Questions across 40 calls

Arnab Mitra

Goldman Sachs

Godrej Consumer Products Limited

Godrej Consumer Products Limited CC-Dec24.pdf · 2025-01-24

My first question was on Incense Sticks where you mentioned the 50% share amongst handler and high-single digit overall market share. So how do you increase the market share from here on in the sense that my understanding was that there's a pushback from trade due to a lower trade margin, are we looking to increase trade margins?

Understood. My second question was on Fab. So while you're obviously very happy with the growth there, you've seen a lot of players, including the other brands like Rin lower prices and enter this category. So any challenge you'll see there in terms of your home markets like Tamil Nadu and all where you had first launched, but now others may be catching up? Or do you think the category growth itself is such that you would keep expanding here . And in terms of distribution, where are you in the Fab journey?

Godrej Consumer Products Limited CC-Dec23.pdf · 2024-01-31

Congratulations on a good quarter. My first question was again on Household Insecticides. So, from what you said, the efficacy is stronger than even illegal Incense Sticks, where at least our understanding initially was the dosage is so high that, that's almost like a killing product. But in your assessment, your product is more effective than the average of the illegal incense stick market?

Got it. And if you could just help us understand this ₹1,200 crore category, what is it as a percentage of overall Household Insecticides market? And in terms of margin profile, does it have acceptable margins given whatever would be your like minimum margin thresholds?

Godrej Consumer Products Limited CC-Sep23.pdf · 2023-11-01

My question was on Africa. What happens to the assets in the business which you are franchising out in terms of manufacturing and working capital. How much of capital employed does it release if at all? And secondly, is this only for dry hair? And is this a model, which is replicable in other parts of Africa or other geographies like LatAm? Or this is very particular to this block in East Africa where profitability was very low?

Okay. Understood. Understood. The second question was on Indonesia, where your growth rates have been pretty good. But what we understand is that the macro has been quite weak in Indonesia for FMCG consumption. So, is it largely a base effect for you? Or do you feel your categories and your initiatives are such that you are being able to do well despite the macro environment. Why I'm asking this is the low base can obviously run out in a couple of quarters' time. And do you worry that the growth rates could come off that stage?

Godrej Consumer Products Limited CC-Mar24.pdf · 2023-04-28

My first question was again on the competitive landscape though you have, I think touched upon lot of aspects there, but the consolidation of the Top Five brands that you mentioned, has that consolidation increased over the last five, six years, because we do remember a very high clutter in the category, 7 to 8 years back. So, I just wanted to know as a trend line is that change towards more consolidation? And an added question to that would be when Fogg came with the no aerosol kind of spray, there was a big move in the market towards that, has that trend reversed or at least stabilized or is the market still moving towards that form of deodorant?

My second question was on the distributions, if you could help us with what is the current distribution of the Raymond ’s FMCG business and how is the distribution of Park Avenue different from let’s say the market leader in terms of direct plus indirect, just to understand how much of benefit can happen when the distribution expansion plays out.

Pidilite Industries Limited

Pidilite Industries Limited CC-Dec24.pdf · 2025-01-23

My first question actually was also on the real estate cycle where we have heard some moderation and you also alluded to certain regional issues , but I was just wondering that, our view at the end of September quarter was that because we had the monsoon effect and the election effect, there will be a bounce back from that. So, have you not seen that benefit in play out in terms of projects or work, which would have stalled, which kind of accelerated or that has happened, but other things have slowed down. Just trying to understand how the positives and negatives played out. Investor Relations - investor.relations@pidilite.co.in CIN: L24100MH1969PLC014336

Understood. Second question was actually on this B2B business, which has continued to grow very fast for you. Could you help us understand a little better what are the end industries that you service in this, which are the segments that are driving the growth fastest and how should we think of sustainability of this growth rate going ahead ?

