Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Godrej Consumer Products Limited, Q2 FY24 investor 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 this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to the senior management of Godrej Consumer Products Limited. Thank you, and over to you.
Thank you, Neerav. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss the performance of Q2 , FY 2024. We have with us Nisaba Godrej, Executive Chairperson, Sudhir Sitapati, Managing Director and CEO, and Aasif Malbari, CFO from GCPL management team. Without taking much time, I will now hand over to Sudhir for his opening remarks, and then we'll be happy to take your questions. Over to you, Sudhir.
Thanks, Tapan. Thank you for joining us today. I will first start with an organizational change. Tapan Joshi, who has been heading Investor Relations, has decided to move on. Vishal Kedia, who has been leading strategy in GCPL, would now head Investor Relations in addition to his current role. I wish both Tapan and Vishal all the best. I will now start with an update of our quarterly performance. In Q2 FY 2024, GCPL's reported volume grew by 10%, revenue by 6%, constant currency 16%, EBITDA, including Forex, by 30%, PBT by 35%, and PAT without exceptional by 17%. Organic volume grew 6% and revenue 2%, constant currency 12%.
Volumes were a bit behind expectations, mainly in India, while profits were ahead of our expectations on the back of structural savings, a faster than anticipated RCCL integration, and a benign cost environment for palm oil. Revenue growth lagged volume growth mainly due to lower prices in personal wash, translation impact in Nigeria, and hyperinflation accounting in Argentina. Translation and hyperinflation accounting both being non-cash items. PAT lagged PBT due to our availing of MAT credit in this financial year. Our cash tax rate remains significantly lower. India volumes grew by 11%, revenue by 9%, and EBITDA by 30%. Organic UVG was 4% and sales growth was 2%. India volume growth was below our expectations and surprising. Household insecticides performed poorly on the back of poor monsoons, but what was surprising was the poor performance of hair color.
The category usually dips in July during the month of Shravan, when consumers in north and west do not cut their hair or groom it. 2024 was a unique year after 19 years, where a second or Adhik month of Shravan was an added demand dampener. We should have anticipated this better. The integration of Raymond Consumer is now complete. After a few months of inventory reduction and transition, we had a record September month. We are now operating with approximately 30% of the erstwhile overheads and remain confident of achieving the business case. Indonesia had a very strong quarter, with 11% volume growth, 16% revenue growth, and 21% EBITDA growth. Apart from macro tailwinds, the household insecticide business seems to have responded very well to a significant improvement in the efficacy of our products a few quarters ago.
GAUM grew volumes by 3%, revenue by -5%, and EBITDA, including Forex, by 49%. Non-cash translation impact has affected both revenue and EBITDA numbers, and this makes the EBITDA performance all the more creditable. Latam had an excellent quarter and grew UVG at 28%. We continue to make good progress on key strategic pillars of category development and simplification. On category development, we again increased our media spends by 33% in the quarter. We now spend approximately 10% of turnover on A&P, which is approximately 200 BPS more than the same quarter last year and 400 BPS versus the same quarter two years ago. This has led to value market share gains in five of our top six global sales and volume market shares in six of six.
We also believe that as a company, our organic volume growth has moved from a five-year CAGR of around 4% to somewhere between mid- and high-single digits. Our simplification journey is a holistic one to release fuel for growth. Our EBITDA margin is now 20%, and we anticipate steady improvement through various structural cost reduction actions. In our journey to simplify our GAUM business further, we are planning to reorganize our hair fashion business in smaller countries of East Africa, which includes Kenya. We will target to move our operations in these countries to an asset-light royalty model, where our focus will primarily be in the areas of marketing and R&D. Collectively, these businesses contribute approximately INR 500 crore of revenue, but INR 0 of profit. After the reorganization, we expect to re-report zero sales, but around INR 50 crore of profit in FY 2025.
We are working to determine if there are any one-time costs or non-cash accounting charges due to these changes in operations in Africa. We look forward to sharing this in the coming quarters as we get greater clarity on the transaction and other factors. We are now net cash positive. I am happy to announce that the board of directors have approved a dividend of INR 5 per share, which will result in a payout of INR 511 crore. We will strive to maintain a steady stream of dividend going forward. You can expect the dividend payout ratio to average about 50% of the annual profit after tax of the company.
We broadly feel that we will achieve our guidance for the year, both in the organic business and the acquired business, though the overall phasing may be more favorable to Q4 than Q3, given market conditions. Finally, I would wish you and your families a very happy Diwali. Thank you very much.
