Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Campus Activewear Limited Q3 and 9 Month FY25 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 and then zero on your touch-tone phone. Before we proceed on this call, let me remind you that the discussion may contain forward-looking statements that may involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors.
It must be viewed in conjunction with our businesses that could cause future results, performance, or achievement to differ significantly from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Campus Activewear's management team is represented by Mr. Nikhil Aggarwal, Whole-time Director and CEO, and Mr. Sanjay Chhabra, CFO. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Nikhil Aggarwal, Whole Time Director and CEO, for his opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone. We appreciate your presence at our Quarter 3 and 9 Month FY25 earnings call today. The company continued its growth momentum displayed in Quarter 2 FY25. We achieved the highest-ever quarterly revenues of INR 514.8 crores, largely attributed to our aggressive distribution-driven strategy and our higher online sales, benefiting from the festive season, thereby navigating a challenging macro environment.
Our revenues surged by 9.1% YOY in Quarter 3 FY24, led by a strategic focus towards multiple initiatives for gaining market share, like reach expansion in our key markets, a 116% growth in our sneaker category, and the new multimedia marketing campaign, among many others. The company has registered double-digit growth in key states in North, Central, and West. Additionally, we have made a swift foray into the focused southern markets through scaling up our online presence.
We have strengthened our product portfolio by launching 69 new articles during the quarter and new SKUs for women's categories, resulting in an improved product mix catering to the diverse needs of the Indian family for every occasion. During the quarter, we have added six new stores across India, taking our total EBO count to 290.
We have marked our presence on Zepto towards the end of the quarter, thereby satiating our customers' preference with prompt delivery convenience through quick commerce, and our brand is also getting traction in premium large-format stores across the country. Our gross margin for the quarter stands at 51.2%, marginally lower as against 51.4% in Quarter 3 FY24 versus Quarter 2 FY24, owing to the raw material price inflation.
The gross margin has expanded by 440 basis points YOY from 12.2% to 16.6%, primarily due to improvement in debtors and inventory health, which is basically lower provisioning, reflecting better working capital management. Campus Activewear forged a profound and enduring engagement with its core demographic through a 360-degree Move Your Way campaign, prominently showcasing our brand ambassador, Vicky Kaushal, to resonate and captivate the market.
During the quarter, we reached out to all our consumers through a multimedia strategy, including TV, digital media, print, outdoor, and visual merchandising campaigns. We would like to share key updates in our capital expenditure journey as well. The CapEx for the sole manufacturing unit at our Gandhidham facility was completed in Q3 FY25. Furthermore, we anticipate the completion of our Haridwar facility, dedicated for manufacturing state-of-the-art uppers in Q4 FY25, with commercial production projected to commence from March 2025.
We persist in our endeavor to maintain a competitive edge through a data-driven strategy that allows us to actively track and adapt to evolving consumer trends, preferences, and pricing dynamics, ensuring our product portfolios consistently attune to market needs. Thank you, and now I hand over the call to our CFO, Mr. Sanjay Chhabra, to take you through more details on the quarter 3 and 9-month FY25 performance.
Thank you, Nikhil. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Quarter 3 FY25 earnings call of Campus Activewear. Our revenue from operations grew by 9.1% year-on-year to INR 515 crores in Quarter 3 FY25, largely benefited by higher distribution, which registered a growth of around 9%, and online channel, which showed a revenue growth of around 11%.
The company sold approximately 7.6 million pairs in Q3 FY25, up 10% year-on-year. The average selling price stood at around 675 in Quarter 3 FY25, a drop of 1% year-on-year, driven by higher salience of accessories and socks. Footwear ASP remained flat at INR 683 per pair. Our gross margin for the quarter was at 51.2% versus 51.4% in Quarter 3 FY24, showing a drop of 20 basis points, marginally lower, driven by raw material price increases.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, also, our gross margin dropped by 140 basis points, driven by raw material price increase, adverse mix, and liquidation of non-moving BIS inventory. The revenue mix between men and women and children categories stood at 81.3% and 18.8% in Quarter 3 versus 80% and 20% in Quarter 3 FY24, driven by higher sales of sneakers in men category. Our EBITDA for Quarter 3 FY25 was at INR 85.9 crores.
The EBITDA margin expanded by 440 basis points year-on-year to 16.6%, owing to a normalized SG&A. So last year, we had a couple of provisioning towards inventory and doubtful debts. So current EBITDA margin is at a normalized level. PAT grew by 86.2% year-on-year to INR 46.5 crores, and PAT margins expanded by 370 basis points year-on-year to 9%.
