Please note that this conference has been recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anoop Bector, Promoter and Managing Director. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities Ltd, I extend a very warm welcome to all participants on Q4 FY24 Financial Results Discussion Call. Today on this call, I have with me Mr. Manu Talwar, our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Arnav Jain, Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Ishaan Bector, Whole-Time Director, Mr. Suvir Bector, Whole-Time Director, Mr. Parveen Kumar Goel, Whole-Time Director. We also have Orient Capital with us on the call, who are our Investor Relations Advisor. I hope everyone had an opportunity to go through our investor deck and press release that we have uploaded on the exchanges and on the company's website. Company reported a strong fourth quarter, with revenues from operations increasing by 17.4% and PAT by 21.6% on YoY basis.
Reflecting on our annual performance for our year FY2024, company stands at the highest-ever revenues as well as PAT, with both our business segments registering growth in high teens. Indian economy continues to demonstrate resilience amidst global slowdowns. India's story continues to be domestic consumption-driven, and now we are increasingly becoming a sourcing hub for the world as well. I'm glad to tell you that your company is well placed to make the most of both the opportunities. Our journey of driving multi-pronged business strategy continues with focus on spending both in domestic and international business, with continuous investments in developing our brand portfolio and building future-ready supply chains with state-of-the-art manufacturing setups. We all understand technology is key to any business success.
Thus, company has focused on selling and distribution side through SFA and DMS implementation in the past two years and now has taken an agenda of technology intervention in manufacturing and supply chain over the next 24 months. On the domestic front, I'm glad to inform you that we have achieved our stated objective of doubling direct coverage to 300,000+ outlets in two years. On the export side, I'm happy to share with you that Cremica brand now has a footprint in over 65 countries. We will continue to follow our stated strategy of calibrated expansion in both domestic and international markets. On the brand portfolio, we continue to invest behind our brands, Cremica and English Oven.
Campaign with Kareena Kapoor Khan, Apna Apna Cremica, Bun Great, toh Burger Great , and Goodness of Fiber aimed at driving awareness on the range of Cremica and English Oven products was received well and continued in Q4 2024. While we continue to expand our portfolio of offering the launch of preservative-free cake, Cashew Delight Cookies, Atta Kulcha, and a 12-piece Pav, amongst others, I would like to share with you, in particular our foray into frozen bakery. We have invested ahead of the curve and developed capability on frozen premium bakery products like filled puffs, desserts, and artisan cookies. We believe as the disposable incomes rise, the need for high-quality premium bakery products will increase and provide for an opportunity of future growth.
Updating on the CapEx plan, on the biscuits front, we have commissioned two biscuit lines in Rajpura in FY 2024, with two more additional lines to be added and estimated to be commissioned by H1 2024/2025. Commissioning of the Dhar plant is also expected in the current financial year. On the bakery front, we have commissioned Bhiwadi plant in FY 2024. We have started construction of the building for our Khopoli bakery in Maharashtra, and we are putting another bakery unit in Kolkata, both will be commissioned by Q4/2025. We have initiated Project Impact 1.0, a journey towards cost transformation throughout the organization. It is an initiative across multiple fronts, which includes procurement, packaging, optimizing manufacturing processes, reducing wastages, and streamlining logistics. The preliminary assessment work has started across these functions. We believe this will lay a strong foundation for sustainable growth moving forward.
Also, I am pleased to share that we have declared interim dividend of INR 1.25 per share and declared final dividend of INR 2 per share. Now I will discuss the financial performance, starting with biscuits. Our Biscuit segment reported a revenue growth of 18%, which stood at INR 240 crores in Q4 FY 2024 as compared to INR 203 crores in Q4 FY 2023. The segment has grown by 68% over Q4/FY 2022. Our Biscuit segment witnessed high-teen growth in Q4/2024 as compared to Q4/2023. Bakeries: Our Bakery segment revenue for Q4 2024 stood at INR 151 crores against INR 128 crores in Q4 2023, thus registering a growth of 18% YoY basis, including retail Bakery and institutional segments. This segment has grown by 59% over Q4/FY 2022. The consolidated revenues for the current quarter stood at INR 406 crores versus INR 346 crores in Q4 FY 2023, thus registering a growth of 17% on a year-on-year basis.
