Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the TTK Prestige Limited Q1 and FY26 earnings conference call. 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 touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Yash Jain from Ambit Capital. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Hello everyone. Welcome to TTK Prestige 1Q FY26 earnings call. From the management side, today we have Mr. Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan, Managing Director and CEO, Mr. K. Shankaran, Advisor to the Board, and Mr. R. Saranyan, the Full-Time Director and CFO. Thank you, and over to you, sir, for your opening remarks.
Yeah, very good evening, everyone. Thanks for joining the call today. Before I hand over the proceedings to our Managing Director, Mr. Venkatesh, I just want to remind the participants about the safe harbor clause. The discussion today may contain certain statements which are futuristic in nature. Such statements represent the intentions of the management and the efforts being put in by them to realize certain goals. The success in realizing these goals depends on various factors, both internal and external. Therefore, the investors are requested to make their own independent judgments by considering all relevant factors before taking any investment decision. Over to you, Venkatesh.
Yes. Good afternoon. Good evening. Before I get on to the specifics, I think a view of what's happening overall business and across. From an economy perspective, if you were to look at it, I think this quarter or the last few quarters have been really challenging, where economic growth across the geographies has been sort of muted. A lot of uncertainties around inter-geographical tariffs and other areas that have been in play for the last few weeks or so. Overall, there seems to be a very muted growth across the globe in terms of some of the key geographies and the key markets. Also, adding to this and having linkages to our business as well as to our country overall, there have been issues around the global supply disruptions that have happened due to some of these macro conflicts that are happening across geographies.
In this scenario, if you were to look at our view, I think it has been very positive about India in overall, one, which we believe is continuing to be at a robust six% GDP growth and continues to be among the fastest growing economies as well. Having said that, there have been business-related disruptions due to this global uncertainty, particularly in the space of supply chain, in spaces of shortages around containers for some of our businesses, both exports as well as for some of the imports of our input raw materials as well. I think this continues to be a challenge, and that is something that we would watch out for as we move forward. So a robust economy, and we believe that would sort of reflect as we move forward in the specific category growths and the industry growths as well.
Specific to the company, the quarter has seen a lot of growth, specifically on our channels across general trade, e-commerce, modern trade, and we've seen robust growth led by e-commerce, followed by the general trade. As in the past, we said, we've had a little bit of challenges around the MFI-driven rural market that continues to be a challenge from the last year, and there is no sign of revival as we speak from that particular channel. However, the rest of the businesses, the rest of the channels seem to be on track, giving us a good growth, particularly with e-commerce leading the pack, and we see a slightly renewed positive trend in the general trade as well.
From a pricing perspective, opportunities opening up at the lower end of the market, a lot more competition evolving with new players coming in, and there have been pressures on the pricing as well. But as a company, we believe that we are operating in the right space of premiumization route, and we continue to be able to increase our value growth through premiumization as a central anchor strategy. There have been relatively easing of the input material prices, but we do believe that given the current volatility around the geographies and the global scenario, input prices will continue to be under pressure as we move forward, and that is something that we are factoring in as we move forward in terms of our approach to the market as well.
Exports have been encouraging, but we do believe that there have been a little bit of overhang because of the uncertainty around tariffs surrounding the U.S. market and a couple of other markets, and therefore, while there have been sort of offshoots, green shoots in terms of business growth, we are seeing sort of slowdown in terms of fulfilling orders as a combination of uncertainty and also as a combination of supply chain disruptions that I earlier sort of highlighted. Overall, the quarter, in our view, seems to be in the right direction as we set it out to be, with robust growth coming in from the key channels of general trade, e-commerce, large format stores. The challenges around MFI continue to be there, but we do believe that that is sort of play out as we move forward in the coming quarters.
The overall numbers, we've shared it in the gist, and I probably wouldn't want to go back to the specific numbers again, but our domestic sales is now registering a growth of 4.7% year on year on a like-to-like basis from the quarter perspective. In terms of operating margins, our operating EBITDA seems to be moving in the right direction. We are, as we had highlighted earlier, making substantial investments into strategic initiatives which are futuristic in nature, both in terms of capability building, in terms of investments into specific parts of the market, and also in terms of building the teams as well, and that is what you would see reflecting also in some amount of the EBITDA changes that we have projected for the quarter.
