Cantabil eyes 25% topline growth in FY25; to open 90 new stores this fiscal

Apparel brand Cantabil Retail is looking to more than double its topline growth rate this fiscal year, driven by improving demand, increasing online sales and a sustained expansion of brick and mortar stores, company director Deepak Bansal said during a conversation with DH.

The New Delhi-headquartered retailer, which added 86 new stores to take its overall tally to 533 in financial year 2023-24, is also looking to open another 80-90 stores this fiscal, with a 1:3 focus split between tier I and tier II/III cities across India.

“We’re expecting around 25% growth in this financial year,” Bansal said, adding that the key drivers would include sales growth at existing stores, online transactions and the new outlets. 

Accordingly, Cantabil, which also manufactures a part of its product line in-house, is looking to enhance its production capacity by a quarter. Overall, the brand aims to strengthen its workforce by 800.

The company registered a 12% year-on-year growth in revenue to Rs 616 crore in financial year 2023-24. However, its bottomline took a 7.4% hit at Rs 62 crore, versus Rs 67 crore in the year-ago period, on subdued demand.

Presently, the apparel segment accounts for a whopping 95% of Cantabil’s total revenue, with accessories contributing the rest. However, with the latter expanded to include footwear, activewear and luggage items last year, Bansal expects the accessories segment to deliver improved performance in FY25.

“We have around 5% sales coming from online platforms. In the new financial year we expect something around 7-8% from online sales,” Bansal said.

Elaborating on current trends in the apparel industry, Bansal said: “The trend for comfort wear is increasing...Cargoes are coming back. In prints there has been a change, now we are doing more of digital, old and bigger prints.”

Lastly, with store rentals registering a higher-than-usual rise in FY24, Bansal expects greater stability this year. “There is no pent-up demand for expansion like we saw post Covid-19... this year I don’t foresee any abnormal increase,” he explained.