Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q1 FY 2025 earnings conference call of Page Industries Limited. 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 this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Nuku Jane Kunyah from Valorem Advisors. Thank you, and over to you, Ms. Jane Kunyah.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone, and a very warm welcome to you all to the earnings conference call of Page Industries Limited. My name is Nuku Jane Kunyah from Valorem Advisors. On behalf of the company, I would like to thank you all for participating in the company's earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2026. Before we begin, a quick cautionary statement. Some of the statements made in today's earnings conference call may be forward-looking in nature. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated. Such statements are based on management's beliefs as well as assumptions made by information currently available to the management. Audiences are cautioned not to place any undue reliance on these forward-looking statements in making any investment decisions.
The purpose of today's conference call is purely to educate and bring awareness about the company's fundamental business and financial quarter under review. Now, I would like to introduce you to the management participating with us in today's earnings conference call and hand it over to them for their opening remarks. We have with us Mr. V.S. Ganesh, Managing Director; Mr. Deepanjan Bandyopadhyay, Chief Financial Officer; and Mr. Karthik Yathindra, Chief Executive Officer. Without any further delay, I request Mr. V.S. Ganesh to start with his opening remark. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Nuku, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. A very warm welcome to the earnings call for the first quarter of FY 2026. As Nupu started by Mr. Karthik Yathindra, Chief Executive Officer.
Sorry to interrupt you. Ganesh, we are not able to hear you clearly.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. You can proceed now.
Yeah. As I was telling you, I'm joined by Mr. Karthik and Mr. Deepanjan, and I will briefly touch upon our business performance in the quarter before handing over to Deepanjan to take us through the specific numbers. Following this, Karthik and Deepanjan will be answering your questions, and I will butcher wherever required. As we have seen across the industry, we were not an exception when it comes to consumption. We experienced a subdued consumption during this quarter, which has affected our offline retail strategic performance in terms of growth. This is partly structural, owing to shifts in passive consumption in the month of April when compared to last year, and it's also partly due to the generous slowdown in retail, especially due to the heightened geopolitical tension in the early parts of May.
It is, however, encouraging to note that we have witnessed steady recovery since May, with May being stronger than April and June stronger than May. Our online business continues to deliver robust growth. With demand being subdued and with our product pricing remaining unchanged, our focus and efforts are concentrated on maintaining operating margins during this quarter. We have continued to be agile and cost-conscious through efficient raw material sourcing, optimum manpower deployment, focused marketing investments, and tight expense controls to hold up profit margins within our target range. There will be a modest revenue growth of 3.5%. I am pleased to say that we have achieved a profit after-tax growth of 23.6% for this quarter.
Our key initiatives and investments for the year, including the SAP S/4HANA migration and the new Salesforce Distribution Management System, are progressing well, and we are very well on track for successful implementation of these initiatives. We have commenced commercial operations at the new Odisha plant this quarter, and we will be continuing to scale up gradually in the coming quarters. On the product side, we launched a new fashion range of products under JKYGRU on jockey.in and select EBOs in the country, addressing a younger target audience. The range seems to be well accepted, and the initial response to the collection has been very encouraging, and we look to further strengthen the range and expand its presence in the coming months. Our consumer reach through diverse sales channels continues to expand.
At the close of Q1, we have a network of 110,400+ multi-brand outlets, 1,490 exclusive brand stores, and 1,296 large format point of sales. Our online network through jockey.in, mobile app, and key online marketplaces continues to expand. With the initiatives we are undertaking as an organization in all aspects of our business, our long-term outlook remains strong, and we are very confident that we will see a consistent growth trajectory in the coming quarters. We express our sincere appreciation for your tremendous support and trust in our company. I will now call upon Mr. Deepanjan to take us through the specifics as far as the quarter is concerned. Over to you, Deepanjan.
Thank you, Mr. Ganesh. Good afternoon, everyone, again, and welcome to today's earnings call. Taking you through the Q1 results, revenue for the quarter was INR 13,166 million, which is a growth of 3.1% over last year. Sales volume in the quarter was 58.6 million pieces, which was a growth of 1.9% year-on-year. EBITDA in the period was INR 2,947 million, which was a growth of 21.1% year-on-year. EBITDA margin is 22.4%. With efficient raw material sourcing, stable sewing efficiency, and continuing cost optimization measures, EBITDA margins have remained strong. There was no price increase in the quarter. Profit after tax was INR 2,008 million, which has grown by 21.5% year-on-year. Inventory days is 56 at the end of the quarter, which was 64 days in the beginning of the quarter. Net working capital was 48 days against 54 days at the beginning of the quarter.
We are available to term loan in the current quarter of around INR 40 million, which is a credit lien, I mean, to get a benefit of the credit lien capital subsidy and interest reimbursement schemes of Karnataka State Government. This is for the upcoming KRH manufacturing facility. We continue to enhance values to our stakeholders while remaining strongly rooted in resource optimization and efficiency. We can now take up your queries.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star1 on the touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from Nihal Maheshwari with HSBC Securities.
Please go ahead.