Pidilite Industries Limited CC-Sep24.pdf · 2024-10-24

My question actually was, again, pertaining to the demand environment. So, for want of a better word, you don't seem to be very bearish on the demand conditions compared to some of the other companies I've heard. Now if I look at the first quarter, there was a question of election impact; second quarter, probably a bit of monsoon impact. Investor Relations - investor.relations@pidilite.co.in CIN: L24100MH1969PLC014336 Would you say that in December quarter, you should see whatever the pent-up demand or some postponement of activity kind of coming through? And would you expect December quarter to kind of be much stronger than the first half? And any major difference you see between, let's say, the retail products like Fevikwik versus, let's say, woodworking adhesives, which are more used for carpentering? Is that like a difference in, like, small ticket versus more larger ticket usage products in your case? So, any colour on both of these would be helpful.

Understood. That's very helpful Bharat and Sudhanshu. And just 1 last question. You've been doing extremely well in the B2B business for the last few quarters in terms of volume growth. If you could just help us understand is the underlying growth in those industries strong? Or is this more penetration or market share gain because you have certain lines of business which you are focusing on more versus in the past? Investor Relations - investor.relations@pidilite.co.in CIN: L24100MH1969PLC014336

Pidilite Industries Limited CC-Mar24.pdf · 2024-05-08

My first question was actually on your noncore businesses and also on waterproofing. So if you could help us in the full year FY '24, how much did these businesses grow? And if there is any broad sizes you could share on, let's say, tile adhesive, Araldite, maybe some of those homegrown b usinesses? From here on, do you see these businesses continue to track at the high growth you have had in the last couple of years? Or are they making a scale where the growth rate could slow down a little bit in this part of the portfolio?

Understood. And on waterproofing, have you seen any change in the growth profile? This is a category which obviously has had more competition in the year. Just qualitatively, did this grow significantly below what the overall growth rate is? Is it something that is dragging on the growth rate overall?

Pidilite Industries Limited CC-Dec23.pdf · 2024-01-24

My first question was on, if I look at the growth categories, and if I take waterproofing out of that because that's quite a large category, the other brands which have ramped up quite a lot in the last recent 2 years and are growing fast. Is there any impact on margins as we have become bigger? I mean are they dilutive, accretive to your business at a gross level or an EBITDA level?

Got it. That's very helpful. And my last question was on waterproofing. So you have, of course, clubbed it all as part of growth. I mean the perception is that it's slightly bigger as a category now. It's obviously quite competitive. Are you seeing something like that towards like GDP growth in waterproofing continue? I mean, while your overall growth may grow at 2 to 4x, waterproofing may be a little lower than that? What are the trends that you are seeing in that market in terms of end demand, given that Paints demand seems to be slightly soft in the recent few quarters?

Hindustan Unilever Limited

Hindustan Unilever Limited CC-Dec24.pdf · 2025-01-22

Actually, my first question was again on the outlook. So there has definitely been a change in what you saw as an outlook 3 months back versus now, which was stable consumption to moderating consumption. I think you partly answered it in the previous quest ion, but is this change because you saw a worsening of trends towards the second half of December quarter, including the small pack down trading that you mentioned? And if that is the case, could it get worse before it improves at the market level? Or do we have to take out a message that the worst is behind, and things should improve from here given the cyclical factors?

Thanks, Ritesh. That's very helpful. My last question is actually on Minimalist. So, it seems a very attractive space to be in an attractive brand that they have built. The concern is that sometimes in these very fast -growing small companies are acquired by really large companies like HUL, it could lead to a little bit of loss of direction, the founder would probably leave after some time. There are more systems and processes to follow, decision -making and slowdown. How do you guard against all of this, especially because this is a very dynamic, fast-growing business? And how do you think of the integration between HUL and Minimalist in this context?

Hindustan Unilever Limited CC-Sep23.pdf · 2023-10-19

Thanks for taking my questions. My first question was actually on the near - term outlook. So, last couple of quarters you have mentioned a few factors, destocking in the channel due to the price cuts, some rise at local competition, this quarter of course there’s a bit of festive timing issue. So, on the first two, do we believe now that those are behind or that adjustment of pipeline and small players versus large players is something that could continue for some more time. And in the similar light, does festive season really matter for FMCG if yes, if you could give some flavor of how much could be the impact of that timing?

So, Ritesh just to clarify, so the channel destocking component, and this local competition versus national competition, is that largely behind in your view, or there is a little bit more of adjustment there required given where you see the market. The rest of the points of course are there but these two are they kind of behind now?

