominator. I'll come back to you on that data, that how much is the new store contribution and old store contribution this year versus the historical year.
Got it. That's all for our questions. Thank you for all the questions.
Thank you, Rajiv.
Thank you. That was the last question for the day. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Yeah, I would like to thank everyone for being part of this call. We hope we've answered your question. If you need more information, please feel free to contact us or Mr. Mohan Raju from SGA, our investor relations advisor.
Thank you.
On behalf of Go Fashion (India) Limited, that concludes this call.
Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.