Thank you for agreeing to the queue. Sir, I have two questions. The first is on the growth path. You did mention about the fact that there was a certain impact growth of users at 15 years. Even if I normalize that and say take the average volume growth for the last two quarters, it comes to around 5%. Is that the expected normalized growth in volumes to expect actually for the coming quarters? I know our aspiration is higher for greater users, but given how things are progressing, is that the better way to look at it in the coming quarters?
Nihal, yes, our expectation is much higher growth. You know, the general retail environment is not so buoyant, and that's why we had a subdued quarter. For us, with all the actions we have taken, as we are aiming for a double-digit growth when things normalize, I think we have to wait for that. As far as the brand is concerned, we are taking all necessary actions for that. One is not increasing the price, keeping the price under control, and improving the product. As far as the features are concerned, coming out with new and exciting products, very concentrated expansion, which we are not looking at numbers, but a very productive expansion. Very, very focused intervention as far as marketing initiatives are concerned to create better awareness about the ranges and about the brand. All these actions will definitely help us.
As a country, you know, the future looks very bright. It is just a question of passing or going through this phase, and then the recovery will definitely happen.
Sir, the second question was on margin, and it has two parts to it. The first is that it is now four quarters since our margins have been higher than the guided 19% - 21% range, and we obviously have commented the visibility of how our raw material is. Looks like in Q4, as mentioned, that we are planning to step up IT costs. At least in this quarter, that is not visible. How to look at margins as a whole for the remaining year, or is this a structural step up? The second part is that when we have seen such a strong margin environment, doesn't it make relevant sense for us to invest a decent portion of it back into getting demand, improving demand rather than expecting for the overall macro to improve on pricing?
Okay, so two aspects. We are very comfortable with the 19 %- 21% margin. Of course, there are some expenses with sometimes for the question of timing, you know, certain costs. The expenses can be higher because of things being as far as projects are concerned, including IT expenses. Generally, you know, we have been controlling costs without touching price and protecting margins. It is not easy to do that because it is continuous work on improving our operating efficiency and making prudent investments. We will continue to focus on that. As far as the second part is concerned, I fully agree with you. We are not, we are controlling expenses, we are not controlling investments because our long-term outlook is very, very positive. Therefore, we have been strategic investments in the IT side.
We have been on the Salesforce Distribution Management System, SAP S/4HANA, by expanding capacities by way of new plants which are coming up, one in Odisha and one in Karnataka, coming out with new product ranges and investments in our R&D. This will definitely continue unabated. That is because we know the medium term, long term story is going to be very positive for us, and we will continue to stay invested. To answer your question, yes, we will control expenses, but we will continue to make aggressive investments which are prudent for the business.
Got it. For the 19% - 21% range, stays for the margin even now?
Yes.
Thank you so much. I wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Guruvar Shukla with JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I will just follow up to the earlier part of the question. If you look at the gross margin expansion, it is the gross margin which is seeing a very sharp expansion and leading to flowing through the EBITDA line. If you can help us out, you know what is leading to this gross margin expansion? Really, how much of this is sustainable going ahead?
Yeah. On the gross margin, while we compare the gross margin year on year, definitely there is a sharp expansion, which is more of a reflection of the sewing efficiency over the years. We have been focusing on improving the sewing efficiency year on year for the last two or three years, and that's what we saw, that the increased sewing efficiency, more specifically the labor cost per minute, that has reduced as a part of the product component. That's what is reflecting as the quarter on year on year increase in the gross margin. If you look at the sequential gross margin, that is Q4 last year versus Q1 now, there isn't much of a difference in the gross margin. Whatever the gross margin that we received now is largely sustainable, and that will continue.
Okay. Generally, you know there is some variation in the gross margin on a quarterly basis. That is only because of the interplay between the subcontracting expenses and the gross margin. Is there anything to read into that because the employee cost has this quarter around increased a bit sharply?
Not much of a subcontracting part, while productions have slightly increased when we compare to the previous quarter, that is Q1 2025. There's an increase, but I think the major reason is the labor cost per minute has reduced over time, and that's reflecting in a sharper gross margin when we compare year on year.
Got it. As you know, the last, sorry.
Sorry, Deepanjan, the employee cost increase is also because of the normal increment cycles.
Yes, which is more a Q1 phenomenon, but when we are comparing year on year, the impact on gross margin is more because of the efficiency issues we are dealing with.
That's helpful. Sir, my second and last question, it regards to if you look at the overall volume growth for you, and I'm not talking about just the last one year or two years, but even if you look at a five-year share basis from the pre-COVID level, the volume growth has really been in that high percentage number only. Apart from the recent slowdown in the demand environment, is there anything else like competition from certain other players, not only the listed ones? For example, France now has seen a very sharp increase in their innerwear sales. Is there some share loss do you think that is happening that is leading to this slower growth?
Karthik, I think you will be the best person to.