I'll now open the floor for questions.
Yes, please.
Thank you very much. We'll now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their 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 will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The first question is from the line of Abneesh Roy from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks, and congrats on good numbers and good to see dividend announcement also. So my first question is on Raymond business. So you mentioned faster scale-up, and you also mentioned that the full year ambition is on track. So wanted to understand from the time when you had announced the acquisition in terms of all the key metrics, in terms of dealer margins, in terms of fixed cost, in terms of cutting down on the MRP versus the actual price selling, etc. , all those elements, and increasing advertising spend substantially. Where are we? Because you have mentioned most of the integration is completed, but you also mentioned that the media investments will go up.
The sharp scale-up, is it coming because last few years it was under spent in terms of advertising, but now because spends are increasing, that's helping in terms of the sales offtake?
Yeah, Abneesh, there were two, three questions there. Let me try and answer them one by one. I think what are the changes that we have made in the erstwhile RCCL business and what we have not yet made. Firstly, we have integrated entirely the RCCL distribution network with the GCPL distribution network. On average, this gives us about 400-500 bps of saving on distributor margin, because GCPL distributor margins were lower than RCCL distributor margins. Number two, we have significantly scaled up advertising in RCCL to levels which are higher share of voice than share of market, where we have some numbers mentally of share of voice by share of market, and these have been quite unprecedented for RCCL. Number three, that we have integrated the business. Approximately 30% of the erstwhile RCCL, we have absorbed into RCCL-related jobs in GCPL.
Another bunch has been absorbed into other GCPL roles, but therefore, roughly 70% of overheads have been cut. These are the three things that have happened in the last 2-3 months. It has yielded good... Now, results have, you know, the first 3-4 months, we didn't sell very much, mainly because we were trying to reduce stock, reduce SKUs. We had a very good September. Things are looking quite good in Q3 as well. What is the causality of the how, how-- You know, what is the exact amount of improvement, the causality? It is still early to say, Abneesh. We are putting all the right inputs in. We're broadly happy with the outputs, both in terms of profitability and revenue.
Probably a little later, a few months later, we will know how much is advertising helped, how much is distribution helped, etc. , etc .
Thanks, Sudhir. Two very quick follow-ups. One is, because you are a very strong and relevant player in the deo category, and GCPL obviously is adding much more muscle to the brand, do you see the overall category spends by other players also increasing, given there is an unlisted player for whom this is the main business? That is one part. Second is, now that you have run this business for a few months, from a distribution scale-up, because GCPL is multiple times the distribution of this company, where do you see? Because now you'll have a better understanding. So within two to three years, I'm not asking about the H2 of this year. From a two to three years, what can be the conservative scale-up in terms of distribution?
Yeah. So listen, on first question, I don't know the answer on whether overall category heat will go up or not. What we do know is that the consumption of deodorants in India is, is low, and the more the category grows faster, the more all the players will benefit. So I, I feel it's a category that should be invested in. So you know, it, it doesn't. It is not a category that is non-growing or a zero-sum game. It's a category that can, you know, can grow at, you know, in high teens or even 20%, you know, at the right levels of investment. So one way or the other, it doesn't bother us. I think we are investing what we think is appropriate, but either which way, is, is less of a concern to us.
In terms of distribution, we do have some early reads in distribution. One of the early reads is certainly in rural, the pretty much this was a blank white space, so we are definitely seeing pure incremental sales in rural. General trade, GCPL was far stronger than RCCL. Modern trade, I mean, you know, RCCL was doing a pretty good job and so were they in e-commerce. These channels are growing very well, so our positions, even the earth while , RCCL had good positions in modern trade and e-commerce, and I think GCPL will be maybe the same or better, but definitely in the general trade system, we will see a lot of improvement.
I think the area that we're working very closely to get to better than where we were is to devise and create a chemist system, which takes the best of GCPL and RCCL. So we're setting up a new chemist system. Most of it is already done, which is a consolidated, solid chemist operation for both GCPL and the best RCCL products.
So my second and last question is on your other two businesses in India. So you mentioned on Adhik month impact , and you also mentioned that hopefully or possibly you could have been a bit more proactive here. So what did you mean by that, given this is an impact when consumers are not really using the hair color? What did you mean when you said that you could have been a bit more proactive?
Yeah, sorry, go on, sorry, Abneesh. Sorry.