Hindustan Unilever Limited CC-Feb26.pdf ·

I had a couple of questions. My first question was, you mentioned in your outlook, you expect a better FY'27 compared to FY '26. Should we expect this to be a consistent improvement trend starting from what we delivered in December quarter? Or there could be ups and downs in the path? Why I ask this question specifically is we are not sure if there was any restocking benefit in this quarter, also the base was quite low for this quarter. So just trying to understand how we should think about a consistent improvement from here on.

My second question was on Home Care. So, if you look at the Home Care numbers now for a pretty extended period of time, USG has been below UVG. Now you did mention pricing as a lever as commodities have gone up a bit. But is that pricing being negative for an extended period of time, largely that? Or is it a lot to do with also competition and in that context, the shift towards liquids, is it a headwind or a tailwind for pricing given that it's a more premium format, and we are seeing a sharp shift? So again, if you could help us understand the m oving parts on pricing and therefore, can that move positive going head?

Hindustan Unilever Limited CC-May26.pdf ·

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. My question was first on Home Care. Now Home Care obviously has the maximum input cost inflation that you would be facing. And if I look at the post -Ukraine FY’23 year, HUL had taken high double- digit price increases in Home Care almost very immediately after the input cost inflation came in. This time, I think from what I heard from Niranjan on TV, the price hikes are a lot more modest. Is there any reason for that in the sense that is the input cost inflation not yet hit you to that extent as of now, or is there anything different in the operating environment like liquid detergents is now there in the category or any competitive situation why the price hikes are lower this time compared to the past?

Sure, thanks. That's helpful. And my second question is also on Home Care that in this inflationary environment, what is your experience normally in terms of how the volume growth behaves in the category of premiumization? Does it get affected in the category and are you able to typically gain share from local or regional players in this environment? So, any colour on how you think the top line or the volume and the mix and market share could do in this environment?

Hindustan Unilever Limited CC-Oct25.pdf ·

Hi team. Thanks for taking my question. So, my first question actually is to Priya. I mean you mentioned about your reflections in the first 90 days. Any thoughts on -- is there a trade-off between growth and margins, as HUL looks into the next few years, in the sense that to get to a strong levels of volume growth, do you feel there is a need to invest more in the business, which would take actually your operating margins down in the interim? Or do you feel the business is at a situation where there is no trade-off to be made and growth can be achieved along with stable to expanding margins in the medium term?

Yeah, Understood. Just a follow-up on that. I mean, what I meant was that ultimately, operating leverage does translate into margins also but in the past, HUL has had this range of margins, which they have -- the company held at 22% to 23%. Do you feel that is a defendabl e range or that depends on the growth environment and therefore, as you focus only on growth, there could be a situation where margins could be lower or below that range?

Marico Limited

Marico Limited CC-Sep24.pdf · 2024-10-29

My first question was actually on your performance this quarter as well as your outlook seem significantly better than many of the other FMCG companies. You, of course, outlined certain reasons, but I just wanted to check is it also a factor that you have done a lot of channel inventory corrections over the last like four , five quarters due to this chan nel shift that is happening and therefore you are in a better position in terms of planning inventory, which is helping you deliver better numbers, while maybe many of your peers said have to correct that . So, just wanted to CIN L15140MH1988PLC049208. Email: investor@marico.com Marico Information classification: Official understand if your channel destocking that you were planning behind us , by and large, and are you now well set in terms of the urban beauty?

My second question would be, S affola, see, in Parachute, we have seen the pattern that when commodity goes up, you take price hikes. We tend to actually accelerate volumes given the setup of the category. In edible oil, what is your expectation? We are getting into an inflationary cycle. We have taken a 15% hike. Could it have a significant negative impact on volumes because this is an expensive product, the absolute price gap is quite large? Any sense of what you expect to happen on the Saffola volumes in the near term as this pricing goes into the market? CIN L15140MH1988PLC049208. Email: investor@marico.com Marico Information classification: Official

Marico Limited CC-Dec23.pdf · 2024-01-29

My first question was on as we look into next year, when do we see the price decline in Saffola and Parachute anniversarize and do we see any pockets of price increase that we can see because we are seeing certain categories in Personal Care where price hikes have started happening though there is no commodity pressure? So, could you just help us understand these two aspects on pricing?

