By Swastika MukhopadhyayMalabar Gold & Diamonds, the flagship company of Malabar Group, is in the process of expanding its presence pan-India as well as in international markets along with a focus on consolidation of its own companies.
The company will take a call on initial public offer (IPO) tentatively after FY25, its management said on Thursday. “We are targeting but now we are first consolidating our own companies,” M P Ahammed, chairman of Malabar Group, said. “We are making our company IPO ready,” O Asher, managing director – India operations at Malabar Gold & Diamonds, said.
The company aims to open another 32 stores in India in FY24 with an investment of Rs 1,285 crore, thus taking the total investment to Rs 1,860 crore. It has invested Rs 574 crore to open 12 stores so far in FY24 in India.
The jewellery retailer has set a target to open 63 stores in India, with a total investment of Rs 2,646 crore in FY25, the management added.
Malabar Gold, currently ranking as the 6thlargest jewellery retailer globally, also has its business spanned across USA, UK, Middle East among others. While setting up expansion plans for the countries they currently operate in, the gold and diamond jewellery retailer is also looking to expand in some African countries.
The company has opened eight international stores so far in FY24 and expects to add another 12 stores with an investment of 225 million dirhams (Rs 509.40 crore) in this fiscal year.
Malabar is planning to invest 600 million dirhams (Rs 1,358.39 crore) to open 32 stores in international markets in FY25. This takes the total investment close to Rs 4,000 crore in FY25.
The company plans to fund the expansions through a mix of internal accruals and debt. The company has 4,000 investors currently, the management said. The company is also open to private equity investment.
The company, which reported a total revenue of Rs 40,000 crore in FY23, is expecting a turnover of 60,000 crore by FY26.