EBITDA stood at INR 15 crores in Q4 FY 2024, resulting in a growth of 22% from the corresponding quarter on a year-on-year basis. EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 14.4%, a growth of 49 basis points on a year-on-year basis. PAT stood at INR 34 crores in Q4 2024 and saw a growth of 22% on a year-on-year basis. Our PAT margin for Q4 2024 was 8.3%, registering a growth of 28 basis points year-on-year. Moving to FY 2024 financial performance, the consolidated revenues for FY 2024 stood at INR 1,624 crores versus INR 1,362 crores in FY 2023, thus registering a growth of 19%. EBITDA for the financial year 2024 stood at INR 242 crores versus INR 175 crores in FY 2023, with a growth of 38%, resulting in an improvement of EBITDA margin of 207 basis points year-on-year basis.
PAT for FY 2024 stood at INR 140 crores versus INR 90 crores in FY 2023, with a growth of 56%, resulting in an improvement of PAT margin to the tune of 203 basis points year-on-year. The company has reported the highest-ever PAT margin of 8.6% in FY 2024. With this, I would request to open the floor for questions and answers. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answers 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 will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is on the line of Subh Labh. That is from Arun Kumar. Please go ahead. Mr. Kumar, your line is unmuted. Please go ahead with your question.
Yeah. Am I audible?
Yes, sir.
Yeah. Thank you, sir, for giving me this opportunity and congratulations for the good set of numbers. Sir, I would like to know about the current acquisition which we did for the Mrs. Bectors Cremica Enterprises. We said that it was in the manufacturing of the ice creams. So I would like to know your views on it.
So this I mean, this company was originally making bread. So we have acquired the Bakery business from this company. So it's not ice cream, although they also make ice creams. But we have acquired the Cremica brand with their manufacturing capabilities, whatever they have, and the brand for all the bakery products. So we have acquired that. So this is a transaction which should happen in the coming quarter or sometime. The timelines are being worked out. So it is more about the bakery operation.
Okay. Sir, the amount of CapEx.
For Punjab having the Cremica brand being very strong in the Upper North. So we will have in the future when the deal happens, there could be a possibility of a Cremica brand also getting launched in the bakery side of the business.
Okay. Just to follow up on the same, what amount of CapEx we need to do for the upgradation of the plant, or is it available to production?
Currently, we have not worked on this. We will work on it once the deal happens. So currently, we are not working on it. It's more about getting the brand in hand and then evaluating what we should be doing in the North Indian market of Punjab, Haryana.
Okay. Thank you, sir. This is from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Janhavi Jain from Axia Asset Management Private Limited . Please go ahead.
Hello. So am I audible?
Yes, please.
Yeah. I have a few questions. The first one will be largely on the working capital.
Sorry to interrupt there, Ms. Jain. You're starting to look. Can you speak a bit louder, please?
Hello. Is it better now?
Yes. Please continue.
Yeah. I have a few questions. The first one being largely on the working capital. We see the receivables to be quite inflated for FY 2024. Any specific reason, any change in credit cycle or anything for the future? That's the first one.
Would you like to tell us all the questions, and we can answer them?
Yeah. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. The second, largely on the contract manufacturing front, if I just calculate that backwards, the contract manufacturing revenue has been declined. Is there any reason for that? Third one being cakes. You've launched cakes right now. So what are the plans to actually grow? Do we have any plans to launch more variants than that and any strategy or any number to further reach that segment because that's a very big market as well? So these are the three last questions.
Okay. So Manu here, let me answer first two, and then Ishaan will take up the bakery side, cake side. On the working capital side, our contribution of exports has been high. And because of the Red Sea disturbances, the receivables are higher, so it's been taking more in-transit time to reach the destination. So that's actually one of the large reasons of that, that higher export contribution in this quarter and the Red Sea issue. This has led to the higher debt. Second is we also had bought and booked a sugar for a long eight-month period. So that has also led to some increase in the working capital. So these are the two prime reasons, largely being exports and the Red Sea issue, which has led to a temporary increase in working capital.
