Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Cello World Limited Q2 FY 2025 earnings conference call hosted by ICICI Securities. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in 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. Nilesh Patil from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thanks, Sejal. Good morning, all of you. On behalf of ICICI Securities, we welcome you all to Q2 FY 2025 results conference call of Cello World Limited. We have with us Mr. Gaurav Rathod, Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Atul Parolia, CFO. Now, I hand over the call to management team for their initial comments on quarterly performance, and then we will open the floor for question-and-answer session. Thanks, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Nilesh. Good morning, everyone, and a very warm welcome to our company's earnings call. Joining me is our CFO, Mr. Atul Parolia, and our investor relations advisor, Strategic Growth Advisors. The results and presentations are available on the stock exchange and on the company website. I hope you had a chance to look at the same. Our performance during FY 2025 is in line with the overall industry trends. Revenue and profit remained flattish on a year-on-year basis for the quarter. We were able to maintain our gross profit level margins at 52%. The softer performance was mainly on account of a delay in a lot of containers due to the new Russian sanctions and the Red Sea scenario in export, mainly in the writing instrument sector. For the quarter gone by, our consumer wear business continues to show positive growth of 5% year-on-year.
Whereas writing instruments and moulded furniture business de-grew, which had led to the result being flattish. On the CapEx front, I am excited about the completion of our investment towards the state-of-the-art glassware manufacturing facility in Rajasthan. We have commenced trial production, and this facility is equipped with very high-end machinery and basically with state-of-the-art technology. With the recent commissioning of this facility, I would like to highlight that we are now the only domestic consumer product company across all kinds of glassware and tableware products. The installed annual capacity of this plant is estimated to be about 20,000 metric tons. The facility has initiated manufacturing of commercial batches and over the course of time, we will ramp up the production and introduce multiple new lines of products. We have begun Q3 on a strong note as the festive demand seems to be robust, especially in the consumer wear business.
Combining this festive demand along with the gradual ramping up of the glassware production, we are confident of achieving better results for the next couple of quarters. From a growth perspective, we are keenly exploring other inorganic opportunities to complement our current business lines. We remain confident about our writing instruments business too, going forward and we still have the same guidance of about 12%-15% over the next two to three years. We are in the process of adding more products in this segment, which will contribute to achieving our growth aspirations. To end with, we expect the second half of this financial year to be much better with an improved demand scenario throughout all our business verticals. I will now take a pause and would like to hand over to our CFO, Mr. Atul Parolia, for our financial highlights. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Gaurav, and good morning to everyone. I will be sharing the financial details for the quarter gone by. In Q2 FY 2025, we achieved a revenue of INR 490 crore and EBITDA of INR 132 crore with a healthy EBITDA margin of 27%. Our PAT stood at INR 82 crore with a margin of 16.7% and growth of 6.7%. Speaking about the business vertical, over 70% of revenue came from the consumer wear, 14% from writing instrument, and remaining 16% from the moulded furniture and allied products. Consumer wear gross margin was 53.6%, writing instrument margin was 57%, and moulded furniture margin was 45.4%.
In terms of our channel mix, general trade contributed 74.6% of our sale, while export and online sales contributed approximately 18.5% and 10.8% respectively, with modern retail contributing the remaining 6.1%. Speaking of H1 FY 2025, revenue was INR 991 crore and a year-on-year growth of 3%. EBITDA also grew in line with the revenue and stood at INR 267 crore. EBITDA margin was 27%. PAT was at INR 167 crore with a margin of 17%. Our cash flow from operation stood at INR 65 crore. With this, I would like to open the session for question and answers.
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 will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Praveen from Prabhudas Lilladher Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is related to, as you had also highlighted, the export is down because of a delay in the container, and that lead to the writing business decline. How is the situation right now? Because, Q2, the decline in the writing is more than 15%. How is the situation shaping right now in this segment?
I think, the current scenario is much better over the last month. Though, there was about two to three months delay in the containers, and those who have lost sales, that I don't think we can recover completely because, in those branches and in those countries, that sale was lost. I guess, right now, of course, it's much better. The previous order that we had is now moving out. I think situation seems to be better, but it is going to be challenging, especially in countries like Russia, where we still face challenges because of their domestic challenges that they're facing there.
Fair to understand that the things are improving, but still challenges is there. Achieving last year number would be a challenge for us.