Our balance sheet continues to demonstrate strength with robust return ratios, such as return on capital employed at 22.1% and return on equity at 17.5% as of 31st December. With this summary, I will now conclude my remarks and open the floor to the moderator for a Q&A session. Thank you.
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 withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and one again. 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 from the line of Raghav Jagani from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking the question, sir. So my question is, with regards to the gross margin decline, I mean, we can see the gross margin being declining both sequentially as well as on a biweekly basis. So if you can highlight, you know, which particular RM did you see inflated, and what are the steps we are taking to mitigate this? Also, if you can quantify the impact of the liquidation of the non-VIS, the non-moving VIS inventory on the RM and the adverse mix, maybe highlight it.
Hi, good evening, Raghav. Just to highlight one more number here, on a YTD basis, for nine months, the overall gross margin drop is just 50 basis points. We have been seeing the input price increase in the cotton, wherein we had to take a, or rather, we had to give a price increase to our suppliers in the last quarter, the back end of last quarter. This quarter, we saw one of the components called TPU price increase, primarily due to countervailing duty imposed, customs duty imposed.
It was a conscious call on our behalf not to pass on the prices to consumers, but we have taken selective price increases in November and also in January beginning, so we see that we'll be able to mitigate part of this price increase or pass on this price increase to the consumers in the last quarter. That will help us to mitigate a bit of the gross margin drop, which is somewhere around 50 basis points on a YTD nine-month basis.
Sure. And sir, if you can also highlight, you know, the impact of the non-moving VIS inventory liquidation and the adverse mix due?
Okay, so as far as the VIS inventory liquidation is concerned, that impact is in the range of anywhere between 20-40 basis points, depending on, in the last three quarters. So it varies depending on article to article. But as I said, that, on a full-year basis, it's 50 basis points, which is a combination of the mix, the non-VIS component, and the raw material price increases, which we have not been able to pass on.
Sir, so just one.
Next year, we see.
Yeah, please go ahead.
From next year, we see the margins normalizing as we intend to liquidate the majority of our non-VIS inventory by March end.
Yeah, so actually, my question was that only. Is the entire non-VIS inventory now over, or it will still be some impacted in future revenue?
We have less than 10% of our overall inventory in terms of finished goods accountable to non-VIS inventory, which is a very small number, much manageable number. So we do expect that by March 9th, we should be sitting on a non-significant non-VIS inventory.
Sure. And Nikhil, the next question, you know, is with regards to the other expenses also. I mean, you know, we have done quite a bit improvement in terms of the absolute other expenses not increasing. But if you look at, you know, the expense per se, it was in this quarter around 10.8% out of the entire sale. So any guidance on an annual basis you can give on the advertising spend that we are, you know, wishing to keep in that range? So anything here?
No problem. So actually, the AMP spend in terms of absolute value is absolutely flat with respect to Quarter 3 last year on a YOY basis, in spite of the growth in the sales. So our overall numbers for the year will be trending in a similar range, you know, like 7%-7.5% is what we've been trending at. And we don't see any increase in AMP spend for the entire year.
Sure. And Nikhil, actually-
For Quarter 3, sorry, just to add, even for Quarter 3, whatever we spent in AMP is absolutely flat in terms of absolute value, right? So as a percentage, it's actually gone down versus last year on Quarter 3, and more on this to add, Quarter 3, our AMP spend are relatively higher considering the seasonality and festival.
Sir, and then the last bit, you know, on the employee cost bit also, you know, we can see that that note is not increasing very materially now, either in a sequential basis. And we understand that, you know, you have spent the employee expenses ahead of time towards the, you know, team building, etc. So how should one, you know, build in the employee cost?
Sorry, your voice is not clear.
Sorry, your voice is muffled. Can you please repeat the question?
Yeah. So I was speaking about the employee cost. I mean, if you look at the employee cost as well, that's been quite under control. And I think what we have been hearing from our interactions is that, you know, you have spent on team building exercise ahead of that time. So how should one look at the employee cost going ahead?
Okay. So we don't anticipate any significant, you know, addition to the employee, either headcount or the cost overall. We did, you know, we have been investing ahead of the curve in terms of the employee count. And we believe that with volume, like what we've seen in Quarter 3, with, you know, good volumes even going forward, we should be able to bring down this cost, the employee cost, as a percentage. And so we don't anticipate a significant movement in this cost, at least for a few quarters going forward. Like, we don't see anything in the short term or medium term.
Sure, sir. Thank you for answering my question. I will come back in touch with some more questions.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Vidisha Sheth from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening. I hope I'm audible. Just two small questions from my side. One, on the growth perspective, especially in the trade distribution channel, was growth led by primary sales, or was this more tertiary off-take that you saw? And is it fair to say that channel inventory at an overall level is a growth phase?