As we had mentioned before, this is a transition phase in which we would like to continue to keep invested upon and grow the top line as well as our cost efficiencies as we move forward. We have had a very specific thrust around our Prestige Xclusive Stores . The channel seems to be doing very well. It is helping us in the premiumization strategy, and we are now ramping up our expansion of Prestige Xclusive Stores as we go forward for the next set of quarters. The other initiative that we've been focused upon and yielding us good results is the Judge brand. The Judge brand post-repositioning in the market continues to grow well and add to both our top line as well as to our efficiencies in terms of managing the distribution chain.
So overall, I think we would see this quarter where we've sort of seen a resurgence in the general trade market. We do believe that we are doing a good job in that channel. We continue to be robustly growing in the e-commerce channel in strong double digits, and we are now able to sort of consolidate and move forward on the Judge brand as well, additionally adding to the current strength that we have in our Prestige Xclusive outlets. We've introduced around 38 new SKUs during this quarter across all categories. We have been able to successfully sort of look at the entire cookware range, the cooker range, and some of the small domestic appliance range. Over the last few quarters, we have substantially increased our presence in terms of both quantum of SKUs as well as the portfolio that needs to be sort of arrived at.
As we speak today, I think we've sort of ramped up our portfolio across all the new products and specifically small domestic appliances, cookware, also in terms of being able to bring in new category growth across with air fryers as well. So overall, we seem to be in a comfortable space, and we do believe that we are doing the right things that would sort of help us leapfrog as we move forward. The commodity prices have been stable during the quarter, and like I mentioned, probably there would be a little bit of pressure as we move forward, which we do believe we will be able to mitigate through internal efficiencies as we move forward.
So that's the overall story that I would say specific to the domestic market, and we continue to be invested upon, like I mentioned, in terms of capability building, capacity expansion, as well as in terms of go-to-market investments that could help us sort of enhance our market shares as well. So that's the broad summary that I would like to leave the group with and open to questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Anirudh Joshi from ICICI Securities. Please proceed.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. So in the presentation, we have written that MFI channel continues to face the challenges, but I guess we have already discontinued this channel almost four to five quarters ago. So do we still generate any sales? What is the revenue percentage share from MFI channel for us in this quarter versus last year's June quarter? That is question number one. In terms of question number two, sir, we have seen that the e-commerce business has done relatively better, but if you can also indicate about the strategy for quick commerce for us and what will be revenue salience of e-commerce, general trade, MFI, CSD, and quick commerce, all the five channels? Yeah, thanks.
Right. I'll just take the first question. This is on the MFI channel. MFI channel, yes, you are right. I think in the last four quarters itself, I think we have seen the numbers coming down. The number for July is, sorry, for the first quarter is much lower than the previous quarter. It is not very significant. For this Q1, it is not very significant. It is around 0.5% of the total sales, whereas it was around 1.2% last year. So it is not very significant both in the last Q1 as well as this Q1. So that answers if you want to add on the e-commerce.
Yeah. So I think, so while I would not be at mercy to be sort of leveraged to be able to completely give you the contributions at different channels, suffice to say that we have substantial contribution across all the channels. It's not like one channel is dominant versus the other. Of course, general trade has a lion's share, but I think we are uniquely placed that we have a significant presence across e-commerce, across large format stores, and across quick commerce as well. Quick commerce continues to be in a very hyper growth phase. Overall, I think for the industry, quick commerce is probably around a 50% plus growth. It continues to be in a hyper phase growth. It continues to lead the overall e-commerce growth channel as well, and we are aggressively present.
So I would leave you not with specific numbers, but very clearly that we are dominantly present and our contribution of sales comes sort of spread, well spread between the three channels of e-commerce, large format stores, and quick commerce now building upon general trade. Of course, it continues to be a dominant portion of our overall contribution of sales. Right? The MFI channel, we do believe that with this quarter, more or less, it's gone. There would have been a little bit of an impact of the MFI channel in this quarter's reporting, but I think from last Q2 onwards, we've sort of negated that, and we don't foresee that channel to be dominant as we move forward.
Okay. Sure, sir. So just one more question. Now, with the new changing strategy, whether the company is also investing in hiring of senior management people, and what will be the key hire done till now, if you can elaborate on that front? Yeah, thanks.