No, not really because our domestic demand has also become much better. I think achieving last year number in writing instruments should still not be a challenge for us. Maybe even a slight growth also is what we're expecting, at least, because the last quarter is always pretty good for writing instruments.
Very good. Now, moving to the next question related to the gross margin. In the gross margin for a quarter, if I look at that overall gross margin has also contracted and so has for the segments. I can understand related to the writing, the loss of business. But how is the other businesses like the consumer also, there is a decline in the gross margin for a quarter, as well as for the moulded furniture. Is that a pricing- led, or is that the RM- led?
No, it is a mix of both. When it comes to furniture, it is RM- led. When it comes to consumer, there, it is slight discount because of the very weak demand. There was some pass on of discounts in the market for some time. I guess that is a mix of both, when it comes to both the different segments.
With the demand improvement, consumer gross margin also is expected to improve.
Absolutely.
Lastly, on the glassware, which you had commissioned recently and given a 20,000 metric ton of [capacity] how is the revenue potential there? Also you had highlighted it is setting up well in this quarter. Can you give some more color on that revenue potential and how is the sales, especially going on?
Sure. I think glassware plant is currently under trial production, so it is not saleable production that we have started at this point of time. We hope to achieve this by the end of this month. We should have production that we can start selling. In terms of glassware, I think the sales should flow in from next month onwards. We will have a good four months of sales for this year. In terms of the overall trend, as I mentioned, October was a good month. The festive season went well, though it was in the last 15, 20 days that we really got this surge in demand. I think sales have been pretty good. The channel, whatever choking was there a little bit in the channel, that kind of got freed up.
That is why I feel that the demand overall should be much better going forward. Having said that, this year has been a little surprising because we have had months where we feel that things have been going good, and then the next month, again, things were not that good. I think, hopefully this trend is here to stay. But overall, I feel, it will still take, in the whole consumer space, another couple of quarters to really see very good, robust growth coming back.
Great to hear, sir. Lastly, if you can, give some more color on inorganic opportunity which you highlighted in the opening remark.
I think inorganic opportunity, we have been exploring for a while. Last time I mentioned as well that we have a couple of things on the table. But due to some due diligence, I think we have kept that, not on hold, but just delaying the whole process. Because there are some things that we want to be clear on before we go ahead. There were some plastic companies with similar product lines, slightly different, a little more niche product lines, which we were looking at. It is still on the table, but that is one opportunity that we would like to close sooner or later .
Is it possible to give any size indication? Is it the same size of any of your product line or segment line?
No, it's a smaller company. It's not a very huge size. About INR 150 crore- INR 175 crore of revenue. It's not a very big size, but it's got products that are complementary and synergetic to us. I guess that was the main reason for looking at a company like that.
Great to hear, sir. Thank you, and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of [Sumit], who is an individual investor. Please go ahead.
I actually have a question on the commentary from last quarter, where you had mentioned that the heat wave was the major factor why domestic sales were low. Yet again, we are seeing the same reduction, but very muted volume growth. I understand that October will be a good month because festive season, but are we seeing too much seasonality therefore in your domestic sales? A lot of investors are in the company because you have a very domestic-focused portfolio, which is very spread out, as you rightly said. But is it going to be a really a wave with a crest and a trough every few months? Because I expected this quarter to be a lot better than April, May, June because of the elections getting over and the heat wave getting over. Thank you.
I think the heat wave and the election was one of the reasons for the last quarter. But this quarter, as I said, it has been a surprising year. It has been, as you mentioned, that an ebb and flow has been there because we see one month very good and the second month not that good. Having said that, the export demand is majorly in the writing instruments, and that's where we have really seen the degrowth. But the consumer segment still is growing pretty robustly. So I think that's not where the challenge lies. Seasonality is always has been a part of our business. So you will always see bottles selling more in, say, summers, but flasks and, say, dinner sets is a festive demand. So there is a seasonality aspect to our overall sales in any case. But that's been there forever.
It's just how the product line works. Which is also good for us because it kind of, whatever shock that we get, maybe whatever external shock, we're able to absorb that because of our diversified portfolio. So I guess, it's more how the market has been and the demand situation, more than us doing anything differently.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Kartik Bhatt, who is an individual investor. Please go ahead.
I hope I'm audible.
Yes, you are.
Does this guidance of 15%-17% growth for the full year remain exact which you had previously given?
