Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q4 and FY 2026 earnings conference call of Flair Writing Industries Limited. 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 this 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 Ms. Darshi Jain. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Flair Writing Industries Limited Q4 and FY 2026 earnings conference call. Today on the call, we have Mr. Vimalchand Rathod, the Managing Director, Mr. Mohit Rathod, the Whole Time Director, Mr. Sumit Rathod, Whole Time Director, and Mr. Alpesh Porwal, the Chief Financial Officer. A short disclaimer before we start this call. This call will contain some forward-looking statements, which may be based upon our beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as of today. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and will involve unforeseen risks and uncertainties. With that, I would now like to hand over the conference call to Mr. Vimalchand Rathod, the Managing Director, for his opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, and welcome to everyone. Thank you for joining Q4 and FY2026 earnings call. I hope everyone had the opportunity to go through our investor presentation and press release that have been uploaded on the exchange. We are pleased to conclude the year on a strong note, delivering 15.8% top-line growth year-on-year, achieving our stated guidelines of 15% growth. Our new growth engine delivered outstanding results during the year, with Creative rising 74% year-on-year and Steel Bottles and Houseware recording an exceptional 94% growth for the year. FY 2026 has been a defining year in our transformation journey. We have evolved from being a largely pen-centric business into a more diversified enterprise, building strong momentum in high-growth categories in Creatives and Steel Bottles and Houseware. Those two categories now contribute 31% of overall revenue. This marks a strategic shift towards a more scalable and future-ready, and sustainable business model.
At the same time, we have continued to strengthen our own brand sale, which contribute 91% of our business in FY 2026, a clear reflection of our growing strength and trust in our brand portfolio. We remain committed to deepening the mix further in the years ahead. Operations at our new Valsad facility are scheduled to commence from Q1 FY 2027, with capacity ramp-up expected by Q3 FY 2027. This expansion will significantly enhance our manufacturing capabilities across the pens and creative segment, supporting increased productions volumes and enabling us to cater to growing demand across segments. In line with our strong performance and positive outlook, the Board of Directors have approved a final dividend of INR 0.50 per share, representing 10% of face value of our equity share, aggregating 20% of FY 2026, similar to previous year.
As we look ahead, we remain firmly focused on driving innovation and further deepening our brand leadership. This will position us to deliver enduring growth, creating long-term value, and reinforce our leadership in the industry for years to come. I now hand over the calls to Mr. Alpesh Porwal, our CFO, to discuss in detail about our Q4 and FY 2026 financial performance. Thank you.
Thank you, MD sir. Let me begin with the financial performance for the fourth quarter of FY 2026. Revenue from operations for Q4 FY 2026 stood at INR 322.9 crore, an increase of 8.4% year-on-year. The gross profit for the quarter was at INR 165.3 crore, which increased by 14.1% over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The gross profit margin improved by 258 basis points year-on-year to 51.2%, driven by a favorable shift in the company's product mix. The increasing contribution from the own brand sales has strengthened pricing power, resulting in an overall improvement in gross margins this quarter. EBITDA for the quarter was at INR 57.7 crore, registering a growth of 23.3% year-on-year. EBITDA margin stood at 17.9%, an increase of 217 basis points year-on-year. As mentioned in our previous calls, that we are seeing operating leverage come through this year.
This reinforces our confidence in the effectiveness of our ongoing business transformation initiatives, including increased automation, managing our human capital, and strengthening distribution relationships to support our expanding portfolio of innovative products. Profit after tax for the quarter was at INR 36.5 crore, increasing by 18.4% on a year-on-year basis. Profit after tax margin, that's PAT margin for the quarter stood at 11.3%, expanding by 96 basis points year-on-year, supported by disciplined finance cost.
The stronger PAT growth was driven by a broad-based improvement in profitability, supported by expansion across gross margin, EBITDA margin, and overall PAT margin. Moving to our FY 2026 financial performance. Revenue from operations for FY 2026 was at INR 1,250.1 crore, an increase of 15.8% year-on-year. As mentioned by our MD, Sir, we achieved our revenue guidance of 15% this year. Gross profit for full -year was INR 637.8 crore, which increased by 16.4% on year-on-year basis.
