Stockrabit · Analysts
Questions across 37 calls

Mihir Shah

Nomura

Asian Paints Limited

Asian Paints Limited CC-Jun26.pdf · 2026-05-29
Hi, sir. Good evening. Thank you for taking my questions, and congrats on a great set of numbers. Sir just wanted to understand how you see the volume growth trajectory as we go through the quarters during the year? How are you seeing the 4Q and 1Q volumes? Are you seeing dealers buying more than what they bought in the past, and they're stocking up due to the 10% plus price increase that you have announced? And secondly, post 2Q, you will be having a higher base, unlike a favourable base that we had seen over the past few quarters. Can this upstocking that we are seeing in 4Q and 1Q maybe, and a higher base from 2Q, impact volume growth trajectory for the year? So that's my first question.
Understood. That is very clear. Thank you for that. Sir, the second question is on the margins again. The price hikes that you have taken will cover a part of the G ross Profit per ton, but margins, on a percentage basis, will see some impact. However, the commencement of your backward integration projects from 1Q or 1H, which you have called out now, is also quite timely. So, how should one think about the benefits that you will probably get from these backward integrations plus which the peers will not see, but you will see the benefits coming in. And how should we see the impact of the margins as we go along, because in the past upcycle of crude, we had seen margins going down by 500 to 800 bps also. Any colour on the percentage margins with the benefits of backward integration over the coming year will be helpful.
Asian Paints Limited CC-Nov25.pdf · 2025-11-12
Hi sir. Thank you for taking my question. Congrats on an excellent set of numbers. Just wanted to understand the numbers a bit better. So, two questions here. Firstly, there has been a sharp improvement in volume growth despite the extended monsoon quarter. Was this aided by festive demand which was largely sitting in 3Q last year? And also, did you see any lost dealers coming back or restocking impact indicating that sustaining this double-digit volume growth in coming quarters can be challenging or do you see this double-digit growth, volume growth to sustain in the coming quarters? Secondly, the difference between your volume and value has been much lower versus historical trend. What drove that? And despite being a seasonally weak quarter, gross margins are a bit higher versus 1Q levels which ideally, are supposed to be down. Which means that you have seen some benefits from lower raw material prices. Can these benefits continue in second half and margin expansion that we've seen in this quarter, you know, continue in the coming quarters as well. These are my questions. Thank you.

Grasim Industries Limited

Grasim Industries Limited CC-May26.pdf · 2026-05-20
Hi sir, congrats on a good set of numbers. First question is on paints. Wanted to just understand your view on how should one think about the growth from here on as you've already attained scale with respect to dealer reach and tinting machines, similar more to quite a few of the legacy players. So how much more growth, do you foresee coming from further penetration of dealer reach and increasing tinting machine reach or will the growth largely come from improving throughput? So that's my first question?
So my second question is if you can talk a bit on the profitability front on the paint sector. You've highlighted in the PPT that there is improvement in performance of paints when you speak about building material segment, which was also led by paint on the EBITDA level. Is this largely due to getting scale or do you or given that now you've got some scale there is some reduction in rebates to dealers or there is any reduction in the discounting? How should one think about that? And one clarification, you had highlighted that 3 years after your full operation you would want to reach INR10,000 crores. So should we consider FY 26 as first full year of operation because it's only been two quarters since your sixth plant has commissioned? So FY28 would be the third year or FY29 you would be considering as a third year? So that was my second question?
Grasim Industries Limited CC-Jun25.pdf · 2025-08-08
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question. Sir, first question is on paints. Wanted to check on your sales momentum in the recent months. My back of the calculation suggests that you've grown about 20% in this quarter on a QoQ basis. But just in the recent months, I wanted to check the momentum. The context of the question is generally brands in the initial phase of the launch see high demand and then it moderates down in some time as it consolidates before starting again to gain traction, if at all. There are views that Opus is now consolidating and dealers are going back to their old brands. I wanted to know your side of the narrative and which phase are you in currently? So, that's my first question.
Got it, Rakshit. Thank you for that. That's quite helpful. Secondly, I wanted to know if you can share how is your traction between the category A, B, C dealers? Where have you seen the most acceptance and what kind of hurdles are you facing to make inroads in the other ones that you have not been able to get through? And a sub part to it is, earlier even you had highlighted during the launch that you will cross 6,000 towns. I see you've crossed already 8,000 towns now. Even your SKU and product mix has crossed the earlier number that you had shared during the launch. Any updated dealer reach or any of the updated numbers that you would like to share? That's my second question.

