Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the LT Foods Q1 FY 2026 earnings conference call hosted by Motilal Oswal Financial Services 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 * then 0 on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Meet Jain from Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and a very warm welcome to LT Foods Limited Q1 FY 2026 post-sales earnings call hosted by Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited. On the call today, we have the management team being represented by Mr. Ashwani Kumar Arora, MD and CEO, Mr. Sachin Gupta, CFO, Ms. Monika Chawla Jaggia, Chief Corporate Development Officer. We will begin the call with a brief question from the management team. Thereafter, we will open the floor for the Q&A session. I would now like to have the management team share their perspective on the performance of the company. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.
Thank you, Meet. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of the management, I welcome you all to Q1 Financial Year 26 earnings conference call of LT Foods. Please note that any statement made or discussed during this call, which reflects our outlook for the future or which could be construed as a forward-looking statement, must be reviewed in conjunction with the risks that the company faces. A detailed disclaimer in this regard has been included in the investor presentation that has been shared on both the stock exchanges, that is, NSE and BSE. The results documents are available on the company's website as well as the stock exchanges. A transcript of this call will also be made available on the investor section of the company's website. So, Q1 update.
During Q1 Financial Year 26, LT Foods reported highest-ever quarterly revenue in EBITDA of INR 2,501 and INR 302, respectively, grew by 20% and 17%, respectively, versus Q1 Financial Year 25. The growth in revenue is supported by increasing consumer demand and preference towards our brands and entry into new countries, improved supply chain and availability of our brands, and increased household penetration. The company reported an EBITDA margin of 12.1% in Q1 Financial Year 26 versus 12.4% in Q1 Financial Year 25. A minor 30 basis points dip in the margin is on account of increased investments on the brand. Basmati and other specialty rice segments grew by 18% in this quarter, reinforcing the continued global love for our brands. Due to increasing consumer preference for healthier and sustainable food choices, our organic business reported a remarkable 32% growth in this quarter.
The major portion of the growth has been contributed by soy meal. Normalized growth other than soy meal is around 18%. Our organic arm Nature Bio Foods launched a new facility in Rotterdam to support our global ambitions in July 2025. The strategically positioned facility and Europe Gateway port handles 15,000 metric tons annually, positioning us to capture more of the EU's $45 billion organic market. In India, the household reach of Daawat has grown significantly from 45.56 lakh homes in March 2023 to 56.2 lakhs in March 2025. This growth was possible due to our constant efforts on innovation, continuous investment on the brands, and staying relevant to evolving consumer needs, and ensuring that our products are easily accessible across the globe. The snacking segment under Kari Kari has grown 40% versus last year.
We have also acquired the rest of 45% of the Golden Star, which we have completed in May 2025. We now proudly lead as the number one jasmine rice brand in the U.S. During the quarter, we reinforced brand build through the spectacular fourth Daawat World Biryani Day celebration in Jaipur and Indore. This celebration cements our position as the global thought leader of biryani. I would like to now give an update on the geographies. The European continent currently contributes around 18% of our overall revenue. Our progress in this region has been robust, achieving a 57% year-on-year growth. Notably, we have recently secured partnerships with four leading U.K. retailers, strengthening our footprint in this market. The spurt in the revenue is majorly attributed to the U.K. plant being fully operational in the past quarter.
North America, that accounts for 43% of our revenue and continues to be a key growth driver, with a 32% year-on-year increase. This includes the consolidation for the jasmine rice business for the quarter as well. The normalized growth of this geography is around 18%. Our flagship brand, Royal, holds a dominant position, commanding a 54% share in the basmati rice imports in the region. India contributes to 31% of our revenue, recording a 10% year-on-year growth. Our brands collectively hold a 25% market share, with category leadership in the Western region. The Middle East and rest of the world constitute the remaining 8% of our revenue. We remain optimistic about scaling our presence in this geography by further strengthening the consumer market share and market penetration.
