Titan Company Ltd. on Monday reported a net profit growth of 21% during the fourth quarter of FY 2019-20. However, its total income for the quarter declined 5.5% to ₹4,469 crore, from ₹4,727 crore a year earlier.

The standalone profit before tax for the quarter was ₹516 crore, against ₹465 crore a year earlier, before extraordinary items. The growth in profit before tax for the quarter, despite the decline in revenue, was possible due to significant compression of cost in anticipation of the disruption, the company said in a statement.

For the whole year ended March 2020, Titan posted total revenue of ₹20,156 crore, growing 4.7% over the previous year.

Titan’s M.D, C.K. Venkataraman, said: “The company’s good performance across all its divisions in the first two months of the quarter was negated considerably by the COVID 19 pandemic in the second half of March... we opted to shut all stores even before the lockdown was officially implemented. Our stores are now opening up with strict social distancing norms across the country, other than in containment zones.”

The CFO, S. Subramaniam, said, “The jewellery business had a good quarter till the lockdown despite high gold prices.”

The company’s income from watches grew 4.9% to ₹557 crore. The eyewear business declined 17.4% in the quarter, recording income of ₹108 crore from ₹130 crore a year ago.

Other segments of the company comprising Indian wear and accessories recorded an income of ₹41 crore, compared to ₹37 crore in the previous year, a growth of 12.5%.

The watches business, with revenue of ₹2,615 crore for the year grew at 7.2%. The eyewear business achieved revenue of ₹544 crore for the year, a growth of 6.4%. The company’s retail chain stands at 1819 stores, as on March 31, 2020 with a retail area crossing 2.3 million sq.ft. nationally for all its brands.