I think that guidance will change a little bit seeing the second quarter. But having added capacity for glassware, that will be new revenue that will come through for us. Overall, I feel that we should still achieve a good number. Because as I said, because of how difficult this year has been and how things have ebbed and flowed, it is tough to put a number at this point of time. Though, as I said, October has been a good month and a good pickup in sales. We will have to wait and watch how this year goes further. Having said that, third and fourth quarter is slightly better for us on a year-on-year basis as well. So we should see slightly better growth in the next two quarters.
Considering the light degrowth in export, w ould it be possible to share which countries or which geographies we typically export to?
Basically, as I mentioned, Russia for us is a big country that we export to. That has been a challenge because of the sanctions that are there in place, and they have further increased the sanctions. So it has become more difficult for them to trade. Though there are ways that they find out to trade, it just gets delayed, the whole process. I think that is one of the reasons. And over the Red Sea, we have a big export to America as well. That has caused a lot of containers to kind of delay because it takes the Red Sea route. So I guess these are the two major countries that have caused the challenges and the degrowth in exports.
Do we see the need to kind of revisit this strategy for export in the context of this slightly sluggish demand? What are your thoughts as to how do we get back on the growth trajectory in the coming quarters?
As I mentioned, I think has been improving. It is not that it has not improved. We will be able to close those sales that we kind of missed in the last two quarters. I t is definitely a better situation than before. Having said that, if something happens externally, it is definitely currently not in our control. What we are focusing of course on is growing domestic sales. I think that is the only thing that we can focus on. Because there , things are much better and looking good. I guess, focus on domestic demand and trying to close these orders and adding more countries, is something that we are looking at.
Any thoughts on FY 2026 as of now, especially with this glassware facility also coming in? What kind of growth can we look at in each of the segments? What would be the key growth drivers ?
I think, of course, glassware will be a driver for us. It is one of its kind facility in India, and we are basically substituting imports. Our idea is to completely use up this capacity in the next two years. That itself will add a lot to our top line in the next coming year. With better demand, I am sure we will go back to the numbers of 15%-17%, as we have been guiding and have been achieving over the last few years. I guess, it is just a matter of time. Overall demand scenario has to improve for all of this to happen. I think, as I mentioned, it will take a couple of quarters to get there.
You mentioned it being an import substitute product, so just wanted to understand which countries is it typically imported from currently.
Different countries. Of course, China being one of the major ones. You have Thailand, Indonesia, China, Turkey, the Middle East. It is imported from all these places, with China having a larger share.
Thank you so much, and all the best for the coming quarters.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sumant Kumar from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Can you talk about bifurcation of volume and volume growth and realization growth or degrowth, whatever?
I think, Sumant, in our business it is very difficult, though there are numbers I can state. Because we sell products from INR 10- INR 5,000. If I sell more of the INR 10 product, we will have volume growth. It is a little challenging. Our business, I would suggest should not be looked in that sense. Having said that, our volume growth overall is 8% in the consumer wear business, and our value is 5% at this point of time. That also speaks that there is some additional sale in the low ASP or low average selling price product line.
Hello?
Yes, Mr. Sumant.
Hello. Yes. Can you talk about the writing instrument? We have seen a couple of quarter degrowth. What is the outlook for short-term to mid-term, and what are we doing for the growth for the segment?
I think, in terms of writing instruments, as I mentioned that things have improved in the export side of things. That should get us back on track. Domestic demand is decent, so I think there we should be able to cover up the losses that we've had in sales over the past two quarters. I guess we should still be able to cross a certain threshold of last year, plus a little bit of growth in this segment.
Mr. Sumant, does that answer your question?
Yes. Can we see glassware show a good growth in Q3 FY 2024 or 2025 onwards?
I think glassware, majorly we will only be able to start selling in the next month. It should add to a certain amount of revenue growth. But major growth should come in the fourth quarter.
Wedding season is going to-
Sorry to interrupt you, sir. I would request you to rejoin the queue for your follow-up question. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ankur from HDFC Life Insurance. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good morning. Thanks for your time. You spoke about discounting and therefore that impact on gross margins during the quarter given the weak demand. If you could just talk about competitive behavior. Have those discounts been rolled back given your commentary on demand getting better? Or is it still more discount-led, volume-driven kind of environment?
I think if you look at the discounting as well, it's been very limited. It's not been a lot. If I look at other peers in the segment, we've seen major degrowth in gross profit margins across the segment. We've been able to still maintain to a certain extent. Having said that, at this point, a little discounting will, I think, be the case for the next couple of quarters. I don't think we can shy away from that because we still want to be competitive. At least maintain our turf. I think, going forward for the next couple of quarters, this trend will be there.
