Raymond Lifestyle Limited (NSE: RAYMONDLSL) Q1 2026 Earnings Call dated Aug. 07, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Amit Agarwal — Group Chief Financial Officer
S.L. Pokharna — President (Corporate Commercial)
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Abhijeet Kundu — Analyst
Shreyansh — Analyst
Chetan Sharma — Analyst
Deepali Kumari — Analyst
Madhavendra Kumar — Analyst
Ujjwal Lal — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Raymond Lifestyle Limited Q1FY26 earnings conference call hosted by Antique Stockbroking Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing Star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Abhijit Kundu from Antique Stockbrokking. Thank you. And over to you, sir.
Abhijeet Kundu — Analyst
Thank you, Arshil. On behalf of Antique Stock Booking, I would like to welcome all the participants in the Q1 FY26 conference call of Raymond Lifestyle Limited. Today we have with us from senior management of Raymond Lifestyle Limited Mr. H.L. pokarna who is President Corporate Commercial, Mr. Amit Agarwal Group CFO Mr. Jatin Hannah, Head Corporate Development and Mr. Sunny Disa Head Investor Relations. Without taking further time, I would like to hand over the call to Agarwal. Over to you.
Amit Agarwal — Group Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Abjit. Good evening everyone. As we celebrate our centenary year, we are pleased to have you join for our first quarter fiscal 26 conference call. We trust you have had the chance to review our financial results and the investor presentation, both of which are available on the stock exchanges and on our company website. Moving ahead, it is essential to consider the broader macroeconomic landscape that has influenced our performance and strategic decision. The global environment remains volatile with geopolitical tensions and shifting trade policies creating uncertainty for exporters. Despite these challenges, India continues to demonstrate resilience with GDP growth expected to hold at 6.5% for the fiscal 26.
However, consumer spending continued to remain tepid this quarter, impacted by high inflation and cautious capex as households focus on on essentials over discretionary purchases. Furthermore, fiscal 26 began under a cloud of uncertainty, particularly around the US tariff which is likely to persist. However, on the trade front, the newly signed India UK Free Trade Agreement marks a significant milestone. By offering zero duty access to 99% of Indian exports, it unlocks vast potential for textile exporters, especially in categories like ready made garments. While realigning supply chains to fully capitalize on this opportunity will take time, the long term outlook looks very promising.
While we remain optimistic, we are also maintaining a cautious stance due to global macroeconomic uncertainties. Overall, India stands at a unique inflection point of view, poised to navigate global disruptions and emerge stronger, supported by sound policy, strategic trade alliances and a resilient domestic market. Now I want to talk about the Performance Highlights Raymond Lifestyle Limited reported a highest quarter one performance in the seasonally weakest quarter of the year with a total income of 1475 crore and year on year growth of 18% mainly driven by improved business performance in the branded textile and branded apparel segment led by volume growth.
Our EBITDA stood at 122 crores in the first quarter of fiscal 26 with an EBITDA margin of 8.2% reflecting a growth of 36% year on year on account of higher sales due to higher volumes, improved product mix and operating leverage. Let me brief you about our various segments. The branded textile segment revenue grew significantly by 27% to 716 crore in the first quarter 26 as compared to 565 crore in the first quarter fiscal 25 mainly on account of higher wedding dates leading to robust volume growth and increased consumer awareness as compared to previous year. Almost doubled our EBITDA to 103 crore in the first quarter fiscal 26 as compared to 54 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 25 with EBITDA margins at 14.3% in the first quarter of this year compared to 9.6% in the last year on account of improved product mix and volume growth.
A landmark moment in our Century year was the launch of the Chairman’s Collection and Apex in the Indian’s menswear space. Meticulously crafted using premium fabrics such as Giza and Supima cottons, this limited edition line stands as a bold expression of intent which reflects Raymond’s commitment to championing India’s heritage of craftsmanship while redefining luxury. Furthermore, in a strategic move to elevate its offering, the brand has launched Drape Coat in Premium Wool rich blends, Super 100 20s and 100 40s, introduced Planella and all wool jacketing range under Exotic collection. It also launched Urban Flare Super /undreds and Aldano super nineties at a very attractive price point.