No, I think with the last one and a half years, more or less, the senior management is sort of being transitioned from the old guard to the new guard, and in this process, we've also sort of strengthened each function. Well, I don't want to put a number to it at this point of time. Almost all the senior functions have been staffed really well at this point of time. We're also bolstering the support systems where required in terms of people as well as in terms of technology as well. So I think we are now fairly constant now in terms of some of the leadership positions. We are currently having all the leadership positions filled as we speak.
Okay. Sure, sir. That's helpful. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question is from the line of Lokesh Maru from Nippon. Please proceed.
Hi. Thanks for giving the opportunity. A few questions from my side. First one would be, sir, in the presentation, we have mentioned that general trade and exclusive stores had an average growth of around 6%, right? And then modern trade and e-commerce together registered double-digit growth. So the confusion remains that on an average, if MFI channel is just 1% today or less than 1% today and had been the same, had been so like 1.5%, like you mentioned, same time last year, the average growth, looking at this statement, comes out at least around 9-10%. So what am I missing in this 5-6% figure?
Like I mentioned, last year Q1, we had a substantial portion of MFI. From Q2 onwards, it started receding down. So this would be the last quarter you see this impact.
Perfect. Exactly. Wanted to understand that. So this is the last quarter.
Sort of would have some impact of that. This would be the last quarter you see that impact.
Until last year, if I'm not wrong, this would be around 7%-8% odd, right, of the overall sales?
Before that.
Yeah, same time last year.
This would be 7-8%. You are right. You are right.
Okay. Perfect. Perfect. Thank you. Second question is, last quarter, we had mentioned in our PPT that new SKUs would be 118, 118, right, for Q1. So what we have launched this time is 38, as highlighted in PPT again. So anything we are missing, any rollovers that we've seen Q2, a substantial amount, is it?
No, so two things. One, of course, there is the last year, like I said, we were on a rampage to get the portfolio gaps completely addressed. We are sort of now consolidating that and focusing on getting some of the NPDs of last year also to scale up. So you will see a steady flow of NPDs as we move forward. We are now sort of consolidating some of the NPDs so that we don't miss out in terms of growth from the portfolio as well. So I'm assuming you're referring to the last year's number.
No, last year. Okay. Your point was last time we had indicated 119 SKUs will be launched in Q1. You are right, but as part of the conscious decisions, we have decided to defer some to the subsequent quarters. We didn't want to flood the market with too many SKUs. That is based on the ongoing discussions we are having. That's why you see a lower number that got launched in Q1 versus what has been projected before. But you'll see some of those coming up in the subsequent quarter.
Subsequent quarters.
But yeah, it is quite evident that even this number of 38 is quite an exaggerated number compared to what we had last three years. So good to see that again. So the last question from my side is gross margin has been quite high this time, right? 44%. If on a steady state annual basis, if you could guide if 42%-43%, any rough cut number that you have in mind that one should pen down as an assumption on gross margin.
It's very difficult to give you any guidance on the Gross Margin. That primarily depends on how the commodity prices go up and down. This quarter, the commodity price was a little stable. So that's why we had seen that. I think we will not be able to give you, but it should be around this number. It should not go far away because if there is any increase in the Gross Margin, we will definitely go for any price increase as well as appropriate.
Sure, sir. Also, lastly, good to see that our e-comm sales are going well, but gross margin is holding up. So that's all from my side. Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sameer Gupta from India Infoline. Please proceed.
Hi everyone. Good evening and thanks for taking my question. Most of them have been answered. Just one on the EBITDA margin front. So I mean, you've mentioned that gross margin is expected to be more or less in this range. Plus, this quarter also includes around INR 18 crore expenses, which is attributable to the ongoing efforts. And sequentially, in terms of sales, this is the weakest quarter. So would it be a fair assumption then that 8.6% EBITDA margin on a standalone level, this is the bottom of the margins, and from here on, we can expect it to inch up in subsequent quarters?
See, Samir, that depends on the because as we had mentioned before. I think the next few quarters, we also mentioned that in the gist, we will be spending a good amount of money on the futuristic nature for various synergies we are looking at to go to the next level. So that impact will always be there for next few quarters. Post that, I think once those exercises are done and then the actions are implemented, we should start seeing the EBITDA going back to the original, what used to be there before, around 13% plus.
That is fair, sir. But if that INR 18 crore number that you have spent on these efforts is not going to increase further in an absolute basis, then if the sales go up, as in absolute terms and gross margin remains the same, technically there is a significant churn.