LT Foods' well-diversified geographical presence serves as an effective de-risking strategy, reducing dependency on any single market and enabling consistent performance across varying macroeconomic cycles. There's an update on the CVD side that is a reference to the CVD notice that we received by our fellow subsidiary. The company has filed a case brief on July 16, 2025, citing the past precedents wherein the AFA applied by the department was not upheld by the Court of International Trade. As for the process, U.S. DOC had some questions and clarification they could have done as per process by asking for the supplemental questionnaires. Petitioners have also filed their case brief, and EcoPure has also filed a rebuttal brief on July 24 to contest the AFA. If the DOC final results maintain AFA, EcoPure can file an appeal to the Court of International Trade as well.
I would just update you on the industry side as well. India is the largest producer and exporter of basmati rice, contributing approximately 90% of the global supply. The key production regions include Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Annual basmati rice production in India stands at 10 million metric tons, of which 6 million metric tons is exported, with the remaining consumed in India. Within India, 70% of the rice consumption is still in the form of the loose rice, and we see significant potential for the conversion from loose to branded and packaged rice, driven by evolving consumer preferences, rising awareness, and increasing demand for quality and hygiene products. Globally, the basmati rice category is growing at a steady 7%-8% CAGR, supported by expanding demand and increasing adoption of Indian cuisine across geographies.
LT, with a legacy of over seven decades in the basmati rice industry, has successfully navigated various business cycles across both upturns and downturns, demonstrating consistent performance, growth, and profitability improvement. As we expect, the category continues to grow. LT Foods is well-positioned to capitalize with its strong brands, global distribution network, and strong supply chain on rising global and domestic demand, and further strengthen its market share and drive sustainable profitable growth across the geographies. In line with our commitment to consumer relevance, LT Foods actively monitors market trends across geographies, deeply studies the consumer preferences, and is focused on launching innovative rice-based food solutions tailored to diverse consumer needs. With this, I hand over the call to the moderator to open the floor for question and answer, please.
Thank you, Monika.
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 Jason from Mirae Asset . Please go ahead.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to ask some questions. So maybe firstly, can you comment on the SG&A trend this quarter? Because it seems to be running higher than what is expected. And separately, could you also quantify the impact of freight costs this quarter? Because this has been a consistent, I suppose, issue in the last three quarters. Thank you.
So yes, you are right. SG&A expenditure in this quarter, as a percentage to revenue, has increased. As stated by Monika, the major increase in the revenue is on the brand investments which we are making. So this quarter itself, my SG&A expenditure as a percentage to revenue increased by almost 1.2% this quarter itself. This is mainly on the brand investments.
Okay. Maybe specifically, what percentage of revenue was spent on freight, and what percentage of revenue was spent on marketing-related costs this quarter? Thank you.
My logistics cost as a percentage to revenue has reduced by 90 basis points, whereas my brand spend as a percentage to revenue has increased by 120 basis points.
Year on year.
I'm talking year-on-year, year-on-year basis.
Okay. Great. Thank you so much, and congratulations for the great results. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Forum from Abakkus Asset Manager. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. So basically, Pakistan is experiencing a severe water crisis because of, obviously, the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. So this has led to an increase in the paddy prices. So as a company, we will be at least sitting with a year's inventory. So going forward, do we expect any inventory gain and margin improvement because of this?
Thank you. First of all, whatever the impact is, as said in the earlier call also, we don't see much impact in the production of basmati rice. Having said that, India contributes roughly to the export 80% of the total, whatever the international market, we sell basmati. 80% is already contributed by India.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Actually, Middle East market.
India is getting stronger, stronger every year in basmati category across the globe, so Pakistan has really not a bigger role to play in the international market. As far as Indian basmati is concerned, this year, India has exported six million tons, roughly 15% growth over last year, so we are very positive on the category in India as well as international market. The total market size of rice consumption is 500 million tons globally, and basmati is just roughly 12 million tons, which is roughly 2%-3%. So we see good opportunity for this Indian export to grow. And as a LT Foods, we have a global footprint and very strong brand and very strong distribution across the world, so we are positive on the growth and, over time, improving the ROCE and all the margin metrics.