Gross profit margin came in at 51%. The gross profit margin grew marginally this year with 30 basis points expansion. EBITDA for the full -year was INR 224.5 crore, increasing notably by 21.5% year-on-year. EBITDA margin also improved marginally by 85 basis points to 18%. Profit after tax for the period was at INR 141.3 crore, an increase of 18.7% year-on-year. Profit after tax margin for the year was at 11.3%, increasing by 28 basis points . As reflected in the full year performance, margins across all levels expanded meaningfully. Talking about our working capital. Our inventory days stood at 97 days in Q4 FY 2026. It was similar compared to other quarters as we stocked up more inventory in advance during the quarter, anticipating further price in crude oil and its byproducts. On the other hand, our debtor days stood at 78 days.
It reduced by four days quarter-on-quarter, and our creditor days stood at 37 days, a decrease of three days quarter-on-quarter. Our working capital for Q4 FY2026 stood at 139 days, which is also the same for full -year. We regularly launch new products, maintaining higher inventory during the initial demand discovery and feedback phase. Based on market responses and sales forecast, inventory levels are then adjusted to complete the product life cycle. Coming to our business segment results. Our own brand sales have continued a strong upward trajectory with consistent growth across the domestic market. Overall, domestic own brand sales grew by 17% year-on-year to INR 264 crore. For full -year, this number stands at 1,017, that is INR 1,017 crore, registering a 20% growth year-on-year. Domestic market has been a constant source of strength and underscores the favorable market positioning of all our products.
Our own brand exports contributed INR 34 crore to the total revenue in Q4 FY 2026, an increase of 31% year-on-year, while for the full -year, it was at INR 122 crore, an increase of 29%. We have consistently focused on increasing our own brand sales and reducing reliance on OEMs, and we are steadily delivering on this objective. Our own brand sales now account for approximately 91% of the total revenue in FY 2026, marking a steady and consistent rise from 87% in FY 2025, 86% in FY 2024, and 18% in FY 2023. About our OEM sales. The domestic OEM declined from INR 15 crore in Q4 FY 2025 to INR 9 crore in Q4 FY 2026. As highlighted earlier, our domestic OEM business has been fully phased out with legacy OEM relationships reduced to zero.
Nonetheless, we are pleased to share that new customer engagements through our Flair Glomax subsidiary have created an incremental revenue stream within the domestic OEM segment. Our export OEM business declined from INR 32 crore in Q4 FY 2025 to INR 17 crore in Q4 FY 2026. It was mainly because of persistent inflation and subdued demand being experienced domestically by our clients, further aggravated by West Asia crisis. As the macro environment stabilizes, we expect export OEM to recover meaningfully, driven by normalization of supply chains, improved logistics, and a gradual revival in demand across key export markets, supported by enhanced customer engagement and execution capabilities. Coming to our product segment results. First, our high growth segments of Creative and Steel Bottles and Houseware. The creative segment achieved impressive growth of 80% year-on-year growth for Q4 FY 2026 and 74% year-on-year for FY 2026, the whole year.
The revenue contribution stood at INR 86 crore for the quarter, that's Q4, and INR 298 crore for the full financial year. We expanded our product portfolio by introducing six fresh offerings under the creative range during the quarter and overall 29 new products during the financial year. We recently incurred a CapEx of INR 20 crore FY 2026 for the Flair Glomax facility in Surat. Mainly invested in the new building and plant and machinery and has already emerged as a revenue accretive driver for the creative segment. We recently operationalized wooden pencil manufacturing at this facility, a major category expansion in creative segment. We continue to scale the Steel Bottles and Houseware segment as a revenue contribution for the quarter, increased by a stellar 76% year-on-year in Q4 FY 2026 to INR 22 crore as compared to INR 12 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
On full year, the segment generated sales worth INR 85 crore in revenue, which is a substantial increase of 95% year-on-year in FY 2026. We sell 24 products in this segment with multiple SKUs. Our growth strategy in this segment is driven by two key levers, expanding the product portfolio and deepening distribution reach, particularly within general trade. Moving on to our pen segment. The total revenue for the quarter declined 4% year-on-year from INR 221.66 crore to INR 213.44 crore. The overall decline is entirely attributable to our pen OEM segment, which contracted 65%. Here, we also want to highlight that our own brand business in pen grew 9%, a high single-digit growth. This is a direct testament to the company's strategic focus on building and strengthening our own brand portfolio, which continues to deliver consistent growth.