You have to put multiple things together to respond to that. At a consumer level, yes, there is a possibility, but all the new entrants that you've spoken about are largely operating in the organized retail. Our brands, for instance, are in the form of private label as far as innerwear is concerned, which does not directly come and play in the channels that we operate in. In fact, our observation as far as competitiveness is concerned is critical for Page Industries Limited. We've seen multiple brands exit the general trade channel in the last year or two years. When compared to what it was immediately after the pandemic, the intensity in competition has kind of become easier now. We don't know what the future holds, but as we stand today, that's how it moves with regards to competition in some of the core categories that we operate in.
I think just to follow up, in this segment, are you seeing that there is a place for women's innerwear or the HV shirt? Which segment are you seeing the intensity more?
No. As a brand today, we cannot identify one other brand with whom we compete. That's because of the nature of business for Jockey and how we work with multiple consumer segments as well as multiple product categories. To have a view on that, you'll have to first break down Jockey into multiple parts and then look at who's competition there. When we do that, there are players in all the areas that we operate in. It is that they're not common. For men's innerwear, there are different sets of competing brands, which are very different from who we compete with for women's innerwear, similarly for athleisure.
Intensity overall, from what it was about three years ago, is actually a lot better now in the marketplace.
Okay, sure. Thank you. That's helpful.
Thank you. The next question comes from Devanshu Bansal with MK Global. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Hi, thanks for the opportunity. The volume has grown by 2%, but RM cost in execute term has declined by 8%. The executing price that RM costs for the piece has actually fallen by 10%. This is the trend that we've seen since the last couple of months. I wanted to check what the driving is, and I wanted to confirm that labor cost would be sitting in employee cost. Gross margins, there is a lower cost of doing from a labor perspective, and it would sort of aid your lower employee cost, right? Not the gross margin.
Let me clarify that. When we speak about product cost, product cost is naturally since it gets into the inventory cost and cost of sales, we cast a few components in product cost, which is my raw material cost, labor cost, which is cost of production, and village overage, tax overage. Combination of all these things gets into my product cost. That's why when you say that the labor cost per minute has reduced, this is because of the improved efficiency. It gets into my inventory cost or the product cost. Any changes in labor cost per minute and the related overage does impact my inventory cost. What we are seeing now is that, yes, the raw material cost has not reduced because we have stayed over the last few quarters.
The effect of higher efficiency, the ceiling efficiency is what reflects in my manufacturing cost of which labor cost per minute is a component. The higher efficiency is what is bringing reducing my product cost, and that's what we meant. Definitely, as from a P&L perspective, employee cost is a separate line, but product cost captures all these things. Over time, the way the labor cost per minute plays out, that does impact our product cost as well.
Sorry, I got confused on your last sentence. This with the P&L that we see, the employee cost is including the labor employed in your tax. Is that the right assumption?
Again, the P&L is a financial expense of income presentation. The employee cost, which includes wages, is definitely an expense item, hence it comes out specifically. At the same time, when you say product cost, it also includes the entire manufacturing cost component. Manufacturing cost is three factors: raw material cost, labor cost, and related overage.
Okay. That's for this 41% cost that is there. What does that include? This is seen to us in the P&L.
It includes all the three components. Whenever we speak about product cost, it includes all the three components.
Understood. Secondly, just to follow up on Nihal's question, you are targeting double-digit growth, but as of now, because the average has been about 5%, the current demand environment is sort of indicating a 5% kind of a client convention. Is that the right number?
It's difficult to predict this, Devanshu, because it is very volatile out there. It's delivered in gusts. There are so many geopolitical things happening, tariff pressures. Now we're seeing a lot of pressure in the IT sector. We can watch about it. It's delivered in gusts. You know, as I told you in my opening comment, we have been seeing month-on-month improvement. May was better than April. June was better than May. That gives us hope. This is one, maybe because the market is slowly improving. Second is because of all the initiatives we are taking.
Understood. Last question from my end. Sir, distribution from general trade perspective, over the last three quarters has remained at around 10,000 on upgrades. What's the target of the current year for this current year that has been? Yeah. Devanshu, actually, we've expanded in the last couple of years as far as distribution is concerned. We had reached 110,000 immediately after the pandemic because a lot of non-traditional grocery outlets were in a way tapped into to retail Jockey products, which was rationalized thereafter in 2023. Thereafter, year on year, we've been adding anywhere between 8,000 - 9,000 outlets per year. The target we've taken upon after this year is also in the similar range.
It's very locked up in there.
Thanks for taking it.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Videesha Sheth with Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi. My first question again was on the revenue growth base. Two parts to it. One was that which part of the portfolio dragged the volume performance? Was it innerwear layer or was it athleisure layer? The second bit is, while you've indicated that no pricing changes have been made, feedback from the channels suggests that some hikes have been taken in part of the men's wear portfolio. Could you just clarify on that, please?
Thanks for the question, Videesha. We don't share category-level performance, but I would say that innerwear as a portfolio has been a bit more muted in terms of retail consumption when compared to athleisure in the bygone quarter. Not a big difference, but still a difference between the two. With regards to price increase, there has been no price increase taken. There have been a few changes made more to correct the ladder of our portfolio, which we would not really account to as price increase, which has had an effect of about 0.3%, 0.4% overall if you look at it at a brand level. There were essentially price ladder corrections that were taken in a few strides.