And that kind of ties into the fact that you expect a few more quarters before growth really bounces back to that 15%- 17% different levels, right? And therefore then discounting kind of goes away, right? That's how we should see it.
Correct. So, as the demand picks up, the need for discounting, of course, comes down.
Got it , sir. That's all from my end . Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Percy from IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. So on the glassware plant, I just wanted to understand one thing. So this is a plant which needs to run 24/7, right? So you have a capacity of around 20,000 tons per annum, which is 55 tons/ day. So does this mean that your production will be 55 tons/ day from the time you start commercial production?
No, it actually takes a little time to ramp up. Though the capacity is that much, maybe it will take about a couple of months, two to three months to ramp up. We are able to run at, say, 70%-80% as well, depending on demand. Of course, it will depend on those factors, but the capacity is about 20,000 tons. At the max, we can achieve this.
What is the minimum that you need to produce a day?
Minimum would be about 70%-80%, as I said. It will be about 40 tons. So 55 tons/ day, then it would be about 40 tons.
And your capacity that you have put up 20,000 tons, what would that capacity be as a percentage of India's total capacity for those kind of products?
So basically today, most of it is an import, except for Firozabad, there is glass manufacturing, tableware manufacturing, but the quality is not up to the level. So overall, this is about a INR 2,000 crore market, with import and domestic put together. And so we are looking at about a 10%-12% kind of a market share of this entire market.
Understood. So supposing you start off with a 40 tons production per day, are you confident that you will be able to sort of sell that product immediately, given that you're starting from zero and going to 70% capacity almost immediately? So do you think you can capture that 10% kind of market share right at the outset or does it take time for you to find customers, et cetera? And if it does take time, what happens to the production which you have done in the meanwhile?
So I think it will take a little time. When I talk about little, the timeframe is about three to six months, where our market starts spreading in the market. Because we have two advantages. One advantage is supply, because most of this product line is an import and a lot of people import it. It's quite fragmented. So I guess one is supply, one is the consistency of the price. Because today, I am importing, say two, three people are importing, anyone is able to import, and they distort the price in the market. So I guess these two advantages are very big. We just have to enter with a bang, and I don't see any reason why we can't scale this up very quickly. So as I mentioned last as well, in about two years, we want to definitely finish the capacity.
Got it. What is the net realization for glassware for your typical product portfolio? At a net sales level, what would be the realization per ton?
It is similar to our Opalware kind of margins that we enjoy here. Of course, it has been ramped up. At a lower level of capacity, it will be challenging to achieve a good level of margin. At peak, we are able to achieve really good numbers.
Not margin. I was asking the net sales per ton, how much that would be, and is it different from Opalware?
It is different from Opalware. It is a lot lower per ton. Having said that, there is a lot of value addition that still can happen in this product line. It would be wrong for me to say at what level it would be, but it is definitely lower than Opalware. It is not at the same level.
Thank you. That is all from me. Thanks, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shirish Pardeshi from Centrum Broking. Please go ahead.
Hi, team. Good morning. Thanks for the opportunity. I have two, three questions.
Sorry to interrupt you, sir. I would request you to please use your handset.
I'm using handset. Am I clear now?
Yes, sir.
Clear . Please go ahead.
On slide five , you have given the first half revenue is about INR 991 crore. I would say that about 67.6%, so about roughly INR 670 crore is your consumerware business. It's about 53.6% the margin what you have mentioned in the slide. I'm more curious, can you strip out what is the Opalware business in this? If glassware is going to be starting now, what would be the contribution within that 67%, say, next one to two years?
I think broadly, we do not indicate numbers separately for the consumer goods vertically. We don't give it separately, but overall it's about 30% of the business. 25% actually, of the consumer goods business came from Opalware. The glassware business would add another 15%. So at its height, both put together, it would be about 40%-45%.
Directionally, once your Falna capacity gets built up to maybe about 40 tons, what you're saying in over the next two to three quarters, subsequently you will reach to 50 tons. How this contribution of 67% would settle for next two to three years?
Definitely, the consumer wear percentage would increase because of this, as this will be a faster-growing segment. Of course, it'll depend on the other segment, how they grow. But definitely it will gain a little more percentage over the other two segments.
Just one more follow-up. On glassware, since you are doing in-house production, w ill the gross margin be subsequently higher than 53%, 54% for glassware?
