Go Fashion (India) Limited

Go Fashion (India) Limited

252.85
INR
-11.30
(-4.28%)
9.98EPS
39.15P/E
20.55BMarket Cap
Nov 14Next Earn

Q4 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptApril 30, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Go Fashion India Limited Q4 and FY26 Earnings Conference Call. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as on the date of this call.

These statements are not guarantee of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes.

Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I now hand the conference over to Mr. Gautam Saraogi, CEO of Go Fashion India Limited.

Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Saraogi.

Gautam Saraogi

Thank you, ma'am. Good evening and warm welcome to everyone present on the call.

Along with me, I have Mr. R.

Mohan, our Chief Financial Officer, and SGA, our investor relations advisors. I hope you have all received the investor deck by now.

For those who have not, you can view them on the stock exchange and the company website. FY26 has been a year that has tested our resilience, challenged us in numerous ways, and ultimately reinforced our conviction in the long-term opportunity that lies ahead for Go Colors.

The bottom wear industry has undergone a transformation, and Go Colors has consistently evolved alongside these changes. When Go Colors began its journey in 2009, it started off with leggings, churidars were the cornerstones of the offering.

This is no longer the case. Today, our portfolio mix has changed dramatically.

Approximately 70% of our revenues now come from the value-added bottom wear portfolio, which are the non-leggings range. This includes trousers, palazzos, joggers, treggings, jeggings, athleisure wear, fusion styles, and many more.

This shift is not incidental. It is a result of a deliberate design investment, consumer insight, and the courage to expand in our defined category.

We continue to strengthen and diversify our product portfolio to stay aligned with emerging market trends and consumer preferences. Over FY27, we plan to add 10 to 12 new, refreshing bottom wear products for our customers, not just line extensions, but genuinely new formats that opens up new purchase occasions and customer cohorts.

Our aspiration is clear: to be the definitive one-stop destination for women's bottom wear in India. Now coming to our store network strategy.

Our store expansion strategy has undergone a significant evolution this year, and I want to walk you through the thinking behind in some detail because it is central to how we unlock the next phase of growth. On the store network, we have added 43,000 square feet of retail space over the last year, a growth of 11%, primarily driven by our aspect and shift to larger EBOs.

As the bottom wear category broadened, with more and more products coming in and more SKUs coming, our smaller stores have actually increasingly become inadequate from a consumer experience standpoint. A customer walking into a small store today cannot see the entire, full breadth of what Go Colors offers.

The store is limiting the conversion between the brand and the consumer. In line with our new strategy, we now firmly focus on increasing consumer experience through larger EBO stores of 700 square feet and above.

These stores allow us to display our entire, full range of inventory and create dedicated sections for different product categories and deliver a meaningful, better in-store experience. We have reviewed our portfolio of stores comprehensively.

In FY26, we have shut down 50-plus stores in our overlapping catchment areas, and over the next 3 months in quarter 1, we plan to shut another 50 such small stores. These are deliberate consolidations, two or more small nearby stores being merged into a single better-equipped store with a larger and more display of inventory.

Our store expansion strategy will continue to remain calibrated and selective, with a clear focus on entering high-potential locations, predominantly tier 2 and tier 3 cities, where penetration of our organized bottom wear market is low. Over the next 5 years, we significantly aim to expand our footprint, with the potential to nearly double our scale in terms of square feet.

The new business strategy will lead to revenue maximization and cost optimization. Now coming to brand building and customer engagement.

FY26 has seen us invest meaningfully in brand visibility and customer engagement, particularly among the younger consumer cohorts, which represent our future growth opportunity. To drive improved store performance, we have undertaken few initiatives centered on product freshness and customer engagement.

We are accelerating the launch of new designs and expanding our product range to cater to a wider customer base. In Jan 2026, we had collaborated with a leading influencer to launch a new collection specifically aimed at enhancing brand visibility and relevance among younger audience.

This was a deliberate effort to seed Go Colors brand in a cultural and digital context that resonates with the millennials and the Gen Z consumers. Looking ahead, in June 2026, we will have a brand ambassador for our products.

This is a significant step for Go Colors, one that we believe will meaningfully amplify our brand salience, support stronger top-of-the-mind awareness, and generate improved traction at a store level. A brand ambassador will help us create more consistent and more emotional storytelling around Go Colors's identity, particularly as we expand into newer markets and formats.

Coming to our new business initiatives. First is our Daily Wear concept.

This initiative, designed to capture everyday casual wear and utility-driven segment of men's and women's wear market, is demonstrating healthy unit economics in the early stages. We believe that this concept complement our core portfolio as well.

By the end of FY27, we plan to expand the Daily Wear concept to about 25 to 30 stores, which as on 31st March 2026 is 10 stores. It will give us strong read on scalability, consumer adoption across different markets.

On our international foray, Go Colors opened its first international store in the Middle East during FY26, making a significant milestone in our brand's journey. This early response has been encouraging, and we are studying the unit economics and consumer responses carefully.

Our approach will remain measured and data-driven as we scale this channel. Coming to the LFS business.

The LFS business has been volatile in FY26. As noticed earlier, Q3 was significantly impacted by a key LFS partner pausing fresh inventory intake for approximately 45 days.

This was an operational disruption, not reflection of end consumer demand for Go Colors products, but it materially affected our revenue and channel efficiency for the quarter. We have since resumed supply to this partner and have put in place a strong engagement protocols to ensure that we do not face this recurrence again.

