on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Gaurav Jogani from Axis Capital. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Tushar. Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of Axis Capital, it's my pleasure to welcome you all to Vedant Fashions Earnings Conference Call. Today, we have with us from the management, Mr. Vedant Modi, Chief Revenue Officer, and Mr. Rahul Murarka, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you, and over to you, gentlemen.
Thank you very much, Gaurav. Good afternoon, and a warm welcome to all the participants. I'm Vedant Modi, the Chief Revenue Officer of the company. Thank you for joining us today to discuss the Vedant Fashions Limited Quarter Three and Nine-month Ended Financial Year 2024 Results. I'm joined by Mr. Rahul Murarka, who is the Chief Financial Officer of our company. I hope everyone got an opportunity to go through our financial results and investor presentation, which have both been uploaded on the stock exchange as well as the company's website. Let me take you through the quarter ended and nine-month performance.
In this quarter, we continued with our network expansion strategy and have successfully rolled out approximately 52,000 sq ft of net retail area in the third quarter, aggregating to 1.2--1.72 lakhs sq ft net rollout in the nine months of financial year 2024. As of December 2023, Vedant Fashions' EBO area stands at 1.64 million sq ft, spanning across 673 stores in 262 cities and towns globally. The national EBO footprint tally is 657 stores spread across 250 cities and towns. We have a strong and healthy pipeline for new rollouts planned ahead. In Q3, financial year 2024, our overall customer sales grew by 11.1% over Q3 of financial year 2023.
In Q3 period, October month was significantly impacted due to inauspicious Shradh period. However, with the onset of festivity and major wedding season, we witnessed some accelerating trends. Our EBO customer sales grew by about 30.7%, and SSG sales grew by 17.3% during the period of 60 days, starting from Navratri as compared to last year. 60 days comparable periods starting from Navratri, in this quarter, we witnessed a good Diwali season and also we recorded the highest ever daily EBO sales in the history of the company. In this quarter, we have also added another feather to the Taiyaar Ho Kar Aiye marketing campaign. With our strategic partnership with megastar Ram Charan, we have successfully launched a unique campaign depicting a timeless tale of the relationship between a father and a son during his son's wedding.
We've also launched a festive-based Diwali ad campaign during the quarter. We are thrilled to announce our entry into the tapestry of South India with the introduction of the Vivaham collection, Panchakacham and Veshti sets via our marketing campaign with Ram Charan and celebrity actress, Sobhita Dhulipala. This collaboration and launch is a testimonial to our commitment to authentically embracing the cultural richness of South India. This strategic move not only allows us to cater to region-specific unique preferences, but also reinforces our brand's dedication to diversity and inclusivity. We have also leveraged brand building for Mohey with celebrity associations, real brides, and leading stylists. Our nine-month period performance is majorly a reflection of our first half performance. This is majorly attributed to the significantly lower weddings in the current year, coupled with generic,
The general economic slowdown impacting consumer sentiments, and also a higher base effect of last year post-COVID. Overall, our preparedness in terms of every aspect of business and market consciousness, like network expansion, multidimensional marketing, adequate and appropriate inventory and merchandising management, backed with robust auto-replenishment systems and back-end dynamics, has helped us effectively maintain strong financial margins and profitability metrics, reflecting resilient fundamentals of the business. With this, I will now hand over the call to Mr. Rahul Murarka to take you through the financial performance of our company. Thank you.
Thank you, Vedant. Namaskar, and good afternoon, everyone. I would like to highlight the key financial metrics for the quarter and nine months period ended 31st December 2023, based upon the consolidated financial statements. Starting from Q3 of FY 2024 performance update. The company has reported revenue from operation of around INR 475 crore, delivering a growth of around 7.5% as compared to Q3 of FY 2023. The company continues to report industry-leading gross margin of around 67.8% during Q3 of FY 2024. The EBITDA margins were around 51.1%, and the EBITDA stood at around INR 242 crore, with a growth of around 7.4% compared to Q3 of FY 2023.
The company reported best-in-class PAT margin of around 33.2%, and the profit after tax stood at around INR 158 crores, with a growth of around 5% compared to Q3 of FY 2023. Sales to our customers is around INR 650 crores, with a growth of around 11.1% as compared to Q3 of FY 2023. During Q3 FY 2024, October month was significantly impacted due to inauspicious Shradh period. However, our EBO customer sales grew by approximately 30.7%, and SSG growth was around 17.3% during major wedding and festive period of 60 days, starting from Navratri, as compared to last year 60 days comparable period, starting from Navratri.