Titan Company Limited

Titan Company Limited CC-May26.pdf · 2026-05-08
Congrats on a good set of numbers. Thank you for taking my question. So, first question is on buyer growth. I just wanted to get a sense of what led to the return of buyer growth to 8% versus flat that we have seen for the past nine months. Was it a brief period of stable gold demand that brought it back or I am sure you'll be doing certain activations, etc. on diamond. So, how should one look at the return of buyer growth? Was it more from gold point of view or from activation point of view?
Got it. That is clear. So, that's one. Secondly, I wanted to get your sense on the increase in ticket size that we have been witnessing over the past two quarters of 44% and 40%. Should one extrapolate this growth, given that the gold prices have gone up or do you think it is a phenomenon again because of wedding earlier, activation in 4th Quarter? Can one expect this at least to continue for some more time?
Titan Company Limited CC-Nov25.pdf · 2025-11-04
So my question, again, is on the buyer growth. It has been about flat to decline since a couple of quarters. Can you highlight steps taken by you, which are materially different from your past steps, to bring back buyer growth apart from the normal activat ion, marketing mix or the 18 carat that you're trying to do? Any other material steps you think that will bring back buyer growth? So that's one. And any quantitative range for October festive or October sales that you can share will be very helpful. So that's my first question.
Understood. Venkat, just on continuation with that and Ajoy also, so if I recall correctly, the exchange gold has a bearing on the margin and will put some pressure. If the saliency of gold exchange scheme keeps rising or that may pivot towards that, how s hould one think about the margins going forward on the back of this insight? And again, on the 18 carat, does that have any bearing on margins if you -- saliency of 18 carat goes up, so both on margins?

