Metro Brands Targets 12–15% Revenue CAGR In Long Term

Metro Brands Ltd. has a long-term goal of maintaining a 12% to 15% compound annual growth rate in revenue, according to CEO Nissan Joseph.

"You've seen us have two quarters worth of double-digit growth. What we've guided to on a long-term basis is somewhere between a 12% and 15% CAGR," he told NDTV Profit on Friday.

"We're not going to jump right back up to that overnight, but I think the indications are that we are headed that way. We feel good about the consumer sentiment that we're seeing out there," Joseph said.

The footwear retailer's e-commerce sales soared 45% in Q4 and contributed slightly over 10% to total revenue. "E-commerce is one of those businesses that you can drive, but unfortunately, you drive it through discounting," he said. 

Metro Brands is instead focusing on its omnichannel strategy and investments in its websites, which are "starting to pay off" with full-price sales.

He underlined the importance of e-commerce when it comes to catching customers’ attention. "Don't forget e-commerce does give you eyeballs across the country, across pin codes that you don't have stores in. It's important to have a presence on e-commerce, it's not something you can walk away from," he said.

The company’s e-commerce strategy is to double down on the parts that are not discounted and control the discounts, he said. 

In terms of store expansion, Metro Brands added 18 new stores and closed five in Q4, bringing its total store count to 908 by the end of FY25. Joseph cautioned that store openings are driven by profitability rather than arbitrary targets.

"Retail rents have been rising significantly, because a lot of people have decided to open a lot of stores from the euphoria of post-Covid sales. It's just a matter of finding the right locations at the right prices because these are nine-year leases right so we're not going to be short-sighted about those things," the top executive noted. 

Joseph acknowledged some "lumpiness" when comparing sales year-on-year due to factors like wedding dates, heatwaves and elections. "What's important for us to see is that all our banners are starting to see growth, which means that the consumer at the premium level is coming back on a more regular basis," he added.

Shares of Metro Brands closed 1.46% higher at Rs 1,209.75 apiece on the BSE on Friday, compared to a 0.95% advance in the benchmark Sensex.