Coming to the contract manufacturing, just because of the demand cycle, there has been a bit of a contraction in the quarter four on the contract manufacturing side. But for the companies for which we are doing the contract manufacturing, this is more of a temporary transit phase, and it should come back in one or two quarters. So over to Ishan for the cake part.
Yeah. So on the cake part, what we are doing is we are building some capability for cakes both in the Delhi market and the Mumbai market. So the idea is to leverage our ability to do both B2B and B2C via cakes. B2B would largely be in the frozen front in which we are already operating. The idea is to become more competitive and reach a lot more customers. On the B2C side, we have already launched a cake in the Delhi market, which is a small INR 10 cake. We have seen a good success in that cake. And the idea would be to get a range of competitive products on the B2C side, primarily right now via English Oven, which is short shelf-life products. The current life of our cake is about one month.
As we progress and get more confidence, we can also look at higher shelf-life products on the cake side. So I think it's going to be a journey, but it will definitely add a revenue stream for the business in the future.
Okay. Just follow up a second, please. On the CapEx front, if you could just clarify the CapEx for the next two years.
So as of now, as the last time also, we gave CapEx visibility for the year 2023, 2024, and 2024, 2025. Then over the two-year period, we will be doing the CapEx around INR 550 crore, and that's what the current projection looks like. In terms of our CapEx going forward, beyond that, it's still under planning cycle in the next board meeting. So next investor call, we should be able to give you a visibility on a CapEx beyond this. So as of now, around INR 550-560 crore is the CapEx between the last financial year and this financial year. Last financial year, what we have CapEx which we have spent in the rest of the group is around INR 170 crore. And the balance would happen in this financial year.
One last question on the exports contribution to the total business. If you could just clarify, that's it from my end. Thank you.
Export contribution to our overall business?
Yeah.
As of now, we normally don't share the contribution business-wise, and we share on an overall basis, as you are aware. It is close to, you can say, 30-odd percent of our exports.
Okay. Thank you so much. Good luck.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Amit Purohit from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Congratulations, and thank you for this opportunity. Sir, just if you could.
Amit, can you be a bit louder?
Am I audible now, sir?
Yeah. Yeah. Better.
Yeah. So I'm saying I just wanted to understand in terms of demand trends, how are you seeing the demand, one on the Biscuit side, specifically from a competitive intensity perspective, and otherwise also in terms of growth trends?
Okay. So let me start first with the demand trend. The demand trend, as you are aware, has been a little low. There has been a pressure on volumes, and that's what is even reflecting in all the reports of all the companies and the peers then. So there's definitely a slowdown in volumes versus what it was in the first half of the 2023, 2024 financial year, right? So that's the case there.
In terms of competitive index also, starting, I think, the quarter three of last financial year, there has been more competition from all the companies, especially the leader in the category is rolled out a lot of consumer offers, kind of dropping the consumer price of the products. And we have also taken a respective action in quarter three, quarter four in terms of being competitive in the market. But we're very hopeful. We all know good monsoons are projected for this year, and the inflation is also coming in control. So we are also very confident that starting quarter two of this financial year, we should see the demand coming back. And definitely, post-Diwali, it should be a good run.
That's our kind of outlook, that good monsoons as well as inflation, which has been under control for the last two quarters and going forward also to remain in control, should strengthen back to a good demand. Better growth should be back starting from quarter two, quarter three of this financial year.
Sir, some of the FMCG companies have indicated that they have seen some uptake from April, May. Have you also witnessed similar kind of a growth uptake improving from?
We are also witnessing a slight improvement in demand trends, right? But it's still not reached back to the significant level what it was pre-Diwali, I would say, in the last financial year. So yes, the trends have started looking minorly better now. And we hope post-monsoons, they should start improving it in a much better way.
On the Biscuit side, while you don't share the breakup within Biscuits on domestic and exports, but just to get a sense for the full year, we did 23% kind of a growth in the Biscuit category. Is it safe to assume that Biscuit growth would be somewhere close to mid-teens or high-teens? How do we think about it?
Yeah. So we are targeting it to be mid-teens, right, for the annualized growth, right? And.