Was this also affected in the last quarter, not this quarter?
Not in this quarter. This was actually affected towards the end of quarter three last year.
Okay. Got it. The second question was again a follow-up on margins. Are these digital or IT spend that you're talking about going to be back-ended, which makes you retain the margin guidance? Also, what were the ad spends during the quarter?
Answering the second question, ad spend has been around 3.5%, which is slightly lower in this quarter, but I think for the overall entire year, it's still in the 4% - 5% range. Definitely, the benefit of lower ad spend is reflecting in the margins to some extent. Regarding margin, can you just repeat the first question?
Yeah. The first one was that the digital or IT spend that you're talking about, are they going to be back-ended as well, which is making you retain the margin guidance?
No, no, no.
One is for the ad spends as well that you talked about, the delivery spend?
Yeah. No, the digital and IT spends are based on the equivalent concept. Rather than the increment or rather than the contractor liability starts, we do accounting. There is no back-ended accounting out there.
Got it. Thank you. Just a short question, if I may. In the context of this JKYGRU launch and focus on younger consumers, given that younger consumers are relatively less brand loyal, what gives you the confidence that they will retain the similar stickiness as your older consumers' cohort? That's also an option.
Good question, Videesha. I don't think the expectation is to have a similar stickiness as the older consumer. The way JKYGRU has been conceptualized itself is to have more frequent changes. It would be a fashion line, a very, very tight limited line, but having complete change in the styling and design season after season, much like how many fashion brands operate. That is still going to be a part of the portfolio addressing this particular consumer. We're not expecting stickiness to a certain product, but as long as the younger consumer can come in and experience JKYGRU and come and find something new every season within that particular collection, that's the intent.
Is this product line largely outsourced or manufactured in-house?
It's not specifically designed to either be outsourced or manufactured. It could be a combination.
Got it. Thanks a lot. All the best.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Ashish Kanodia with Citi. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thank you. Sir, the first question is on the growth statement which you made, like May being stronger than April and then June being stronger than May. Just wanted to understand that, like, across the quarters also, there are some quarters which are stronger and then there are some quarters which are relatively weaker. Typically, is this a phenomena you see across the years that month on month, as you go from April to June, there's a month on month improvement? Or was this the first time you are seeing this trend?
See, there is no specific pattern. Obviously, quarter on quarter, the contribution to the overall number varies. In terms of growth rates, there is no specific pattern. Last year, that's what we experienced. Quarter one for us was slower when compared to the subsequent quarters in the year. As the year progressed, our performance both at a retail level as well as at a primary level improved for us. This year, we don't know. We have seen that within the quarter till June. It's also largely to do with a very muted April because of the festive impact. We've seen recovery in May and thereafter further recovery in June. As of now in the quarter, that's how it's been. If I take last year as a trend, yeah, we've seen improvements quarter on quarter for the year as the year progressed.
Karthik, let me put it this way. When you look at the full quarter numbers, there's a 2% volume growth, right? If you look at April, May, and June on a YOY growth versus last year, how different would the growth profile be? I understand April could be, you know, maybe meaningfully different because of the early festive. When you look at May and June on a YOY growth basis, was the trend very similar or was it different? Similarly, are you seeing any uptake in July or is July also kind of very similar to what you have seen last quarter?
I cannot comment on July yet. I'll keep my comment to the quarter. If you just look at it from a number point of view, last year we had reported about 4% revenue growth in quarter one. By the time we ended the year, it was about 8% - 8.5% for the whole financial year or FY 2025. That's where I said that the performance improved quarter-over-quarter. It's a similar pattern we have experienced in quarter one alone. I'm not sure whether that's a reflection of what we will see in quarter two and quarter three. I'll retain my comment for quarter one where we've seen a positive trajectory month over month.
Maybe I will take it offline. The other question, the second question is in terms of the earlier discussion around margins, right? Now, when I look at, you know, one, the EBITDA margin, there's a positive tailwind on the EBITDA margin. Even gross margins actually from the efficiency side, when you talk about improving efficiency, it looks like a structural advantage, right, that this benefit should continue. In that context, when you look at the, for example, you talk about the correction in price product ladder, which had a positive impact, right, 0.3%, 0.4%. As a brand, why not take a price cut or a price correction at the entry-level price point, not across the portfolio?
Because at the entry level, if you take some price correction, it basically helps the brand to gain market share because the pricing difference between a lower brand product versus Jockey's entry-level product becomes slightly lower, right? At least the margins could easily support that. From a strategy point of view, why is that not a thought process?
I think, yeah, go ahead, Deepanjan, please.
See, there are two parts to this question. One is definitely the operating margin and whether it is right to reduce the price. Operating margin, while it is, I mean, we are in the range of 19% - 21%, of course, it has been a bit higher in the last few quarters. As we have been telling, and that's what is likely to happen, the subsequent quarter that we see, the margins will be within this range of 19% - 21%. It's heightened for the increased margin of 21% + is unlikely to be sustained. We'll come back within this range, more because our marketing spend will be in the range of 4%- 5%. As we go ahead, our IT spend will be slightly on the higher side. Considering all these factors, it will be coming back within the range of 19% - 21%.