Additionally, Linear Legacy and AI Inspired High fashion line was unveiled to showcase cutting edge design and innovation. Now let me talk about the branded apparel segment where the revenue stood at 370 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 26 as compared to 303 crore in the same quarter last year which reflects a growth of 22% year on year basis. The growth was witnessed across all brands and key channels such as EBOs, MBOs and online. The segment reported an EBITDA of 19 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 26 as compared to 15 crore in the first quarter fiscal 25 with an EBITDA margin of 5% in first quarter 26 on account of improved visibility due to increased marketing spend.
Our focus on operational efficiency led to optimizing our retail network as we exited 35 underperforming stores during this quarter. We will continue this optimization drive in the coming quarters to ensure our retail footprint delivers long term sustainable profitable growth. As of 30th of June 2025, our store count stood at 1,675 stores vis a vis 1540 stores on the 30th of June 2024, an increase of net increase of 135 stores. The recently opened stores are expected to take some more time to reach to full maturity. Ethnics by Raymond now operates a robust network of 140 stores across India.
During the quarter we opened 6 new stores while 18 underperforming stores were closed. We are also introducing the new Smart Ethnics collection, an eclectic brand of fusion silhouettes featuring short kurtas bandis trousers and crafted with a contemporary design language. Now let me talk about the garmenting segment during the quarter the revenue reported was 197 crore in the first quarter as compared to 252 crores in the same quarter previous year impacted by uncertainty on account of US tariff announcements. The EBITDA for the quarter was 8 crores compared to sorry was loss of 8 crores compared to 9 crore profit in the last year first quarter.
25 While the EBITDA margin was at negative 3.9% in this quarter impacted on account of scale deleverage. The repeated imposition of new tariffs by the US continues to create uncertainty. This approach is widely seen not as a consistent economic policy, but rather as a tactical maneuver to gain leverage in ongoing trade negotiations. The lack of stable trade stance makes it extremely difficult for Indian businesses to plan effectively, adding a considerable layer of complexity to the India US trade relationship. However, the recently signed India UK FTA unlocks zero duty access for the 99% of Indian exports including textiles and apparels.
This represents a major growth opportunity, especially in the labor intensive categories like garmenting. However, realigning supply chain to fully leverage this agreement will require time and strategic coordination, particularly for small manufacturers and export. Now let me talk about the high value cotton shirting segment which reported a revenue of 205 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 26 as compared to 186 crores in the first quarter. 25 a 10% year on year growth on account of strong demand from our B2B customers for our cotton and linen fabric shirting offerings. The segment reported an EBITDA of 20 crores in the first quarter fiscal 26 as compared to 10 crore in the last year with an EBITDA margin of 9.5% in this quarter.
The growth was predominantly on account of higher sales and improved product mix. Now let me talk about the balance sheet where the company has a net debt of 55 crores as of 30th June 2025. The net working capital stood at 90 days offer in June 25th compared to 83 days in June 24th. This sequential increase was mainly due to inventory buildup for the upcoming festive and wedding season. We remain focused on optimizing our net working capital on a continued basis. Looking ahead on the outlook. We anticipate fiscal 26 to mark a strong recovery phase supported by a promising start in the forward bookings for the autumn winter 26 collection both in fabric as well as apparel business.
With dealer restocking underway and retail expansion continuing, the business is well positioned to ride the wave of improving sentiment and urban consumption. Now we have opened the call for questions.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and one on their touch tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press STAR and two participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Mr. Shreyansh from acquaintance Wealth Advisors. Please go ahead sir.
Shreyansh
Congratulations on a good set of numbers, sir. Am I audible?
Amit Agarwal
Yes, yes you are. Thank you.
Shreyansh
Yes, just a couple of questions. So you mentioned within the ethnic wear segment we’ve opened six stores and shut down 18 new stores. So just wanted to understand what is the age of these stores that we’ve shut down and what were the regions that these stores were being shut down on. And second question is how is the post Q1 response been for us? Like how has July month been for us in terms of various segments?
Amit Agarwal
Yeah, thanks, thanks. I think. Look, fundamentally you know, what we are doing at this juncture is relooking the entire portfolio of all the retail stores which are there because at the end of the day if the store and when you open a good number of stores you will find some of the stores are not doing well in spite of putting all the efforts. So I think we have done a very calibrated approach thereby and it is across the country. It is not one particular region. So we have identified Some of the stores which have not done very well.