...Now coming to nine months FY 2024 performance update. The company reported revenue from operations of around INR 1,004 crore, and the sales to our customers is around INR 1,342 crore. The company continues to report industry-leading gross margin of around 67.2%. The EBITDA margins are around 48.4%, and EBITDA stood at around INR 487 crore. The company reported healthy margin of around 29.7% during nine months of FY 2024, and the profit after tax stood at around INR 298 crore. Moreover, the cash generated during LTM December 2023 is about 123% of net working capital employed based upon internal MIS.
On comparing our performance with nine months of FY 2020, which was a normal period, not having any impact of pent-up demand, the company's revenue from operation grew by approximately 53% and the PAT grew by approximately 80% based upon internal management MIS. The company has a track record of generating significant cash, driven by a healthy cash conversion ratio. During LTM December 2023 period, the company reported strong cash conversion ratio of approximately 85%, which has been computed based upon operating cash flow over PAT and internal management MIS. During nine months of FY 2024, the company's overall performance got impacted due to significantly lower weddings nationally, general slowdown impacting consumer sentiment, coupled with higher base effect of last year post-COVID.
However, the company has been able to effectively maintain strong financial margin and profitability metrics, reflecting resilient business fundamentals. Thank you, and namaskar, everyone. We can now move to the Q&A 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, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Sameer Gupta from India Infoline. Please go ahead.
Sir, firstly, the last 12 months if I look at, the customer sales growth has been around 2.7%, and even if I take an average of the SSS over the last four quarters, it is around -7%. So just wanted to get some trends based on your performance. Are there any specific trends related to category segments which are witnessing more pressure, maybe let's say, groom-related or immediate family members, wider entourage? Which of these are seeing more pressure, non-wedding related, and any bifurcation between stores where you have opened new stores in the vicinity or, you know, older store versus newer store, age-wise, is there any performance divergence that is happening, that, any trend would be helpful to understand?
Thank you for your question, Samir. So broadly, if you look at our business, when we look at different categories, because there has been a large marketing-driven focus on our wedding attendee business, the overall growth has definitely, you know, in the last two to three years, come from that segment. So if we talk about segments, the non-groom segment has definitely worked better for us, more from a marketing angle as well, which has led to better footfalls at the store over the last two to three years, if I, if I talk about it overall. And from a new store perspective, typically stores take two to three years to mature, and we see similar patterns as things continue.
Even when we open larger stores next to our already existing well-performing stores, typically these are in areas where the store's productivity is extremely high, and we continue to witness very good productivity in the older store as well. Even though it might take a small hit, the overall number is still very, very good from all angles of profitability for the company and the franchisee partners of that particular store.
Got it, Vedant. So, next corollary to this question would be that over the last 12 months, maybe wedding dates may be lower, but typically number of weddings might not be dropping down. So what is really happening? Are we losing share to unorganized, smaller players are back? Any sense of, you know, these numbers would be great to understand.
So our overall take on the situation is that it's a mix of two main things. One is there was a slight bit of pent-up in last year, and that as well, coupled with Adhik Mas plus lower number of wedding days in this overall year, has led to total number of weddings being slightly lower in this year. And this is kind of, you know, when we talk to all the people in the industry, this includes banquet hall owners, five-star hotels, event organizers, we see an overall trend where everyone is, you know, kind of commenting that the business this year has been lower than last year.
The other factor also, which is more impactful to our newer categories, which is our festive-based sale and our overall non-groom business, is also the fact that we do see a bit of economic slowdown across the board, especially in Tier II and Tier III, which is what we are witnessing.
... Got it. I'll come back in the queue for any follow-up on this. Second question would be on Mohey. So, I mean, see, we had been given a commentary that it will be six, seven stores in FY 2023 itself. If I go back, let's say, to, you know, previous quarter calls, and it is January 2024 now, so I mean, we are yet to open the flagship store. So what really is taking this long? And in any case, this is going to be a pilot for the first two years. Why do, why not launch these and, you know, try and understand or get learnings rather than keep dealing and getting the perfect store? Just your thoughts on this.
I completely understand your point here, and this is something which was slightly out of management control. The overall delay was something which was a mix of parties, and it was slightly out of our control. Otherwise, we would have definitely liked to have achieved it earlier. The store would be rolled out any time in the upcoming quarter, and we have already actually piloted with three smaller EBOs for Mohey, which are already live in different parts of the country. And the flagship will also be live very soon.
Got it. That's all from me, and I'll come back in the queue for any follow-ups. Thanks.
Thank you very much.
The next question is from the line of Nihal Mahesh from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you so much, and good evening to everyone. Vedant, my first question was, for this quarter, you alluded specifically, say, to the period of October 15 to December 15, let's say, starting Navratri and two months down, where the SSG was obviously very strong at 18%. Whereas for the full quarter as a whole, it ended up being -2%, despite the fact that last year's base was a -9% in terms of SSG. So was it primarily the sharp period of the first 15 days of October, or even the last 15 days of December were muted, because of which the overall performance ended up being so divergent to the two months that you are highlighting?