And any profits or price increase in VAHO and other segments that you see?

Britannia Industries Limited

Britannia Industries Limited CC-Jun24.pdf · 2024-08-05

Yes. Hi, team. My first question again was actually on pricing. So the deflation in pricing this quarter seems to be slightly more than last quarter. Correct me if I am wrong. And do you see that, any incremental changes here going ahead? Does this anniversarize very quickly? Or do you expect some more deflation in the coming quarters to continue?

Understood. Just a follow -up on this. So the carry forward effect of the year -on-year price decline that then you're saying should -- could continue even though there's no incremental price cut that you are taking or rollback price you are taking?

TATA CONSUMER PRODUCTS LIMITED

TATA CONSUMER PRODUCTS LIMITED CC-Mar24.pdf · 2024-04-24

My first question, again, was on the international margins. So, we've seen a big step -up in the fourth quarter compared to even the last 2 quarters. Was there anything specific this quarter which additionally led to a margin expansion? Or this is the full benefit of the changes you've done? And a related question is this coffee inflation last time did hurt your U.S. margins. Do you anticipate any pressure given the current trend from the coffee prices? Sunil D’Souza: So let me answer you r second question first. I think last time around, we were -- what's the right term, we were a bit slow on the reaction because we had not expected the pricing to move as fast as it did w hen coffee prices came down. And our reaction time on the shop floor and converting it into promotions was a bit slower than competitors. And therefore, it was a double whammy. I mean, volumes were soft, and we did not get the throughputs. This time around, we've been very agile because we saw this coming slightly early in the day, and therefore, we moved in line with coffee prices. So, I would not -- while absolutes might move up and down because of the softness on the total top line, with the price incre ases that we are now seeing coming in back into the market. Margin terms, I don't think there will be too much of an impact. If anything, we should expect an improvement. That's number one. What was the first question, sorry?

Sir, it was the 15%, the margin... Sunil D’Souza: Okay. So, on the international business, a couple of things. We had kicked off our international restructuring last year in the same quarter, ri ght? So, this year, we are seeing the full benefits of the entire -- and when I'm talking of restructuring, it's not the legal entities restructuring, the cost restructuring in the international business. So, we're seeing the full benefits of that flowing in and that's number one. Number two, last year, about this time, was when we started, how do I say, revamping our entire products/brand proposition in -- especially in the U.K., where we put in 10% Assams into the tea, brought it up to par, changed o ur entire packaging, make it -- made it sustainable, changed our executio n dynamics and went for proper distribution, execution in a heightened manner. We're seeing the benefits of all that flow in. Plus, be cause now we've got a stronger proposition in the market, we have also started to take price increases to put us on par and not at a discount to all the competitors in the market. We have taken some pricing again this year, and we are seeing our maintaining of market share despite all the pricing that t hey have taken. That's number one. Number two is also, remember the Fru it & Herbal and specialties are, a, the growing parts of the market, also the better margin parts of the market. That part of the portfo lio is also getting ramped up between Good Earth and teapigs. We are now up to a 10% share in the U.K. So, all multiple pieces flowing in, we do expect to see, as I said, the internationa l margins, right now are about 200 to 300 bps better than our India businesses -- overall businesses. We do expect to see that accretiveness to continue.

TATA CONSUMER PRODUCTS LIMITED CC-Dec23.pdf · 2024-02-08

My first question was on NourishCo again. So in terms of distribution, where do you think you end up in FY '24 in terms of direct reach or weighted average availability in the category? I was just trying to understand how much more headroom do you think is there after what you've done already this year. And a related question to that is that the energy drink that we launched, so it's very early days. Any sense of consumer response? Does it look like something which can significantly ramp up quickly? Or it is some thing which is a little more of an evolved product and therefore, will need more time for consumer acceptance? Sunil D’Souza: So Arnab, let me answer your second question first. We are still at a pilot stage with the energy drink. The whole thing is to give the proposition of a INR10 energy drink giving the same efficacy that the consumer seeks f or in other brands. We've got to get our -- both our distribution act together as well a s our marketing mix perfected before we roll it out. So very early days. Energy drinks, India and globally seems to be a booming segment. And therefore, getting the proposition right is the key because I do believe if we get it right and given the price p oints that we are looking to target, I think we'll have substantial throughput. So that's point number one. Point number two is with respect to number of outlets. I think by the end of this year, we'll exit at about 8.5 lakhs, 9 lakhs or so. But just to put it in perspective, if you benchmark and against the other big beverage majors, and look at their number of outlets, I would think we are probably scratching the surface. We are about 20%, 25% there of their total universe. So we've still got substantial ground to cover.