I'm saying FY 2024.
Pardon?
Okay. FY24 was also similar, mid-teens.
Yeah. FY 2024, that's what I'm coming to. That was also mid-teens growth in FY 2024 also. FY 2025 also, we are targeting that on an annualized basis for the full year, we should be able to achieve a mid-teens kind of growth.
And sir, just continuing on the overall growth plan, you've been indicating growth rates around mid-teens. But I mean, when I look at the overall, that is for the overall company as well, or you're just referring to branded Biscuit, domestic business?
No, I have answered as of now mid-teens for the domestic biscuit. I think your question was specific to domestic biscuit, and that's what I'm indicating.
Effectively, the overall company growth could be higher, right, because, one, we have a Bakery capacity which is coming in and.
We have been consistently saying that we want to maintain at a company level mid to high-teens kind of growth, right? That's what we have achieved this year also. That's what we are striving for, to achieve on a consistent basis, on annualized basis, mid- to high-teens kind of growth.
Okay. And sir, on the margin side, you have indicated 14%-15% margin, but you also have initiated a cost-cutting initiative. Any estimated saving benefits that would probably come and which can aid into having at least stable or increased margins from here on?
That program has just started, and it's more on a study and scoping phase. In terms of benefits to start coming in from this program, it would start reflecting in some manner in quarter four of this financial year and then in the subsequent quarters of the next financial year.
Okay. Thanks a lot, sir. I'll come back in with you.
Yeah.
Thank you. A reminder to all participants to ask a question. You may press star and one. The next question is on the line of Rushabh Doshi from Nirmiti Investment Advisors. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Congrats on a great set of numbers. My first question was related to the acquisition. Could you just share where the plant is located and what capacity does it have?
Sorry. We're not able to hear you properly. I think Wall.
Am I audible now?
Keep going.
Am I audible now?
Better. Better. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So my first question was related to the acquisition. What is the capacity and where is this plant located?
So the capacity is actually this is an old plant. So once we take over, this has been an agreement with the company that we will take over this brand, Mrs. Bectors Cremica, for the Bakery purpose because this brand enjoys a lot of equity in the North Indian market, especially Punjab and Haryana. So on the investment side, they are holding old plants. Our teams will be evaluating what is going to be the status of these lines, how can we use these lines. And the location of this plant is right next to our biscuit plant in Phillaur. So it has got an adjacent wall to the biscuit plant.
Okay. And have you thought how we would be operating two brands in the bakery division? Because we've built English Oven, and it's projected to be a millennium.
As you understand that we've always looked at premiumization. So it's also about we will look at this strategy, but Cremica, as a name, enjoys a lot of equity, right? We hold a 15%-16% market share in the Biscuit side, and our coverage in the outlets is extremely high. So when we are doing rusk, we do rusk under the brand English Oven. So when you are getting into the markets, which are Delhi, Bombay, people understand what is English Oven. But when you move out of these markets, then you have to create presence. You have to make people know what is English Oven now. So being also in the urban and rural segment, so I think Cremica, with its coverage of 320,000 outlets, will have a better acceptability.
So the rusk or our other products, which were coming under the English Oven brand, could also have the possibility to come under Cremica brand.
Okay. Also this quarter, can you just break up the revenue growth between volume and value?
Which quarter? You're talking of current quarter?
Yeah. The 18% growth.
The quarter four, you said?
Yeah.
In the quarter four growth, we had a mid-teens kind of growth in volume on overall and revenue growth, you're aware, it was around 17%.
Correct. Yeah. My last question is, in FY 2025, what do we expect? A price growth of around 2%-3%, are we expecting that, or it would be mostly flattish?
In terms of price growth?
Yeah.
You see, I tell you what are the levers of revenue growth management in our company, right? And in our case, the very key factor of revenue growth management is the premiumization, where the company focuses a lot. And we have a considerable journey of premiumization over the last two years, right? And our premiumization percentage, even starting from the start of this year, through quarter four, we have reached 37%. So there is a 20% jump in the premiumization percent. And if I take a two-year period, it has rather considerable. So that is one of the large levers of revenue growth. Second, on overall basis, the second lever of revenue growth is always our business mix. And third is definitely price. So we are in a very competitive industry world. And we are not the market leaders, especially biscuits, in India.
