Tommy Hilfiger India profits jump 66 percent last fiscal

American fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger's India joint venture with Arvind has reported a 24 percent rise in sales and 66 percent jump in profits last fiscal on the back of strong retail and wholesale sales. Tommy Hilfiger Arvind Fashion posted revenues of Rs 235 crores and Rs 10 crores in profits for the year ended March 2014, the company said in its latest filing to the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Tommy Hilfiger is the second global brand to have recorded successful stint in the country after Spanish brand Zara, which reported revenues of Rs 580 crores last fiscal despite entering India six years after Tommy Hilfiger. While revenues at Tommy Hilfiger Arvind have grown almost three times in three years from about Rs 80 crores in 2011, it is still behind its expected target. In an application seeking the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) permission for its expansion submitted in June 2012, the company had projected revenues to grow to Rs 320 crores at the end of fiscal year 2012-13.

Standard Chartered Equity Research in a note dated August 26, said Arvind’s brands business will deliver 24 percent revenue growth over 2014-17 with over 4 percentage points improvement in operating margins, helped by newer brands such as Calvin Klein, Gap and The Children’s Place scaling up in size and better margins from existing brands such as Flying Machine, US Polo and Tommy Hilfiger.