Second is downgrading. Downgrading in soaps and hair color, I know it is much lesser of a problem than detergent bars, but given the situation which is there currently and so much of gross margin expansion in soaps and hair color, clearly a lot of regional players, are you seeing downgrading? Because numbers are a bit weak. So wanted to understand, is it only one-offs which are there or there is more to it?
So on hair color, you see, we know every year that July Shravan month, and, you know, hair color dips. What we missed this time was to forecast for the second additional Shravan month, since it happens once in 19 years. Organizational memory, you know, it's a long time for someone to pick it up, saying: "Hey, there's a second month of Shravan this year." I think the learning here is... This time, you know, the calendars have also moved, as everyone else has said, for the festive season. I think the miss here is to study the impact of the Indian calendar on demand a little bit more carefully. I guess that's the learning for us. So that's what I meant saying that, you know, we, we look at demand in terms of, you know, quarter one, quarter two as seasonality.
We are now realizing that there's a clear relationship between the lunar calendar and demand drivers as well. That's something we need to predict better. I think this has been a wake-up call for us for that. But I think, again, you know, what we have seen post-Shravan on hair color has enthused us quite a lot. I think on your answer on downgradation, see, the only way we can see these numbers, but it's a bit complex, is due to Shravan month and, you know, you know, postponing Diwali season. When we look at our market shares, they are very, very good right now.
So, you know, last three months or MAT, they are across not just India, across India and Indonesia, all our market shares are, everything in volume is positive, and in value, the only one that is slightly negative is household insecticide, where we are still losing a bit of share to incense sticks. But the share gain, for example, in hair colors is very, very strong. So I don't... I would prefer to say that it was a bit of an odd quarter in terms of calendar, rather than a downgrading.
Just one small follow-up. I understand the Nielsen market share has got sampling and lead lag issue. My question was from a media intensity and from a promotions and general aggression in soaps and hair color, are you seeing local players coming back? Because I think that's far more important than Nielsen market share, because always there is some other issue there.
I think on hair color, unequivocally, no. On soaps, it is not. See, there was a time in which 15, 20 years ago, when soaps had a lot of local competition in its base. You know, as time has progressed in 15 years, that has shrunk. Even for other categories, it has shrunk, but they still remain large. So it is possible that at the margin in soaps, these kind of low prices are affecting volumes. It is certainly not in the large major states. Maybe in some parts of eastern MP, Bihar, Orissa, there is a local play. It's hard for us to read it, except for Nielsen and the Kantar panel, where it's not.
But I buy your point, there might be something, but it, you know, I also say, the guys come and talk to us when there's a local players are becoming very aggressive and we're losing volumes, you know, sales people come and tell us this is happening. That's not happening. So, I would say possibly in soap, but not, doesn't look to be a major thing. I mean, soap also had a good quarter in terms of volumes in Q1, so Q2 kind of slightly balances that out. So yeah.
Thanks for the answer. That's all from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Percy from IIFL. Please, go ahead.
Hi, Sudhir. My first question is on Africa, the royalty arrangement that you have made. So basically, those are geographies which are making zero profit, but you will get about INR 50 crore of royalties, what your expectation is. Which means that the person buying the business is expecting to make at least INR 50 crore profit before royalty. So if they are able to do it, then why we are not able to make it profitable?
See, I think there are a couple of reasons for it. These markets are relatively low gross margin markets and high overhead cost structures that GCPL operates with. So we feel it is more appropriate in the hair fashion business when the gross margins are low. And, you know, we do need to have overheads, which are high because we have governance requirements and so many requirements we have. So we just think that some of these markets are more appropriately run by a distributor. One has to look at this because we continue to own the brand. One has to look at this more in terms of a, kind of a, you know, a Coke bottling or a distributor, somewhere in between that kind of model.
We believe, see, the Angola and Uganda was already in this model in some form or the other, and it has been quite profitable for the last decade. Kenya and Tanzania are now moving to this model. Angola and Uganda are changing the way we are looking at, this entire thing in a slightly different, way in terms of accounting. But we do have evidence to suggest that in certain kinds of markets where A&P, R&D, innovations play less of a role, one has to be faster to market, quicker, with very, very low overhead. It is probably better for us to, not do this ourselves. In any case, this zero that we are running is a positive 50 in some profit-making markets and -50 in the loss-making markets, the sum of which is zero.
Even if -50 goes to zero in East Africa, it will still remain at 50.