TATA CONSUMER PRODUCTS LIMITED

TATA CONSUMER PRODUCTS LIMITED CC-May26.pdf · 2026-05-08
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my questions and c ongrats on a good set of numbers. Firstly, on gross margins. They have compressed sequentially. This seems largely due to the non -branded coffee and international business, while India margins seems to have improved. With the elevated cost levels from crude and fuel, etcetera, that we are seeing now, can one expect the near -term m argin should be under pressure? And what level of margin should one consider for FY '27, especially when you say A&P will go back to 7.5% from 6.7% in FY '26 that you saw and with the rising pressure on RMs that we are seeing current ly. So that's my first question?
Understood. Just one small clarification there, Sunil. Should we still hold to that 50, 70 basis points of expansion over FY '26 that we had indicated? Or do you think that it can come with a little bit of delay?
TATA CONSUMER PRODUCTS LIMITED CC-Jan26.pdf · 2026-01-27
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question and congrats on a great set of numbers. Firstly, on Tea pricing, have all the price cuts in Tea captured in the quarter? If not, what percentage is reflected in 3Q? And secondly, on Tea, now with Tea prices going up again, fair to say that given that you have bought most of the Tea prices in 2Q, you will have a lower cost advantage and can that have a tailwind to margins? So, that is on Tea first? Sunil D’Souza: So, Mihir, let me say broadly on commodities, we have given up on forecasting with accuracy, right. Given climate change, etc., you don't know how things pan out, number one. So, we remain flexible, agile, able to move in either direction. And that is what I maintained even in coffee. That is number one. Number two, there was a small uptick on Tea prices at end of the quarter. But remember, January to about mid-March, early April is a very lean season in the north. Now, how the north crop comes out mid-March to early April will determine the opening prices then. Therefore, I would not make a statement as to whether we will be better off or worse off, right . We have done a calculation, we have got inventory for a decent part of Q1, but we will be flexible on moving up or down depending on how the commodity fares when the season opens. And to the other point, we have already passed on most of the increases in this quarter. And that is why you saw volume equal to value growth for the quarter. And as of now, if nothing changes, broadly, we will go back to the mid -single-digit volume plus a couple of basis points of price mix.
Understood. Secondly, can you talk a little bit more about the GTM changes that you highlighted? 80% you have already said that pilot is already in place. Now, that is only for those number of states, 8 states or so. Or it is for pan -India, some clarity on that. And what is the impact on the growth there? The 30% growth that you would call out for the growth businesses captures these GTM changes or one can expect elevated growth because of this? Sunil D’Souza: So, number one, the primary reason we have done the GTM changes is to continue to drive growth. Now, as the percentage of growth businesses grows and the absolute grows, I think even maintaining the 30% is a decent enough target to have. So, in the short to medium term, we are not changing the 30 %. The GTM changes fundamentally are supposed to be making sure that they drive growth. A, they are pan-India, they are not restricted to specific states. We had shown the maps on certain, the things on the strong points, where Capital Foods was strong, where Salt is strong and where Organic India was strong. So, if that is the deduction for the 8 states that is not a right number. We have done a pan-India, more than 10 lakh plus cities. Any city which is either overwhelming share of Salt, then it is a Salt plus non -salt, where Salt plus Tea is overwhelming. For example, Calcutta was 91% Salt plus Tea and only 9% contribution from growth. So, there we have gone core plus growth. And then across every other city where we have common distributors, and we had split routes earlier, we have gone back and because the retailers told us that for small drops, small this thing, they don't want multiple salesmen coming in. And therefore, the smaller outlets, if I remember right, it is more than Rs. 3,000 drop per month in urban and in metros and Rs. 2,000 in lower than metros, we have common salesmen. Beyond that, we have multi-category salesmen going in split routes. So, the idea is the salesman has dedicated focus. Above the salesman, the TSE and the ASM is also structured by category. So, for Salt, it is the guys only handle Salt. And for, if it is core and growth, there is a team which is only handling core, there is a team which only handling growth. So, that gives dedicated focus behind executio n. So, not only supervisory level, execution level, everything is segmented to drive growth.
TATA CONSUMER PRODUCTS LIMITED CC-Nov25.pdf · 2025-11-03
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question. So first question is on tea. It is a two-part question. On tea, you've grown well in double digits over the past 4 quarters, but I believe there were some price cuts put into effect in second quarter because of the soft tea prices. Should one expect further price cuts to continue or all the price cuts are behind now? Firstly, that. And secondly, given that you will start cycling a higher base, what level of sales growth should one expect in the second half for the tea business? So that's the part one. Part two, on the tea margins, you highlighted that they have come back to normative levels. So should one expect similar mar gins for tea in the second half or there is still room for further margin improvement for tea in the second half? So that's my first question. Sunil D’souza: So Mihir, let me answer the second question first. We ’ve broadly always said we will operate between roughly a 34% to 36% gross margin range for tea. And we have broadly reached that level. And the reason why we say 34% to 36% is if we try to go beyond that, you have to remember that, A, it's a competitive environment out there; B, it's a largely co mmodity price indexed business. And therefore, we will start bleeding share at that point. And market share to me is an extremely important factor in any business. So we will operate in the 34% and 36% and make sure that we keep making corrections in pricing as and when needed. So that's number one. Number two, going back to your first question. Again, the principle is it's a 34% to 36% margin, that is the longer -term guidance, A; B, also, we've always maintained that in tea, we will have mid -single-digit growth, volume growth and a couple of bps of price mix and therefore mid- to high single-digit total revenue growth. Now that formula can change between volume and price from time to time. Last year, we had high price-driven growth. I would think as we give out pricing, as we take down prices, we will see volume-driven growth coming back into the category. So broadly, I would say, more importantly, the mid- to high single-digit top line growth is what we would guide for.
Secondly, on international sales in non-branded, it seems to have turned better largely because of coffee or coffee prices. Are these sustainable? And if not, what level of growth should one expect in these businesses? Sunil D’souza: See, in the unbranded business, I would urge not to look at the top line. It is more the margin because more or less, it's conversion, right? We buy the coffee, convert it into either spray dried, freeze dried and sell it back to the big boys, right? And therefore, it is a margin which matters. While we saw a 26% top line, the margins were broadly in line with where it should be. It is, I would say, the low teens is where non -branded operates, and that is where we've landed. So coffee prices going up and down, your guess is as good as mine. Everything was starting to come down from a $4 level. It had come down up to $3. And then this 50% tariffs in Brazil happened. Brazil supplies roughly 30% of the U.S. coffee, and then the whole thing went north again. We are starting to see some softness again. But I would say broadly, it's the margin and not the absolute numbers that I would urge you to look at.

