Titan Company Ltd., a lifestyle company belonging to the Tata Group, said on Friday that it will be acquiring a majority stake in online jewellery chain CaratLane. The cost of acquisition was not disclosed by the Bengaluru-based firm that makes jewellery under the name Tanishq, apart from watches, eyewear, perfume and accessories.
The company said that the proposed acquisition will complement its jewellery business.
"Acquisition of a leading brand in the jewellery online industry catering to a different segment of customers with significant internal capabilities in design, manufacturing technology and ecommerce. Synergies with the jewellery business of the company is very high," Titan informed the stock exchanges on Friday.
CaratLane Trading Private Limited is a nine-year-old, Chennai-based company and is into designing, manufacturing, trading and retailing of gems and jewellery in India through its e-commerce portal as well as 13 physical stores.
Titan posts decline in net profit, sales
The company reported a 14.4 percent fall in net profit to Rs. 184.11 crore on net sales of Rs. 2,437.15 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2016. The net profit was Rs. 215 crore on sales of Rs. 2,474 crore in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.
For the full year ended March 2016, net profit was down 14.2 percent to Rs. 705 crore on sales of Rs. 11,176 crore, which declined 5.2 percent, year-on-year (YoY).
Income from jewellery business (Tanishq) dropped 7.6 percent to Rs. 8,717 crore, while the watches division posted marginal growth of 1.7 percent to Rs. 1,954 crore.
"The financial year as well as the last quarter of 2015-16 was an extremely challenging one for the Company. The challenges faced were both on account of weak market conditions for all businesses and new regulatory restrictions for the jewellery business," Titan said.
The Titan stock closed at Rs. 364.10 on the BSE on Friday, up 1.31 percent from its previous close.