And we do not believe that it has also the possibility to do well going forward. And that is why we have closed these stores for the ethnics. Now, the second point was the Q1 response. Now, July, you all know, is traditionally a weaker month because of the practically nothing happens. There’s no wedding, there’s no event which drives a consumer to buy. However, because of certain things which we changed, you must have seen in newspapers our good policy on garment exchange program which did exceedingly well compared to the last year. We have seen a very, very big growth in the numbers of products which came to us and the people got stitched.
Similarly, even if I look at it at the apparel, the end of season sale, I think we have seen especially because that TRS. I know the numbers and the EBOs. I know the numbers. I think there also we have seen a double digit and that is a secondary sales. The reason for this secondary sales have grown in a double digit compared to last year. The reason for this is very simple. We brought in some of the new products which we talked about on the fabric side. Secondly, even on the apparel side, I think the uniqueness which we brought and the way we communicated to the market across the branded suitings, shirtings as well as apparels has led to the consumer come into our stores and buy the products.
So I think we are quite, should I say, satisfied with the July performance.
Shreyansh
Got it clear.
S.L. Pokharna
I would also like to add certain points. When we started this garment exchange program and in a big way that participation from the stores was about 900 stores participated, that is one. But we got about 55,000 new customers in the store, which was very, very strong footfall came to the stores and we hope to build it upon that. Also it helped the inventory liquidation in a big way in the store. So which we are. Which response for which is we are getting very good response in the next season booking, winter booking is getting stronger and stronger.
Shreyansh
Got it very clear. So just to follow up on the ethnic website, the answer that you gave. Is it because of the demand concern within that region or is it something like consolidation that is happening within the stores that we’ve done? Or what sort of calibration are we doing there? Or is it just like because of the poor response that.
Amit Agarwal
I think primarily it is the poor response because sometimes the markets suddenly a wedding market shifts from a location a hundred meters down the road there is a new shift of the wedding market 200 meters. I think those are some of the reasons. And then Some things we need to see that. Is it really appropriate to have in a city like that, which is a smaller city where people like to buy a local boutique product and not a branded product. I think there is a combination and we are not doing just one level. We have a seven pointer scale in which we measure the metrics and then we decide on continuing or closure of a store.
Shreyansh
Got it. Thank you. I’ll follow up on the screen.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Chetan from Systematics Group. Please go ahead.
Chetan Sharma
Yeah, hi. Thank you for the opportunity. My question is on a store rationalization strategy. So we have closed around 35 underperforming stores this quarter and 18 were of ethnics. Can you highlight which other specific brand stores were closed? And is there like any specific brands which are not performing well currently?
Amit Agarwal
Actually it is not that one is not performing, the other is performing. It is basically as I said for the ethnics in the previous questions response that we have created a matrix by which if these things do not come forward and they have demonstrate the whole cycle, the winter cycle, the summer cycle, for example apparel, even the end of season sales, three end of season sales, it should have seen. And then all those parameters we have seen and then we have decided so and it was known, it was not that we are deciding, just we have to close. We are closing we. And it is equally distributed. If I look at it over our four brands that how many stores we close for Raymond, Ready to Wear or Park Avenue, So broadly, equitably we have closed the stores.
Chetan Sharma
Okay. And like are we shifting towards a smaller or larger store formats are like focusing more on multi brand expansion ahead.
Amit Agarwal
So actually, you know, this is very unique with Raymond, our apparel business that I have got actually three or four typical channels working for me. We have the trs which if you see practically in the industry, not many would have this kind of a channel. And the spread is to the tune of more than thousand stores over 600 cities which sell our apparels. So that gives you the reach very well. Then you have the LFS, which everybody has EBOs, which we have, they have. So I think the uniqueness comes from us, from this side. And the third thing is the MBO which you talked about.
But we believe there has to be a right balance between an EBO and what you call mbo because TRS is as good as an EBO because the customer comes in to buy fabric, customer comes in to buy apparel and the cross selling happens. So it’s a very unique opportunity which we are able to provide to consumer that somebody wants to buy a shirt and get a trouser stitched, he has the capability or vice versa. So that is a very unique model which we have through the TRS and some of the policy changes which we have done for the TRS also helps us to grow and penetrate.
And we are seeing very clearly as Mr. Pokarna pointed out that the growth we just started the booking for the autumn winter for the apparel and we have already seen a good double digit growth in the apparel booking for the autumn winter as well.
Chetan Sharma
Okay, thank you. And just one last question on garmenting, like have you received any say formal commitments or volume indications from any UK based clients post this fta.