More broadly, the LFS channel has faced structural challenges around footfall recovery and secondary sales velocity over the past several quarters. Our focus going to FY27 is on improving product assortment and placement with partner stores, ensuring consistent secondary sell-through, and deepening our engagement with all LFS partners to maximize our visibility and consumer access at each touch point.

We expect the LFS channel to stabilize and show meaningful recovery in FY27. Looking ahead to FY27, our priorities are very clearly defined.

First and the foremost, we are committed to turning SSG positive and ending FY27 with a positive full-year same-store sales growth. This is not just a financial metric; it is a proxy for brand health, consumer traction, and store productivity.

Every initiative we are taking—larger stores, fresher products, brand ambassador, influencer partnerships, the Daily Wear concept, improved store aesthetics—is ultimately aimed to driving towards SSG positive outcome. We have a clear internal road map for moving from negative SSSG of FY26 to a positive number by the end of FY27.

Second, we will successfully migrate to our new store format strategy, continuing to close smaller stores in overlapping catchments and replacing them with larger 700-plus-square-feet stores. We will simultaneously invest in improving the look and feel of our existing stores, bringing more premium and aspirational products that matches the evolving expectation of the consumers.

We want every customer to walk into a Go Colors store to feel that they are engaging with a brand that truly understands them. Third, we will refresh our product portfolio with new additions, targeting new purchase occasions and consumer sentiments, and ensuring Go Colors remains the most innovative and comprehensive women's bottom wear brand in the country.

Fourth, which will be our Daily Wear concept, to open 25-30 stores, to reach 25-30 stores by the end of FY27, building on the healthy unit economics we've already seen in the 10 stores what we've opened before 31st March. Fifth, we will continue to focus on the LFS channel recovery, working closely with our partners on assortment, placement, sell-through, to ensure that the channel continues meaningfully to our overall growth.

Through all this, we remain committed to maintaining a healthy working capital position and generating sufficient internal cash flows for further expansion, keeping our balance sheet strong as we invest in the future. Before I closes, I want to speak to the longer-term opportunity because I feel it is that easy to lose sight of in a difficult year like we just experienced now.

The company continues to maintain a strong competitive position as one of the most recognized women's bottom wear brands in India, with a clear emphasis on quality, comfort, and fit. Our category expertise, long-standing relationships, and brand recall position us exceptionally well within the women's bottom wear segment, which itself remains significantly underpenetrated by organized players.

Given the still low penetration of organized retail in the country, the bottom wear market offers a meaningful and long-term opportunity for the brand with our depth of presence and heritage. With this, I would like to hand over the call to our CFO, Mr.

R. Mohan, for the update on Q4 and the full year's results and financials.

Thank you.

R. Mohan

Thank you, Gautam, and good evening, everyone. First, I'll give you the financial highlights for Q4 FY26.

Our revenues for the quarter stood at ₹196 crores, gross profits stood at ₹123 crores, with a GP margin at 62.9%. Our EBITDA for the quarter stood at ₹50 crores, EBITDA margin stood at 25.3%.

Profit after tax for the quarter stood at ₹8 crores. Coming to FY26 performance, revenues stood at ₹838 crores, gross profits stood at ₹529 crores, with a GP margin of 63.2%.

EBITDA is at ₹237 crores, and EBITDA margin is at 28.3%. PAT is at ₹59 crores.

ROCE and ROE excluding IND-AS impact as on FY26 is at 11.5% and 8.9%, respectively. Cash and cash equivalents stood at ₹181 crores as on 31st March 2026.

With this, we will now open the floor for questions and answers.

Operator

Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session.

Anyone who wishes to ask questions may please press star and one on their touchtone phone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two.

Participants are requested to use only handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.

The first question is from the line of Sameer Gupta from India Infoline. Please go ahead.

Sameer Gupta

Hi, team, and thanks for taking my question. Gautam, firstly, if you were to exclude the stores that have been closed during the year or during the quarter, and there is a sizable number of closures is what we see, could you help us with what kind of SSS growth the rest of the stores have clocked in the system?

Go ahead, Gautam. Yeah.

Gautam Saraogi

Thanks, Sameer. See, in fact, I was just having a look at this data also.

In Q4, if I exclude those stores and if I see how many stores have delivered positive SSSG, out of our total network of stores, there have been about 275 stores which have delivered positive SSSG in Q4, with an average SSG of about 10% to 11%. There are many stores which are actually doing well, and many are the larger stores which are more than 300 square feet.

About 275 stores have been actually positive. I think it's a mixed bag of stores.

I think if you exclude the closed stores, I'll have to just see the reported SSG before closed stores or after closed stores. My hunch is that it is excluding the closed stores of the year.

This is SSSG based on live stores through the year. The closed stores have actually not been considered.

Sameer Gupta

Okay. Basically, even if you exclude the closed stores, it's still a 3, 3.5% decline.

Gautam Saraogi

The reported number is after excluding closed stores. Closed store

Sameer Gupta

the stores which are closed is not the problem in terms of SSSG. We would still need something else to fix the problem.

Gautam Saraogi

No, because there are still many smaller stores in the network, and they are still 100-plus stores which are smaller stores in the network, which have to be eventually migrated into larger stores. See, I'll tell you the main problem of the negative SSG is because we've been going from store to store, meeting customers.

Many of the smaller stores don't have that kind of shelf space and size to accommodate all the newer products what we are launching. Because of that, product discovery in the smaller stores become a problem.

That is been one of the reasons why our overall EBO SSG has been negative. As we transition in FY27, we see this recovery happening.

Sameer Gupta

Got it. Fair.

These 275 stores, is there any analysis on their store size or their vintage, age, anything like that? See, no,

Gautam Saraogi

these 275 are across vintage. It's not that all of these stores are new stores.