To summarize, while the pens business grew in FY 2026, with focus on quality and our revenue mix showing a significant shift towards own brand sales, which now represents 95% of our pens revenue versus 80% a year ago. Coming to the geopolitical situation currently which we're facing. Despite the West Asian crisis and uncertainty looming over it, we would like to maintain the revenue guidance of 15% FY 2027. We remain confident about the upcoming year with a positive outlook driven by broad-based growth across all segments, supported by new product launches, enhanced manufacturing capabilities, and stronger distribution enabling deeper market reach. The ongoing West Asia crisis has inflated crude oil prices drastically, leading to a corresponding increase in crude linked derivatives, which are one of the important components of raw materials. While Q4 margin remain insulated due to pre-stock inventories, we typically maintain inventory buffers over multiple months.
We expect a margin impact in Q1 FY 2027 as higher cost inventory begins to flow through. Cost of such raw materials have gone up from 10%-50% on an average. We are expecting an impact of about 13% increase in the consumption ratio. To mitigate this, we are strategizing a combination of rationalization of schemes and discounts. In Steel Bottles and Houseware, we have also increased the selling price for all the products. With sustained focus on premiumization, with a consistently rising share of mid-premium and premium products in new product launches, we expect to further offset the negative margin impact.
Reflecting on the quarter, we take pride in delivering overall strong performance despite challenging macroeconomic conditions, and we extend our sincere appreciation to all our stakeholders for their continued support. Building on this momentum, we remain focused on sustaining our progress and driving the next phase of growth. Thank you. I would now like to hand over to the moderator to open the floor for questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Aradhana Jain from 360 ONE Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations on delivering a steady operating performance despite the volatile macro environment that we are in. My first question is, how much is the salience of crude on our raw materials? You mentioned that the prices have increased to around 10% - 15%. If you could throw some light of how much has the price hikes been taken during the quarter or even after that, and which SKUs would have seen the most price hikes, and did we witness any channels stocking ahead of the price increase that happened? That's my first question.
Hi, Aradhana. When we say 13%, it's on an average for direct and indirect kind of materials which we use, the impact. When I say I calculate it is 30%, this is an average of raw materials, tips, ink, packaging, and other-
Decoration.
... decoration. Overall, this range is actually from, say, 0% in certain of these products from 5% to 50%. The weighted average comes to 13% today, and that is why I said 13% is going to be the impact of the raw material price due to crude.
In Q1.
In Q1, yeah. Like I said, we also have these raw materials stocked up, which also kind of averages out the impact of increase in the raw material prices.
How much is the salience of crude on our raw materials? Like is it 30%, 40% of our raw materials is crude derivative, or how is it, if you could?
35%.
35%. Did we witness any channel stocking ahead of the raw material increase that was happening?
Sorry, repeat the question.
Was there any channel stocking that happened ahead of the raw material price increase before basically?
What happened, Aradhana, as the war started, as you know, the raw material prices started increasing. There was something that we average out our purchase costs out here by buying in at the dips out there and also stocking in order. What we see is that the pre-stocked material, which is going to have my average cost not dipping down so much as it would be had I been purchasing the raw material at the current prices.
Understood. You also highlighted that we might see some bit of dip in our margins because of the inflation in the prices. If you could throw some light on how much could the dip be there on our margins on account of the increase in the raw material prices?
Everything averages out and the impact will be in Q4, a total of 13%, which would net up to something like a 4% or something in Q1.