Okay. Vidisha, this quarter, it was like on the distribution front, it was very focused in terms of secondary sales. So there was a very small gap between our primary sales and secondary sales. We were more focused towards replenishing. We are happy to share that most of our distributors are now on the DMS thing. So we are able to sort of execute the replenishment thing more efficiently. And also, as far as our distribution network inventories are concerned, they are healthy around 80-90-odd days at a time in the year. There's no increase in.
There is no push sale, Vidisha, just to be absolutely clear. Like, we have a very good primary and secondary. It's in line with the expectation, and it's absolutely the same. Like, the same primary has been executed in terms of secondary numbers also, and we validate that through the multiple software that we have on ground, and also the DSO, the credit date, and the credit overall has not gone up, and it's flat with respect to Quarter 2, last quarter also, so there is no push sale with respect to distribution.
Understood. That's helpful. And the finished goods, you mentioned that less than 10% of finished goods are pertaining to the non-VIS certified goods. But when do you expect that to get liquidated out of Campus's and systems?
Like I said, majority of it will be done by March end, by the next two months. And there could be a very small portion of it left, but it's not significant. So we are anticipating that by this Quarter 4 end, we should be done majorly with the non-VIS FG inventory.
Understood. And lastly, anything on the competitive mindset that you'd like to highlight?
Not really. I don't. Is there a specific question you would want to ask with respect to competition?
No, in terms of either Campus's market share, recovery competition, if they're growing more, so that will imply Campus increasing their market share.
Sure. So I
Anything specifically that stands out?
Yes, certainly outperformed in our key states, you know, of the north, west, and central region, also east, so we do believe that we have gained, you know, the lost ground, and there has been a good uptake in our market share, and given the competitive landscape and the macro environment wasn't really all that great in Quarter 3 as well, like, it did improve YOY, but it was still kind of subdued, so in that kind of environment, I think we've done reasonably well, and we're quite pleased with the way things are going, because a lot of these initiatives that we've taken over the past few quarters, you know, are panning out really well, and we see a lot of consistency going forward.
Sure. Got it. That's all from my side. I will get back in touch. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. I repeat, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. Next question is from the line of Priyank Sheth from Reliance Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. So we have been shareholders, and we have been delivering good. But when it comes to guidance, we have been guiding for a few things which we haven't been delivering, right? We have guided earlier to deliver mid-teen revenue growth. For nine months, we are at plus 10%. We guided for ASP to remain flat. For nine months, we are negative 3%.
For margins, we have guided last three months ago to get 17%-19% for the full year, while for nine months, we are at 14.4 in terms of EBITDA. I mean, I just wanted to ask, I mean, are these guidances? Should we take it given the evolving macro situation, given the internal strategy to the company? Anything that you would like to comment on the guidances given earlier versus what you think is realistically achievable in FY 2025?
So, Priyank, a great question. I'd just like to say that we are very much, you know, sticking to our aspiration to get to those numbers, what we have guided earlier. We never said that those guidances were for FY 2025. We've always maintained that the company is on good track to get to these numbers.
And we have been showing improvement, you know, quarter on quarter to get to these guidances numbers. So we're still, you know, very much on track with 17%-19% as guided earlier in terms of the EBITDA margin. And 16.2% as delivered in this quarter is, you know, a good step up towards that number. So, and the same goes for ASP. ASP is a slightly more dynamic number in nature.
It depends on the actual market conditions on the ground during that time, which was a reflection of, you know, how the festivities stand out, how the demand is, the actual demand on the ground, and whether strategically is that the right time to take a price increment or not, and how the inflation sort of affects the raw material prices,
so ASP is a bit more, but the aspiration certainly remains to continue to premiumize, and Sneaker Portfolio is really going to add to that ASP premiumization as well, as that category in itself is a higher ASP commanding category, and given the growth and the, you know, the plans that we're building up for the Sneaker category, we believe that it should continue to increase during the ASP.
So, like I said, the guidances were never for FY 25 per se, but we believe that given the challenging macro environment, we have been improving our performance quarter on quarter, and that should be, you know, converting to, I hope, the investor base as well.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, very positive with the analytics that we found, and surely your efforts on the sequential basis is visible, but yes, I mean, when it comes to FY 2026, when we enter FY 2026, there are not much of the disturbances that we had in FY 2025 with respect to liquidation of inventory or with respect to the internal restructuring that we had, so when it comes to FY 2026, any non-linear aspects of your business that you would like to highlight that we should keep in mind when it comes to the overall growth with respect to any of the segments or any of the channels that you would like to highlight?