Amit Agarwal
You know it is just not possible that from today to tomorrow it is a cycle of eight, 10 months. And now what happens in the process of eight to 10 months the people have come, I can’t tell you the name but in the last four days two large what you call customer have come who have already started to look at our facilities who were not considering to come to India because primarily because of a price reason. Now they have started to come look at it. And it is a journey. And that’s why I’m saying next 12, 15 months you have to give this journey and then you would start seeing translation of orders.
Chetan Sharma
Okay. So yeah. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Participants, if you wish to ask a question you may press star and one on your touch tone telephone. The next question is from the line of Ms. Deepali Kumar from Arihant Capital Markets Ltd. Please go ahead ma’. Am.
Deepali Kumari
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Like I have a question with serious demand in weight to be segment. So how do you see growth in the institutional segment going ahead and are these order more one time or do they repeat revenue only?
Amit Agarwal
Okay, I think your voice has been very feeble. If I understood your question. You are saying institutional market, is that a correct understanding?
Deepali Kumari
Yes. V2B demand.
Amit Agarwal
Yeah. So B2B demand. Actually you see there is this demand coming from the for the fabric business primarily we are seeing there is attraction because we have been able to increase innovate some of the products designs which are liked by the B2B players. And that is why we have got an increase in this quarter and this journey we are on and we are seeing to continue for the next few quarters because that has become a change in terms of the designing capability which we have brought in and that is going to help us to grow our volumes.
And as I said earlier in my script also that this quarter is characterized by a good volume growth and that is once you have a volume growth it has an ability to take the share. And the reason why I say this, we all had been impacted especially in the MBOs for the suitings that some of the Italian products or some of the foreign products, imported products were in the counters which we have been able to replace with our products. And I think that is a fundamental shift which has happened which is becoming a stronger base for us.
Deepali Kumari
And what’s your FY26 capex budget like? Have you planned any priorities for that?
Amit Agarwal
Yeah, you know, as we say always that it is. We are not doing anything major going forward as a large business of manufacturing all the suiting, shirtings and the garmenting business. We intend to put anything between 175 to 200 crore of capex of which let’s say 55, 60% is the maintenance capex. I think 40, 45 crore will go into the garmenting which is the expansion of the lines which we talked about earlier. That is continuing expansion in Andhra Pradesh and balance is little bit on the IT side. We are upgrading some of the IT tools. Our ERP system and such things.
Deepali Kumari
Are. Like your networking capital is increased to 90 from 83. So which is mainly due to government. And so is this expected to normalize after the festive season?
Amit Agarwal
Yes, absolutely. And this is a cycle which we follow every year that it gets normalized. What you’re saying is right. In this particular quarter you have seen a little increase compared to the last year. The reason being simple, as I said, the garmenting, because in the garmenting which is an export business, some of the businesses we could not deliver because of the uncertainty which was hanging around. And you know, first it was 9th of July so people were very apprehensive and only at the end of the month they said no, it will get shifted to August.
And I think that is something which did not enable us to ship it out which we have been able to ship out in the month of July. So it was just a. And that inventory sat on our books. But the other part of the inventory which we always do and we want to do that positively is to prepare for the festive and the wedding season. And actually when we produce our units full and that operating efficiency and operating leverage kicks in and that has also yielded support in improving the profitability of the business.
Deepali Kumari
Okay. Because I also can mechanic guidance, segment wise guidance for upcoming two or three years. And also the margins.
Amit Agarwal
Yeah, we show that margin. In any case, if you look at it. In our paper we show the margin, what we have achieved. And broadly, if you see the first quarter margin is not reflective for the whole year. If I look at it over the year, I think the branded textile business will be in that range of around the 20% which we have talked about all along. And our target, considering that apparel. I think what you can look is our two, three year paper that we have been hovering around these margins because in apparel business there is a significant investment is going on in terms of ramping up the stores, opening more MBOs doors, LFS.
And I think that is business which is in the build phase because it includes also the. What should I say? Ethnics, innerwear, sleepwear. So this is a build phase as far as high value cotton shirting, you see consistently they deliver a certain margin. And the garmenting business, it is largely dependent upon the volume because you have a large workforce who works there. Once the order is pushed out, shipped out, then you get the operating leverage which is also in the range of 8, 7, 8, 9% margin.
Deepali Kumari
So we can expect this margin for the whole year, like the margin which came for Q1. So we can expect this margin for the whole FY26.