They're across vintage. Out of these 275 stores, approximately close to 200-plus 200, 210 stores are stores which are more than 300 square feet or more than 400 square feet.

Even our data is suggesting very clearly that positive SSG is more common in these stores.

Sameer Gupta

When you say 100-plus smaller stores, what would be their average store size?

Gautam Saraogi

No, these are all store size below 300, the 100-plus stores.

Sameer Gupta

Okay. Got it.

By any chance would you be able to share the net store addition that you expect for FY27? See,

Gautam Saraogi

right now it's very difficult to give a guidance on the number of stores we are going to be adding on a net basis because we are going to be looking to close many small stores and open larger stores. It's difficult to give a net number as far as store additions are concerned, but on a square feet basis I can tell you how much square feet we'll be deploying.

We would be adding at least more than 10% more square feet in the coming year.

Sameer Gupta

This is net?

Gautam Saraogi

Net, correct.

Sameer Gupta

Okay.

Gautam Saraogi

In fact, in FY26, we delivered about 11%. I am hopeful that even in FY27, we'll be at least minimum giving 10% to 11% of square feet increase.

Sameer Gupta

Okay. These 100-plus smaller stores you're mentioning is after the cleanup in 4Q, there's still 100-plus more smaller stores?

Gautam Saraogi

See, that will happen over a slightly longer period of time. See, what we've done is we are consolidating some of the smaller stores in Q1 as well, which I just mentioned in my speech, right?

Those already have larger stores nearby, the business is likely to move to the larger stores. Having said that, there'll be still a tail of small-sized stores.

That will happen over a period of time. As and when we are opening larger stores in those markets, we will be shutting those very small stores.

Sameer Gupta

Got it. Fair.

Gautam Saraogi

It's very difficult to give a time frame for when and how we'll be closing those stores.

Sameer Gupta

Fair. No worries.

Secondly, Gautam,

Gautam Saraogi

on See, one more thing what we've done is when we are signing 700-plus-square-feet stores, right, we don't want to be in a situation where after 3 years we feel 700 is also less. From a 700-plus-square-feet store size, we are able to say that in the long-term future as well, we will not have a situation where the store has started to be turning out to be small for us.

We are calculatedly signing stores which will last from a longer-term perspective.

Sameer Gupta

Fair. Great.

This is good. Secondly, I'm sorry taking some more time.

Gautam Saraogi

No. Please, go ahead, Sameer.

Sameer Gupta

See, positive SSS growth expectation or ambition for FY27 versus 3% decline, now you have stated the broad plans, but what I notice is that the key strengths that we associated with Go Colors, which was lower store sizes, less fashion quotient, ability to stack up products rather than having it on racks, which resulted in higher throughput and superior store economics, now when we are moving to larger stores and having a higher fashion quotient, more influencer marketing, I believe the risks also increase if SSS growth doesn't come through.

Gautam Saraogi

We have

Sameer Gupta

risk of inventory write-offs, higher operating leverage. Yeah.

Gautam Saraogi

No. Sameer, I'll clarify on that.

That's a good point. See, I'll tell you, from a unit economics and return on capital employed perspective and payback period perspective, a 700-square-feet store and a 300-square-feet store does not behave differently.

See, even when we're having positive SSSG in our unit economics, we had larger stores also and smaller stores also, and both had similar unit economics. It's not that we never had 700-plus-square-feet stores in our ecosystem and network of stores, right?

Stores to 1,000 square feet, where it's a single box 1,000 square feet, follow the same unit economics. From a payback period and return on capital employed, it's not going to change much.

Now as far as stacking and display is concerned, it is not that we are entering into the fashion category. The bottom wear category is always going to be a core and basic category.

The only problem what I'm facing today is that my smaller stores cannot accommodate the new styles. See, once I start opening a larger store, there is a display space to stack them and hang them.

From that perspective, the inventory risk does not increase because I'm not entering the fashion space. It is just because my line of products have increased, which are again very basic and core in nature, I just need shelf space to display.

Fundamentals of our EBO giving certain throughput, giving certain EBITDA without inventory risk, it will continue the same way even in a 700 square feet, because we've had 700-square-feet store in the past in our current ecosystem as well.

Sameer Gupta

Got it. Fair.

This answers the question. Lastly, if I may squeeze in, inventory increase, is it just a function of changing mix or is there something else?

If it is a function of changing mix No,

Gautam Saraogi

it's a combination of two reasons, Sameer. One is because we've had a revenue softness, inventory days is showing higher.

Second, because our pilot also has gone live with 10 stores, there's slightly increased our overall bottom wear inventory because of the pilot of Daily Wear concept. We've started seeing the sales, but the sales have not picked up velocity for the inventory to be efficient towards the sales for the Daily Wear concept.

The slight elevation of inventory is largely on the basis of softness in bottom wear sales and the Daily Wear concepts products which have entered this year in our inventory, where the sales have just started picking up now. This inventory level what we have currently at 4 months, in FY27, it will stabilize again back to 3 months, what was our previous number.

Sameer Gupta

Both the factors are going to be there, right? The same-store sales growth, if at all, will be low single digits, and Daily Wear as a pilot will expand.

No,

Gautam Saraogi

as far as inventory is concerned, our inventory sourcing is dynamic, Sameer. Now since there has been softness in sales, our inventory will auto-correct in bottom wear.

There will not be a situation where my inventory levels are continuing to rise dramatically. This year, yes, we will grow.