Not really, no, Priyank. I think we are placed well. We are confident in our ability to deliver as long as the macros really don't get any worse from here on. And if they, of course, improve, it will certainly be a good statement. But as long as they don't get any worse, we are very much poised to and confident in our ability to deliver the numbers.
So when it comes to women's and kids, and/or when it comes to South markets, where we have a lot of leeway to grow versus the markets and to improve our throughput within the retail stores, any specific strategy you'd like to highlight which we should think when it comes to FY 2026 and 2027?
The focus very much remains, you know, on the growth levers we've called out repeatedly, which is women/kids is certainly a big growth lever. And there has been an increased significant focus, you know, in terms of increasing the pipeline of designs. The overall SKU count that we offer within these two categories has significantly gone up. And the response has been very encouraging from the market as well.
Of course, the shift between men and women has slightly skewed in quarter 3, primarily due to the sneaker offering being offered mostly on the men's side. And that has done really well. So that skewed the number. But overall, women and child category continues to grow. And, you know, we aspire to continue to take it forward. Anything else that you'd like to know around this?
On the sneaker market, what would have been our sales on nine months versus the available opportunity? What is the kind of capacity that we are building up after our new plant comes in? If you can further dig down into that.
You mean capacity in terms of production capacity? So we would be.
Yes.
Sanjay, we would be adding around 2.4 million pairs of sneakers capacity to our Haridwar new unit. Currently, we are under 10% in terms of volume share, and with the new capacity addition, we definitely expect to ramp up further.
Perfect. Thank you. Those were the few questions. But in a public call, we find it limited time to, you know, further understand your overall strategy. We have been following up for a meeting. Hopefully, you can accommodate our request. Thank you.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from Vaishnavi from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Yes, Vaishnavi.
Please go ahead, ma'am.
Hi, this is Priyanka from Elara Capital. Thank you for the opportunity. I would like to understand how much price hike have you taken that you mentioned in the opening remarks in the last two months?
We have taken a price hike of anywhere between 7%-10% in select product categories which are less price sensitive. The idea is to, at an overall level, insulate our P&L from the raw material price increases. These price hikes are like they are not specific to a channel or to a geography, but they are very selective.
Okay. Should it have around 2%-3% in overall impact when we see on an overall basis?
Yeah. As I said, the idea is to insulate the P&L from the input price increase or inflation. That's what we are targeting.
Okay. Understood. What would be your targets for distribution reach expansion by the end of the year and next two years in terms of EBO, MBO expansion, and any distributor reach expansion that you are targeting?
As we have been talking about South as a geography where we need to penetrate more, East and West, we are comfortable with the progress we have made in the last one and a half years. We do have our internal targets. I would refrain from putting any numbers here. We have seen, even in this quarter, we have been able to expand our reach as far as distribution as a channel is concerned. That has been reflected in the kind of volume growth we were able to see.
Okay. Understood, and please provide some color on how has been the demand in Metro, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and what has been the significant changes that you observed during the quarter and how it should be going forward, assuming everything's at present?
Our segmental sales with respect to the region has been very similar to YOY. Like, we've done about 40%-42% from North, about 21% from East, 7% from South, 22% and some 1% from West, and about 7% from Central. That's been the shares this quarter with respect to the geographical split. You know, there we see that with respect to Metro and Tier 1 also, it's not been as big of a damper as for some of the other consumer goods, you know, that we've seen in the market. We've had a fair share. For us, it's pretty much been flat with respect to geographical split versus year on year.
Okay. And will BI's liquidation have any further impact on your margins in Q4?
It would not be a significant number. As we said, the inventory levels are very low. The non-BIS inventory levels are very low as of now. So there could be a 10 or 20 basis points impact. That's what I'm looking for. We don't see any material numbers there.
Understood. Thank you, and I'll come back to the question if you have any further questions.
Thank you. Next question comes from Umang Mehta from Kotak Security. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity and congrats on outperforming this quarter. Sir, just wanted to check. So the FM made some comments regarding our focus package scheme for footwear, and some big numbers were given. Beyond the headline, would you have any insights as to what they are planning and how can it benefit players like us?
Hi, Oman, so we are also eagerly awaiting, honestly, the details of the budget to be released. Nothing has been put out on paper yet, but we do anticipate, you know, the government has called out these certain incentives, so clearly, there is a drive and a push by the government to sort of grow the sector meaningfully because it does generate, it is one of those sectors which generates one of the highest employment across the country
as it is a labor-intensive industry, and, you know, we are proud to be part of an industry where we're able to, you know, generate this kind of livelihood for so many people, so I think that is one of the biggest agendas for the government to increase employment, right, so that directly impacts our industry.