Coming to your question of why not price correction to take advantage of the market, we as a brand all along have put forth value through our money, and we have focused always on driving value to the consumer. The kind of products, the features that we provide in our products, our prices are very much in line with those features. We don't see a requirement that by reducing price simply to capture the market share, our value proposition will be enhanced or will be affected. We will maintain our value proposition, and towards the same objective, we don't see any requirement of price increase.
Sure. Devanshu, that's helpful. Thank you. That would be all from my side.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Sameer Gupta with India Infoline. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking my question, sir. I know it's been asked by many participants, but just on this volume growth number, 2% versus 8.5% last quarter, I understand that you mentioned the reasons as subdued consumer sentiment and festive timing mismatch. Frankly, we haven't seen such a slowdown for any other retail company so far which I've reported. Plus, you mentioned innerwear has seen a slightly more subdued, and this is a more stable category. I just wanted to understand a little more in granular detail, any study or handle you have as to track brand relevance, whether those aspects are healthy channel-wise. If you know there is a problem, is EBO growing much faster than the GT channel? Any color that you could give additionally to what you've already given?
Sure, Kameed. Thanks for the question. I think it's probably the first thing on our minds as well, right? In terms of brand health and relevance for men's innerwear as well as women's innerwear as a category, brand score seems to be still at an all-time high. To get you in on the details, our top-of-mind awareness for the brand for men stands at about 55% and for women at about 36%, 37%, which has been the highest that it's ever been. More importantly, we track a metric called MPB, which is most preferred brand. It's a general brand management metric where for men, Jockey is about 55% and for women, it's about 45%. Again, all-time high that it's ever been since the time we've been tracking it. We don't have indications of the brand losing relevance amongst what's being defined as our target audience.
In fact, the brand score seems to be on a high. This is through syndicated research. Also, from anecdotal research that we collect when we speak to retailers on the ground, this is multi-brand retailers, as well as the information that we have on system, on record as far as our EBO stores are concerned, there is a marked drop in consumers at the store level. That's what we see, both in a multi-brand scenario as well as an exclusive brand scenario. That's the reason we've signed a push to attribute this more to the consumer level. Of course, the growth that has been today has been aided by expansion. At a consumer level, that seems to be stretched at this point in time.
You got it. Any difference in the MBO versus EBO growth rates?
At a like-to-like level, there is no difference. Of course, when you add in expansion, we've been adding about anywhere between 140 - 160 EBOs year after year, and hence, we've seen better growth rates overall as a channel. If that were to be discounted and looked at a like-to-like store level performance, MBOs and EBOs seem to be performing in a similar manner. There's a definite difference in performance between offline and online. Online seem to be growing a lot more robust and healthy when compared to offline.
Got it. Second question is on the JKYGRU, the new launch product. I just wanted to understand the thought process here. Is this coming after a feedback from the trade channels? Because Jockey, as we know, is known for comfort and fit. Fashion is a different ball game. It just increases the risk of provisioning on inventory, dead stock, etc. The competition here is much more intense versus your normal Jockey products, which stand for, as I said, comfort and fit. Also, last year we had experimented with jeans. That has been a limited success. What exactly is the thought process behind launching this product?
Great question for me. Thanks for the question. This is not a feedback from GT, not a feedback from retailers for the need for this. This is more to look at spaces for extending product portfolio within the brand average. That's where this is coming from. As you know, you've been following the brand over the years. We've moved from innerwear to sleepwear, sleepwear to loungewear, loungewear to athleisure, athleisure to one-night wear. We've also entered the performance factor wear. We've seen large portions of success in all of these areas that we've gotten into. This is another space within apparel as a category. The apprehensions that you have are the apprehensions we have as well. That is the reason we've not gone out for a full-fledged launch from the get-go.
What we did this quarter was more of a pilot just to understand how this space operates and whether there are going to be risks like you had mentioned. This particular launch was contained to just about 50 EBOs in the country and jockey.in and one other platform on e-commerce just to assess what the response is going to be and also track business metrics in terms of turns, in terms of inventory, in terms of redundancy, etc. This was launched about mid-May. As I'm speaking to you, we have about 75 days of tertiary data compared to the primary that we made and all the products that we made and hence sell-through information. So far, the performance has been really, really good and promising.
That being said, I don't think tomorrow this will become the mainstay of Jockey or the face of Jockey or we'll expand straight away to 50,000, 50,000 outlets. That's not the intent. We will thread this area cautiously, look to expand in a methodical manner, season after season, until we get a hang of this, get a clear understanding of what it means to business and how it affects our metrics. It is an opportunity for us to talk to the younger audience. It's an opportunity for us to extend ourselves into a new space. That's how we're looking at it.