Yes. Opalware also, the margin overall is slightly more than our other businesses. The gross margins are slightly better. For glass also it will be similar, but not initially. In later months, once we have completely ramped up the production.
My second and last question. How we should look at once this capacity comes full on stream? Not 2025, but 2026, some margin story, if you can give some more depth.
As I said, we first have to reach full capacity. In terms of efficiencies also, we need to reach a good efficiency. Currently, we have just started. Glassware is a production that takes time to settle. It is not something that settles within a month or a couple of months. But once it settles, it settles for about 10 years, and you do not have to look at it. I guess, we are looking at it from that perspective. We hope to completely scale up by March and be there. That is the wish and the aspiration to completely be at full capacity and also being able to sell that capacity by the next year and over the next two years, we should be able to exhaust it.
Just one question. Like industry has seen a very strong discounting in last 30, 40 days. Do you think that there is a preempting of competition in the glassware also from the discounting point?
Glassware, I am not seeing any other peers coming in, when I am talking particularly about the glassware segment that we have just put up. I guess there it is just imports that we are substituting. From that perspective, I do not see any pressures on margins.
Just one last follow-up. This glassware, you will put it in the mass pricing or you will take the premium pricing?
Basically we have the similar pricing as what imports is coming in today. I think that's the strategy.
Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of [Ritvik] from RK Ventures. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, sir.
Good morning.
Couple of questions on the glassware plant we will be commissioning. What kind of product portfolio we are targeting from the glassware segment?
In glassware, we majorly have drinking glasses or tumblers, all kinds of drinking glasses. We will have storage containers, bowls, other tableware like plates, dinnerware. This is the entire portfolio of the glassware plant. A nd also hot drinks, so tea cups and mugs.
Got it. What can be the peak revenue once fully utilized from this segment, from this plant?
About INR 230 crores- INR 250 crores, we can achieve, without value addition. If we start say, decoration, coloring, there are a lot of other value additions that can be done to this product line that can further enhance the revenue.
What would be the payback for this plant now after completely ramping up?
The payback should be about five years, five and a half years.
Got it. Just one question. Would there be any kind of cannibalization between the plastic and the glassware products for us?
No, I think we have seen the demand for different products being very different. Also the channel that we sell through. Most of our distribution is also quite separate. There is some overlap, but most of it is different channels through which we sell. The product line, as end usage is also very different. A tumbler, you will only be able to sell a glass tumbler. I do not think you can sell a plastic tumbler. I think the product itself has a different use, so I do not see any cannibalization as such.
Just one final question on this. What is the CapEx for this plant?
The CapEx is about INR 250 crores.
INR 250 crores. All good, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
A reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Deepesh Sancheti from Maanya Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Hi, Am I audible?
Yes, sir. Mr. Deepesh, you are audible.
My question was specifically about the merger of Wim Plast and Cello World. What is the rationale of demerging Wim Plast and merging it into Cello? If you could just explain.
I think we previously mentioned this as well. There are two rationales. One is that we did not see any point in running two separate listed entities, as the business is not very different. Secondly, there is a lot of manufacturing facilities that Wim Plast has, in different parts of the country, wherein we can share manufacturing facilities with our other plastic product lines. I guess these were the two major rationales for the merger.
Also with this merger, the entire money which Wim Plast had given to Cello World as a loan for about 8%, that also gets merged, right? I mean, absolutely there will be no loan on Cello then.
That is right. But as you know, while taking that IPO proceed, we have said that we will repay that loan. So already we have repaid that INR 100 crore loan to Wim Plast. Moreover, all the fund will come to Cello World, and that is right. What you are saying is right.
Because it will become 100% subsidiary of Cello World.
Effectively, a Wim Plast shareholder will get 86 shares of Cello World. Is that right?
That is right. You are right.
Now, I wanted to understand , because this is a very good deal for Cello World. Wim Plast was trading at what? 10 PE, 12 PE, and we are trading at 60 PE. My specific question right now is that since we are into three verticals, are we looking at actually demerging these three verticals in the near future or maybe going ahead? Because I am sure that all the three verticals are completely unrelated to each other, right?
No, I don't think we are looking at that, because otherwise we would have not merged this back into Cello World. Because I think though they have different product lines, there is a lot of synergy between these product lines because on the manufacturing side, furniture is very similar to our other plastic manufactured products. I guess, I think there is synergy. Standing outside was not making sense and that's the reason that the merger is happening.