It will be more about keeping an eye on the competition and how the leaders are taking it forward. Then accordingly, we will act at that point of time.
Okay. That's all from me, sir. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Harsh Shah from Bandhan Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for taking my question. First one is on the employee cost for the quarter. It's up 36%. Now, I think you mentioned in one of the footnotes that we have an ESOP trust, which we kind of set up in October 2023. Is there an element of one-off in these employee costs because of any ESOP?
We will come again. Our employee cost in the quarter four of last financial year, 14.2%, the percentage you referred was very high. So it is 14.2%, right?
It's 14, yeah. That's what, 14.2% of sales and 36% YoY growth?
Okay. That's it. Yes. So the reason of this higher growth, there are two particular reasons. A, because we are also starting new lines in Rajpura and new plant in Dhar. So we have to pre-hire some of the staff and where a line doesn't become suddenly fully productive. So as you know, we have made operational our Dhar plant, and we also made our two lines operational in Rajpura. So that entire line manning has to be put in place. And this challenge will remain for a while while we are investing in new plants and new lines. Second, we kind of also did our leadership hiring. The two specific senior leaders who joined us was the project head and the HR head. But yes, there were some other leadership hiring times. So in terms of these are the two prime reasons of increase.
Third reason of increase is there's a reclassification of some bit of employee cost from other expenses to the employee cost. That was being reflected last year into the other expenses, and now it's being reflected in others. That itself is about 0.75%. So out of 14.2%, the 0.75% is on account of the reclassification of employee cost from other expenses to the employee cost.
So what is the nature of that reclassification, sir? What kind of expense? What is the nature of that expenditure which is reclassified, sir?
Those were some bit of employee expenses which were classified in the other expenses for last many, many quarters. Then on the advice of the auditor, they have been reclassified rightfully into the employee cost side.
Okay. So basically, this employee cost will remain elevated. That is what we just decided since we are investing.
Yeah. So because if you look at other expenses, no? So other expenses, I'll tell you, on an annualized basis, if you add other expenses and employee expenses, then for both financial years, it is 31.7%. So a bit of a reclassification, and definitely, employee expenses gone up for the reasons I told you too. But for the full-year basis, our employee expense and other expenses, if you add both these two, they are both at 31.7% for year 2023, 2024, and 2022, 2023.
The reason why I was asking is because we've had a good quarter in terms of top-line growth. We've had very good gross margins. I think it's at multi-quarter high. And despite that, we could not see any benefit of leverage going through. That's the reason why I wanted to understand this. But I.
Yes. Yes. Definitely, in this particular quarter, I would agree that our employee plus other expenses, which last year was around 31%, they are 33%. So there is a 2% increase there. And the two reasons I told you is on account of employee expenses and there's a bit of a higher marketing spend. As I was reading in one of the previous questions, that competition on the Biscuit side, the intensity of competition has really gone up from quarter three of the last year. By the biggest player in the market, all kinds of consumer offers have been rolled out. And we had to master it to protect our shares in the market. And that's more of a temporary. May last for another one more quarter. But that's the bigger reason that we had to spend more on the marketing side in this particular quarter.
Okay. Gross margin primarily being higher because of higher contributions from exports and bakeries. Would that be the right understanding?
So one is a business mix. Yes. Export has a much higher mix in this quarter. That's one reason. Second reason is definitely, as I said, premiumization, right? That has definitely kind of made a difference to the higher realization, higher margin. And our commodity cost compared to the last year's same quarter were better, which is our material and packing material cost. So these are the three reasons which have led to the better margin.
Okay. But will it sustain at this level? I mean, going into, let's say, the first, at least in the near term, going into first half, or do you expect it to kind of taper down a bit?
Yes. It may remain around the same level, right, at this point of time. But yes, the higher contribution of export, we don't expect to continue at the same pace. So there could be some moderation on account of that. But yes, our whole endeavor is to always try and maintain our margins. If we have seen growth, we should try and maintain around the same level. There could be slight moderation on that in the first quarter or the coming quarter.