It should reflect that all depends on what we are committed to spend around INR 200 crore. That's what we had mentioned early this year, when I say January this year. So that INR 200 crore spent will happen over the next three years. So how much will be spent in each quarter, that depends on how the numbers look. But obviously, if the sales go up, ramp up, the EBITDA margin will definitely improve.
Thanks a lot, sir. That's all from me. I'll come back in the queue for follow-ups.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vishal from Carnelian Asset Advisors. Please proceed.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. So I have a similar question on macro side. So while weak rural demand continues to weigh on overall volume growth, are you seeing any structural shift in the demand and more transition to premium SKUs across Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities?
One of the very clear defining trends that we are seeing, particularly in the large towns, the top maybe the 50 towns to 70 towns, we are very clearly seeing that there is a marked movement towards slightly higher value products, and therefore, premiumization as a trend is very clearly visible in some of the big markets. I think we are running a twin prong strategy where there are certain geographies where we would play the mass pricing and therefore distribution expansion, while in some geographies, very clearly, there is a scope for premiumization, and that's playing out well. I would say the top 100 towns, probably the premiumization trend is quite visible by way of shifting to better material-led pricing and also in terms of aesthetics as well. I think the market very clearly is sort of seeing a little bit of a premiumization trend.
This is also being facilitated by our own stores as well as we look at it.
Okay. That's it from my side. Direct question was answered already. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Natasha Jain from PhillipCapital. Please proceed.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity, and good evening, gentlemen. I just have one question. So what I've observed in the past couple of quarters is a lot of regional players have taken the front seat in terms of getting very, very aggressive on marketing in terms of distributive engagement, and that has kind of affected listed shares, listed players' market share.
Because if I see the industry still growing at a mid to high single digit, so your annual report also mentioned, but there it was mentioned that on the lower price point is where the competition is. But when I go on the ground, I also see a lot of premium players who are regional players not listed, and they are doing very well, especially on the distributor incentive. And that is why probably the products are moving faster than your listed players. So any comment on that?
How do you see this competition mushrooming in the coming quarters? That's it. Thank you.
So you're right. I think, so like we said, this premiumization wave is also leading to specific geography-led regional players sort of scaling up. I would say this is not unique to this category. This is something that you would see across categories, across industries, where there have been a new set of players who have come in very aggressively, good product at the end of the day, don't want to discount competition at any point of time. But I think there has been a very aggressive stance being taken at some specific channel level. We are evaluating that on a specific case-to-case basis, geography-by-geography basis. While we do believe long-term, it is not something that is sustainable for some of the players. They may be sort of working it out on different priorities.
So to us, I think it's more important that we focus on our core, and that's what we're doing today by way of expanded distribution, by way of ensuring that we don't lose our counter shares in some of the big players, by way of ensuring that our portfolios are all complete today, premiumizing some of our categories. So some of the internal actions that we have taken will ensure that we are able to hold versus some of these players. The question is, I think, of sustainability over a period of time, and of course, some priorities of business that each player would work with. So to us, at the end of the day, it is a challenge, and I think we are working the challenge from both a geography perspective and a channel perspective.
We don't see a concern in some of the specific areas around this because I think eventually this will play out in our view. Of course, it adds to competitive intensity, but that is something that every industry in the country today is going through by way of either DTC brands or by way of specific brands getting launched. So I think our template is there to play against some of these competitions. I would say that good competition raises the bar, and that's what we're sort of working at. Suffice to say that we've been able to sort of hold our ground and improve performances in specific areas while there's been pressure in this. But the pricing-led market growth opportunity definitely is at the bottom end, in my view.
Understood, sir. Thank you very much and all the very best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dishant Mehta from Green & Wealth. Please proceed.
Yeah. Good evening. Thank you. So I have a couple of questions. The first is on the appliances. So if we see the growth in appliances category has been far more under pressure versus the other cookers and cookware category for us. So is there any specific reason here, maybe at an industry level or maybe specifically for us?
No, I think it is the appliance category. There has been a little bit of pressure in one or two subcategories, which is probably why the number looks a little subdued. I think it is more tactical and time-bound, in my view. We do believe that appliances continue to have a robust growth trajectory as we move forward. Specific quarter, there could have been a little bit of up and down that's happening. But our sense is that the appliance categories will continue to grow in double digits as we move forward for the industry as a whole.
