As per our channel checks, apparel retailers in Q4FY22E on a per store basis have registered a recovery rate in the range of 50-60% in January (owing to trade being impacted by Omicron Covid variant) while February was a month of recovery gaining ground to 80-85% of pre-Covid levels. However, March has seen a sharp recovery with most apparel companies being able to surpass the pre-Covid levels owing to strong demand driven by opening up of offices, reopening of schools and increased demand due to the wedding season. We expect companies in our coverage universe to report close to pre-Covid sales in Q4FY22 led by higher store additions in the last couple of quarters and price hikes. We expect our coverage universe to report revenue growth of 12.9% YoY in Q4FY22. In a bid to negate inflationary pressure (all time high yarn prices), apparel retailers have taken price hikes in range of 8-12% and passed on the same to consumers, which has aided in supporting gross margins. We expect EBITDA margin for our coverage universe to remain flattish at 11.2% with expected EBITDA growth of 13.4% YoY. During the quarter, retailers continued calibrated expansion of their store network with opening of three Westside Stores, 16 Tanishq stores, 54 Zudio stores, three V-Mart stores (opened 14 new, closed 11 unviable stores).
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