We will have positive SSSG. Even the inventory levels as far as Daily Wear is concerned and bottom wear is concerned, it will auto-correct.

Sameer Gupta

Got it. Fair.

This is all from me. Thanks for taking all these questions, and all the best for the future.

I'll come back in the queue for follow-ups, yeah. Thank you, Sameer.

Theek hai.

Gautam Saraogi

Thank you, Sameer.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Deep Shah from Equirus Securities.

Please go ahead.

Deep Shah

Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity.

Basically, two questions from my side. Last couple of quarters, if we see, we have been taking initiatives in terms of improving customer experience, we have been closing down smaller stores, we have been launching new products.

However, when I see number, nothing has been flowing to that side. If you can comment upon how has been the demand trends, what's happening in the industry?

If you can throw some color over here, then I'll ask the second question. Sure,

Gautam Saraogi

sure. Thank you, Deep.

Deep, see very clearly it's very reflected in our numbers. We're also going through an internal transition.

When we are going through an internal transition, we have identified where the pain points are. Now we know what actions have to be taken, and when we are taking those actions, the results always takes a little bit of time.

I know it's not reflected in our quarterly number what efforts we're putting in, but I'm very hopeful that in the coming quarters, all our repair actions what we are taking, it will finally show good results for us. I think if we wait a little more, we be patient a little more, we'll start seeing the green shoots.

As far as demand scenario is concerned, I think overall demand is not as weak maybe as how it was maybe 6 months or a year back. Quarter 4, when I speak to my peers, many retail companies, apparel companies have given positive commentary around demand and demand scenario.

I think from a demand perspective, probably it's not as weak as it was earlier, and we have seen improvement in demand in the industry.

Deep Shah

Okay. Got it, sir.

Sir, secondly, on the margin side, we have somewhere in the PPT mentioned that there was ₹5 crores of impact due to the Reliance credit note. If I adjust that to my gross margins, we have seen some 114 basis points of gross margin expansion on a YoY basis.

Can you comment upon the nature of this expansion? Secondly, see, considering over last 2 months cotton prices have seen a very sharp rally.

Any outlook for the gross margin on FY27 gross margins?

Gautam Saraogi

I think we'll maintain similar gross margins. I think we'll maintain between that 62.5% and 63.5% gross margins what we've been delivering.

See, the one good thing in our P&L, right, even in a very tough year, we've not moved and pivoted to discounting. We have kept our no discounting policy intact.

Our gross margins have been rock solid intact. Even in the coming year, we see similar gross margins to what we've been delivering.

I don't see an expansion, but we'll be similar gross margins.

Deep Shah

Okay. Done, sir.

Thank you so much.

Gautam Saraogi

Thank you. Thank you so much, Deep.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Avinash Karumanchi from Motilal Oswal.

Please go ahead.

Avinash Karumanchi

Hi, sir. Good evening.

My question is regarding the ASP. If we look at there is a steady increase in the ASP, and also the number of products that are priced below ₹1,000, their share has gone down from 80% to 70% in the last four quarters.

Is that one of the steps that you're looking to drive the SSG growth, which will help you going forward?

Gautam Saraogi

See, from an ASP perspective, no, Avinash, look, we are careful on premiumization. Yes, we want to introduce products of a higher ASP, but we don't want to become so premium that we start becoming a very expensive product line.

Currently, our ASP is around that ₹800. I think in the short term, it will be between ₹800 and ₹900.

We are very cognizant of that. We don't want to premiumize so much that our ASP starts crossing ₹1,000 or beyond ₹1,000.

We want to try keeping our bottom wear ASP sub-₹1,000.

Avinash Karumanchi

This reduction in the percentage share of products below ₹1,000 is because you voluntarily removing some low-value products, or how is it? No,

Gautam Saraogi

I don't think that percentage should be given too much importance. I think we should always see a blended average of our ASP.

Yes, 70% of the products are less than ₹1,000, but we are also introducing products which are more than ₹1,300 as well. The way as management we are looking at is that what is our blended ASP which comes into our business.

The blended ASP right now is between ₹800 and ₹811. I think that's a very decent, healthy ASP, and from a long-term perspective, we would like to maintain it under ₹1,000.

Avinash Karumanchi

Okay. Okay.

Got it, sir. The other question is regarding the LFS, sir.

When we said last time that this 45 days of issue that happened with one of the partners, that was supposed to be ending in third quarter, right? Even this quarter, we have seen a decline here in case of LFS.

Gautam Saraogi

See, what has happened, Avinash. We've had a 15%, 16% decline in LFS revenue in Q4.

If I adjust that ₹5 crores which I mentioned in my investor presentation, because when we do a reversal or we get a credit note, it adds on to the LFS revenue, right, because of Ind AS 115 standards. If I adjust the ₹5 crores, the 15% decline will come down to 7%.

Now, from a trajectory perspective, where we were at -30% in quarter 3, the -30 has become -7. The recovery has already started seeing in Q4 from an LFS perspective.

So -15 is an incorrect number to look at. If we adjust the ₹5 crores of shortfall of credit note and we look at it from that perspective, then the fall is only -7% or -8%.

Avinash Karumanchi

Okay. Okay.

Okay.

Gautam Saraogi

From -30 in Q3 from -30 in Q3, it's come to -7 in Q4. In Q1, you'll see further improvement, where it will I'm hopeful that it will start there will be no degrowth and there'll be growth as well.

Avinash Karumanchi

Understood. Understood, sir.

You said in your point that out of the 800 stores, somewhere around 275 stores are delivering a positive SSG. Rest 500 stores, 100 stores would be a smaller stores, which over the near future you'll be closing down.