What I'm asking is that there's a plastic division, there is a pens division, and then there is glassware as well as all the consumer goods business. Maybe having three verticals would enhance shareholder value in future. I mean, this is not that I'm proposing right now. Maybe in future, when all these three verticals can be listed separately.
I think, of course, it depends on the growth potential of all these verticals. Because at the end of the day, when I talk about glassware, steel or plastic, they're still a consumer-focused category. At the end of the day, the retail sale or the consumer looks at it from the similar perspective, not from a different perspective. I guess, of course, if we say tomorrow glassware becomes too big, then kind of it would probably make sense.
Going ahead, are we expanding the glassware segment also? Or we are looking at first commercializing and commissioning the entire plant into full capacity?
No, I think our first thing is to completely commission this plant, get it to capacity and sell the capacity of this plant. That itself will take the share of glassware in the total business quite higher. So I think that's the first idea. Later on, of course, as we have scaled up our Opalware as well, if there is a chance and if there's a market, of course, we will scale even further.
Great. All the very best, Gaurav. Thank you very much .
Thanks a lot.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Karan from Asian Markets Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Am I audible?
Yes.
Absolutely.
Gaurav, with respect to the Opalware plant, what was the capacity utilization in Q2? How are we seeing that ramping up for the rest part of the year?
Currently we are at about 75% capacity utilization on the Opalware plant. We have about 25% still to go. I think by about next year, we should be completely using up this facility. Not this year, we may not be able to completely utilize the full capacity, but we'll still be about 70%-80% utilization.
Can you comment on the new product launches for the first half across categories, and year-over-year as well?
I think new products, in terms of categories, we have not added. Glassware will be one thing that will be new. But of course-
What the new SKU launches at the company level?
New SKU is more evolutionary. Say there is a certain type of a bottle, so we make different varieties of the bottle. Every year we launch about 300- odd products. Even this year it has been in line. Of course, we reduce also a few, it is not only that we keep adding. About 100- odd products have been launched in the first six months. But it is more evolutionary, more designing specific that, say there is one bottle, the other bottle is the same purpose but slightly different or a newer design. It is more a trend game rather than a completely new addition of product lines.
Last question from my side, what kind of changes in selling price we have seen for Opalware and glassware in last one year, at the industry level?
At the industry level, see, there has been actually a lot of deflationary pressures that have come in. Overall raw material prices and energy costs have come down dramatically since the last year. I guess that is the only discount that has been passed on. From the P&L perspective, it has not changed much at our end in terms of realization.
Thank you. That is it on my end.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aniket Kulkarni from BMSPL Capital. Please go ahead.
Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity.
Thank you.
In the last couple of calls, I think we had spoken about the possibility of merging Wim Plast. Have you had any thoughts about the same, and what is the idea behind it right now?
I think we've been speaking about it, and I think now we have just taken this call. As it's already out there, we have now initiated the process for the merger. As I had mentioned earlier as well, the rationales are two. One is that we don't see a separate entity standing out as a listed company. There is no point, and basically it reduces our compliances while having it under Cello World. Already because Cello World owns about 55% of the company in any case. It's only about 45% that is being acquired. Also we would be able to use these facilities as Wim Plast has a lot of locations where its manufacturing capacity is there. So we can use it for our other plastics product lines as well. I think these are the two major rationales.
Understood. Thank you so much, and best of luck.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Karan Bhuwania from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question. I just wanted to understand what are the distribution expansion plans we have, especially if you could speak about in the writing instrument segment. What are the plans we have in terms of distribution expansion? Thank you.
I think, of course, there are certain gaps still in the writing instrument segment. Geographically, we have been growing the domestic distribution. We are pretty much covered, but of course, till last year levels, we were at about 120,000 outlets, which has grown. About 15,000 - 20,000 outlets have been added in that. But there is still some way to go. We should be at about 200,000 + , and that is what we are aspiring to get to.
Got you. Is there any specific timeline you are looking to achieve this target?
It is an evolving process. It keeps getting added. By the end of the year, we should be at about more than 150,000. In the next eight to nine months we should start looking at touching that number.
Sure, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and one to ask a question. A reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you. I would like to thank everyone for being a part of this call. We hope we have answered all your questions. If you need any information, please reach out to us and our investor relations partner, Strategic Growth Advisors. We would answer all your queries. Thank you.
On behalf of ICICI Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.