Right. So my observation was pertaining to the last few quarters and not just maybe the Q1. So if I look at the last four, five odd quarters, it's been a lot more under pressure.
No, that is very specific because of the quantum of the volume that MFI channel has on appliances, which is why you're seeing that number very specific to us. If you were to look at it, if you were to have a look at outside of the MFI category, this seems to be robust.
Understood. And.
MFI used to run disproportionately on appliances as well.
In terms of demand, are you seeing any divergence between, let's say, the South and Non-South?
Not so much that we are looking at. Of course, within geographies, there are some geographies which are sort of outpacing. So I think there are some geography-specific bright spots that I would say. South versus North, I wouldn't sort of there's not much of discrimination that I could see in our categories per se.
Right.
However, the premiumization trend is much stronger in South.
Right. So premiumization, a couple of quarters back, we had articulated this ambition to perhaps launch a premium brand. So where are we on that? Or is that still on the drawing board, or is it something that we are not planning to go ahead with?
Right.
Considering that premiumization is a big trend going ahead.
Right now, we are consolidating our efforts with Prestige and Judge, and our efforts to sharply define the portfolios and move Prestige up the ladder as well. An exclusive premium brand above Prestige is not something that is in the works, but not right now.
Got it. And as far as channels go, so CSD channel has been under pressure for quite some time because of the cut down of the government subsidies and inventory rationalization. So do you think that these problems are kind of behind us and things have bottomed out there, or are we not there yet as far as CSD channel goes?
We wouldn't be able to. I've got a guess, but our sense is I think we are still not out of the woods yet as far as this channel is concerned.
So are inventory rationalization efforts still ongoing there? I mean, overall for the channel?
Yes. Yes. At an industry level, yes.
Got it. And the other part was you spoke about expanding the PSK stores that we have. That has largely been more or less stable over the last few years, if we see. So what's kind of pushing us to expand the number of stores? And because what we understood from the past was that largely South, we had kind of saturated or exhausted, we were well penetrated as far as our PSK stores were concerned. So can you just elaborate in terms of distribution expansion for your PSK stores? Is it largely going to be non-South, or it's across India? And what's the change of thought here to kind of, again, focus back on this channel?
So two things. I think the channel, we believe that the competitive moat, and we have been good at managing this channel. We, in fact, could call ourselves as a retailer managing close to 700 or 625-plus stores. So I think it's a substantial competitive differentiation that we believe can be well enhanced as we move forward. In terms of expansion, we are looking at it both from South and Non-South.
Of course, on a long-term basis, there'll be a disproportionate growth coming from Non-South markets, but South markets have enough leeway that is available for us to grow. So in our minds, I think it's a combination of, for example, a large number of the big towns or big markets, I wouldn't call South Non-South, big cities, for example, have significantly expanded their geographical boundaries. We are actually plotting some of those gaps that we would have had in these expansions.
It could be a Bangalore, it could be a Chennai, it could be a Delhi. So I think a combination of focus on big metros, a combination of focus on some of the mid-tier towns, that's the focus right now. Would we go into very deep tier two to tier three towns? The answer is no. Focused on probably the top 200, 300 towns, we have enough scope for us to expand. On a long-term basis, disproportionate additions would come from the non-South market.
Understood. And just last two questions. Would the India-U.K. FTA help us directly in any shape, in any form? And if yes, in what shape? And also, exports, do we have any direct exposure to exports to the U.S. market?
We do have a good amount of exposure to the U.S. market, but these are all not our product. It's primarily a third-party contract manufacturing in their white label brand. That's where Mr. Venkatesh was also mentioning in the initial opening remarks, saying that that has got some impact on our exports as well, where the customers are wait and watch there and wait and watch more to take the consignments. So yes, that is there, and that will have some impact. Not significant, but that definitely has some impact on our export. With respect to U.K.-India FTA, it's too early to say, but definitely there will be some benefits, especially for the export of stainless steel cookware from India to U.K. We are seeing some benefit, but we have to wait for some more time before we see these benefits.
If you could quantify the exports to the U.S. in the form of white labeling?
Can you say quantify?
Like as a percentage of revenue, like in FY25, what was it?
It will be roughly out of total exports, 15%-20% will be around 20, but I don't want to divulge so much of information also here being cooperative, but it's roughly around 20%-25%.