Got it. And then one on exports, I just wanted to understand, let's say, from FY 2023 to FY 2024, has the growth come more from adding new customers, or it's come more from increasing the value of sales to an existing customer?
So we have added more customers. We have added more countries. So both have happened. So as you would have heard in our Managing Director's speech also, that in terms of expansion, both domestic and export, we continue to do that journey. So we have added more countries, and as well as we added more customers.
Got it. Got it. And also.
And also one more thing, which is a specific, so would you like to take this?
Yeah. Sure. So hi. This is Suvir here. So like Manu was saying, that we've added a couple of customers as well. We started opening new territories recently. The last time, you would have also heard that we partnered up with Walmart to supply some of their private label, white label to them. And we're continuously growing our focus in North America and the Middle East and more developed economies and trying to tie up with retailers to supply them with our brand and also tie up with a couple of retailers to supply them their own brand. So the strategy is that keep acquiring new customers and also keep expanding our current customers by offering them our existing product portfolio and also developing new innovative ideas to pitch to them.
Got it. Got it. And then one last question on cash flows, right? Until last quarter, if I remember correctly, our target CapEx for FY 2024 and FY 2025 put together was INR 500 crores. And I think this quarter, I think we've revised that to INR 550 crores, if I'm not wrong, right?
Yes. So these are large CapExes. And where I said it will be over the word I used in the last quote, that it will be over INR 500 crores. And so as we are getting closer to more elastic numbers on the CapEx, so yes, it should be around INR 550-INR 570 crores kind of amount. That's what it looks like as of now.
Correct. So INR 215 crore, if I look at your cash flows, is something which you spent in FY 2024. So balance, basically, INR 250-odd crore or let's say, I think, I mean, the balance will be spent in FY 2025. So in terms of cash generation and payment of debt, we'll not be able to repay any part of debt this year. So is there a possibility of us that we might have to take some more additional debt to kind of fund our CapEx?
The first thing is that let Arnav answer you this question either here or there.
Basically, there will be a funding which is there, and there is a monetary impediment that you get as part of the investment. It will never come to a situation where we are kind of putting funds to kind of a refinancing is something that is not there in the past. That's the question that you're asking.
Basically, if you look at the current year's cash flow, probably our operating cash flows were not enough to meet our CapEx requirement, right? And then that's the reason why we also see increase in debt, right? So my question was that similarly, I mean, compared to FY 2024's INR 215 crore CapEx, our FY 2025 number, if you want to compute INR 550 crore minus INR 215 crore, it is basically on the higher side compared to FY 2024, right? So will our operating cash flows be enough to sustain that, or do we need to kind of incrementally take some more debt in FY 2025 as well?
There will be more debt. So the whole idea is to keep it in the range of 1/3 kind of a scenario that one-third will come through borrowing and 1/3 will be coming from our own resources. Additionally, if you look at it, then this year, our working capital has also kind of gone up because of certain strategic calls that were taken and had the impact and stuff. So we expect a certain amount of relief coming in from that as well.
Okay. And by when do we expect to be debt-free, or do we have a target in mind for net debt to EBITDA or something of that sort which we want to be in?
0.34, I think. Yeah. So one is once the debt will come on board, it will be for a certain amount of time for a few years. And if you look at from an overall perspective, our debt-to-equity ratio is at 0.34. So it may kind of go up certain different places, but it will not be kind of coming to an alarming level or anything of that sort.
Got it. Got it. That's it. Sorry. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rajit Agrawal from Atharva Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir, and congratulations for a good set of results. Would you be able to throw some light on Bakebest? I think in the third quarter, we had committed close to INR 30 crore of investments for Bakebest. How much has already been invested, and what's the plan of investing the rest? And if you could just help us with certain business details of that venture.
So Bakebest is our company which is kind of operating the west market for the bakery business. And this investment is part of the total outlay or the investment that the company's kind of planning, which we have been discussing about INR 500 crore-INR 550 crore over the period of 2024, 2025. So it's a subset of that. And so out of this INR 30 crore, INR 10 crore have been kind of invested at this point of time, and balance has been invested. And as the CapEx takes shape, there will be investments as well.