The thing that majorly hurted us was the first 15 days of October, primarily because these first 15 days are typically never a Shradh period. The Shradh typically takes place in quarter two, which is anyways a lull period and is completely okay given the current business dynamics. However, last year and the preceding years, typically the first 15 days of October is also a pretty good, decent time of doing business. That being heavily impacted, the idea was for us to overcome that entire stretch in the remaining 75 days. However, even the last 15 days of the when there is another mark that kind of is put in the last 15 days of December, and it's typically always a weaker period. We expected this time for it to be better off, but that was not the case.
However, the 60 days which we got clean, which was festive and auspicious shopping period, the performance was very good during those 60 days.
Hello, am I audible?
Hello? Yes, you're audible. Hello?
Yeah, I think Vedant answered the question.
I think Nihal is not on the line, right now.
Oh, okay, okay. Should we take the next question?
Sure.
Okay. So the next question is from the line of Varun Singh from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Am I audible?
Yes. Yes, Varun.
Yes, yes. Okay, so, Vedant, my question is, this quarter, I understand for 15 days and last 15 days in the, in, December impacted by, Shradh and monsoon, et cetera. But, like if we compare this quarter compared to this quarter, so number of wedding days has been kind of 2x. Yeah, so, given this context, how should you... I mean, how would you be judging the current SSG number that we have clocked?
Hmm. So, you know, Varun, there are a couple of things here. Firstly, wedding dates are higher by two, three number of days, higher in this quarter. The second perspective is, while there is a good correlation between the number of weddings that happen in the country and the wedding dates, it is not directly correlated or directly proportional to a R-square of 100%. There can always be years where there are slightly higher dates, but less number of weddings happening. And that is something which we have been noticing from the overall pattern of the country. And this is quite evident when we talk to the network of MBO distributors and dealers, or be it any banquet hall owners, anyone related to the wedding industry.
So while there were slightly higher dates compared to last year, we still feel that overall number of weddings were still muted or slightly lower than overall last year. And on top of that, there was an effect of slightly, you know, lower spending on consumer discretionary items, which was witnessed across consumer companies.
Right. But having said that, I think, discretionary, our, the category where we belong and the kind of discretionary consumption that it caters to, there, I think little bit of, whatever, slowdown in other discretionary, thing, et cetera, because frequency of buying is extremely, extremely low in our category. So, I mean, do you really think that the sector slowdown has any correlation or direct correlation, with, the slowdown in revenue growth, in our case?
No, not, we are not talking about the sector per se. We are talking about general consumer sentiments, which we felt built upon our ground surveys, that it was kind of soft, which we also felt that one of the reasons why the Q3 expectations were, Q3 did not deliver as per our expectations as well.
Okay. And, I mean, in that context, next quarter number of wedding days, I mean, which is the only trackable number that we have, fortunately, unfortunately, whatever. So, like next quarter, it is hardly 7%-8% more or almost equivalent to last year wedding. So how are you, I mean, what are your, what are the kind of expectations that you are building for the fourth quarter in terms of business?
Well, ideally, we would like to see the entire quarter before commenting on this. But overall, the quarter this year is slightly more spread out compared to last year. So we feel that the tail end of this quarter should be slightly stronger. But at the same time, given that we've seen about the month of January, things look relatively soft and not as per overall expectations, which you would have.
Your reasoning for the softness, is it consumer sentiment?
Yeah. So like I mentioned, our overall understanding is there is a mix of couple of elements here. Overall, consumer softness from a sentiment perspective. The second point also being slightly lower number of weddings, which is a result of pent up last year, and overall, the hit of Adhik Mas, Mal Mas overall, that we have in this year, in, on top of low number of wedding days.
No, actually, with that, Vedant, my question is meant only for fourth quarter, not for financial year.
Yeah. So fourth quarter, there are two things. Like I mentioned, we would ideally like to see the entire quarter in play and then comment on the quarter-
Yeah.
- because this particular quarter stretches till the end of March, unlike last year. So the expectation is that March overall will be better, much better than what we have seen last year. But at the same time, January as a month has been slightly slow.
Okay. Okay, got it. Thank you very much. That is from my side, on the this.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nihal Mahesh from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Yes, so sorry, am I audible?
Yes. Yes, Nihal. Yeah.
I just have one question, to Rahul, that if I compare the gross margins also versus last year, there has been contraction. So is this because of the mix of maybe, as you highlighted, a higher share of the non-groom segment? Does that explain this reduction in gross margins versus last year?