Got it. And the second one was on BIS. So I recall that comment was that it could take a couple of quarters before we start to see any benefit. Would you still maintain that in the sense that still there is enough non-BIS inventory in the system which was, you know, imported earlier, and it will still take a few quarters to clear out?
So I think the inventory levels have certainly dropped, the non-BIS inventory. We have, there could have been some tailwinds on account of that as well. We're not sure of that. We can't quantify it, honestly. There's no numbers to quantify that. But there could have been some tailwinds on account of the BIS as well in quarter 3. So maybe, you know, the levels have reached an all-time low, and I don't see, you know, a lot of non-BIS being liquidated in the market in the next.
Got it. And if I'm
Yeah.
Got it. Just last, if I can ask, the current quarter, could you give any qualitative tailwinds when around half of the quarter is behind us? Would you say that the momentum has largely sustained in the current quarter?
As much as we'd like to. I'm afraid we don't give out these statements. But, you know, we, like we said, you know, the BIS tailwinds are certainly also there, and a lot of initiatives have been planning also the company well. So we are fairly confident of the delivery in the numbers.
Got it. Sure. Thanks a lot and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. I repeat, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. Next question comes from Devanshu Bansal from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.
Hi, Nikhil. Thanks for the opportunity. Nikhil, I just wanted to check on the competitive intensity in the market. Obviously, demand is down, I said. But we have been through a couple of years of challenging period, right? And there was a lot of competition that bloomed during this period as well. Since the demand has remained muted, I guess the challenges would have been there in their businesses as well. So are you sort of seeing some easing of competition, or that still remains high in our area of competition?
Okay. Hi, Devanshu. So, you know, the way we think about competition is that it certainly motivates and pushes us to, you know, deliver more and get, you know, get better at what we do. And this is something that, you know, we look forward to because it challenges us as a company and the management to do better.
So we do believe that the competitive intensity did peak out, you know, as of last year because, firstly, the conditions obviously were subdued in terms of demand. But also, at the same time, the supply was also quite a lot. And I think that has sort of peaked out last year. So we do see some normalization in that also with respect to competition. And, but again, like I said, we don't, we're not afraid and scared of the challenge. We really look forward to improving ourselves with respect to competition.
Understood. And from your channel perspective, in terms of working capital, so has that also eased off or still that remains a challenge because the demand has not recovered completely?
Hi, Devanshu. This is Sanjay. From a working capital perspective, I mean, for us, nothing much has changed. We continue to maintain healthy BSOs. We do have a robust credit control mechanism wherein we offer to incentivize our distributors to avail the cash discount when they have some time. So that's the philosophy which continues. On the inventory front, we have reached to a 95 days of inventory holding from 110 days last year. So there also, we have seen whatever numbers we are targeting in terms of driving inventory base, we are able to achieve that. So we don't see any stress in working capital.
Thanks. Sir, my question was also to understand the distributor health. So from his perspective, how is working capital planning out for him? As in, is he able to sort of recover money from the market, or still there are challenges?
So again, I did answer this some time back in terms of distributors, days of inventory, and primary versus secondary, so that again is a reflection, so this quarter, our secondary sales and primary sales have a very, very nominal gap, which reflects that we are more getting into a replenishment model. When we reach that level, which means that distributor is able to recover his money from retailer, he's paying us on time and accordingly taking the inventory what is there in demand in the market, so at 84 days level, to our DMS, the inventory levels are very much within our internal norms of 60-90 days.
Understood. So it's fair that if demand sort of recovers, then we are in a good shape, right? So that's the only thing lacking as of now.
Yeah.
Thanks for taking the question.
Thank you. Next question from the line of Aliasgar Shakir from Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Hi, Nikhil Bansal here. Question firstly on the margin. So I will make some comment. I just wanted to clarify that, as you mentioned, that BIS-related inventory is now more or less behind us. So for FY26, you know, we should come back to our normalized 18% type of margin that we have been earlier doing and guiding. And also for fourth quarter, given that you mentioned that the impact is now limited from BIS, we should achieve our normalized, you know, margin both in gross and EBITDA level?
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, if you compare versus last quarter, we did improve on the EBITDA margin profile by roughly 400 basis points. And this quarter, the numbers are like normalized numbers with no one-off in the SG&A. So we are hopeful that we'll be able to deliver margin in this range, per se, in the coming quarters and FY26. Also.
All right. Just.
Back to that.