Marico Limited

Marico Limited CC-May26.pdf · 2026-05-05
Congrats on the very good performance. I wanted to just understand on your rationale behind the upward revision on the EBITDA guidance as this is despite the new acquisitions, which could have some drag on the margins, plus the inflation in crude derivatives that we are seeing currently is very sharp. I believe in 3Q, as Pawan highlighted, you had highlighted about mid - teen EBITD A growth and now it's been high teens. So what is driving the change in assumptions? I would appreciate some thoughts on those?
Got it. Thank you. That's very clear. Secondly, on Saffola, both the volumes and pricing has seen some improvement on a sequential basis. And it also actually in the press note highlighted that there was some pantry stocking up in the early part of March due to the West Asia crisis. So I wanted to check just, one, the level of pricing that will be required on Saffola to maintain margins. Two, any pantry stocking up? And what can be the sustainable volume levels for Saffola for FY '27?
Marico Limited CC-Jan26.pdf · 2026-01-27
So, just continuing on VAHO, except for SETU, the kind of growth that we are seeing is really sharp, and apparently the other players are also seeing sharper growth. But I don't see them marrying together because each of these subcategories have a different market. They are more ingredient-based hair oils, which are preferred. So, what is really driving this growth? What is a sustainable number for VAHO that we can think about over the near term, maybe the next two to four quarters? So , that is part A. Part B is, given VAHO has the highest margin in the core business, higher than Parachute and Saffola , and as copra headwinds start to wane and those margins will start improving, higher growth from VAHO can add to that margin expansion. So, how should one think about that play as well? So that is my first question.
That is very clear. Thanks for that. Second, on the copra-led price cuts, given that this time around price increases were relatively very sharp, , there is an expectation that the price cuts also probably will be very sharp. So, wanted to get a sense on how should one think about the pricing in Parachute as you go down the quarter, given copra is already down 30%. Maybe in a month or two, you had earlier highlighted that price cuts can probably start in Feb or March. I wanted to get a sense of that, and how many times do you think that one will have to take price cuts to ensure the trade channel remains healthy in terms of stocking? So, that is the second question.
Marico Limited CC-Nov25.pdf · 2025-11-14
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question. Looking Q2 FY26, and just taking a context leap from FY25, despite significant gross margin pressure, you have particularly struck up your ad spends. How should one think about ad spends going forward in FY '27? And is there a threshold of margin that you want to work with on the gross and EBITDA level that we should keep in mind?
Got it, very clear , Saugata , thank you for that. Second question is on project SETU, again, looking beyond FY '26, what is the kind of benefit that this should continue over FY27 and how should one look into any tangible targets that you can share on project SETU and the benefit of that?
Marico Limited CC-Jun25.pdf · 2025-08-04
Hi, team. Thank you for taking my question. Firstly, on Parachute, just one small clarification. In the press update you highlighted that there is a consumer pricing of about 60% and that translates to closer to about 30%, 31% for the quarter. I wanted to know, after this 31%, what is the incremental pricing that you have taken that has yet to come through in the numbers?
Understood, Pawan. Thank you for clarifying that. After such sharp price increases, I mean, historically, I do not think, I recall much price declines in Parachute maybe in '17, '18 and thereabouts. But how confident are you on the volume growth front you sustained this quarter? But does this kind of price increase put significant pressure on titrating for consumers? Can one expect a sharper decline on volumes of Parachute or not really?