Yeah. So on a Q3 or Q3, if we compare, then the gross margin is 67.8%, which is similar to Q3 of FY 2023. However, on a nine-month period, yes, last year it was 67.8%, and now it is 67.2%. On a periodic basis, Nihal, it can always vary from one period to another because of various reasons, like, you know, product mix also is one of the reasons, I would say. Like in FY 2023 also, it was at 67.4%. So as a management, we feel that, you know, anything in 65% above, we are comfortable with that. But on a periodic basis, it can always vary.
Got that. Just one final question was that, you did allude to bifurcating the business with the, non-groom segment growing faster. Was it that the festive business has seen a much weaker performance versus the overall business? You did partially allude to it, but just to clarify the same.
So, if I talk about Diwali, particularly, Diwali did pretty well for us in this particular financial year as well. When we look at our overall kurta sales, preceding 10-15 days before Diwali, it was at an all-time high. So I think overall festive, led by Diwali in the last quarter, was pretty good, pretty good for us.
Sure, that is all. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Manish Kalani from Invesco Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Apologies, but he's not audible to us.
Hello, Manish.
Yeah, am I audible now? Sorry.
Yeah, you are.
Yeah. Yeah, sorry. Sorry. So, just trying to understand two things. One is, when you talk that this quarter is still running, soft, are, are you looking at absolute sales done in this quarter and, you know, wanting to clock a similar number, or are you looking at growth YY? That let's say you did INR 475 crore sales this, this quarter, and given pent up nine months have been soft, you know, a lot of shifts happening in marriages and stuff like that, do you look at absolute number as INR 475+ crore, or you're looking at growth, let's say the 7.5%, that number is still s- you know, running at, let's say, 4%, 5%, 6%?
Manish, overall, you know, what I would like to say here is that as a company, we don't give guidance per se. What we are trying to do is qualitative commentary at this current point of time. You would ideally like to see the overall three months before, giving out the results properly, approximately same time, one quarter later.
Yes. Vedant, I'm not asking for guidance. What I'm trying to understand is when you look at performance in quarter four, would you look at absolute sales done this quarter versus next quarter to look at, you know, whether it is a good number or bad number, or you look at growth, which you did 7.5% this quarter versus the growth next quarter? So let's say if you did 12% growth next quarter, is that a good number in your view? Or do you look at, let's say, you know, season was spread out, this quarter is heavier than the last quarter in terms of wedding days? Then the absolute sales should be at least more than INR 475 crore, is what I'm trying to understand.
Typically, Manish-
I'm not asking for a specific number as such, to be very honest.
Yeah. So Manish, typically, when we talk about growth or when we compare numbers, we compare, like, Q4, in case of Q4, we'll compare Q4 of FY 2024 with Q4 of FY 2023, because, you know, Q3 and Q4 are never comparable, historically. However, you know, this year we'll have to see how the trends emerge, because, we also expected H2 to be, slightly, other than normal of what we have seen in earlier historical years. So, and as far as growth is concerned, I mean, growth for quarter, we'll look, and compare with Q4 of FY 2023.
Okay. And, just, one last one, so in terms of, let's say, you know, inquiries of franchisees, you know, how, what, what is the sense on ground and, you know, are we still looking for this 14%-16% odd space expansion for FY 2025, or, or that number we want to calibrate it given, you know, what the demand environment looks like?
You know, commenting on overall business development and retail footprint expansion, I would say for now, our FY 2025 estimates would be still at around 15%-16%, and that is how we are looking at overall store openings. Yeah, from a franchisee inquiry perspective, it's again never an issue, and we have a great number of franchisees already in the queue across multiple locations.
Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thanks so much.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Ankit Kedia from Phillip Capital. Please go ahead.
Sure. You know, Vedant, just a question follow-up on the store opening. If I looked at this quarter itself, our shop-in-shop, we opened around five stores, but the net EBO expansion was only four stores. So definitely the store closures have been high this quarter, while the overall area expansion is 50 odd thousand sq ft. So yeah, opening of bigger stores. Can you just tell us in last nine months, why these store closures, whatever the number has happened, and going forward, what could be the average size? Because we have multiple store sizes from, you know, 20,000 sq ft to 8,000 sq ft to 2,000 sq ft as well.
Overall, you know, when we kind of look at our business development strategy, what has happened over the last, I would say almost two years, is we have continuously churned out very small stores. Typically, these stores are under 1,000 sq ft and not representative of the new Manyavar anymore, and at the same time continue to open larger stores. Typically, I would say the average of new EBOs which are being opened is between 3,000-3,200 sq ft. That's the broad average. And you are correct in saying that the net opening was only four, but broadly, you know, we have opened almost 74-odd stores this overall nine months, while we churned 50, but all very small stores.