Amit Agarwal
No, no, I think you can expect a better margin than you can see significantly better margin from the first quarter. Because first quarter I would give you, and I’m not giving you a guidance the past trend tells that the first quarter is anything between 17, 18, 19, 20% of the total yearly revenue and the fixed cost remains the same. The incremental revenue gives you an operating leverage which improves your EBITDA margin dramatically going forward for the Q2, 3 and 4.
Deepali Kumari
Okay, sir, thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. Participants, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one on your touch tone Telephone. The next question is from the line of Madhavendra Kumar, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Madhavendra Kumar
Yeah, hello.
operator
Yes sir, you’re audible.
Madhavendra Kumar
Yeah, I have a question like after the presentation, our governmental business was impacted due to us. That tariff led to uncertainty. But then again it says that Darwinian business is seen higher order book and will return to broker. So means how are we planning to do that given that the tariff is now at 50% and so much uncertainty?
Amit Agarwal
Yeah, I think it’s a very good point and glad that you asked this question because you know, when the problem becomes so large, then the solution comes. Not that I can. Had it been a 5% 7% tariff, no people would say something you share something will be shared by the retailer in the US but when it is 50% nobody has an ability to share. The only thing is if this continues, what will happen is eventually the US consumer will pay and will have the impact. However, in my opinion, if I look at the current trend, which is the way every second day you get a new version out of White House.
Third, we know that the second tariff increase which he has put of 25% he has delayed till 27th of August. Now the reason why it is delayed in 27th of August because he is sending a team into India to have a negotiation. Third, that we all know there is a discussion on that there would be a call between Russia, Ukraine and US to find a ceasefire. And you have seen the reason why this 25/25 has been put because of the Russian oil and so on. So I think it is a sort of a, what should I say negotiation tactics being deployed, deployed by us to put pressure across the globe and in order to find some larger things like the Ukraine, Russia ceasefire and so on.
I believe very strongly that these things may take a while to settle down. But it will settle down it is for sure. And if you look at it, it is every day you are hearing a new news and who is being targeted is typically the BRICS nation. And if the BRICS nation are being targeted, the US does not have the ability to have a consumption in that country without having an import of the various products coming out of these BRICS nation. So very, very clear we are very confident that we will see some settlement going to be there.
But in any case the over a larger business of ours, what is an export business for us? In any case it’s 15 17% of that 15 17% it is anything between 50 to 55%. So overall if you see the US business is only 6 and a half, 7% of the total. And of this 7%, 2.5% to 3% is serviced by Ethiopia. We have a plant in Ethiopia and Ethiopia stands to be at the lowest tariff rate of 10%. So I believe that there could be an opportunity coming to our way that our Ethiopian facility may have the ability to ramp up and produce more in order to service to that demand.
So all that put I think over time this will be a good solution for a country like India. And we are an integrated supplier, right from fabric to garmenting and UK ftf. We have also exports to uk, we have exports to Europe, we have exports to Japan. I think we have already put our teams in these countries in order to see can get more orders to Ramp up over the next period of time.
Madhavendra Kumar
How much you could contribute to our top line?
Amit Agarwal
Sorry, can you repeat the question please?
Madhavendra Kumar
How much UK contribute to our top line?
Amit Agarwal
Uk if I look at it, it contributes in the export. Garmenting revenue is around 15%.
Madhavendra Kumar
So basically our export business comes from garmenting business right there.
Amit Agarwal
Yes, yes it is from that roughly 1100 crore business of the garmenting that is an export business and some fabrics we export and we will continue to export the fabric because it is getting stitched either in Bangladesh, Vietnam and so on so forth. Cambodia. So that will continue because those guys are already sitting with a 20% duty. Garmenting nothing comes from India but 95 because that unit is meant for export.
Madhavendra Kumar
One last question. As you said that demand is improving in India. So are we going to see better performance and margin profitability in coming quarters as we proceed?
Amit Agarwal
Sorry, can you repeat? I think your voice is very.
Madhavendra Kumar
Yeah, we will means we are seeing better demand in Indian market. So means are we going to post better performance, revenue growth, profitability and margin in coming quarters.
Amit Agarwal
So definitely 2026 will be a much stronger and a better year compared to 2025.
Madhavendra Kumar
Okay sir, thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. Before we take the next question, participants, if you wish to ask a question you may press star and one on your touch tone telephone. The next question is from the line of Mr. Ujwal Lal from an individual investor. Please go ahead sir.
