Aditya Birla Fashion to surpass projected revenue of Rs 21,000 cr by 2026: KM Birla 

Billionaire industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla on Monday said that his fashion retail company - Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) - was confident of fortifying its market position further and surpassing the projected revenue of Rs 21,000 crore by 2026. He also said that while the company lost nearly one quarter to the second wave of COVID-19, ABFRL registered a strong recovery in the subsequent quarters.

"At the end of FY22, most businesses have either come back or exceeded the pre-COVID levels, which is also visible in the strong Q1 FY23 results that we declared a few months ago," he told shareholders at the 15th annual general meeting of the company. During the financial year 2022, he said, the company's revenue stood at Rs 8,136 crore, with a 55 per cent growth as compared to last year's Rs 5,249 crore.

Naming some of the brands that contributed to the growth, Birla said the lifestyle segment comprising the company's four power brands - Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, and Peter England - grew nearly 60 per cent over the previous year, extending their leadership position in their respective segments. "We had projected revenue of Rs 21,000 crore for the year 2026 during our annual investor day held in March 2021. I am very confident that we will be able to surpass that target," he said.

Birla also sounded confident about India's growth story and said that the country appears to be well placed to ride through an uncertain global economic environment. He said India has a robust pipeline of infrastructure projects and the government's policies such as the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes are helping. He, however, said that there are two major concerns around the current global crisis - energy security and elevated energy prices that have spurred a chain reaction, fuelling inflationary impulses and volatility.

"Global supply chain disruptions that were triggered by pandemic-induced lockdowns in China have continued because of the war in Ukraine. This has dented consumer confidence and dampened risk sentiment in financial markets," he said.

Also read: ABFRL Q4 results: Revenue up 25% over pre-COVID levels, EBITDA surges 58% on-year