Okay. Second, I wanted to Sorry.
No, Aradhana, just to add, this 4% when I'm looking at is I am looking at which will eventually go down over the next three quarters. As to end of FY 2027, probably we'll do a recalibration out and we'll be kind of at the same levels of margin which we are today, maybe 1% of difference out here which we see.
Okay. The second question I wanted to understand is on the pen segment. If you could throw some light on how is the outlook going to be over the next two to three years. We were guiding for high single digit kind of growth in the pen segment. We've closed the year at around 2%. I understand that our own brand has grown at 9%. Going forward, how should one look at the mix between pens and Steel Bottles and Creative? Obviously, if we see last year, we were at around 77%-78% of pens contribution, which has come down to around 68% this year. Going forward, what is the outlook on pens? I understand the growth levers will be Creative and Steel Bottles, but if you could just help us understand what is the outlook going ahead.
Yeah. Aradhana, what we are targeting for the coming years is the writing instrument, which is pens, would be growing at a 5% on a annual basis. Also to add the high growth category, which is creative, we are targeting a 50% growth this year as well. For Steel Bottles, we continue to grow at 40%. Overall, if you look at the ratio, will come out to around 15%.
Understood. During this quarter, our Steel Bottles revenue has moderated a bit if we compare that to, say, second quarter or third quarter. What is the reason for that, and how should one look at the growth in the Steel Bottles? That INR 22 crore-INR 23 odd crore of quarterly revenue, what is our outlook on that? How do we plan to increase that, and what are the steps that we are taking towards it?
Yeah. If you look at the Q4, when we compare to Q3, of course, Q3, there was the impact of festivals. Obviously the sale was high that time. Going forward, we are strengthening all three fronts, which is to do with our GT, General Trade, also the modern trade and e-commerce business, along with the quick commerce.
Understood. Thank you so much. I will join back the queue for follow-ups.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sneha from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good afternoon, team. Congratulations on great numbers. Just couple of questions from my end. What is the impact that you're now estimating in terms of margins going ahead, and for how long do you think that it will take to normalize? The reason I'm asking is you've already started taking actions in terms of reducing discounts, and probably even increasing prices. Let's say the situation continues with respect to polymer prices, if it continues to remain volatile, when do we see our margins normalizing?
Hi, Sneha. Sneha, like I said, when we look at a max of 4% in my Q1, this is the impact which I see. If the war continues and the situation continues to linger. What you are asking is how do we manage it? Today, we are not there in a lot of segments. We're not even touching the pricing. The entire economics of the market would undergo change if this war continues. Rising prices obviously have to stabilize and we have to pull it for some time. In a nutshell, if I say it will have an impact, the inflation will come in and it will have impact on every product, including our products also. The ultimate thing is the rise in MRPs is what everybody will see.
Today, we don't envisage that this crisis would continue beyond next two or three months, when it starts stabilizing by that time. Even if the war thing ends by, say, next week, what we are expecting or predicting, the pricing, the stabilization will take some time.
Noted. Did I hear it correctly that for pens division now we're expecting around 5% sort of growth and rest other segments will lead to driving of overall 15% growth?
Yeah. Yes. Overall, we look at 15%. What Mohit just said is 5% growth is what we expecting in pens, and 50% and 40% in Creative and Steel Bottle, which comes to 15%.
Got that. Lastly, I just wanted to take your views on the inventory days reduction. Now, we've been targeting that for over a year or so. What is the progress that we are making and what are the actions that we are taking? FY 2027, what's the probable reduction that we'll be able to see in the working capital cycle?
The entire working capital, if you see our inventory days went up from 87 in the previous year to 94 in this year. Over the period, what we see is just a marginal improvement quarter on quarter also. Today, we stand at 97 days. This is majorly because of the pre-stocking, as I said, which we anticipated. Just to safeguard our interest, we insulated with stocking a little extra. However, if you see my debtors and all, the numbers have started coming down in spite of this market. It has come down by two days as I stand today. Has my creditors, the number of days have reduced. That means I've started paying the creditors much faster. The cycle has become shorter. One second. Okay. This entire impact would work out to almost nine days of increasing my working capital.