Great. Really, really helpful, really detailed answer. Thanks for this. One more question, if I may, Steven. This is specifically on the international business. Now, we have had these territories, Middle East and Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, etc., for many years now. We haven't seen anything meaningful happening on the international front. It is still sub 5% as a percentage of sales. What is the thought process here? I mean, are you limited in terms of bandwidth to explore waters outside India? I mean, how do you look at it?
Honestly, at least for many years now, the focus has been India. India has been writing the growth story for Page Industries Limited, not just for Page Industries Limited, for any category you look at across brands. I think it continues to do so. The promise that India gives is there. It is intact. We are very committed to building the business here. About a year, year and a half ago is where we've actually consciously invested in infrastructure as well as resources to dedicatedly handle our international geographies. Some of these geographies are strategically not being entered into for a reason. The areas that we have entered into, largely if you look at the Middle East or Nepal, these are areas where infrastructure efforts and investments have been made in the last couple of years.
We have invested now a lot into research and market understanding so that we can, in a way, get back into these territories with a new beat, right, and look at it with all intent now that we've invested in that geography. Yes, at this point in time, it is a very small contributor to the overall revenues of the brand. We are seeing opportunities in each of these geographies to, you know, grow and contribute in a meaningful manner to the overall revenues of Page Industries Limited. We will see change in this area this year and the next year onward. Of course, entry into these areas has a long gestation period for us to actually launch or relaunch the brand to make it a success and have meaning in that business. That's why we are seeing that lag.
When we do choose to move in there and build the brand meaningfully, that time we will start seeing results.
Any target you have internally or whatever you can share as to what kind of contribution it should have, let's say, in five years from now?
No, I don't think we are targeting from a contribution point of view. Internally, there are independent business plans at a country level. That's the way we are looking at it based on the potential that the country throws at us, rather than looking at it as a contribution metric to the overall business.
Got it. This is helpful. Thanks again. I'll come back in with you for any follow-ups.
Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Ankit Kedia with PhillipCapital. Please go ahead.
My first question is on the manufacturing cost. If you look, the volumes have been low in the quarter. Did we get some benefit out of that, given that the manpower cost would have been low, apart from the efficiency gains we are talking of? By the end of the quarter, if the volume decreases, say by the end of the year, will we get leverage on that front or will it be in line to the sales or volume growth?
Definitely, I think there will be a benefit coming from manufacturing efficiency. There are two parts to it. If the volume increases substantially, and that's what we are hopeful, that volume will increase in the coming quarter. With increasing sales volume, there will be a requirement of increasing the production and maybe the requirement of recruiting more people will also come in, though efficiency is increasing. If there is more recruitment of workforce, then the benefit of higher manufacturing efficiency will be to some extent diluted. If you continue to leverage the existing workforce and produce more, then the benefit of further manufacturing efficiency or overabsorption of overage will flow into the manufacturing cost.
As for the Odisha plant, we had some benefits from the state government. While it's a pilot today, did we see some benefit of that also flowing? Because on the manpower front, we have 1,000 manpower out there. I don't think we are running at even half the capacity today. How do we see that ramp up coming in? Do we need, if the volume growth is, say, too little with high single digit, when do you think the full capacity utilization of Odisha can happen? Given that we have set ourselves an 8,000 per year target and this is a new plant and another plant is expected to come in a year's time, can both the plants be absorbed for the 8,000 per year target you have set yourself or are these two plants for very long-term in nature?
I think even from the plan of, or even from our plans for expansion in the next few years, both these manufacturing facilities will be fully up and running. Also, for a significantly longer term where there is more production requirement and more sales requirement, this will be a good addition to our total capacity. At the same time, the Odisha facility, as well as the new upcoming Karnataka facilities, they are much more modern, much more, I would say, technically and even from a sustainability perspective, these are much more modern manufacturing facilities. That also helps. From the Odisha subsidy part of it, it's a bit early now because that's part of the plan is while we have just started operations and the subsidies typically start flowing in only from the beginning of next financial year. Nothing will flow in this year. It's a bit early now.
Thanks. My last question is for Karthik. Karthik, you said you did an external study where the footfall was lower at the MBO and EBO levels. In the study, did you see that a player like a retailer like a Zudio is gaining share in the innerwear category or the study was only for innerwear where you would have seen that overall growth is not there and probably some of the innerwear brands exiting the market in the MBO channels? Value fashion retail are gaining significant market share in a category which is not your competitor overall.
Yeah, thanks, Ankit. No, it did not come out clearly in the study, to be honest. Also, from a price point at which the brand that you mentioned operates in, it would, I would imagine, come directly and compete with some of the economy brands that operate in that price point.
Both in terms of product quality, defect, as well as price point, I don't believe that would directly compete with or will be comparable with Jockey as a brand that we operate in. Of course, channel also is a play because for us, largely in the general trade and exclusive brand stores and the offline space that we operate, whereas that would operate like any other private label, so to speak. I don't have a clear answer to say yes or no. There is a possibility, but I'm not sure whether that's what happened over here.
I'm seeing when you say the innerwear got impacted, how was the growth in the modern classic category of men's innerwear? Because that pricing would be similar to the retailer whom we are discussing. Is modern classic growth more muted compared to T1, T2 category first?