Yeah, sorry.
EBITDA to PACT conversion has also significantly gone up as we've become debt-free. So even like at 16%, let's say, PACT, we've been able to deliver, sorry, we've been able to deliver a good, decent PACT, right? So the conversion is also sort of helping us there to get to the PACT level.
Right. Yeah, absolutely. So this quarter, of course, we have improved margin significantly, but that is on probably a, you know, a low base of 3Q due to, you know, certain issues that we had faced. So I agree this quarter has been a pretty good improvement, but we should come back to our normalized margin, right? Next year, assuming that if the demand is in a normalized state.
Absolutely. Like 17%-19% is what we're aspiring for.
Understood. Got it. And on the demand side, you know, you've been kind of looking a little bit, I would say, conservative by saying that, you know, if demand improves, then we'll do the margin. But just want to kind of get your sense on how is the demand on the ground?
Do you see still a challenging environment? As you mentioned, that competition also is not as active and you are kind of doing a little better than them. So is the overall demand on the ground relatively decent for you to now kind of push for a double digit growth? Or do you think that the environment is still very challenging and, you know, I mean, you're not very sure in terms of how it will play out for you to achieve double digit growth?
So I will not comment with respect to Campus as that would be a forward-looking statement. But what I can tell you is that the demand is not like absolutely normal in terms of how it used to be, let's say, two years ago, right? So or three years ago, rather. It is certainly an improvement from last year in Q3 as well and Q4 also. But I don't know if the demand is, we can call it absolutely normalized demand. So there is still some pain in the market. And, you know, we're doing the best we can to make all of this natural environment.
Got it. And from your product point of view, you know, we've launched a sneaker range and also become really active on the open footwear also, right? Especially in the north, particularly in the summer season. So can you share what would be the mix over there and how much should that help you in kind of, you know, upping your overall growth numbers?
Sure. So I would refrain from sharing those numbers in terms of mix, Ali, unfortunately, because it's a strategy, internal strategy that we follow. But it's certainly on the cards. Like we have been increasing our FT account and our inventory in terms of open as well. You know, as that's helping us penetrate the southern market and also normalize the impact in the summer months and reduce the seasonality impact.
So that is certainly on the cards. It is, while the MRPs are very, very decent, but there will be some ASP impact on the count of the open inventory. But we are confident of mitigating that impact with respect to the premiumization of sneakers. So there's a counterbalance there. And net net, we believe that the ASP should increase only.
Got it. And I mean, open footwear margins are probably in line with the overall margin?
Yes.
Okay. And what about sneakers? How is the sneaker traction in terms of new products and, you know, the kind of, I mean, the contribution that is doing qualitatively?
Yes. And no, the response is very encouraging, Ali. As the brand is, of course, we are the number one top-of-mind brand in our target audience. So they have accepted the sneaker range very well. And we're getting a really, really good response. So there's a number of initiatives that we have been taking on that side as well. And, you know, there's a very exciting range also planned to be launched very soon with respect to sneakers. And, you know, we do anticipate a good move from there.
Got it. Really, really useful. Thank you so much. And wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. I request the participants to restrict the two questions to the initial round and join back to Q for more questions. Next question comes from Resha Mehta from GreenEdge Wealth Services. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. If you could just comment on, you know, that over the last one or two years, you know, we had, you know, if I go back to your past transcripts, I see that we have lost some market share in north and, you know, some of our key regions. So what is the reason for that? And also, second question is, the online channels, I believe you have classified in sub-three channels, which is O2O and B2B and the marketplace. So can you just comment on, you know, what was the problem with O2O and B2B channels? And what was the revenue contribution in the past? And what has now that reduced to?
Right. So with respect to the market share in the north, right, so there used to be, and I'd like to call that out, that there was some, you know, conflict across channels because, you know, online was an absolutely new beat that we had to gain. The dynamics of the channel are very different from the offline, the way it works.
And we were facing, you know, a lot of conflict between the channel partners as, you know, online there was some discounting versus offline, the discounting much lesser. So that was how it was about two years ago. But over the last two years, we've basically segregated the entire portfolio across the two channels. So there is no common design as we speak. Like hardly just barring maybe a handful just in single digits, which are very old designs.
All the entity, all the new designs have been completely segregated across the two channels. Therefore, the conflict has been completely resolved. So there are no issues today, and that has also really helped us gain our market share back, right? These are some of the things we've done internally, right, to gain that market share back in the north, especially in the northern region. Sorry, what was the other part of the question?
Yeah. So before I go there, just to follow up here. So we've lost the market share primarily in the north market or even we've lost in the central, western, eastern markets? And the reasons for losing shares, if any, in these three markets were also similar to the channel conflict reason given for the north?