Going forward.
Going forward, we'll streamline inventory. Now, the inventory pre-stocking was a one-time event, which we say. This is not what is going to repeat. With the entire West Asia crisis moving in a direction, we see around five to seven days of improvement in inventory in the coming two quarters.
Understood. Thanks a lot, team. All the very best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jinesh Joshi from PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, you mentioned that you have pre-stocked certain inventory in anticipation of price rise. Can you just highlight how many months of cover do we have as far as 1Q is concerned?
In my inventory, when we are say raw material and packing material which makes up to around 40% of my inventory. When I say stocking up of the inventory, it's around four to five weeks of inventory raw material which we stock up.
Understood. Sir, I just want to understand our export revenue growth trajectory a bit better, because if I look at our own brand sales, it has grown quite handsomely in Q4, but our export OEM revenue is down, if I'm not mistaken. Given the fact that we are facing headwinds in export markets due to logistical challenges, ideally it should impact the OEM revenue on the export side as well, as well as the own brand revenue. There is some kind of divergence. One category is reporting a growth, whereas other is declining. If you can just explain this bit.
If you see in the export market, overall in the OEM segment, there are many factors, and recently due to the West Asian conflict that was going on, that impacted the overall route, even the freight cost and even the route towards the export market. When I say the own brand growth, we had a significant growth and even control on our brand and our strategies in those countries has helped us grow significantly overall in the export market. I think going forward, we continue to maintain that strategy. Now, as you know, we have also opened up four new countries, and overall, we are 100+ countries now in the overall export market.
Can you share out of the total export revenue, what is the share of these troubled countries at this point in time, and what has been the fall within that category as such?
The overall export to the Middle Eastern countries is about 25%.
The extent of fall that we have seen in this quarter, I mean, is it possible to kind of give some color on that?
Past few weeks or past couple of months, we have not been able to export there, mainly because of the route is closed. Anyways, when we talk to our buyers and our distributors, they are very positive because the back-to-school season is coming there as well. They are very optimistic about the future business in this year.
Okay. Sir, just wanted to understand this growth guidance of Steel Bottles and Creative a bit better, where we are seeing a 50% growth for creative and 40% for Steel Bottles. I think we launched about 59 new products in both these categories in FY 2026. What is our plan for FY 2027 in terms of new launches and any touchpoint expansion that we are planning, especially on the Steel Bottles side? Because I believe on creative, we are at about 65,000 - 70,000 in terms of touchpoints. What exactly is going to drive the growth in these two categories? Also, within Steel Bottles, are we planning to add the fourth line anytime soon?
When we talk about creative, as we have seen in last six to seven quarters, we have continued the growth momentum. All the categories in the creative, we are getting a good traction. We will continue to launch new products this year as well, because still we feel a lot of the categories, we have to increase the depth of offerings of the products. The new launches will continue for this year as well. When we talk about the overall coverage in creative, I would say we would maintain the same and reiterate that we would be increasing the depth and our footprint in each and every outlet, rather than increasing the number of outlets.
To answer your other question, in Steel Bottles, yes, we are launching a lot of new ranges in the coming year as well to increase the overall variety in the bottles. Since the base is small in all three categories, which would be general trade, modern trade, and e-commerce, the growth is going to be all across.
Fourth line, sir, any plans to add fourth line within the Steel Bottle?
We are planning to expand our steel business by adding one more line.
Sure, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nitin Jain from Fairvalue Equity Advisory. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you. My question has been answered. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahul Jain from Credence Wealth.
Sir, thanks for the opportunity, and congratulations on a good set of numbers. More specifically, you have done exceptionally well on the creative side and the bottle business. My first question is, sir, with regards to the CapEx which we have done in last three years, our gross margin has almost gone up from about INR 200 crore to INR 450 crore plus. The cash flow CapEx, which I can see from last three years' cash flows, is roughly around INR 350 crore. Two questions related to the CapEx part. One is, see what further CapEx we plan to do in the current year, that is FY 2027. Based on the CapEx which we have done till now, and also the commercial start of operations at Valsad and Surat, the INR 20 crore CapEx. Typically, with this kind of infrastructure, what kind of peak revenues are achievable?
