Century menswear set to double turnover

Century Textiles and Industries' menswear brand Cottons will hit the Rs 50 crore mark in 2006, said R K Dalmia, the company's president.

"Since its launch in late 2003 the brand has been growing consistently, and we are targeting to double the turnover from the present Rs 25 crore," he told Business Standard.

The B K Birla group's flagship company is also set to strengthen its retail network for the brand. "As of now, we have about 40 retail outlets. As the competition has increased, we will double the number of outlets within a year," said Dalmia. Four of these will be opened by March.

Within a year of its launch in 2003, Cottons clocked a turnover of about Rs 10 crore. In 2005, the turnover more than doubled to Rs 25 crore.

The new outlets will be bigger than the present 1,000-1,500 sq ft ones. "A few of the new outlets will be over 2,000 sq ft," said Dalmia. More than half of the company's present outlets are exclusive showrooms. Dalmia, however, was tightlipped on the financial details.

Initially, Century Textiles' readymade garments "" including shirts, trousers, kurtas and accessories "" were retailed through exclusive brand outlets under Mangal Pradhan. Later, the company launched the Cottons by Century brand.

Century Textiles reported a 262 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 192 crore for the third quarter. Its total income increased 12 per cent to Rs 1,106.61 crore.

The Century Textiles scrip today closed at Rs 304.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 2.16 per cent from the previous close.