I'm sorry. I couldn't understand. So INR 20 crore will be invested in FY 2024, 2025?
Correct.
Right. Anything on the business side? How many outlets have been opened, or what's the plan of opening outlets in this quarter or next quarter? Something like that. I mean, just a little color on how it is shaping up. I mean, since INR 30 crore is not exactly a small amount, whether you will be able to share it now or maybe a quarter down the line?
Yeah. And the first thing I still get something else around the question. Without understanding the question.
No, I just want to understand something on the business side, as in by when can we see the revenues in this?
Bakebest, I mean, I'm Anoop Bector here. Bakebest is an investment which we are doing in putting up a state-of-the-art bun line and a bread line, right? And that investments are happening right now, and only the line will come up in the end of this quarter of this year, 2024, 2025. So you will only see sales after that. You understand? So what probably you are seeing is a part investment of the total project cost.
Right, sir. So, got it. No, I was under the impression that there will be bakeries set up under that venture.
Let me give you my mistake. My mistake. So in the best Bombay market, our bakery is already going at a very good high double-digit percentage, right? We had started facing challenges in terms of capacity, and that's why we planned and we see the Bombay and the west market to be a very high potential market. We are confident that we will be able to kind of grow there just like our NCR and North business, right? So this growth engine will further get stronger once this plan comes up, as the Managing Director, Anoop, has said, in the quarter four of this financial year, right? So we have today taken help of a contract manufacturer to strengthen our supply chain to feed in markets for our work in terms of expanding distribution, adding more outlets, and adding more feet on street in terms of expanding business.
That continues, right? So that's not on a kind of hold. But yes, with the state-of-the-art facility coming, we will be more stronger on our supply chain, and we'll be able to offer the best product, quality product, the state-of-the-art plant to the market and expand the market much faster and cover the entire Bombay probably in the coming year, which will be the year 2025, 2026 financial year.
Sure, sir. Thanks. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Amit Purohit from Elara. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, on the working capital, you indicated one was the debtor days which had gone up. And second, basically, is towards some advance payment, right? You indicated for buying sugar. Is that what was that?
Yes. Yes.
Yeah. Okay. So that would so because the other current assets have gone up significantly, so how do we think about this? I mean, this is a kind of one-time which gets reversed, or there is a change in the way we are doing business?
So obviously, if we were at as far as sugar stocking is concerned, it will obviously come down because we'll keep consuming it. But the Red Sea path is something which can take another one or two quarters to come down because this is a fourth major kind of situation for us or for anybody. So hopefully, it should also kind of come down over the next two quarters.
Okay. And sir, the facility, the acquisition that you've done for the bakery and the bread, for that and last call, you indicated that you are looking to now expand the bread business in the Punjab and strong markets where already Cremica is there. So is that the thought process that the Cremica brand would be more in these markets of North, whereas English Oven could be in the rest of the India? Is that or that's not something to think?
As Anoop briefed earlier also, that Cremica in Punjab is a very, very strong brand, and we have very high market share on Cremica biscuits. We have a very high distribution of Cremica biscuits in the Punjab and the upper side of the North. With this acquisition, we also will have Cremica brand available for the bakery side. And once this acquisition gets completed, that's a go-forward business strategy, and the brand strategy we would finalize. And definitely, that will further strengthen up foray into the upper North on the Bakery side.
Sure. Thank you so much. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mahendra Nandha from Sama Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello. Are you able to hear me?
Yes, sir, but could you speak a bit louder there?
Okay. Thanks for the opportunity. Actually, I just want to know, you mentioned there is a dedicated subsidiary in the U.A.E in the slide number 21. So can you just throw more light on that, more details on that? Hello?
Okay. This is regarding our subsidiary which is out of Dubai. This was to focus on the GCC region. I would request Suvir, who's heading the international and export business, can brief you about the entire GCC region opportunity and strategy with which we are going forward.