Just to add to this and give you a perspective, we had a CapEx spend of INR 104 crore in the previous financial year. In Q4 itself, we had INR 40 crore. The major part of this CapEx is, like you I think probably were trying to say, is the plant and machinery and molds. That's our CapEx spend out here. What we see in the coming year, in this quarter, when we capitalize the new Valsad facility. We have another outlay of probably INR 60 or INR 70 odd crore, and the total CapEx for the year would go to around INR 80 crore, INR 90 crore. Having said this, historically also, if you will see, the number of times of revenue which we generate from our capital assets is around three times.
When I say it's more than three times, the similar revenue is what we expect from all the capital expenditure. After I'm able to put the capital expenditure, give you a proper perspective, annually, we have a replacement, et c, of around INR 44 crore. With this, another INR 72 crore of CapEx coming in, another INR 72 crore which we capitalize in Valsad over the period of two to three years, where we see we reach the optimum level of capacity levels, and it would give us a three times of this expenditure.
Sir, just to understand this clearly. Based on the current CapEx plans, which is one which is completed till 31st March, and one which you spoke about, the Valsad, we'll have about further around INR 70 crore. With this Valsad thing done completely, what kind of peak revenues are possible with this existing infrastructure? Do we...
Peak revenue facility or are you talking about the total?
I'm talking about the peak revenue of the total.
We have been doing CapEx for the last two, three years now, continuously.
We have been doing CapEx, we're also building up manufacturing facility. What we see in the next, the peak revenue from the assets which we would have, would come to around INR 1,750 crore of sales, which we can do from these facilities which are building up over a period of time.
Okay. including the Valsad new INR 70 crore addition, it will be INR 70 crore and INR 50 crore.
Yes. That's the capacity which we will ultimately build and operate over a period of time.
Mm-hmm. Okay. As we go forward, do we plan to reduce this intensity of CapEx? Reason being that somewhere due to the CapEx, can we go to in terms of some kind of asset-light model so that our return ratios go beyond, say, 20%, 25%?
We're not thinking about an asset light at this point of time. The way we are functioning out here by our capital outlays, and we're going to continue with that. It's not that we are saying that we're going to have a lot of capital outlay, but as need basis and the possibilities at a given period of time, we plan the CapEx output.
Okay. Sir, within creatives, we have done exceptionally well last year, and again, we are expecting about 50% growth in the current year, FY 2027. What top two or three product categories are driving this growth? Where do you feel still there is a maximum potential to grow at this speed of 40%-50% for another two, three years to come?
The maximum revenue growth, what we have seen in last couple of years is in the pencil category and also in the kids category. Also we will be adding new categories in terms of the coloring range, the geometry boxes. We would strengthen our position there as well. When we talk about the pencil, all the pencils I'm talking about, which is the mechanical pencil, the wooden pencil facility, which we just added in Surat, and as well as the 2 millimeters mechanical pencil, which we recently launched.
Sir, with regards to the rationalization of schemes which you have done and the price increases which you have taken across our product categories, as we speak today, and we are entering the school season, school is about to start. How is the demand scenario as we speak today?
The demand is extremely positive when we talk about the back-to-school season.
It's very positive.
Okay. There is no dent on the demand post the price increases which we have taken.
No.
Last question, sir. Just to clarify on the margin impact. Last year, our operating margins have been somewhere around 18% for the full -year. You did alleviate that, of course, due to the crude impact, there will be some dent. For the overall year, you said that it should be back to around 18% margins for the year as a whole. Is that understanding correct?
Last year, the margins were at, EBITDA, if I were to talk about, is 17.11%. This year, we're closing almost close to 18% EBITDA.
