Globus foresees bleak quarter

Globus, the apparel chain promoted by the Raheja Group, is adding five stores to the existing

25 across the country at an estimated investment of about Rs 25 crores to Rs 30 crores. The buoyancy in the business was visible from August last year, when the stores recorded a 25 to 30 per cent increase in footfalls. The company reported revenues of Rs 180 crores and grew at 4 per cent for the year ended March 31, 2010. For the current financial year, it hopes to achieve a growth of 17 to 18 per cent. As a private label, Globus, which entered the Rs 40,000 crores apparel market in 2001, competes with casual wear brands such as Pepe Jeans, United Colours of Benetton, Wrangler and Lee.

The company entered the retail space as a large format store, but in 2001 changed its strategy to become an own brand store. However, Globus sees the coming quarter as a little bleak as Diwali falls in the month of November and because of the rise in input costs for the third quarter. To keep margins stable, the price hike has to be passed on to consumers. The company is looking at opening new stores in Nagpur, Aurangabad, Vijayawada, Pune and Hyderabad.