Lenskart Solutions Limited

Britannia Industries Limited

Britannia Industries Limited CC-Feb26.pdf · 2026-02-11
Rakshit, congrats on your new role and the team for the great set of numbers. First question is on the demand environment. First, if you could maybe just break up the 9.5% into volume value. The other thing is that the other large player for most part of the third quarter, was seen to remain at INR4.5 and INR9 price point. So did this have any volume pressure for you for the quarter? And has all the industry now moved back to the INR5, INR10 price point with a higher grammage and the impact on volumes on the back of that in the coming quarters? So that's my first question.
Understood. Very clear. Second question is on the margin profile. The gross margin seems to have done quite well, RM prices the way we see it continue to remain benign and the new innovations appear to be gross margin accretive. Can one expect the overall gross margin profile to go back to 44% levels that we had seen 2 years back? And more near term sequentially, can one expect margins to improve from these levels on a quarter-on-quarter basis? So that's my other question.
Britannia Industries Limited CC-Jun25.pdf · 2025-08-06
So firstly, on the volume growth, it seems to be just about 2% volume growth. And the momentum versus what we saw in the fourth quarter seems to have gone down, while most of the other consumer companies are seeing an improvement in momentum when it comes to volume growth from 4Q to 1Q Is there any impact of this East distribution rejig that you're doing is impacting this volume growth? That's one. And the other one is, do you see any green shoots or trend change for volume growth trajectory to get better in the coming quarters?
Understood. Sir, second question is on the commodities. Sequentially, most commo dity prices are seeing a downward trend and there seems to be kind of a 7.5%, 8% pricing in the system. How should one think about the gross margin from here on? Because in 1Q, we did not see much improvement on a sequential basis versus what you're expecting, but maybe there were some higher inventory in the system. Can one expect this gross margins to have bottomed out and to see an improvement and all the high-priced inventory have gotten exhausted?

JSW Dulux Limited

JSW Dulux Limited CC-Nov25.pdf · 2025-11-07
Congrats on a good performance on the volume front and the premium end segment. Sir, just to understand a bit deeper on the price correction that you have taken. Any initial feedback that you can share from the dealers or from the consumers on how they are accepting the price correction and the positive effect that will have on your volumes? And what is the kind of pressure that we can expect on the margins because of the price corrections that have been put into the market? So that's my first question?
Very clear, yes and our channel checks are also indicating that there is a new energy that is there with Akzo now. So that's why I wanted to check on the positive impact. So, in connection with that, how should one think about the competitive intensity in the industry now? We have seen the other larger players, probably the intensity has kind of reduced in some way is what we believe. But, and there's new aggression from your side? So, from overall competitive intensity point of view over the next year or a couple of years, how should one think about it? Where do you think, do you subscribe to the view that a disruption in price points or any other disruption can drive share gains? Or do you think intensity will remain healthy and whoever puts their best foot forward in terms of efficiency, good product, good servicing will be the key winner out of this entire thing. Just wanted to share, get your views on the same?

Godrej Consumer Products Limited

Godrej Consumer Products Limited CC-Nov25.pdf · 2025-10-31
Hi, Sudhir and team. Thank you for taking my question. So firstly…
Hi. Firstly, on the margin guidance that you called out. Palm has gone through some volatile times and you reiterated that you will come back to your normative standalone brand. I believe it is 24% to 26%. So just checking on that once again. And do you think that 3Q , 4Q will be around these levels or with the higher palm oil prices that you've seen, there is a risk to that? I just wanted to check on that one first.
Godrej Consumer Products Limited CC-Jun25.pdf · 2025-08-07
Hi, team. Thank you for taking my question. Firstly, on the Africa business, after the cleanup the growth seems to have been quite strong. Firstly, is this growth sustainable a nd or what can be a reasonable growth for Africa on a sustainable basis and in FY26? So that's my first question?
Understood. Secondly, on competitive intensity, Sweden, Indonesia, do you expect all the higher promotions, etcetera, that have happened to match competition? The impact of all this already factored into the margins this quarter or do you think that we can see some more margin pressure in coming quarters as well?

Hindustan Unilever Limited

Hindustan Unilever Limited CC-Jun25.pdf · 2025-07-31
Thank you for taking my question. Firstly on Gross Margin, the gap between NMI and UPG has widened this quarter also if I see the palm oil prices recently they've started to become inflationary again, how should one triangulate your comment on sequential improvement in G ross Margin with low pricing led growth going forward and this GPM improvement that you are expecting will it largely be driven by cost efficiencies and better mix, so that's my first question?
Understood. Thanks for that. Secondly, on your comment on your ad spends again, so basically if you see your low er raw material prices usually also lead to higher competitive intensity. Are you sensing any competitive intensity to go up and hence the higher ad spends budgeting apart from the investment that you want to do in the brands and also with the economy opening up or getting better, how should one think about the new digital brands again to mushroom and start growing faster and know probably some way hurt the g rowth of other legacy brands. So, your comments on competitive intensity on this?