Are you talking about the EBITDA margins or are you talking about the consumption ratio?
He is talking...
No, I'm talking about EBITDA margins, sir. Yes.
Exactly. Last year also, at the beginning of the year, when we had the meet, we had said that we'll do anyways more than what we did the previous year, which was 17.1%. Throughout, in all the four quarters, we have kind of had a higher margin.
Very true. No, I'm talking about the year, the current year, FY 2027. You said there is some impact which margins will be there in quarter one. For the whole year, probably you feel that as we go forward, the overall margins for the full -year can be around 18%.
I think looking at the global scenario right now, I think the overall impact that we maximum see right now is a maximum of 1% up and down based on the targets that we have set.
Okay. The range can be 17%-19%.
Sorry to interrupt. Mr. Rahul.
Yeah, that's my last question. I am just clarifying. That's my last thing. The margins will be around 17%-19%, is that understanding right?
Yeah. Like we said, that our target was towards 18%, so we might see an impact of 1% looking at the global scenario.
Sure. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ananya Nichani from Thinqwise Wealth Managers LLP. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. On the receivables days improvement, I wanted to understand what exactly drove that and whether it is sustainable going forward. Yeah.
See, in terms of receivable, where we have shown an improvement, marginal improvement, it's a simple thing with the process which we have started about the collection and addressing the needs.
As you see, as the overall impact of the Steel Bottles and Houseware and the Flair Creative category grows, this impact will further correct itself going forward. Because the strategies that we have put in place for these two particular segments are in a better manner as compared to the overall history of pens credit segments that we were maintaining. I think going forward, as Alpesh said, that we have improved marginally. I think going forward, with this ratio, we will further improve our numbers and number of days.
The receivables days will continue to improve, is what you're saying?
Yes, for sure.
Okay, got it. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nilesh Doshi from Prospero Tree. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. Mohit, sir, congratulations for the good set of numbers. Sir, the result could look much better if the standalone also has performed better and contributed, because since last two years, standalone profit at the operating level, it is standstill. It is reduced from the 2024. What are the reasons why the standalone profit is not increasing, though the revenue is growing, but the operating profit is not growing? It is only the subsidiary which is generating the higher profit, at the console level, the profit and revenue looks good. What are the steps company is taking to improve the profitability of the standalone level?
Across all the companies, whether they are from this main company or the subsidiaries, the production of the writing instruments creatives are spread over. It is not specifically to any particular company that the margins are improving. It is the overall turnover that happens, the way the expansion and the CapEx has happened in various categories in the subsidiary company, where in 2017, when the tax regime had gone down, major expansion is happening there. You understand? The output of the subsidiaries will always be higher at overall level, while the holding company continues to maintain its growth.
Sir, our revenue is growing at the standalone level. I think at the standalone level, we are operating the pen business. That business is growing, the revenue is growing, but the operating profit is not growing. It was INR 176 crore in FY 2024. Now it is INR 155 crore when we are reporting the INR 1,000+ crore of the revenue at the standalone level. My question is why it is from INR 176 crore to INR 155 crore and the revenue from INR 900 crore to INR 1,000 crore.
Firstly, let me just clarify over here that when we are looking at pens business, creative business, we use molding machines, which are fungible between these things. As legal entities where we are spread out over Daman, Valsad, Dehradun, and Surat, what we do is a specific product is manufactured in a manufacturing facility. Now, this can be either of these companies, legal entities where we manufacture. Depending on the product mix again, and also on the market of that product, the sales is affected. However, if I were to look at it from the consolidated levels, you will see the improvement or the best way to look at is consolidated levels. When you're talking of standalone legal entities, I would say that these are the byproducts of the product mix which we have manufactured and sold from those manufacturing units.
Okay, sir. If we talk about the consolidated level, there is a profit GP growth of 16%, from INR 547 crore to INR 637 crore. The GP grew. In absolute terms, it is INR 90 crore. Our operating profit at the consolidated level grew by INR 40 crore. Why? Because the employee cost has grown by INR 43 crore. If any year where we could not maintain the GP, and because the employee cost is more of a fixed nature, of course. We will take a hit at the operating level. Will it be a continued process of the employee cost is increasing, I think, faster than our GP growth. What is your thought on the employee cost and particularly at the operating level? How it will look if there will be no GP maintenance or GP growth?