Ujjwal Lal
Thank you for the opportunity. So what I understand from the annual report is that last year in the branded textile segment B2C turting is what degrew by 20% in volume. So any steps that we have taken to correct this this year and like what exactly impacted certain more heavily last year?
Amit Agarwal
Yeah, so you’re right. The entire branded textile business we had an impact. There were two or three factors. There was a continued weak demand and why weak demand? Because the inflationary pressure was 1 very very high. Second thing, the interest rates were high. So and you know there was the election last year. There was lot of, what should I say economic activity was not at a pace. Now there is. I’m not saying it has changed dramatically. It has started to improve. We all know that as per the finance tax bill, income tax amendment there is this 1 lakh crore which has been given in the hands of the people.
The inflation has come down, softened. Third thing, if I look at the interest rates have softened, the people paying their EMIs have come off and therefore there is a higher disposable income and we stand in the discretionary category. So that is one external factor. Second thing, what is an internally which we are doing differently is that we have provided the products at a price point which are very, very attractive to the consumer. And we are communicating it well about the unique features of the product. And, and especially if I talk about the shirting as well as in the apparel business, you know, we all are moving as a country more towards casualization.
So more and more casualization and at the same breadth premiumization is also happening, which is helping us to grow. As simple, if you look at it, 22% revenue growth we have delivered in the apparel segment. We have seen 27% in the what you call branded textile. It is all driven by volume growth because we are very clear that we want to provide a value to the customer so that he is more engaged with us and he keeps benefiting. And as he buys more, I get the benefit. As I said earlier, call scale optima. What should I say by higher scale? I get benefit, I get a scale leverage.
And that is what was missing last year. We had a scale deleverage and that is why the profitability was impacted. And you see this year very clearly, we grew 17% revenue growth, but 36% EBITDA growth. So you can imagine that how the scale makes a difference in the profitability.
Ujjwal Lal
Yes, that helps. And another question was that on the senior management side, are we looking for a new CEO and CFO for the lifestyle business externally and when can we expect some progress on that?
Amit Agarwal
Yeah, so very clearly the board and the NRC committee is working on it hard. But at the end of the day, the company has got very efficient people in terms of chief business officers of each of the respective businesses who are managing, who have been in the business for some time. They have a good ability to manage all these businesses. And there is a lot of group support which is also available for the business. So to that extent it is clearly one path is to identify the individual for filling these positions. And at the same breadth, without any compromise, we are working on with the management team what is available for the business.
Ujjwal Lal
Okay, and my another question was on the ethnic side. So I understand that we have rationalized our stores and last year we crossed 100 crores revenue. So when can we expect to like break even or what is the current position on the EBITDA margin on the ethnic side of the business? Can we break even in this year or the next year at least?
Amit Agarwal
Look, ethnics is a business which is in the mode of investment. You know, no brands get created overnight. It is a new Line of business. We have a natural win possibility because we, you know, we are the largest in the wedding and it has been. Suits have been worn. There won’t be a wedding in India where a Raymond suit does not get come. So to that extent I have a natural extension. However, it takes a while and the last year has been very muted even for the wedding. And what has also happened is increasingly the competition is there.
And the competition is not only just from the organized sector. It is also that every city you have got four, five, what should I say? Local boutique brands coming up. So there is a. That also naturally created being created. And therefore your competition is not just for the organized players. Your competition is getting there. However, because we have a natural inclination for the wedding market, we have a right to win in this market. We continue to invest and obviously it will take longer than what we thought or what you say in this year. Because we were very clear in the plan that it would take four, five year journey in order to become a much more stronger and a sustainable business.
And we are not going to rush into this, that I rush into a business, try to make it profitable. And then we have a challenge over the next two, three years. So therefore we want to do a slow and steady growth, but a more profitable and a sustainable growth.
Ujjwal Lal
Thank you. That answers for my question. Best of luck for the full year.
Amit Agarwal
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Participants, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one on your touch tone telephone. The next question is in line is from Mr. Abhijit Kundu from Antique Stockbroking. Please go ahead, sir.