From an area perspective, these 50 stores would not even add up to 1%-1.5% of our total area.
Just a follow-up. So how many more of these smaller stores are yet to be churned in the system, so that we focus more on the area and not on the store addition? Which you always, you know, ask us not to look at stores, but given that it's a data point, we need to monitor.
It's a continuous dynamic process. I would say the large chunk of what had to be done is already being done. Maybe there's about 20-odd such very small stores left. But again, the dynamics also depend on the market. So market where there is great potential, even a 2,000 sq ft store can become relatively small and demand a larger store. So when that eventually opens up, we will end up closing the smaller store. So it's a dynamic process, but I would say from the larger exercise, about 15, 20 very small stores are still left to be churned out.
Sure. My second question is on South versus North. Given that we have a proper South campaign with a brand ambassador now, how big is the South market for us today? You know, if I have to look on revenue terms or number of store terms, however we call it. And, from a Mohey perspective, do you think having a separate inventory for South would make more sense also now, given that, you know, their women are more wearing sarees and, you know, more, instead of more lehengas, or how is that market also moving in South today?
So overall, South is now our largest market when it comes, when we are looking at it at a company level, which is including Mebaz. Overall, that is why there is an increased focus on South and also a focus on merchandising specifically for South India. So there is a lot of investment that has been happening from all fronts of design, marketing and retail in that particular region. On the front of Mohey, we are already actually taking this up. There are multiple sari ranges, which are only, you know, currently being delivered in South India. And this is a continuous design process for us, where we look at design levels and what sells in particular regions and according to particular cultures.
As an attempt to be a little more diverse brand and a more inclusive brand, we will always try to add more and more categories in our portfolio that is, you know, able to justify the cultural heritage of any particular area.
Sure. And last question is on Manthan. You know, how is the performance of the first couple of stores of Manthan being in the festives and the wedding season gone by? Are you happy with that? It's work in progress? And from a next year perspective, what is the store opening guidance for Twamev?
Overall, we are very happy with how Twamev has been performing. In fact, we've recently done the marketing launch of our Twamev South Ex store, where we had a celebrity ambassador launch the store, and things have been looking very well for all the EBOs that we already have opened. From a guidance perspective, now it's a continuous business development task, where we are trying to find the best properties in the best markets of the top 10, 15 cities of India, and that is the focus, at least for the next two financial years, where we want to cover all these markets with the best-in-class stores that we can find there. Broadly, we have two, three stores signed and in the pipeline on top of the four stores we've already opened.
In addition to that, like I mentioned, 10, 15 best cities and best markets of India is what we are looking at, from a short-term perspective to grow Twamev in.
The stores would also be the 4,000 sq ft stores or they would be a larger store?
I would say in the case of Twamev, the minimum would be INR 3,500-INR 4,000, but the average would be slightly higher, more in the lines of INR 6,000-INR 6,500.
Understood. Thank you so much, Vedant, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. And the next question is from the line of Nikunj Gala from Sundaram MF.
Yeah, good evening, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is with respect to EBO sales, which we have done in Q3, and the key performance indicators which we tracked. Have we seen deterioration in those parameters, like, you know, the number of articles per bill would be lower or some product mix deterioration? Those kind of key metrics, have we seen any deviation there?
Thank you for the question. We have actually grown in every single, retail metric that we follow, such as average basket size, average bill value, and the overall, you know, kind of feedback we are getting from the customers. All of these things have been on a positive trend. So overall, from a merchandising and product perspective also, things look very sorted. And like we've been mentioning, sometimes it's a bumpy road in a long journey, and what we kind of understand is, from at least from a mid to long-term perspective, we are doing everything which is right for the business. And as things, you know, kind of move forward and improve, and there is higher footfall in our stores, then the business should also increase in the same perspective.
Okay. Because it is slightly counterintuitive, if you see there is a, you know, weaker sentiment across, when we are saying as one of the reason for the, you know, lower growth, then the person who have bought the, you know, they must also felt a similar kind of... For example, INR 1,000 sherwani, INR 18,000 or INR 15,000. So all weaker sentiment would have, you know, impacted those people who have bought also. So, so these are two disconnect, you know, which we were trying to reconcile. That here you are saying that all the metrics have lower growth is overall weakness in the consumer sentiment. So how do you see these two different commentary?
Your voice was slightly breaking, but what I understand from the question is.
Yeah.
What you're trying to say is, if consumer sentiments were weak, then there would have been a down trading happening, right?