So it was, well, it was across India, but mainly it was in the north actually because we continued to gain market share maybe because our market share in the other territories was anyway, the base was quite low. North was very high as a base. It used to be about 50% or 52% about two to three years ago, if I remember correctly. And, you know, that.
I just want to add here that our salience in North has gone down slightly. That's not because of loss of market share. In absolute terms, our North region is still showing a revenue growth. The salience has gone down because in other regions we have grown disproportionately higher.
Understood. So, and you know, these online channels like O2O and B2B, so firstly, what are these channels? And, you know, I remember reading that, you know, there were some problems in these channels and, you know, we had to kind of scale down on these channels. So what revenue, what was the problem here, number one? And number two, what was their revenue contribution, let's say in FY23, FY24, and what is it down to now? And is this like a permanent loss in revenue or we've kind of made it up with, you know, something else?
So with O2O, it was something that one and a half years back when some of the players wanted to. Players like Udaan and Ajio wanted to get into an online retail sort of business or cater to the last leg of the retailers. And these channels suddenly show disproportionate growth.
And then, let's say after a year or so, they scaled down because of the profitability issues. And it was just a cannibalization. And then these channels started catering to some of the distribution business. And when they were out of business, again, the volumes shifted back to the normal pockets of distribution online. So that's how it was. And I think we have mitigated that. The volumes have gone back slightly to the marketplace and to some extent to the distribution.
So what is the B2B channel then? O2O, you said it.
Yeah.
Just a continuation of the same question, just a clarification.
Let me answer this.
The revenue contribution, it was there in the past and which is now from these O2O and B2B channels?
So we call B2B something like when we sell outside to the platforms like Flipkart, Amazon, or Myntra. So that business continues to be there. And it's for these channels to decide how much they want to sort of do the business in the outright vertical. And again, between marketplace and outright, it is just a swap. So if in a quarter there is a higher outright business, to that extent marketplace orders or Flipkart is directly catering those orders to their outright inventory instead of we supplying those orders through the marketplace or from our warehouses. So it's a swap between two verticals, right?
Understood, and the revenue contributions in the past versus now?
I would say wherever we are, both the channels outlet and marketplace in the nine-month period have shown a growth. So the revenue resiliency continues to be flat versus last year.
O2O would have come down significantly? Was that understanding me right?
O2O does not exist now. So Ajio and Udaan both are out of business.
At their peak, they would have contributed to how much of total revenue? The O2O channel?
I think if I recall correctly, at their peak, they were around 50% business.
Right. Right. All right. Thank you. I'll come back in the queue.
Thank you. I request the participants to restrict the two questions in the initial round and join back to Q for more questions. Next question comes from Aditya Khetan from SMIFS Institutional Equity. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. So my first question is onto the EBITDA per pair. Like this quarter, we have the best EBITDA per pair of around INR 108. How sustainable is this number for the near term and for the longer term? And would the gross per pair be a good indication to look going ahead or we can look at the EBITDA per pair only?
I would say that the EBITDA level per pair benchmarking may not be a true reflection because our number of units sold includes units sold to different channels at different price points with a different cost element. It also includes accessories and in our fields] wherein we sell even socks. So per pair EBITDA would not be a right benchmark. It's always good to see on a percentage basis.
And as Nikhil mentioned, that we aspire to go back to the earlier days of 17%-19%. And we are just trying to optimize both on the, or rather bring cost efficiencies and also at the same time drive premiumization and operating leverage. So all these three pillars should help us to improve our EBITDA margins, right?
Okay. Okay, so my second question is, sir, any indication like onto the demand side? Like we have heard from so many other companies that demand has started to slow from December. Have you also witnessed the same, and you see that demand so structurally slowing down for the premium products, especially in the coming six months because of the inherent slowdown also what we are witnessing. Can this change some dynamics at the ground and like volumes and ASPs and drift downwards from there?
We can talk about the quarter gone by. I mean, I would refrain from making any outlook sort of statements for the next quarter or next year at this point in time, but if we see the quarter gone by, as I mentioned, that in the distribution business, it was less of a push sale.
It was more a replenishment on the basis of secondary happening, so that's a reflection that there was a bit of demand uptick versus last quarter, last two quarters, and of course, growth versus last year again reflects that, yeah, versus last year also there was demand uptick, so that's an indication, but again, at the same time, the ASP stagnation in ASP or dimension can be an indicator of less of premiumization. But at the same time, I mean, it will be for an individual player, it will be a strategy how to drive more reach, more expansion, and introduce new product lines or product to drive premiumization and also to drive volume.