Abhijeet Kundu
Yeah, hi. Congrats on a strong set of numbers. Quite a bit of turnaround during the quarter in branded textile, you know. So what was one of the key driving factors? I mean, because if wedding dates were higher during the quarter, then obviously shootings must have done better. We had a plan sometime back that to scale up branded Texel as a business, we will also focus on shirting because that was something where penetration was relatively lower shootings the penetration relatively higher. So what has happened during the quarter? I mean, shootings has driven growth. And what are the plans with the shirting part? And secondly, you alluded to the fact that B2B played a big part in branded textiles. So how was the. I mean, B2B was one of the key drivers and I mean, what would be the contribution broadly, because B2C would be a bigger partner. So firstly, some color on that.
Amit Agarwal
No, so I’ll tell you very clearly what you said. The growth is driven. You had A higher number of wedding dates. But on the end of the day it is just not the wedding date. It is also the product range which you present and clearly branded textile. As you rightly. Shirting is a big journey for us. And shirting we grew significantly higher than suiting. Because suiting I’m already, what should I say, a big leader in the market. Enjoy a large share in the worsted market in the range of 60, 65%. So ability to grow in that segment.
You can shift a mix, which we have done. Because my core strength is a poly wool. I went and grew in that segment. Segment. But then the poly viscose and the others came a little lower. But we still definitely grew in the suiting. Now if I talk about the shirting, which you rightly pointed out, I think we have grown almost 50% higher than what we have grown in suiting. And the reason being, which I eluded earlier, that it was the nice print design change in the blend. The linens, you know, linens are in big fashion.
We brought lot of different qualities blends, silk, linen, cotton linen. All these kind of new, new ideas and casualization. Otherwise we were considered in our shirting fabric more a formal shirting company. Now we have changed to a good casualization piece also. And that has led. Third thing, what we also did was advertised the product that what is that coming into the market and how it is going to benefit. Similarly putting a little bit of a technical edge that it is a, what should I say? Wrinkle free, stain free and all these kind of things which attract the customer.
Mr. Pogana, you want to add something?
S.L. Pokharna
I would like to. Good afternoon. Apart from whatever Amitji said, you know, Raymond is a very, very strong brand. But we were missing out on certain product line and certain price points which has the advantage which we are losing out in our multi brand outlets because of price points not available. So we did a thorough research on it. How do we grow on our market share? So we definitely worked on it. Introduced right products to right price points. And we have seen a double digit growth in multi brand outlets. Double digit growth across the board.
Similarly, in shutting also we created products which met the demand of customers. So all these actions put together has brought us volume growth and value growth both. We continue to focus on these sides as our strength is polywool fabrics. So we are working on it so that we protect our market share in big way and grow continuously on that.
Amit Agarwal
And as we mentioned, the substitution of the imported into the EMBO’s. You will be amazed Abhijit that in the Mbos, some of the shelf space which we had was there maybe seven, eight years back. We got back door shelf spaces and the MBO revenue alone for us. I should not be going out, but since you asked the question, I have grown my MBO volume by 50%. So that kind of a transformation we have seen in this quarter and which will continue once the product is of mine. He will sell then and he will replace mine only.
Abhijeet Kundu
Okay. And on the branded apparel side again, which are the brands that have done well or. I mean any, any brand that stood out or it was a, you know, across the board, it was a very broad based performance.
Amit Agarwal
I think it was broad based. But I think if I take. And These are relatively 2, 3% growth plus minus compared to the other brand. I think if I look at it, the Park Avenue and RR did extremely well. And now I think the color plus because we have revamped the entire range of color plus in a very different manner. Connecting to the young, what should I say? Young means mid-30s kind of people, which was going to mid-40s and 50s people that we are trying to bring a range for catering to the demand for the mid-30s people.
And I think that we have seen, we are just running right now a trade show for the apparel bookings. And there is a very good appreciation coming from the customers on the color plus as well as the whole Park Avenue has brought in new technical fabrics, I think sweat free, this, free that, free. And which is again very attractive to the market because people want to see some of the new developments where nice, comfortable. And I think these are some of the big changes which we want to do. And the casualization, I think very important is the casualization which we have seen.
Abhijeet Kundu
How much would be the casual percentage of broad percentage of the overall offering now and how much of the growth has come from that.
Amit Agarwal
I think our casual range would be in the range of 20, 22% of the total product line in the apparel segment. And I’m talking in the RR and pa. But what happens, PP is entirely casual and Parks is also entirely casual. So I think these are the two which I would say. But I think what has happened is the number of options which we are giving in these casual range is becoming wider which attracts to the customer. And again, India is a very large country. So what sells in north will not sell in South. I think accordingly, we have created a range which would do very well in north, which may not do as well in south, but we create a range for South. So I think that is a combination and this will also help us in optimization of the inventory.