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, the take here is the reason why our ASPs are actually increased is because of higher availability of Twamev in a lot more of our stores. Earlier, we never used to deal in slightly higher ASP products, but now Twamev is available across 70, 80+ Manyavar stores, and a lot of our business already being demanded by consumers is now being fulfilled. So that is where the major chunk of ASP improvement has come from, and these are people already who were willing to buy slightly higher priced items, who wanted pure fabric, but we were not able to serve them in earlier times. Not from the perspective of, you know, down trading at all. And that's one take on, you know, ASPs improving.
The other perspective also is from a consumer's perception, overall, shopping is also one area which they don't at all...
Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, so Twamev would be contributing, I think, you know, very, you know, lower still, you know, overall, you know, scheme of things. I was trying to understand from my, you know, Manyavar to Manyavar perspective, the stores which are purely, you know, Manyavar stores, you know, have we seen some deterioration? But anyways, I'll see with, later. The second question would be, say, in FY 2025, again, you know, correct me if I'm wrong-
Nikunj, sorry to interrupt. There is a lot of disturbance from your end, so-
Hello? Yeah, is it better now?
Yeah, it's better.
Yeah. Yeah. So, second question would be, from FY 2025 perspective, correct me if I'm wrong, whether, you know, wedding dates are still lower than FY 2024 base, going into next year. Is that a scenario you are also looking at?
The overall wedding dates, when we look at next year, overall, what we kind of understand is H1 is slightly soft and H2 is very strong. So that's the overall qualitative understanding of next financial year when it comes to wedding dates. However, you know, as these things are based on astronomy, as we get closer to dates, the things will get finalized.
Sir, I was just, you know, referring on an annual basis, not H1, H2, but still I think it's, they are lower, right? As compared to FY 2024 also.
No, it's, it's broadly the same, or I think two to three dates are higher compared to this year.
Okay, sure. Yeah, thanks, Vedant. Thanks for your time.
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Tejas Shah from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Hey. Hi, hi, Vedant. Hi, hi, Rahul. Thanks for the opportunity. Couple of questions. Vedant, when we started this quarter, and this is for the whole sector, there was a strong popular narrative that we had some 3.8 million weddings packed in just 30 days, and hence a lot of expectations by media and by investor community was built around this quarter turning out to be very good. So two questions on this point alone. First, is there an authentic way to kind of get this data, or is it just garbage in, garbage out data, so that we don't do such mistakes in future, A? And B, is there any forecasting value, or we keep on asking number of wedding days and dates every time.
Is there any forecasting value to this, or is it just a kind of hygiene point that we should keep in mind?
So, Tejas, you know, our learning over the last decade or so, since we've been trying to track the number of weddings that happen in the country, is there is no true source of this data, which is, which is the actual number of weddings that are happening. Majority of the comments made that we have seen in the press are also not backed by a large research, but rather a qualitative understanding of people, which is what we understand. The second take here is what we internally are now trying to do is we try to talk to a lot of people in the industry who have bookings six to nine months in advance. So this includes hotels, banquet hall owners, et cetera.
But again, the, the tricky part here is that, the wedding dates are actually different in India based on where you are based. So Hindi belt follows one set of wedding dates, Telugu market follows one set of different wedding dates, again, different for Tamil. So now as our company is growing, and we operate in almost every single part of the country, it's slightly difficult to track what is happening across the different parts of the nation, but we are starting to track the Hindi belt numbers a little more carefully and closely.
Right, yeah. This is very helpful. And second and last question, just wanted to understand, so you called out that the consumer sentiments are relatively tepid. So just wanted to understand more the character of this slowdown or the tepidness. Is it uniform across geographies? And within your vintage of stores, are you seeing some divergence in demand sentiment within your own network as well?
I would say the pattern which we see is it is very similar across geographies, but Tier I is still a lot better off compared to Tier II and Tier III. So there we feel the pressure is slightly higher on our business, while Tier I overall continues to perform better, relatively. But from a geographic perspective, it's pretty much similar.
Okay. And anything more, any more read on this Tier II pressure? Are you, are you relatively, kind of competitively, are, are you placed well, or you see unorganized? Because we are, we are seeing that trend in many other categories, in consumer basket, that unorganized is actually bouncing back very strongly in the recent past. So, any observation there?
See, our personal understanding is that from a merchandising perspective, we are extremely data-focused. So all the price points that were working well for us last year and the year before, we continue to be strong on those particular price points. Even though we might have evolved slightly higher price points, that doesn't mean that we've left our, you know, smaller price points. And there's also a continuous effort from a marketing front, from the perspective of also improving our overall design mix, be it a Tier II or a Tier III store. So from an input perspective, we see no challenge. And, you know, another factor which I would like to add is, one business internally, which gives us a sense of how unorganized is doing, is our MBO business.
