Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned Aditya Birla Group is looking to triple its profits and double its revenue from the lifestyle brands business, as per capita incomes are expected to rise and discretionary spending is likely to sharply accelerate in the next five years.
"We have brands which have proven formula over a long period of time. These brands have grown through two and a half decades as consumers have changed and channels have shifted. We also have an emerging portfolio of businesses, which are relatively new to our portfolio, whether it is Reebok or the innerwear business as well as the American Eagle business. I think clearly they have a larger runway and faster growth possibility for them. Therefore, cumulatively the opportunity lies which is extremely interesting for us," said Ashish Dikshit, managing director, Aditya Birla Lifestyle Brands Limited (ABLBL).
Dikshit was interacting with reporters following the listing of the company's shares on the stock exchange, post the demerger of Aditya Birla Group's fashion business into two independent listed entities.
ABLBL will house Western wear brands like Van Heusen, Peter England, Allen Solly and Louis Philippe among others. Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) will house its retail chain Pantaloon, ethnic and designer brands like Sabyasachi and Shantanu-Nikhil and premium and luxury brands like Ralph Lauren and Ted Baker among others.
"Over the next five years, we look to double our footprint which means grow our network that much. Going forward, a large part of the revenue growth is organic in nature. And therefore, operating leverage comes in and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) growth will be much faster. We will more than double our revenue during this period. But our profits will grow more than three times," said Dikshit.
As of December 2024, ABLBL had a network of 3,305 brand stores and presence across more than 37,000 multi-brand outlets and over 7,000 shop-in-shops across departmental stores.
The company will invest around Rs 300 crore in the business each year over the next few years—a large part of it going towards the expansion of the retail network.
ABLBL competes with Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Retail, which has also over the years built a strong business of premium and luxury brands, including Abraham & Thakore, Burberry, Clarks, Giorgio Armani, Jimmy Choo and Marks and Spencer among others.
In the year ended March 2025, ABFRL reported a revenue of Rs 7,355 crore, a 14 per cent increase from a year ago, while loss declined to Rs 624 crore from Rs 907 crore. In the same period, ABLBL, reported a revenue of Rs 7,619 crore, up 1 per cent from a year ago, while profit after tax declined slightly to Rs 168 crore from Rs 171 crore.
Dikshit said the last couple of years had been "relatively difficult" for the premium brand segments, but growth was expected to come back. India's fashion market is estimated to reach around $170 billion by 2030, about 1.5 times from recent levels. This growth will be underpinned by the ongoing shift from unbranded to branded and for businesses this presented an "incredible opportunity" to build brands and scale the business significantly, he said.
ABLBL listed on the NSE at Rs 172.84 and Rs 167.75 on the BSE.