Abhijeet Kundu
Got it. And in terms of debt levels, what would be the net debt level now?
Amit Agarwal
Because 55 crore we have a debt but you know, again it is a increase in the working capital of by almost 110, 115crore. And some of the capex which we had not incurred incurred in the past we have incurred in this quarter as in the plants, some of the maintenance capex had to be done. So that has led to a net debt. Otherwise on the 31st of March we were sitting on a positive cash. And I think in the next two quarters by December again we will be sitting because as I have told you earlier also that the first and the second quarter is an inventory build and receivable build for the putting the product into the market to meet the festive demand as well as the wedding.
And later on in the second half of the year the company starts to get all the sales proceeds and everything which helps to reduce the net working capital. And we are very confident and you have seen that over the last four, five years we have been able to bring down our net working capital dramatically. What used to be pre Covid was much higher. We have very focused optimized approach and there is a very clear cadence how the networking capital is being managed.
Abhijeet Kundu
Okay, great. And so you know just the last one.
Amit Agarwal
Yeah.
Abhijeet Kundu
In terms of consumer sentiment we have seen that other companies also like who are into somewhere related to wedding and during the quarter good wedding season and. Otherwise also you have seen a very. Strong recovery in performance. But in terms of overall consumer sentiment, how do you see it in the sense that is there? You know, the recovery has started happening and you would see continued, continued improvement. Because you said that in the trade show that you have had there has been a quite a positive response. So yeah, one there is an internal factor which has worked in your favor. But how has been the external factor as a whole?
Amit Agarwal
I will say external factor has improved. Can I say it is a great improvement? Answer is no. Still people are playing bit cautious to go out and buy. There is still a little bit of a question mark. Shall I, shall I not? It is not the same like 2024 where there was a demand, everybody was rushing into the store to buy the stuff. So it is not exactly similar. But can I say there is an improvement compared to last year to this year? Answer is yes, but not to a great extent. But what we are focused on.
Look, markets are markets. I can’t change the market. So what I need to do is internally what is all the levers which I have, I need to utilize those levers in order to see how can I get a market share higher. As I gave you an example, sorry for the fifth time repetition that it was a hard call for us to get the imported fabrics out of the MBO and get back the shelf space. And I think that is something which we went out drove this. We said, you need a particular blend, we will give you particular blend.
You need a particular pricing. And it is not that I compromise my gross margin, otherwise my profitability would have been hit. So we did not do that. Similarly, in the TRS for the apparel we saw there was some bit of a policy tweaking was required in order to see that the sales or the stock of my TRS gets lit. Liquidated, gets reduced. We said, okay, we change the policy, they reduce the stock. TRS will not go and buy from somebody else. He will come back and buy. And that we have clearly seen. If I look at the bookings for the last six, seven days, which has started on 31st of July to 7th of August, we are already seeing like to like anything between 20 to 25% growth.
So to that extent these are cautious approach which we took. Third thing, I need to communicate and I think we might have the greatest of the product. Because if Abhijit doesn’t know what product I have, how would Abhijit come and buy my product? So I have to communicate to Abhijit that this is my product. Please come and see this. And I think these are fundamental shifts we have done and connect to the trade. I think that is also very important. It’s still relationship based. We need to have spend time with them, socialize with them. And that has helped the business to grow.
S.L. Pokharna
Abhijit, I would like to add one more thing. As you are aware, Raymond is a very powerful domestic brand and it’s a aspiration of the Indian people to wear Raymond. But we were outpriced on many product line and products were not created for the mass people. So they were getting out of reach. Accordingly, we focused on that upcoming consumers and we created products for them to meet their aspiration to wear a Raymond cloth or a good quality fabric. So we succeeded in that by putting up lines and as you have seen it in multi brand outlets we grew by 50% or so. So we continue to make these efforts to bring in new customers into it and meet their expectation and aspirations to wear the Raymond. So that’s a big success which we have got it into this year.
Abhijeet Kundu
Got it, sir. Thanks a lot for all your answers. That’s it. From my side.
Amit Agarwal
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. That was the last question for this session. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Amit Agarwal for closing comments.
Amit Agarwal
Thank you very much and really appreciated the kind of interest shown. And we look forward talking to all of you guys in the next quarter. Thank you.
operator
Thank you so much, sir. On behalf of Antique Stockbroking Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.