Yes. So South was lesser than non-South. And again, it comes every quarter, it is a bit different, but this time, it is having a significant change in the SSSGs of South and non-South. Maybe the base is also higher in South.
I think the shift is again further accelerated in the non -South region when compared to South. And we have been seeing it from Q3, but Q4 again was -- non-South was more interesting than the South.
Yes. So I told you we look at Diwali minus 30 days, and the same -store sales growth has been 30% plus. Because tota l revenue will misguide you because we have added a number of showrooms, et cetera. So it will not be a right, what you call, way to look at it is what we thought. So Diwali minus 30 days every year, we tell you and SSGs are very strong, 30% plus.
No, it's going stron g. SSG are very similar to what we saw pre -Diwali. And post Diwali also, weekends are very strong. And as we speak, things are moving almost in the same line.
So studded has been strong, majorly because maybe there are only a few markets where solitaire is looked upon as a commodity, wherein they just buy it for an investment, predominantly in Delhi, Punjab, and all. Otherwise, in South India, people don't see diamond jewellery or any studded jewellery. They don't buy only a piece of solitaire and keep it with them as an investment. They use it well. So our focus also is to cater those kind of customers even from the past. So for us, high carat solitaire has always been very low in terms of re venue share. So maybe because of that, we are unaffected, but we don't see any pressure on studded products.
Yes. So here, first of all, even without that, Diwali minus 30 days is how we calculate our season revenue that itself have a very robust revenue growth. SSGs are very strong, very comparable to Q2. And yes, as you said, last weekend was very strong. Gold prices have come down a bit. So people can prepone their purchase, maybe people who are waiting because the gold prices were high, might have come back to the stores. So momentum is very strong as we speak. Even without the gold price reduction, which came in the last 4, 5 days, demand was very strong.
Before Diwali I meant.
So Candere, July, we opened, as we speak, 2, and we will open 20 more before Diwali.
The Middle East, yes, so revenue has grown by around 6.5% and SSG's have been in the range of about 5% and the PAT degrowth which you see is predominantly because of the interest rate hike which has been there over the past 2-3 quarters now and there is at least 2% interest rate hike, which has been there when you compared to Q3 of last year. And one more reason is that franchisee share comes with a lesser gross margin. So, these are the major two reasons why you see degrowth in PAT even after 5%, 6% revenue growth, but way forward, I think it should be good because market is still vibrant and store expansion is also there and franchisee LOIs have also been signed for expansion there.
So, the guarantee which you see is you know that India, the franchisee was very successful because predominantly the major reason being, we have tie ups with banks and NBFC's here in India who fund our franchisee partners in their own terms. We did not have such kind of a tie- up there and the partners whom we were looking for also could not arrange any funding in that region. So, now, we successfully have tied up with financing houses where they will fund our franchisee partners. The only difference being we will have to issue a corporate guarantee on their behalf. So, that is what you see as with additional corporate guarantee which is given, but the advantage there, what we have got is that since we are in talks with the banks there because they also know the next 2-3 years, what is our plan in Middle East because franchisee is coming in and more liquidity is coming in and over the past two years also Middle East has been behaving good and we could actually release corporate guarantee from certain banks. So, the additional corporate guarantee is not very high. So, it is almost a neutral transaction, but the guarantee which you see now in the update is that guarantee is going to on behalf of franchisee partners, but we have released certain corporate guarantee also. So, it is almost a neutral transaction which you see.