Of the exports. Got it.
Yeah.
All right. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Sumit, an individual investor. Please proceed.
Good evening. I just wanted to know, the U.K. subsidiary had an impairment charge last quarter. No charges this year. Sorry, this quarter. Do you expect that trend to continue? And the U.K. FTA agreement, is that net positive for your U.K. subsidiary or does it make a difference? I'm not sure what Horwood is here.
Right. We do the impairment on an every quarterly basis. I think we have done a major review in March, and then we have already provided for. At this point of time, there is no need for any further impairment. With respect to the U.K. FTA, as I did mention, we have to wait for some time. We do see some benefits in export of they are buying some of the stainless steel cookware from India. Currently, it is not that significant, but once we ramp up, I think that will benefit them. But it's too early to give any number on what exactly the benefit is at this point of time.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one at this time. The next question is from the line of Praneeth, an individual investor. Please proceed.
Hello. Thank you for the opportunity. So I was wondering what the export strategy you wanted to follow? Are we actually looking at exports as a major revenue driver going forward? If yes, how are we planning on scaling up the revenues, especially with the contract manufacturing part of it?
So on the export side, I think we are working vigorously to look at how do we sort of leverage some of the opportunities coming in. It would be largely around the white label exports that we would be focused on. Having said that, in the immediate next few quarters, we don't see this to be a strategic lever for growth. We are investing in capacity. We are investing in knowledge upgradation. We are investing in some of the quality-related systems that are required. So we do believe that it is a reasonably profitable business combined with the current infrastructure that we have, but it's not of immediate short-term focus. Long-term, this would be one of the growth drivers that we look at. But when I say short-term, maybe the next three to four quarters, we wouldn't be sort of focused on this so much.
So what we do see for exports is mostly the cookware category, right, in terms of cookers and rest of the, let's say, the ceramic-coated pans and all of that? Or would it be appliances part of it?
No, no. Exports will be largely cookware pivoted for us.
Understood. And in the commentary investor presentation, you also mentioned the fact that there's been a lot of competition in terms of the market. So did we have to take any pricing discounts and all of that? And how do you see that as the competition continues to grow, do we see any sort of price reductions in our overall strategy, or how do you see our overall pricing strategy going forward?
No, like we mentioned, we would play it as a two-pronged strategy. One, which we leverage pricing as a strategic lever to grow some of the volumes in specific targeted markets. The other one, we are quite clear that we would play the space with reasonable pricing, which will be competitive in nature. We wouldn't sort of look at dilution of pricing as a lever on the long term, in the long term. So I think while there is competition, like I mentioned, I think each player has got their own way of looking at it. Overall, we do believe that given the premiumization trend, there's enough scope for us to balance the pricing as we move forward. We don't see the category sort of getting under pressure from an overall pricing perspective outside of raw material. Competitive intensities will be handled by their own merit.
That's the way I would look at it. Channel-specific actions, specific reactions, what need be from a portfolio perspective. But on our overall basis, I think we are reasonably placed to be able to play the market the way we think it's right to play.
Understood. So we expect the margins to remain consistent going forward. Or do we see the margins to stay consistent going forward, or do we see a slight increase, or how is it going to be as we have an infinite?
I wouldn't want to give a direction. I wouldn't want to give a direction at this point of time, but we would ideally aspire to hold it where it is today.
Understood. And one more thing regarding the market. So basically, the urban market has been facing distress. At least that's what the commentary has been mentioned by the FMCG companies. Do we also see that and rural coming back, or how does Prestige see these markets at this moment of time? Is there stress in the urban markets, or how is it for Prestige?
There is a little bit of a stress, I would say, on volumes. The growth is being driven, like I said, from value. Volume, if I were to linearly look at volume growth, there's a little bit of a stress across categories and across the geographies, I would say. Robust volume growth is just picking up, in my view. So from a volume growth perspective, there is pressure both across rural and urban.
Understood. And one, got it. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. As there are no further questions, I will now hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you. Thank you for a very engaged conversation. We look forward, and I think we have been constantly for the last few quarters. The organization has gone through a massive transition in terms of leadership, stabilized, and we've invested in the right places. We continue to stay invested in opportunities and to focus on, like I said, capacity building, capability building, which augurs well for us as we move forward. We look forward to much more better quarters. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Ambit Capital Private Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.
Thank you. Thank you.