Even when we look at a nine-month perspective, our MBO business is one of the most majorly hit channels for us. So that, and also discussing business with our MBO partners, gives us an understanding that MBO overall as a channel has been a lot more hit compared to our EBO business. So I don't see a narrative where we feel that unorganized is bouncing back. It's mostly a road bump of multiple other factors, as per our understanding.
Quite clear, Vedant. Thanks and all the best for coming quarters.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sameer Gupta from India Infoline. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. Just a small follow-up. Employee cost is down 10% YoY. Is there any one-off here? Are we downsizing? Is it an effort to save margins, payroll shifting to franchises? Anything on that line item would be helpful.
It is mainly because of decrease in the director remuneration. So in July this year, in June, July this year, we had revised the director remuneration. So as a result of which, we can see overall employee benefit expense going down, but other than that, employee expense has actually increased by more than 20%. But because of decrease in director remuneration, the impact is coming like that.
Isn't it something that we also did last year, same time around?
... So last year, we did a revisit in April sometime, so, and there was a further revisit this time in July. So that is why we see a difference in director remuneration. But otherwise, the normal employee costs have increased, actually.
Okay, so this is more toward variability of director remuneration, is that what you have done?
Yeah, absolutely. You're right. Yeah.
Okay. Okay, cool. That, that's all for me. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Lakshya Jain from Flyer Investment. Please go ahead.
Hello, am I audible, sir?
Yes, yes.
Yes, yes, please, sir. First of all, sir, we are new shareholders in the company, and we feel proud as shareholders of Vedant Fashions Limited. Hats off to your business model, sir. So my first question, so taking into consideration the huge amount of cash pile in our balance sheet, where are we standing when it comes to inorganic growth, sir? Do we plan to stay with our same product line, or we are open to anything related to wedding?
See, our overall five to 10-year strategy is more around apparels, and that is what we are currently focused on. However, you know, from a very long-term perspective, I would say business is dynamic and never say never sort of a piece here where, while we have never explored non-apparel side of weddings, it is something which, which we would only look at in a very long-term perspective. The other piece is, like you mentioned, the cash pile is large. The way we kind of look at disbursement is in the form of dividends, and for the last two financial years, we've been doing almost 50% of PAT in the form of dividends.
We continue to invest in our newer segments of growth, such as Twamev, such as Mohey, and this will be followed by Project Manthan in the course of one to two financial years. The very good part about our business model is, we don't require significant capital investments to launch any new brand. It is actually a model which can enable us to make profitable brands from the very first financial year itself.
Wonderful. Sir, are we expanding in saree category apart from lehenga under the brand Mohey?
Yes. Actually, there is a very high focus on our saree category. It enables us to capture both the gifting category in a wedding and also capture the family members of the groom who might be accompanying him for the shopping. And it also acts as a great bridge for people to start interacting with Mohey as a brand, and it is being one of the best performing categories for us this financial year.
Okay. Okay. Was competition also one of the main reasons for low growth, apart from Shradh in Q3? Do we see this competition as a speed breaker in our short-term growth, sir?
See, you know, we very carefully monitor competition across the country, and what we will acknowledge is that the number of stores from competition has definitely increased over the last two financial years, and there's a lot more stores now. However, given the kind of moats our business enjoys, what we have seen is, you know, while majority of these stores have opened in Tier I, the major impact has actually been in Tier II and Tier III for our business.
Hello, Lakshya-
So your-
Sorry to interrupt. Sorry to interrupt. Sorry, Lakshya, sir, can you come back in the question queue for the follow-up questions?
No, I just have one last question, sir, if you don't mind.
Sorry, sir, there are-
Okay.
There is time constraint.
Okay. Okay.
Let me just give the answer. Yeah, and the last part to that answer is also that, you know, Tier I is where we've seen still relatively less impact over Tier II and III, and majority of stores that have opened up is actually in Tier I. So we feel the other factors are in higher play versus competition as of now.
Okay. So Tier II... Tier I, we are much better compared to the competition. Like, we are not facing that much as, as issue in Tier I.
So majority of the competition stores have actually opened in Tier I. So just the fact that Tier II and Tier III is more hit, we are able to comment saying that the other factors are actually in higher play here versus actually instead of competition.
Okay. Okay, okay. As we indicate, sir. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prerna Jhunjhunwala from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Just wanted to understand, what is making Tier II, Tier III , cities more impacted when we see that e-commerce channels, all Flipkart, Myntra, not due to this category per se, because the consumer's expenditure is, slowed down across the categories. Then, Tier II , Tier III are more hit against, e-commerce players who are talking where, where they are witnessing higher growth in Tier II, Tier III. So, just wanted to get some color on, category, slowdown per se, in geography dynamics.