What's the commonality between the other 400 stores, which are still seeing a negative SSG?

Gautam Saraogi

See, the other 300, whatever, 300 stores are seeing negative SSSG, and we are studying. See, even those stores, some of those stores have actually degrown, and there are many stores which have grown.

We are looking at the reasoning of all the other stores. We have studied all the buckets of sizes.

We have seen that the majority degrowth has happened in the very small stores. Of course, I can't say that all larger stores have grown, but whichever stores have been positive, a major chunk of them have been the larger stores.

We've been able to, when we're studying that data, we've been able to come to the conclusion that the larger stores work better than the smaller stores.

Avinash Karumanchi

Okay. Okay.

Okay. That's it.

One last question regarding this 10% area expansion that you would be doing, these pilot stores, they are of a larger size, right, 2,000 to 2,500 square feet kind of stores. How many of that are you building into this 10% area growth?

Gautam Saraogi

Including that, I think, see, the number of stores, we're going to be adding another 10, 15 stores in FY27, right? We're already currently at 10 stores.

The 10, 15 stores will add maybe 2% or 3% on the overall square feet.

Avinash Karumanchi

Okay. Okay.

Got it. Where

Gautam Saraogi

maybe from a bottom wear perspective we were adding 10%, including the Daily Wear concept pilot, maybe it will become 12%.

Avinash Karumanchi

Understood. Thank you, sir.

Gautam Saraogi

Thank you, Avinash.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shyam Sunder from Franklin Templeton.

Please go ahead.

Shyam Sundar Sriram

Yeah. Hi, Gautam.

Good evening.

Gautam Saraogi

Yeah. Hi, Shyam.

Shyam Sundar Sriram

Hi. Gautam, this SSG coming back to low single digit next year, the key insight you're mentioning is once we do away with some of the smaller stores and with larger stores, our customers should have a better discovery potential and therefore that should lead to better SSG.

Is that the key insight there? Did I get it right?

Gautam Saraogi

That is one of the main reasons.

Shyam Sundar Sriram

Okay. Okay.

Are there any other reasons that give you confidence?

Gautam Saraogi

No, no. See, what we're doing, Shyam, we're doing two, three things.

One is obviously the larger stores, which is one of the key main reasons why our business also has been slowed down because of the display of styles. We've also launching many new products in the coming year, which are in today's time the consumer is demanding, which we're launching all-day pants, we're launching cloud pants, we're launching a few new products in the pants category, which is likely to do very well in the coming years.

Some new product additions, better store experience, larger store, with a brand ambassador coming on board and our marketing also gets strengthened, I think all these two, three levers will have a very positive impact on the sales and performance of the business.

Shyam Sundar Sriram

Understood. Okay.

Understood. Got it.

Gautam, the next question, if we look at our clean EBITDA margin, as in the pre-Ind AS EBITDA margin based on our disclosure,

Gautam Saraogi

and

Shyam Sundar Sriram

if we look at over a 12-quarter period, that margin has steadily dropped from,

Gautam Saraogi

say,

Shyam Sundar Sriram

16-odd percent to 6.8% this quarter. What is your diagnosis here, and how do we intend to arrest this margin?

Is there some trough margins that we can defend given our store the quantum of stores and and the cost base that we have now built into the system?

Gautam Saraogi

Shyam, the best way to look at the margins will be from a full-year basis because the quarter 4 EBITDA is also impacted because of the LFS credit note. The best way to look at it is from a full-year basis.

From a full-year basis, you see our EBITDA for the full year, pre-Ind AS EBITDA is 11.5%, and last year was 16.8%. There is a ₹40 crore fall in EBITDA.

Last year, our full-year EBITDA was ₹143 crores. This year, it's ₹193 crores [₹103 crores?]

. There's a fall of ₹40 crores.

Now the stores what we have shut and shutting, these stores, revenue more likely to move to the larger stores, which is nearby, over a period of time. The cost which was incurring for these stores was more than ₹25 crores.

A good chunk of cost comes down when we are shutting these small stores. Eventually, once the business also moves to the larger stores, the EBITDA margins will start improving and start going up.

I'm not really very concerned about the EBITDA margins because it's a function of rent and salary, which will get corrected once the smaller stores start shutting in Q1. The margin recovery is more likely to happen from Q2.

From Q2 reports, Q2 financials, you'll be able to see a significant increase in our EBITDA margins, which is currently at about 11.5% for the full year, vis-a-vis we were close to 16.8% in the previous year.

Shyam Sundar Sriram

Correct. In FY23, I think that was a peak at close to 19-odd percent.

So

Gautam Saraogi

Correct. We were at about 18%, yeah, 18, 18.5%, but this EBITDA, which is right now is at its lowest.

It cannot go below than that. From Q2 onwards, once Q1 we are going to be, like I just mentioned in my speech, in Q1 also we're going to be shutting about 50 small stores.

From July onwards, from Q2 onwards, once those small stores are out of the ecosystem, that entire ₹25 crore-plus cost reduces in the P&L, and that revenue is also eventually moved to the larger stores, we will get a full benefit of that flowing to the EBITDA.

Shyam Sundar Sriram

Understood. Okay.

Okay. Thanks, Gautam.

Thank you very much.

Gautam Saraogi

Yeah.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Devanshu Bansal from Emkay Global.

Please go ahead.

Devanshu Bansal

Hi, Gautam. Thanks for the opportunity.

Gautam Saraogi

Hi, Devanshu.

