Jockey India Licensee Reports Higher Q1 Profit Driven by Strong Athleisure Demand

Page Industries which licenses Jockey and Speedo products in India, reported a rise in first-quarter profit on Thursday, buoyed by strong demand for athleisure products.

The apparel maker reported a profit of 1.65 billion rupees (nearly $20 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with 1.58 billion rupees a year ago. The company previously said it was seeing an uptick in demand for innerwear and athleisure products, aided by new product launches and increased marketing efforts.

Indian consumers are focusing on fitness and spending more on gym activities owing to growing health-conscious lifestyle trends, driving up the demand for athleisure, analysts noted. The company's revenue from operations rose 4% to 12.78 billion rupees, led mainly by innerwear and athleisure.

India's growing athleisure market is expected to be a near $2 billion industry by 2029, sports apparel market researcher Maximize Market Research has said. Further, the company's input costs fell 10% to 2.60 billion rupees, but overall total expenses rose 4%.

Page's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization margin contracted to 19% from 19.4% a year ago. The company flagged consumption growth continued to be subdued during the quarter, though they see early signs of recovery. The company's shares fell 1% after posting results, trimming year to date gains to 5%.

 (Source: Reuters)