Understood. Secondly, I wanted to understand on household insecticides, what is the reason for the slowdown? Is it just the erratic monsoon, or is it something over and above that as well? I mean, you did mention some market share issues with the illegal incense sticks, but is that a material sort of, driver of the overall performance or just something on the fringe?
See, in the longer... So let's take two questions. One is the shorter term. Shorter term, it has definitely been weather. Weather does play a role in household insecticide. Last quarter, we had a very good quarter. This quarter, August month in particular, as all of you know, was an exceptionally dry month. September, you know, rained again, so you know, October. So it, it, it definitely varies. So there's definitely when you look at our results across quarters, there's definitely an impact of weather, and this has been a particularly bad quarter, and this will happen. You know, there'll be a good quarter in terms of weather, a bad quarter in terms of weather. There is a longer term story that, you know, we have been losing share for a longer period, not just us, but the entire category, to illegal incense sticks.
That trend has, in some ways, actually reduced over the last 12 months, the loss of share, broadly speaking. Overall, underlying volume growth, we feel, has gone from being between zero and two to being, let us say, between three and five. And this is being mainly on the back of the new SKUs that we launched, which democratized the category. But this three and five, or let's say four volume, is still significantly below the potential of the category. And the next few quarters, you know, as we spoke in the May annual analyst review, I said that, "Give us 12 months, we'll come with a structural solution." We will come with a structural solution quite soon, that we hope will move this category to high single digit kind of volumes.
Right. And last quick question is on margins. So this quarter, you have delivered close to a 30% EBITDA growth. Do you think your margin levers are more or less, fully exercised and, seasonally adjusted, margins from here on should be sort of, flat?
No, I think we should continuously improve margins for three reasons. One is that GAUM margins are low and they will fundamentally improve. Two is our Indonesia margins are also below normative margins, and we think that that business should improve margins. We also think that there are structural cost savings that are possible in India, which without affecting investments in pricing or A&P, can continue to deliver some incremental margin every year. So I don't think that the margin expansion is over, but the margin expansion will come from Indonesia and GAUM, though.
Right. And just one request for GAUM, when you report going ahead, because part of the business is sort of franchised out, the EBITDA margin will look sort of optically higher because the top line flows directly to the bottom line for some part of the business. So just a request is to give some kind of adjusted margin on a like-for-like basis, which sort of gives a better picture of the business.
We'll give something, which... So, but we will kind of try to give you something which will kind of give you a flavor of how the underlying margins are moving.
Great. Great. That's all from me. Thanks, and all the best.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Vivek from Jefferies, India. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening, Sudhir and team. I want to know what the previous two participants asked once last quarter-
Vivek, sorry, we are losing your audio. May I request you to come at a better reception area, please?
Sorry, is it better now?
Yes.
Okay. Sorry about that. So, Sudhir, last quarter you had mentioned on RCCL that there was some destocking, which was expected even in the second quarter. But, one party to grow number is that, you know, this is primary, secondary is kind of coinciding in from this or, you know, so is this the number, or it could have been higher had not been for destocking?
I mean, I think it could have been higher if without destocking, because you see, we had a very poor July and August, and exceptionally good September. As I was telling Abneesh, it is still hard for me to read how much of this is because the pipelines were dry, how much of this was because of demand increase due to advertising, how much of it was due to better distribution. It's difficult for me to read. What, what we do know is that... We know the following, which is that RCCL distributors were on average sitting at 75 days of stock. GCPL distributors are sitting at 20 days of stock. That, that is a fact. Probably, the stock as a trade also has come down, because we have reduced the SKUs.
It's hard for me to give a number, but we have definitely, in a four-month period, lost 60 days of stock and delivered INR 140 crores, which is very close to the average of RCCL. We bought this business roughly at about INR 600 crores, INR 620 crores. So, and we have, you know, reduced about 10%-15% of revenue through SKU cuts. So certainly, the September number is a creditable number, which is really the one that, you know, pulled up the quarter, whichever way you look at it.
Got it. And on the EBITDA, you know, the slide says you expect EBITDA to be positive, despite scale-up in media investments. So one is good to see, you know, the investment side, but what do you exactly mean by estimating EBITDA to be positive? Is it at a full year level? Is it second half?