Devanshu Bansal

Sir, we are mostly likely optimizing our network by 10%, 15%, right,

Gautam Saraogi

3Q, 4Q

Devanshu Bansal

and 1Q combined? SSG expectation is turnaround only by end of FY27, right?

Revenue for FY27, can we assume it should be like a 10% kind of a dip, 10%, 15% kind of a dip? Is this the right way to look at it?

Gautam Saraogi

No, we will not degrow in FY27, Devanshu. The idea is to grow,

Devanshu Bansal

and

Gautam Saraogi

a lot of efforts have been happening in correcting the small stores, doing good marketing, we've signed a brand ambassador also. I think all these things are going to bring a positive result for us in FY27.

There will definitely not be a degrowth. I'm expecting that we will grow.

Difficult to give a growth guidance, but we will definitely grow in FY27.

Devanshu Bansal

Gautam, what I understand, your SSG target that you're giving is a tad conservative, right? Why I'm saying so, suppose you have given two examples, right, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

If you are combining these two stores into one store, right, your SSG should jump up, right, in that particular cluster? Why are you saying that your SSG will only become positive by year-end?

Gautam Saraogi

See, I'll tell you what happens, Devanshu. When we are closing the store, it takes time for that revenue to move.

We are also not able to estimate within which time frame will that revenue move. Right now from a guidance perspective, we feel that, okay, we should turn positive by the middle of next financial year or maybe end the entire year on a positive SSSG.

For us to define the time frame of how long it will take for that revenue to move from the smaller to the larger store is very difficult.

Devanshu Bansal

Okay. Okay.

Gautam, going back to the example, you're saying that two stores combined were having about 500 to 600 square feet, which is now getting converted into one large store of 900 to 1,000 square feet. Combined, how should we see the revenue and margin profile of that cluster, right?

The unit

Gautam Saraogi

Yeah, the unit economics don't change, Devanshu. In fact, Sameer had asked the same question.

The unit economics don't change. I'll tell you the reason why.

Now even if I take my current network of stores, we are stores of all sizes. I have seen the larger store sizes also give the same unit economics.

From a unit economics perspective, if the business is likely to move to the nearby larger store, the unit economics will be the same. In fact, the question is when we are opening another large store in a fresh market of 700 square feet, it will carry the same unit economics as a 300 square feet.

See, the existing store which is there and the business is going to move to the larger store, the existing larger store, there will be improvement in revenue.

Devanshu Bansal

For a

Gautam Saraogi

brand-new 700-square-feet store when I open, the unit economics is going to be very similar to my 300 square feet.

Devanshu Bansal

No, I get it. The examples that you provided is actually a 900 to 1,000-square-feet store, right?

Gautam Saraogi

I got your question. Suppose the two 300-square-feet stores were doing ₹4 lakhs each,

Devanshu Bansal

and

Gautam Saraogi

I've opened a new larger store nearby. That ₹8 lakhs of business with some incremental business should move to the larger store.

Devanshu Bansal

Yeah. Okay.

Still you're saying only ₹4 lakhs, but your annual revenue per store is

Gautam Saraogi

No, I'm just giving you a hypothetical example. If two stores are there, they're doing say ₹5 lakhs each,

Devanshu Bansal

and we're

Gautam Saraogi

opening one large store nearby in that cluster, it's a brand-new store of say 700, 800 square feet, both those stores' revenue should move to that larger store. In addition to that, because it's a larger store with better experience, it should do a much higher number than what those two stores were combined with also.

Devanshu Bansal

Okay. The unit metrics of larger stores should actually be better than

Gautam Saraogi

It will actually be much better than two smaller stores because, and I'll tell you why, your employees also what you're going to be keeping in the 700-square-feet store is going to be less compared to the total employees what you would keep in two small stores.

Devanshu Bansal

Fair enough.

Gautam Saraogi

From a unit economics perspective, it will be on par with a 300, if not better.

Devanshu Bansal

Fair enough. Have you seen this precedent in some of the areas already or this is just an expectation?

Gautam Saraogi

No, no, we have. See, I'll tell you many places where we've opened larger stores, we have seen deep cannibalization in the very small stores nearby.

It's very evident that the customer has a better shopping experience in a larger store. See, practically, when you're walking into a 250-square-feet store now, Devanshu, the new styles, it becomes very difficult to display the new styles.

Ideally, as a company, we should have pivoted to larger stores and seen this pivot a lot earlier. Today, that's why we're not repeating the same mistake.

By doing 700-plus-square-feet store, we will not be in this position again after 3 years or 4 years.

Devanshu Bansal

Okay.

Gautam Saraogi

Taking a 700-plus-square-feet store to also keep in mind and to accommodate the newer bottom wear products what I launch in the future.

Devanshu Bansal

Understood, Gautam. I also wanted to understand, my understanding says that the core consumer which we had was 25 to 35 years age women, right?

Our intent was to bring in that 20 to 25 years age young women also, right? Now with the product launches that we are doing, right, what are we trying to do with these products?

Are we sort of trying to attract

Gautam Saraogi

See, what we're trying to do, Devanshu, we want to launch products which are relevant for all age groups.

Devanshu Bansal

See, even

Gautam Saraogi

when we launched the Prajakta Koli associated collection, that collection was well purchased across a 20-year-old girl and a 45-year-old woman also. I think our product strategy is very clear that it should appeal to all age groups.

Whatever new products we are developing, it will be not only for the Gen Z, but even for the millennials as well, if not older. Yeah.

Go ahead. Sorry, go ahead.