No.
Interestingly, across price points, we've seen consistent performance in the bygone quarter. Specifically to the comparison, even modern classic will be priced premium when compared to the player in question.
That's helpful, Ankit. Thank you so much, Karthik.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Prerna Jhunjhunwala with Elara Securities. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you for the opportunity. First, I would like to understand your growth in the business channels. As you mentioned that, you know, the MBO and EBO channel growth was stabilized and they used to continue to grow. What I was trying to understand is, what restricts the physical distribution channel on growth apart from retail environment not being that great as mentioned earlier? Is it in channels on challenges and footfalls, or in terms of attracting customers to the stores? I mean, just trying to understand what is restricting the distribution channel growth, whether it is EBO or MBO.
Yeah. Like I said, whatever growth we have posted this year is on the back of expansion, in a way. Where the growth is being muted is at a consumer level, you know, like-to-like. That's where it's being attributed to walk-ins or consumption being subdued this bygone quarter. Otherwise, expansion in terms of number of stores, in terms of presence, has definitely gone up when compared to last year's same quarter and also gone up within the quarter, from March closing to June. That in terms of efforts or inputs is on. We continue to expand. Where we've seen a stress is largely at a like-to-like growth level.
What are we doing to attract more? I understand that you're doing a lot of product innovation. Apart from that, any customer engagement activity that we have ramped up, could it be some instances over that that could help us understand that, okay, future growth rate should be much higher than what we've seen in this quarter?
Yes. We have a very robust marketing plan in place, like we do every year, in terms of strengthening brand with clear, actionable callouts to make sure that we are able to drive consumption. That's how we are approaching this year as well. Over the years, over the last three years, our investment in marketing has gone up year after year. Today, we operate anywhere between 4.5% - 5% in terms of investment in marketing. That's the kind of investment that's going in as well this year. It's just that in quarter one, largely owing to timing and how the sporting calendar is out, we're seeing a muted investment in quarter one. That's because last year, we participated in the World Cup campaign, which happened to be in the month of June. Hence, we're seeing a difference over there as far as this year is concerned.
Otherwise, when you look at it in totality, full year to full year, we have a solid marketing plan in place backed with adequate investments for us to activate consumers.
Okay. The second question is on Gen Z, younger audience, the product category that we have launched in JKYGRU. What is the current distribution reach that you have reached in that?
Like I said.
Where would you want to reach by the end of this year?
Yeah. I think we have to take it one month at a time, one quarter at a time as far as the collection is concerned because, like I said, it's a test at this point in time. We need to see how it performs. The pilot itself was launched in 52 exclusive brand stores, as well as jockey.in. That's the level of presence that it's had. It was not extended to the general trade market in the first season. We wanted to keep it really tight where we have very clear understanding of the sales rules, as well as who's buying it. It was a line of about 14 different products plus colors and sizes. We want to get a sense of what's appealing to this audience when it comes from a brand like Jockey. At this moment, it's a very, very contained distribution.
As we go forward, as we learn more about this space, we will gradually increase its presence in the country, both across exclusive brand stores as well as the multi-brand retail.
My last question is on women and athleisure categories. Your annual report talks about these categories being the most focused going forward. Could you just help us understand what will be the key initiatives that you plan to take this year to improve the growth rate in these categories?
I think largely it's going to be product in terms of what we will see in terms of introduction in the portfolio in these two areas. We're going to have a completely new range of elevated premium products coming in as far as the women's innerwear space is concerned. It's just in a way going in now, just in time for the festive season. That's going to be one of the key pillars for us. Also, in the athleisure side, we've done a lot of work in upgrading and elevating our existing products in terms of features, in terms of fit to make it a lot more modern than what it is today to, you know, suit the younger consumer at the same time, not alienate our existing loyal consumer set.
That's been a massive exercise that the product team has undergone with every product that is currently in the portfolio. Of course, JKYGRU is going to be a pillar when it comes in in season two. There are a few initiatives which I cannot give away too much at this point in time for all of our benefit. That's something that is planned sometime in quarter three this year. A large portion of focus, which is disproportionate in this area when compared to the other categories, is going to be on product and output.
Understood, sir. Thank you. The last question will be on inventory.
Sorry to interrupt there. Ms. Jhunjhunwala, can you come back in the question queue for any follow-up questions?
One more question. Can I go ahead?
Please go ahead, yeah.
Yes.
Thank you. Thank you so much. What is the status of inventory levels for athleisure? Has it started declining, as mentioned in the call? There was a difference among certain days that you mentioned the change, but the.
This is at the partner level, is what you're checking.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. We are seeing a decrease month after month as far as inventory days are concerned at a partner level. I think I had mentioned the last time as well. As far as innerwear as a portfolio is concerned, we are already where we want to be, which is our optimum inventory level. Outerwear still has, like I think I had mentioned this last time, we'll be taking the whole of this year or at least the first three quarters for us to reach an optimum level. I don't believe that is holding us back in a big way in terms of performing both in terms of primary and secondary. Of course, freeing up that level of capital at the partner level will help us introduce more products, more relevant products for those markets, which should again help us in a secondary sell-through.
