Page Industries Q4 profits up 38.5 percent

For the fourth quarter of FY 2013, Page Industries reported

a healthy set of numbers, in-line with estimates of Angel Broking firm. The company's top-line grew by 35.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 209 crores, against firm’s estimate of Rs 201 crores for the quarter.

The EBITDA margin for the quarter expanded by 190 basic points year-on-year at 17.6 percent, mainly because of lower other expenses as a percent of net sales. Consequently, the company reported a profit of Rs 24 crores, 38.5 percent higher year-on-year from Rs 17 crores in the third quarter of FY 2012, in-line with firm’s estimate.

As per Angel Broking, Page’s presence in the fast growing segment with strong brand recall drove growth. Page operates in mid and premium category of the innerwear segment in India which is estimated at Rs 5,000 crores. The innerwear market in India is growing at 24 percent, and is underpenetrated with per capita spend significantly lower than in other Asian peer markets, thus providing a huge opportunity to the company. With a market share of 21 percent in men's segment and 12 percent in women’s segment, it expects Page to tap the opportunity and report a CAGR of 21.8 percent and revenue of Rs 1,282 crores in FY 2015.

Page's strong brand recall and pan-India distribution channel will aid it in capitalizing on the opportunity. Also, Page has expansion plans of manufacturing 196 million pieces per annum by FY 2017 to meet the growing demand as consumers are shifting from unbranded to branded products.