Woodland reports 6% revenue growth in Q3, to focus on exports

Subdued economic conditions in the traditionally-buoyant period of October to December 2013 (Q3) led to marginal 6 per cent growth for adventure footwear and accessories brand Woodland.

The company's third quarter sales stood at Rs 254 crore, compared to Rs 239 crore during the corresponding period of 2012-13. 

The Managing Director of Aero Club, company that owns Woodland, Harkirat Singh said, “Footfalls at our stores were less due to overall economic slowdown, in addition to inflation.” 

The bleak chances of the domestic economy picking up in the near future is making Woodland look at scaling up exports. “We will focus more on international markets in the coming quarters,” Singh said.

After opening its first exclusive outlet in Hong Kong recently, it plans to increase its presence in Europe but through multi-brand retail stores, he said. The company derives about 20 per cent of its revenues from exports.

He also said that the company would be opening a warehouse in Dubai within six months to cater to West Asian markets. On depreciating rupee impacting input costs, Singh said, “In our case, about 60 per cent of the leather that we use is imported. Decline in rupee value resulted in costs going up by almost 20 per cent this year, forcing us to raise prices of products by 5 to 6 per cent as against 2 to 3 per cent in previous years.”

Woodland's sales for nine months in 2013-14 was Rs 697 crore, up 20 per cent from Rs 578 crore in 2012-13, he said.