Yes, it's a truth that we will need to look through. I'm hoping that in the next couple of quarters, we should be able to reach optimum levels with outerwear as well.
Thank you, sir. That's really helpful. All the best.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question comes from the line of Tejas Shah with Elander Spark. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. I joined a bit late, sorry if this question has been asked in any form before. Sir, we are now at the scale where macro trends dominate performance. We are seeing this in many other category leaders also across the consumption space. One possible solution that we have seen off late is to create a portfolio organically or inorganically within the larger portfolio of low-index categories or brands. Since the brand vector is not with us, brand extension is the only lever that we have. I just wanted to know, and we have done many launches also in the past, perhaps not with this mindset alone, but we have seen many category extensions. Are there any bright spots in the portfolio clearly outperforming the average?
When you do the sum total, you can see that 20% - 25% of our overall portfolio is growing way above what the company is today delivering number.
Tejas, thanks for the question, right? This is a function of the lifecycle in which that particular space within the portfolio is at. There are going to be areas within the portfolio which are outdoing the average. It's got to do with what stage of the lifecycle that portfolio is at. It's also got to do with how we cut the portfolio. I can straight away say, for example, accessories as a portfolio where we sell socks, towels, caps, hand purses as a portfolio is outdoing the brand average by a big margin. That's also because it's in a nascent stage. It's not completely fully distributed to the extent that we would like it to be. Hence, there is a lot of inorganic opportunity for growth, which is sitting over there.
Further, if we had to dissect each of our portfolios further, let's say within men's innerwear, if you have to break it down further, or within women's innerwear, if you have to break it down further, either in the form of product types, either in the form of collections, either in the form of material group, you will find parts of the portfolio that are outdoing the average, all of which are, in a way, opportunities for organic growth. That's also because, unlike FMCG, the number of SKUs that we deal with, which are truly differentiated from each other, either in the form of fit or product type or material or price point, there is opportunity for us to grow. There are many parts within the portfolio today which are far outdoing the portfolio average and leading that inorganic agenda for us.
Yeah. JKYGRU, it's actually kind of an extension of what we just spoke about. Launching it just in 50 exclusive brand outlets and only in our portal, what markers will actually give you confidence from such a limited launch to roll it further? I just wanted to know, is it targeting a certain category of audience at the price point? I was just looking at the site. It's slightly priced below INR 1,000 and with some fashion risk element also in the product line. Broadly, I just wanted to understand your view on it.
Yeah. I think I responded to a similar question just before. The markers that we are looking for are, firstly, consumer acceptance because it's new for Jockey as a brand. Secondly, we are on the lookout for who's actually shopping this. Is it an existing Jockey consumer who's shopping this, or are we attracting new consumers into the brand by making this available? The third is to see inventory turns itself and sell-throughs, right? We had a certain plan. Obviously, because of the number of stores that we had planned for, we had planned limited quantity, but keeping in mind the number of stores. Hence, store-level performance of sell-throughs is a very good indication of how the... It also keeps an eye because this is relatively high fashion when compared to what Jockey otherwise operates in.
What's the kind of redundancy that is going to be left with at the end of the season? Is there anything that is going to be left at all? These are some things that we're really looking out for so that we can build clear business metrics with this space before we can expand. That's the reason it has been limited to the distribution that we've kept in mind. We believe it is sufficient risk for us to get a clear reading of this part of the business. Once we, you know, justify this to ourselves in terms of performance, I think it would be relatively easier.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Rajiv Bharati with Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. This is regarding JKYGRU. This looks exciting. The question is the product market fit which you talked about. The way you offer this in the trade channel, is that a marker to suggest that you have established the product market fit? The combination of that is, you know, the success of various launches extension which we have seen over the years has gone down. How does trade actually accept this? Some kind of launches?
There is already some level of inherent demand in trade for JKYGRU. We've been receiving a lot of requests from our partners in the general trade channel to extend the portfolio into their stores as well. I'm guessing this is because of the experience with which these retailers come. They deal with consumers on a daily basis. They have a past sense of what will work with their consumers, what will not work with their consumers. Having considered all of that, if there is some level of latent demand for this, I'm assuming that there is a market for this in general trade as well. Whether we've considered it successful the minute it goes into general trade, I don't know. We've always taken a phased approach. We are taking a similar approach now.
Even within our organized retail space itself, out of close to 1,400 stores that we have, it was today introduced only in about 50. There is a long way of expansion opportunity available here itself. Of course, general trade is a massive opportunity which is also there. Once we are able to establish the relevance of this product at this price point from this brand for consumers in that channel, we will go after expansion to make it available in as many touch points as possible so that more consumers can come and experience a particular brand, which will flow into business as well.
Yeah, thanks a lot, sir. I'm all good.
Thank you. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing remarks.
Thanks again. It was really wonderful discussing the Q1 results with all of you. I think with this, we can close the news call.
Thank you. On behalf of Page Industries Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and we may now disconnect the lines.