See, we don't want to

Devanshu Bansal

If we see our numbers, Gautam, right, if we see this quarter's performance also, then actually your ASP has increased by about 9-odd percent,

Gautam Saraogi

and your

Devanshu Bansal

volume per store has dipped by about 11%, 12-odd percent, right? That is the broad estimate I have come up to.

Your volumes are actually dipping, right? That means your core consumer is actually not finding what relevant products they want.

Gautam Saraogi

See, yeah, no, I understand. See, I understand that we are in a volume-led business, right?

See, look, there's no doubt about it that we are in a volume-led business. I'll give you another aspect.

When a consumer is shopping apparel, say bottom wear, they buy of a particular average transaction value. See, today, our average transaction value, say, is around ₹1,700, ₹1,800.

I'm just giving you an example. As the ASP increases, the consumer will end up buying of a particular transaction value.

Sometimes I'm not saying that we should not be looking at volume. Volume is a very, very important metric in our business.

As ASP increases, it will not also completely mean that the volume growth is keeping up in pace and the consumer's bill basket will keep increasing. Are you understanding?

Suppose, pehle if a lady used to buy, say, two bottoms of ₹500 each, today when she's coming, she's probably buying ₹1,300 a bottom.

Devanshu Bansal

Right.

Gautam Saraogi

From a average transaction value perspective, she's actually spent more than what she was spending earlier. See, what I mean to say is we should keep an eye on volume because ours is a volume-led business, but because there's a volume degrowth does not mean that there's a fundamental misalignment in the business.

It does not necessarily mean like that.

Devanshu Bansal

You're saying that your bill counts have actually not dipped to the extent your units per transaction

Gautam Saraogi

My bill counts have actually not fallen. Exactly.

It's not to the volume degrowth what you're calculating. Absolutely.

Devanshu Bansal

Okay. You're not losing consumers.

It's only that they're purchasing less from you.

Gautam Saraogi

Purchasing less because your ASP also is increasing. Today, see, when you're offering a ₹1,400 product, sometimes the customer says, "Okay, I'll take a ₹1,400 product and maybe not two ₹500s."

I'm just giving you an example. Look, it still does not mean that we should not look at volume.

At the end of the day, the entire apparel category, volume data is a very, very important data to track. In this case, I don't think we should give too much emphasis on it.

It does not really mean that there's a misalignment in the business. It's not that we're losing customers.

Devanshu Bansal

Got it, sir. Thanks for taking my questions.

Gautam Saraogi

Yeah.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Tejas Shah from Avendus Spark Institutional Equities.

Please go ahead.

Tejas Shah

Hey. Hi, Gautam.

Thanks for the opportunity. Gautam, I just wanted to understand this conceptually, this whole point that if we move to larger store, then SSG will improve because I'm understanding it will be combination of our existing offerings and on that there will be a layer of new offering that we'll give.

Now productivity-wise, the old inventory, which in any case we are seeing that it is not driving SSG, its efficiency both in inventory terms and per square foot efficiency terms should not lead to SSG or higher SSG. The balance is actually whatever the incremental inventory will bring.

That is supposed to drive

Gautam Saraogi

No, Tejas, I'll explain to you. See, when I move from a 300 square feet to a 700 square feet, my inventory is necessarily not increasing at the store.

See, I'll tell you what happens. If I want to launch new products, I can very well keep it in the 300 square feet, kept it in a folded way, one behind the other.

Accommodation is not the problem. The display is the problem.

When I'm moving from 300 to 700, I'm going to keep the same number of units what I was keeping in a 300. It is just that they are displayed a lot more.

The product discovery happened very easily when the consumer is walking around the store, vis-a-vis the new product lying in a shelf behind another stack. I understand your question.

You have a very valid point, but my inventory does not increase when I'm moving from a 300 to a 700.

Tejas Shah

Got it. Then one should assume that at least so inventory turn does not get compromised,

Gautam Saraogi

but

Tejas Shah

square footage efficiency, how should we think about it?

Gautam Saraogi

Square footage efficiency, see, in our business, though we are reporting square footage now, for us you should see whether the absolute average per EBO is increasing and what is the SSSG. Sales per square feet, of course, is a very important metric for any brand to track, but because we are a sub-1,000-square-feet brand, the right way of looking at our kind of model would be, okay, how is the average store of a Go Colors store output and throughput in a year and what is the same-store sales growth.

I think these are the two metrics to track for us.

Tejas Shah

Perfect. The last one, what process led us to narrow down that this is the problem statement?

Sorry, I logged in late, but have we kind of seen early success stories that this is actually the solution, which can be now scaled and then can be done at

Gautam Saraogi

scale? I'll tell you.

See, we've been visiting many stores. In retail, you have to be on the shop floor, visiting many stores.

When we visited many of our stores, and because in the last few quarters and years we've launched so many products, when we visited our stores, we saw the display. When we spoke to the sales executives, we spoke to many customers.

We just got a very good sense of what was happening. Second example what we had that when we opened a slightly larger store, there's many stores which did really well and the new products also did very well.

When we connected the dots, we understood where the problem is. That's how we arrived at this conclusion that this is a big factor.

See, the entire bottom wear market is moving more and more towards value-added products, right? As you keep introducing more value-added products and the shelf space is not enough to display, growth will get hampered, no?

Tejas Shah

Perfect. Was this not the option or not considered as an option to, let's say, buy a next-door store and expand the store?

I'm just

Gautam Saraogi

We have done that in many cases, but sometimes it's not available, Tejas. Look, sometimes we're lucky to get it.

Sometimes it's very difficult. We're keeping an eye on situations like that if we are able to either get space behind the store or on the side of the store.