I'll say employee cost, if you look at the absolute number, it might grow, but so does the sales growth. If I do at the console level, my employee cost is same.
What percentage it is?
Percentage-wise, same as 20%-21%.
Yeah.
That's consistent over there.
Because of job work.
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay.
Employee cost, you see is a line item over there. That plus job work, which is included in other expenses. If you were to total those numbers, then my employee cost remains between 20% and 21% throughout. It was like your fear of it would have an impact on my profit. No. It's only the other expenses are decreasing if you see the numbers as a part of percentage.
Okay. Thank you, sir. That's all from my side. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Manpreet Arora from Arora Wealth. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. Am I audible, sir?
Yeah.
Sir, first question is on the competitive landscape. You've mentioned that we can do about 50% growth in our creative segment. If you look at the creative segment, there are already players that are there. We have DOMS, we have Paperkraft, we have Cello, we have other, Camlin, et c. Now, to achieve such a high rate of growth, will it be driven by a capture of market share? Do you think the market itself is growing at a very high rate, then we can capture and grow at that rate? If you can talk about the competitive landscape in general and how we approach solution to grow there.
Yeah. What we expect from the growth is we will grab the market share from the existing players in the category. The main reason why we have been growing at such a high speed is the innovative products, what we have launched in last two years. The pipeline of the new products which we're planning to launch in the coming years is quite exciting. Based on that, we are super confident that we would be able to grab that market share from our existing competitors.
Okay. Primarily driven by capturing market shares.
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Of course, new innovative product. Sir, second question from the Valsad facility. In the previous quarter presentation said that it will be partially commissioned in Q4. We are seeing it will be commissioned or it will start in Q1 FY 2027. Has there been a delay in commencing the facility?
I think, yeah, looking at the Q4 overall global scenario, there's a slight delay, but I think in Q1 it has already started functioning. Already the machinery, the raw material, that was partly delayed, but I think Q1, like mentioned, it has already started.
Yeah. Sir, our understanding was that once Valsad starts, a lot of the work that we outsource today on the creative side will come in-house, and that should also help us in improving our margin.
Yes.
Is that understanding still correct? Have you taken that into account when you're guiding for because we are saying that we'll lose a certain margin because of the volatility, but still guiding for 17%-18% end of the year. That reduction in margin or that improvement in margin that we'll get from Valsad is accounted, I'm assuming, in the whole calculation.
See, as you see, the overall impact is much higher, but considering that also, like what you just mentioned, the Valsad facility and bringing a lot of these outside products in-house, that will help us maintain, and that's why we are restricting ourselves to that percentage. We're still continuing with the guidance that we are putting in place despite the global scenario. Yes, definitely, it will help us in sustaining and maintaining the numbers that we have targeted despite the global scenario.
Okay. Sure. Sir, one last one on the marketing spend. Now, a large part of our customer base is students of schools and college-going students. Now, given that, what is our marketing strategy? We have a brand ambassador, I think we do school reach outs where we try to increase visibility of a product and promote. Given that the buyer is young and school-going, what are the other things? Are we active on social media? Going forward, what will be our incremental marketing spend towards which channel? If actually you can talk about your strategy a bit.
The strategy would remain the same. We would be actively promoting our products on social media and as well as schools promotion will be actively on, and lot of BTL activities in terms of using a good POP display stands and acquiring a big shelf space in each outlet.
All right. Yeah. This has been our strategy in the last few years as well. What I'm trying to understand is, has there been a change in the strategy or...
No. It's the same.
Okay. All right. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for the day. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
We would like to thank you all for taking out time for this call. For any further queries and questions, you can reach out to our MUFG and Orient Capital, our IR advisors. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Flair Writing Industries Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, you may now disconnect your lines.