India's Louis Philippe enters Nepal, rejigs management

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Jan 30, 2018

Menswear brand Louis Philippe, owned by fashion retailer Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL), has entered a new international market with an exclusive brand outlet in neighbouring country Nepal.
 

The fashion retailer is exploring newer markets amid a slowdown back home in India to give a fillip to its falling sales. The company’s sales revenue dropped 4.4 percent to Rs 1804 crore (approx $277.9 million) in the quarter ended September 2017, with a standalone net loss of Rs 10 crore (approx $1.6 million).
 
The company also recently rejigged its top management following some high profile exits and made three key appointments. It has named Ashish Dikshit its new Managing Director, Jagdish Bajaj as the Chief Financial Officer and Sangeeta Pendurkar as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of its Pantaloons Division.

With new management in place, the company is now looking to enter newer international markets and expand its presence in the existing ones like UAE, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Sri Lanka this year.
 
As part of this international drive the company opened a store at Labim Mall, Lalitpur that will offer exclusive Louis Phillipe menswear.
 
“With the launch of Louis Philippe’s exclusive brand outlet, we plan to cater to the growing need for high-quality crafted menswear. Our market study indicates that Nepal is a growing apparel market with an increasing number of urban men inclining towards premium apparel that is fashionable, elegant, with superior craftsmanship and great quality”, in a statement said Vikram Shivadas, director, international markets, ABFRL.
 
With the launch of Louis Philippe, we will be able to address this increasing demand with the right offering and we are confident that there will be a great response from the customers towards the brand,” Shivadas added.
 
Currently, ABFRL has over 8,000 points of sale across India, which include more than 2,000 exclusive ABFRL brand outlets in India and abroad.