No, we meant at a quarter level, Vivek. As you know, now it's very hard for us to estimate what is the overheads of the RCCL business, so we can only kind of roughly estimate it based on what it was and so on. So it's difficult to give an exact EBITDA number for RCCL now. But having account, because we know what the, you know, the gross margins are, what the net contribution after advertising and BTL is, that can be allocated to a business. We know approximately what the overheads are likely to have been, because of the reductions that we have, leave alone the one-time costs of, you know, that we've had to bear.
So that is why our estimate is that despite significant increases and very, very significant increases in media, by the way, we feel that this business was probably EBITDA positive in the quarter.
Got it. On HIs, what is the estimated intrinsic, you know, share right now at a category level?
I think, you, you know, these are Nielsen available numbers. I'll just ask. It's in the teens, it's in the late teens.
Late teens, okay. Again, we have, you know, discussed about, you know, HI on this call as well as in the past, but just one thing, you know, even if, you know, the intervention that you made, basically there is this piece of the market which is very difficult for you to capture. Is it a fair, you know, thought process?
Well, Vivek, why don't we get back to you on this? I think, you know, I said last in May, give us 12 months. Why don't you— rather than my telling you what we want to do on HI, which is, you know, right now confidential, and we shouldn't speak about it till we do it. I think the bigger question in HI is that this is a market that should grow or we should be growing at high single digit volumes. That, you know, and we think it's possible. We think we know what the answer is, and we will bring it into play pretty soon. Let's leave it there for now.
Sure.
The next analyst conference in May, you can say you guys haven't, but give us till the time that we asked.
Right. And lastly, one quick question on staff cost. Can you... So there is a fair, I know the base, you know, is a bit off, but, can you just talk about if there is anything to read into it? Sequentially, also, it has moved up a bit.
That's because of RCCL.
So, Vivek, hi, Aasif. So there have been a little bit of a true-up, which has happened in this quarter, and hence you see a bit of a spike in this quarter compared to last year's base. It should kind of even out as we kind of go through the year.
Got it. Perfect. Thank you, and wish you all the best.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Arnab Mitra from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, Sudhir. My first question is again on the Africa restructuring. So just want to understand this better in terms of what happens to the assets on the ground, because you may have manufacturing capabilities or working capital there-
I'm sorry, but your voice is not coming very clearly. We are losing your audio in between.
Is this better?
No.
But we can hear, Arnab. It's okay, we can hear you.
Go, go ahead.
Sure. So, my question was on Africa. You know, what happens to the assets from the business which you are franchising out in terms of manufacturing, working capital? How much of capital employed, does it really risk at all? And, secondly, is this only for dry hair? And, is this a model which is replicable in other parts of Africa or other geographies like Latam, or this is very particular to this block in East Africa, where profitability was very low?
Yeah. So, Arnab, hi. Firstly, just kind of to clarify, it's not that we are executing a transaction today. We got a kind of in principle direction to kind of move ahead with simplifying the operation in a few countries. The simplification is only for dry hair or hair fashion, and over the next few months, we will kind of work out the exact nature of the deal and, and how we are going to kind of simplify this operation. It will include clearing out certain assets which we have on the ground, and all those exact nuances will be kind of done over the next few months. As we indicated, the deal should be kind of done and settled more towards early part of Q4.
The second part of the question, in terms of the rest of the business, the rest of the business model remains exactly as it stands today, and that business is significantly high gross margin. It's been growing at very significant rates, and we remain kind of committed to growing that further.
... Okay, understood, understood. The second question was on Indonesia, where your growth rates have been pretty good, but what we understand is that the macro has been quite weak in Indonesia for FMCG consumption. So is it largely a base effect for you, or do you feel your categories and your initiatives are such that you are being able to do well despite the macro environment? Why I'm asking this is, the low base will obviously run out in a couple of quarters time, and do you worry that the growth rates could come off at that stage?
Anil, I think it is true that we've had a low base, but I think the real truth is that the relaunch that we did of household insecticide a few quarters ago, where we increased the efficacy of our products by 5x, seems to be resulting in a pretty significant sequential growth. So that has been the driver of the Indonesia performance, apart from a poor base. And therefore, I do anticipate reasonably good performance in Indonesia, because, you know, we're also seeing market share. We are seeing sequential volume offtakes of household insecticide, and there's a cause and effect here. So that has been the bigger driver for us rather than base. Because we have achieved what we had forecast also.
We have forecast something based on knowing what last year's base, et cetera, was, but we have done better than that.
Okay, okay. Thanks. Thanks, that's it from my side. All the best.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Aditya Soman from CLSA. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening. So just following up on Indonesia, you mentioned that the margins there were something that you can improve. So any specific measures that you think you can drive to improve margins there?