And my last question is on the acquisition of Ching's. So what we've seen in other companies is typically when a large company acquires a small company, there is a lot more inventory in the distributor channel, in the retai l channel that has expired stock, and there is some kind of initial hiccups in the first couple of quarters. So based on what you have, what you know and what you've se en because the business is already -- the transaction is completed, do you anticipate any issues in the first couple of quarters, which will be cleaned up for reduction in inventory? Sunil D’Souza: So, I mean, I think Ching's was a decently run company when we took it over. The big impetus for us was to give distribution expansion. In many, m any parts of the country, they are not distributed. So it is all incremental distribution. But where they were already distributed, we are clearly having a full-fledged integration process where we go through the whole piece of taking inventory, making sure we clean up the -- any damage, expiries, which are there, making sure we're helping existing distributors to transition very, very smoothly. So far, it's already been about 7 to 8 days of integration. We are not seeing any major hiccup. There will be sm all niggles here and there, but nothing that I would really worry about.

TATA CONSUMER PRODUCTS LIMITED CC-Sep23.pdf · 2023-11-01

My first question was on the Sampan n 47% growth, seems to have stepped up and also higher than your normal 30% range. Is there a significant pricing step up due to underlying commodity here? Also if you could help us understand how much of the volume growth is being driven by incremental distribution and addition of new segments outside the pulses? If you could just give us some flavor on both of those other than pricing. Sunil D’Souza: Let me answer your second question first. Is the whole premise of doing split routes in a million plus towns was the fact that we thought there was a bandwidth release which was needed at the front end. And if we did that, we would get growth. So, whether it is in beverages or it is in foods we are seeing incremental growth in the split routes rather than the non-split routes. So that's number one. Number two , Sampann growth, that is why we have constantly guided for a 30% growth in the medium term. This quarter I think we've delivered beyond that on the base business as well as there is some inflation effect especially in the areas of pulses etc. But while we will continue to push the needle to the maximum , longer term we do stay committed to the 30% growth for Sampann.

And is there a significant or a significantly increasing contribution from the newer segments like dry fruits and others or they are still very small in the mix in Sampann? Sunil D’Souza: Right now, they are small because the big pieces i n Sampann if I look at it , is pulses, besan, spices and then we've got all the other new categories. But do realize that the new categories have just got launched probably in the last 12-18-24 months per se and it takes time to build up. But whichever category we are entering, we are confident that the categories are large. Because let me put it this way the expansion is not a mindless expansion. It is a roadmap drawn out about 2 years back of which categories we should enter and what size they will get to (A). And (B), the reason why we get into those categories is specifically because we've got growth, we've got a specific target, we've got ability to create a difference , there is a trust deficit in that category and therefore we'll be able to get a decent market share.

Titan Company Limited

Titan Company Limited CC-Sep23.pdf · 2023-11-03

Congratulations on a great set of numbers. Just a follow -up on the point on diamond. So while you mentioned that the main fall has been in solitair es, so are you saying there is probably no need to reduce prices in the main, the lower ticket sized diamond that you sell? And in that context, would you then basically retain some of the commodity benefits because prices there would have also fallen, though to a lesser degree? And secondly, is there any, like, impact on revenue as prices go down? In your past experience, does value tend to compensate for -- the more consumers tend to compensate for the lower value?

My second question was on this gap between UCP and primary sales in jewellery, which is around 27% versus 20%. So this, I presume, is mainly for the L3 sell -in timing. So does it mean that we should expect the primary sales to be higher by almost 6%-7% in the 3Q to make up for this gap?