Yeah. Hi. So basically, the Dubai subsidiary, we are going to start dispatching our containers and billing it through the Dubai route from the coming quarter. And this time, the subsidiary will be fully active. The purpose of this subsidiary is that we want to start routing the containers into different countries through the subsidiary and also start billing locally to QSR expansion into the Middle East. The Middle East for us is going to be for the export department, our next foray into trying to build a distribution network with our importers on the ground. We have two people located out of Dubai itself and one person out of Ghana.
So their visa allocation has been done from the subsidiary, and they are the people who are going to be helping us build our Cremica brand into the market and start supplying our products locally and build a very good presence over there. Also, in addition to this, what I would like to say is that those are the current individuals who are working to find importers in different countries altogether, supply our products in the market. And also what we're trying to do is that we are working alongside our importers to build a branding presence by leveraging our brand ambassador, Ms. Kareena. So we are utilizing the same strategy what we are employing in India as well as in the Middle East. So the purpose of the Dubai office, the subsidiary is for that purpose.
Okay. I appreciate that. One more thing. Have you entered any agreement with Lulu Supermarket in the Middle East? Because recently, I saw Cremica brand with Lulu cover on that. So it was not a Cremica cover. It was Lulu cover which mentioned manufactured by Bector Foods. So that's what I noticed.
So we have been partners to Lulu in the Middle East for quite some time now. It has been a couple of years since we've been associated with them. So we are manufacturing not just a single product but a couple of their SKUs. We are manufacturing them from India and supplying to them in all the six GCC countries and also to their stores locally in India. And what we are also planning to do is from this year, we are already present in Lulu in India with our Cremica brand. Also, this year, we will start being present in Dubai, Lulu with our own brand. That should be happening from Q3 or Q4. The negotiations are currently ongoing, and we will be bearing the listing cost and investing in the market.
Okay. I appreciate that. One more feedback is our comparison of Good Day Cookies are really very good value-wise also and weight-wise also. That's what I want to mention, give you feedback on that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Abhishek Kumar from Sanctum Wealth. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good afternoon. Good evening. Congratulations on the set of numbers. Just wanted to touch upon. Just wanted to know your view on the bakery segment, especially the QSR bit. So how exactly the demand trends over there are, as we have seen over the past year. Now that demand has been somewhat subdued. So what is the picture you guys are getting to here from then?
So I can't decide. Yes, there is a demand pressure on the QSR thing, definitely. But as you have seen, we are continuing to build capacity because this is a very solid business model. We feel it's a very short-term thing. We do have visibility into new stores opening, which is definitely going to drive growth. There are newer enterprises which are also entering the market, so which are also potential customers for us. If you have seen, we have posted mid- to high-teens growth even in the bakery segments, also including the institutional QSR business. And I would say that is a reflection towards our plan and our strategy to grow this business as we are adding more customers. We are adding newer products. And I've always been saying the opportunity for us is not only on burger buns, right?
The opportunity for us is definitely on burger buns, but also expanding into the frozen side where we are getting into the desserts. It is also on other value-added products. So without naming a customer, even we have started now working on a very major project with a very large QSR chain for new products which are non-core to burger buns. So definitely, value addition will keep happening in terms of other products, new customers. But also, we remain very bullish on the buns market where we will add capacities as India still has a very long runway in terms of number of stores growth.
Okay. Got it. Thanks for that. And just the last bit on this QSR thing. So just want to understand, so you guys are exclusive partners for, say, ABC, say, a McDonald's or a Burger King or any other QSR. So you guys become exclusive partners for supplying buns across the region, or is it you guys also face competition from, say, an organized player or maybe some other player?
No. See, it's not an exclusive. There's no exclusivity here. Yes, we do hold a large share of business for most of our partners. For some of them, it's exclusive. For some of them, it's a large share. I think it's more about the value that we are giving to our customers. So there is no exclusivity here. It is a very competitive and dynamic business environment. But we do hold a very strong market share, and we are further strengthening it by adding new products.
The contracts or agreements are with the main franchise, the parent, or the franchise operator?
No, there are no agreements.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Got it. Thanks.
Thank you. In the interest of time, this would be our last question. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anoop Bector for closing remarks.
Thank you, everyone, for joining us. I hope we have been able to answer all your queries. In case you require any further details, you will please contact us or Orient Capital, our Investor Relations partner. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. On behalf of Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.