I think, there is definitely net revenue management that can be better in Indonesia, pricing, BTL, access. I think there is further savings in overheads that are possible now that we have moved to the R&D system. So a combination of overheads and better NRM are what will drive margins in Indonesia.
Understand. Any sense of guidance on what you feel, the right level of margins for this is?
You know, we used to have historic margins were well below that. I don't know whether we hit the historic margins or not, but mentally, you know, mentally, the kind of portfolio that we have, both in India and Indonesia, you know, mid-20s margins is not, is not something that is over margin or you can't grow at that level. So, I mean, obviously, we'll keep kind of calibrating growth and margins, but you know, Indonesia is significantly below that right now. It used to be that level not long ago.
Understand. And lastly, in terms of the underlying demand environment in India, anything to call out? Have you seen any pickup, let's say, in October, as you mentioned, September was quite strong. Any improvement in October or anything to call out do we expect? I heard you say earlier that you expect a recovery from fourth Q and not necessarily three Q, but any reasons here now?
The demand environment in India is tough. I mean, the premium, you know, I think most of you know it, and I've, we've been seeing a lot of other sectors that, you know, the K-shaped recovery that all of us talk about continues. You know, premium is doing well, modern trade, e-commerce, they continue to do well. The balance is definitely under pressure. That's the bigger story, and I, I'm not seeing any major change in that relative story there. Within that, yeah, I mean, October is a festive month. There's been some calendar change, the Shravan, et cetera, et cetera. So, I mean, definitely some of those things are bearing out and will bear out, I think, in, you know, Q3.
Okay, thank you. The rest of my questions are demanded.
Thank you. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. Next question is from the line of Richard Liu from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for taking my question. Just want to check, am I on the bridge?
Yes.
Okay. So, you know, just one question, not really asking for guidance, but, you know, come to think of it, you know, if you look at, you know, your, your margin is now at around the 20% level. If I look at last year, which is FY 2023, H1 versus H2, the margin pictures obviously were very, very different. And the full margin recovery has somewhat happened, at least at the operating margin level, by the time we clicked to H2 FY 2023, right? So FY 2023, last year was already at 20.5. Your run base currently is at 20.
Now, if your, if your top-line growth doesn't pick up, and given that there are all these headwinds, you know, that you still talked about, are we, you know, looking at a situation where your earnings growth, EBITDA growth could fall from, you know, the, the mid-twenties to, let's say, single digits, if your top line doesn't pick up?
No, see, firstly, Richard, you know, the shape of our portfolio is such that the H2 margins are structurally higher than the H1 margins. Soaps is smaller. A lot of our drier businesses and the more premium businesses pick up now. So, you know, it, it's not, it's not entirely right to say that, you know, H1 of this year can be compared to H2 of last year. I mean, our growth in volume terms is about 6% this quarter. Our last quarter was about 10. I think we're somewhere in between these two. I know a lot of this, the revenue growth, as I said, is either because of palm oil prices being low, which has no impact on margins, or because of currency translation that doesn't have, again, you know, any major cash impact.
I don't think what you're saying. I don't know, but I don't think that will happen in the foreseeable future.
... Okay, I understood about the seasonality of margin, but is there a chance that, you know, the top line picture in terms of growth will look very different in H2 versus what we are seeing right now? Because if you look at, you know, the Africa impact, if you look at the soaps price offs, you know, those numbers are still going to be there in Q3, and maybe part of Q4 as well, right?
Sure. I don't think, you know, again, as I said, this revenue number, one has to look at a little bit of caution, especially in all India. But I don't think that the volume trajectory... You see, our volume trajectory between the first two quarters is about 7%. Is that right, Tapan? I mean, that's—we should not be... And I, that's not bad, actually. You know, I think that's an improvement in our, in our trajectory in H1 over, you know, ups and downs happen between quarters and months. I don't that's what... You know, I don't anticipate that revenue trajectory in the next six months changing. I hope that that changes a little bit more once we sort out household insecticides.
If this business grows at, you know, let's say second half similar to first half, then, and there is seasonality in margin, which there is, then you will be able to calculate for yourself what the earnings growth will be.
Okay, got it. That's absolutely. Thank you. Wish you all the best.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. Ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and one to ask a question. As there are no further questions, I will now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you very much. Thank you for joining us. Thank you.
Thank you very much. On behalf of Godrej Consumer Products Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.