Yeah, I would say, Prerna, that this particular comparison is very difficult to do in our case because e-commerce from an India perspective is still a very young industry, and as there are more number of smartphones available, more people accessing the internet, that industry will continue to grow. And hence I don't see particularly a big correlation here. And what we understand is from the overall consumer business community that the Tier II, Tier III pressure felt, and even in, you know, cities where we have good presence across retail and overall from an operations perspective, we have still felt that the overall number of consumers walking in was slightly lower, primarily led by lower consumer sentiments.
The good part about our business, you could say, in some sense is that still people prefer to feel the product before they buy one, because Indian wear is not something that men especially buy on a very regular basis, hence the penetration of e-commerce is still extremely small in the overall scale of the industry.
Okay. And if we want to see this business differently than other apparel categories, because people prefer to purchase for their wedding, and they would not like to compromise over here and stuff, do you think a rental business could pose a risk to this business going forward on a longer term basis?
We continuously evaluate newer forms of, and dynamic forms of, business opportunities that, you know, that may be there. But overall, our consumer research says that wedding clothes is of cultural significance, and at least for the groom and the immediate family, culturally buying a new product and wearing that and actually storing it as a treasure in their wardrobe throughout their lives, is a big part of the overall consumer journey when we refer to clothes being worn during the wedding. So at least from a short to mid-term perspective, we don't see this trend being large.
One more question, if I can continue. We visited few Tier II, Tier III cities during the quarter, and to understand this slowdown. What we understand is a lot of new stores per se have opened up in Tier II, Tier III cities, also in competition to Manyavar. Any color on that would be helpful because people are saying that footfalls are not... I mean, the market is not so big as the number of stores are opening up. So some color on maybe market opportunity for us in Tier II, Tier III cities, where we see opportunities and what could change, and maybe some lead indicators for us to understand. Because number of wedding dates and all these parameters which we were looking for is actually not making much, giving more color to the sales growth.
No, point well taken. So overall, you know, our understanding is that, even, even in Tier II cities, where there might have been newer players that have opened up stores, our overall impact has not been any higher than in a city where stores have not opened up, in comparison. And that is why, you know, overall, our understanding is the effect of other elements of the business are slightly higher this year compared to any other factor per se.
Okay, understood. Any lead indicators that you could highlight?
Apology, I couldn't hear this part.
Any lead indicators, that you could highlight apart from wedding dates and number of weddings that we can follow?
Yeah. So one was number of weddings, and the other, overall consumer sentiments across board. So these are the two main points that we understand.
Okay. Thank you, Vedant, this was helpful.
A bit of a pent-up was there last year. Overall, from a nine-month perspective.
Okay, this is helpful. Thank you, Vedant.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Request participants to limit your questions to one per participant. The next question is from the line of Akhil Parekh, from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Just to harp more on the demand side, right, and we are seeing, clearly seeing a dichotomy in the sales of likes of Titan versus Manyavar, right? Given that we both target similar customer segment, and the demand is a function of wedding and festive season. Well, on one side, we are seeing that Titan jewelry sales is growing very well, but we are kind of relatively underperforming. So if you can please help understand the dichotomy. If the competitive intensity also has not increased, then what could be the possible reason for the difference in the performance?
Our overall understanding here is that, you know, the two categories are very different. One is also the purchase cycle. What is evident to us is apparels is bought much closer to the weddings, while jewelry is actually purchased, you know, maybe even one year before the wedding in a lot of cases. And thus, this means this is quite a different business for us to, you know, kind of evaluate or compare to. The other piece is that, you know, majority of the jewelry businesses that, you know, we've kind of seen and heard about, only 20%-25% of their total business is wedding related, and the other is more related to daily consumption or investments.
Sure. Sure, this is helpful. And if I can squeeze one more question. If I missed if you have given the reasons for delay in the opening of Mohey's flagship stores. I don't know if I missed that part, and how does the pipeline of new store opening for Mohey look like?
Overall, the reason for the flagship being delayed was more of a construction element and more of a handover element from our real estate partners, which led us to have a delay, which was slightly out of our control. And that was the primary reason. The second piece also, from a store opening element, is we are looking at trying out multiple different models. By mid to late next financial year, we want to experiment with newer forms of Mohey and try open different kinds of stores and pilot different business development strategies.
Sure. Sure. Thanks, Vedant, and best wishes to the team for coming quarters.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, that was the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to management for closing comments.
Thank you very much for all the analysts for joining our call. It's always a pleasure interacting with all of you and always a good learning for us. Thank you very much. Hoping to interact soon again in the financial year ending earnings call.
Thank you.
On behalf of Axis Capital Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.