Sir, just one last question. Any sort of a new price point or?
Can you join back to Q, please?
Okay.
Thank you. We have a follow-up question from Gaurav Jogani from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
So regarding the dividend, I think first announced a dividend of 70%. But the percentage shows around 20%-25%. So this could be the only dividend, or there could also be a final dividend also apart. And if you can also highlight the dividend payment policy going ahead as well.
Gaurav, of course, the dividend, of course, we were very happy to declare dividend interim or whatever, you know, for the first time in the history of the company. So that does give us confidence in our ability to deliver, and we'll be looking, we'll try to deliver dividends simply going forward, right? That's the idea. I can't comment whether there'll be a final dividend or not. That will depend on the final results and on the board's decision. But certainly, you know, we see this as something of quite a significant impact to our organization.
Sir, the other way around, you know, is there any percentage of PAG that you're targeting, you know, on a general basis to pay out as dividends?
Not really. I mean, we've done about close to 25% at this point for YTD, but totally depends on the board.
Sorry. Thank you.
Thank you. We have a follow-up question from Prerna from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. I would just like to understand what will be the ASP or sneaker category that you are selling today in the books?
So this would be at least 15%-20% higher versus our current premium ASP. Of course.
And if.
Yeah?
Sorry, sir, so continue, sorry.
Of course, it would also have a higher cost component, but net net, it would be margin or return.
Okay. And the new launches will also be in similar price points?
For each of the channels, we'll have different price points. I mean, it caters to the different segment of consumers. Like if you go to the EBO, you'll find our products at a higher price point because we display our entire range there. Whatever is available in online or the single-brand distribution channel, I mean, those price points are different.
Okay. Understood, and the last question would be.
I'm sorry, Prerna. Can you join back to Q, please?
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. I request the participants to restrict with one question and join back to Q for more questions. Next question comes from Umang Mehta from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. Just a quick follow-up on the bookkeeping question. What was the growth in marketplace model this quarter?
I think it was in line with our overall growth. Distribution, we did grow around 9%, but in online, it was 11%.
The marketplace model within online was also 11?
Marketplace was slightly lower because we did grow more in the outside business.
Okay. Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. We have a follow-up question from Priyank Chheda from Vallum Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Same question. Marketplace and online, YTD or nine months, what would have been the growth, and just a feedback. I mean, these are all numbers. We can improve these disclosures via presentations so that we can have a more concrete discussion on the call. Nine months numbers on marketplace and online. Thank you.
Fair point, Kendra. We'll try to include all those numbers in the investor's presentation.
Perfect. And sir, on the EBOs, we haven't added much of the EBOs versus we have plans to open at least 100 EBOs. What's the outlook on that? How should we look FY25, FY26? As well as on the trade distributors, at least on the presentation number, I can see that we have added a lot of new retail touch points versus the flat distributors. We were planning to improve the throughput within the same touch points, right? I mean, now this has been the addition, which so how do we look into the sales throughput per touch point? And as well as on the EBOs. Thank you.
Okay, so on the EBO front, this quarter, the net addition has been less. That's purely because of market conditions. We are now being more conscious about the geography wherein we want to set up our own COCO store, so we did add around six stores in this quarter, but our strategy would continue to be 40-50 stores addition in the year, and as far as distribution is concerned, we'd appreciate this quarter three is both festival season and also seasonality in the north, so the retail touch point addition is highest in quarter three. Having said that, we added around 7%-8% retail touch points, but our same growth was 9%-10%, so the output or throughput per outlet is still higher.
But yeah, Q3 numbers are skewed, and we look at reach more to a different yardstick wherein how many retail touch points are getting built on a monthly basis. That's our internal yardstick. That is more consistent and more balanced number. Yeah, Q3, the numbers go up slightly because of the time.
Sorry, I couldn't get just out of it. My question was, so we were looking forward for an improvement in the throughput per retail outlet versus we have added the outlets. Yeah.
That's right. What I'm saying is we added around 7% outlets. The active outlet count increased by 7%, but my revenue growth increased by 9%-10% in distribution, right?
Got it.
So the outlet has gone up.
Perfect. Even on the distribution channel-wise numbers, it would be great if we can have a clarity because we are given for December, while the base quarter numbers are not there with us for distribution on D2C online and offline.
Okay.
Thank you.
Owing to the time constraints, that was the last question for today's phone call. On behalf of Campus Activewear Ltd, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And in case of any further queries, please reach out to Campus Activewear's investor relations team at ir@campusshoes.com. You may now disconnect your line.