Tejas Shah

No, I was just thinking from consumer journey and muscle memory perspective that some muscle memory has been built on your geo-location, and then suddenly if the store is not there,

Gautam Saraogi

how quickly a customer can kind of It transitions very fast. See, we are also at the end of the day opening stores in prime location.

It's not that the customer will miss it. See, if we were opening in locations which are weak, then I completely buy your point.

In retail, any which ways, even if you're not having the square feet transition what we're having, brands keep moving from location to location. The important for discovery is that it should be a prime location.

Tejas Shah

Got it. Thanks, and all the best.

Gautam Saraogi

Thank you, Tejas.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dhananjay Jain from JM Financial.

Please go ahead.

Dhananjay Jain

Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question.

I just wanted to understand how has been throughput of these larger stores compared to others, smaller-sized stores, and how has been customer experience you are hearing? That's all.

Gautam Saraogi

No, look, once these larger stores have opened, we've also visited. We've also seen that the customer is reacting to it very differently.

We've introduced a methodology where there's more self-shopping. See, typically in our smaller store what used to happen was when a customer used to enter, she used to get assisted by a sales girl.

It's very difficult to shop in a small Go Colors store by yourself because browsing is very difficult. The sales girl has to take out the folded garments and then show the product to the consumer.

In the 700-plus square feet, there is an element of self-browsing. When there's an element of self-browsing, the self-discovery takes place.

From what we have spoken to consumers, the feedback has been very positive. In fact, we've also visited the stores.

We've also seen that it's made a very big difference.

Operator

Sir, the participant has left the queue. We'll move on to the next question, which is from the line of Aanchal Jalan from Lotus Wealth.

Please go ahead.

Aanchal Jalan

Hello. Thank you for taking my question.

Sir, the company has built around a niche in women's bottom wear, right? Competitors like Nykaa, that are multi-brand platforms, are growing very strong with wider offerings and customer reach.

How does the management plan to defend and grow their market share in the coming years? What is your take on this?

Can you please give some roadmap around it?

Gautam Saraogi

See, I think the main objective of the company in the mid-term and long-term is to keep going deeper in bottom wear because I still feel, I know we've had a tough year, but I still feel the bottom wear category is huge, and there is a very, very big growth map for us left in bottom wear. Having said that, to your question about other categories, we did a pilot with top wear and a little bit of men's wear as a all-day wear category pilot we did.

We've opened 10 stores, and we've seen that the unit economics are very very very positive and encouraging. As the bottom wear business keeps growing, if the pilot also does well, and on the merit of the pilot, we'll decide the future course of that growth as well.

I think as a company we are trying out different things, like you mentioned the Nykaa example.

Aanchal Jalan

Sir. Basically the company is ready to cater to other projects also, right, if there's good opportunity?

Gautam Saraogi

No, which we are doing right now through doing this pilot,

Aanchal Jalan

but

Gautam Saraogi

it's not because we are any less bullish on bottom wear. We still feel that there's a lot of growth left here in this niche itself.

Aanchal Jalan

Sir. Thank you.

Gautam Saraogi

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rusmik Oza from 9 Rays EquiResearch.

Please go ahead.

Rusmik Oza

Yeah. Am I audible?

Gautam Saraogi

Yeah. Please, go ahead.

Operator

Yes, please.

Rusmik Oza

Yeah. Thanks for the question.

Sir, a small observation on numbers. FY25, '26, and last two quarters also, our gross margins have been steady at 63%,

Gautam Saraogi

but

Rusmik Oza

the EBITDA margin in FY25, which was 32%, has come down to 28% in FY26, and especially in the last two quarters it's averaging 25%. Similarly, if I observe your net margin, which was 11% in FY25, goes down to 7% in FY26, and especially it's just been 4% in last two quarters.

I just want to understand, based on whatever you've spoken in this call, a changing strategy and the store format and so and so, by when you feel you could go back to that 7% to 11% net margin range going forward? That's my first question.

Gautam Saraogi

See, definitely we will see margin recovery from quarter 2. I'm quite In quarter 1, margins will continue to be a little weak because we are closing about 50-odd small stores small stores in quarter 1, but quarter 2 onwards we should see a good recovery in margins.

Difficult to give a guidance on how much percentage we will end up with, but there will be good, decent recovery from quarter 2.

Rusmik Oza

Okay. Okay.

Okay. Because in absolute figure also, if I'm seeing, two quarters back, previous four quarters you had at least a average net profit of around ₹20 crores per quarter, which is now the run rate has come down to ₹7, ₹8 crores in the last two quarters.

Barring Q1, if you're expecting Q2 onwards recovery, do you do you envisage it to going back to around that ₹15, ₹20 crores in the second half of FY27?

Gautam Saraogi

Difficult to give such a narrowed guidance, very difficult to give a guidance, but from where we are today, our margins are right now currently quite weak, right, from what we have delivered. From here, it's going to significantly improve, but from a guidance perspective, it'll be hard to guide on how much it will become.

I can tell you this that it will be from quarter 2 and not from quarter 1.

Rusmik Oza

Okay. Thanks for the answer.

Appreciate it.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question.

I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Gautam Saraogi

I would like to thank everyone for taking part in this call. I hope we've answered all your questions.

We are undertaking a comprehensive transformation in our store format strategy, our product portfolio, our brand investments, and our new business initiatives. This transformation will take time to fully manifest into our financial numbers, but the early signs are encouraging.

If you need more information, please feel free to connect to Mr. Deven Dhruva from SGA, our investor relations advisor.

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, members of the management. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Go Fashion India Limited, that concludes this conference.

We thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.