Right, sir. So again, with the increase in the brand spend, in the medium term, do we expect a little bit, again, some pressure on the margins, or can we expect an improvement in the margins going forward?
So yes, the brand spend as a percentage to revenue, this will remain as such. But yes, we are expecting an improvement in our GP margins, which we had in this quarter as well. So we are expecting a better GP, almost better than this quarter itself in the coming quarters.
Okay, sir. And so also, Middle East has seen some regrowth of 33% year-on-year. If you could throw some insight on what is happening in these markets? And Saudi has contributed around INR 16 crores in this quarter. So what would be that in the base quarter?
Sachin, you can add into this. Basically, Middle East includes both our branded business and private label business. Overall, what we have seen in the growth is that we have discontinued some part of the private label business, which was not fitting into the whole strategic thing. But as far as our brands are concerned, they are growing. And as mentioned in Saudi Arabia, this quarter, we have done INR 16 crore revenue in this quarter itself. Yes, as Ashwani ji told, previously, this INR 16 crore is only in our brand. Initially, last year, we made a private label sales that was almost INR 3 crore in this territory. So that has been replaced with our brand in this quarter itself.
Okay, got it, sir.
So overall, Middle East is going as per plan. So we are positive on.
Sure, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, ma'am. The next question is from the line of Amit Doshi from Care Portfolio Managers Private Limited . Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. So congratulations on the great set of numbers. First thing is our expectations of North America and our performance. Both have been quite interesting, like 33% growth in a market where we are already leader. And our future expectation is also 10%-12%. So can you share some thoughts where we are already a leader, how we expect to grow at double-digit numbers? Or was there any one-off in the 32%?
Yeah. So in USA, as Monika just mentioned, the 32% is contributed. The Golden Star acquisition has completed. But if you normalize that, then the core category has grown by 18% on apple-to-apple. So we expect that the consumption will keep growing in America. And the pillars for the growth is the lever for the growth is this immigration and being the it is getting popular in restaurant also and love for Indian cuisine. So we expect, as given the we have in our forecast, we have given the double-digit growth. That we are positive on that.
Okay. So, in initial participant question, the answer was that brand spend, we incurred 1.2% of sales. Did I hear that correctly? I just wanted to confirm.
No, no, no, no. That was incremental. Incremental spend of 1.2%. Incremental.
Okay, incremental. So I mean, what is because we have also mentioned that we are going to invest in brands. So as sales, what are we targeting and what we used to incur in, say, prior years? So our thought process on brand investment is what I'm trying to understand.
So in this quarter, if I tell you the.
So broadly, it can be quarter-on-quarter difference. Depends on what kind of the plan is. But on an average, 3% to 4% is the plan.
Correct.
3%-4%. Yeah. Okay. So that answers my question. So this quarter, obviously, there was a huge nice growth of volumes, and price has been stable. Going forward, what is the expectation considering that we will have now lower inventory paddy, which was acquired last, I mean, last season? So then that is likely to kick in in the sales. And do you expect a corresponding fall in the sales prices because there was a considerable fall in the paddy prices that we acquired last season?
It depends. Country to country, competitive landscape force you to keep your margin in that range only. But we are more focused on growth, and we are expecting, as guidance is given, 12.5%-13% EBITDA margin.
Adding to it, ROCE. So we are quite confident on the ROCE part to deliver robust ROCE of 21%+ , which we had delivered in this quarter as well. So we are constantly focusing on increasing the ROCE percentage as well.
Yeah. So the more focus is in delivering the ROCE improvement.
Okay. Understood, understood. Because in the presentation, there is one of the strategy mentioned is in organic acquisitions as well. So can you share your thoughts on which I mean, you are looking at newer geographies or existing geographies, but newer products, I mean, newer brands? Anything that you can share on what is the thought process of acquisition, the ticket size that we are looking at?
The strategy is in the space of three where our business is, which is basmati and specialty rice, organic, and RTH, food. So in these spaces, we always look for an opportunity. And historically, whatever acquisition has been done is mostly in basmati and other specialty rice. So it has to have in this domain only. And of course, it has to have synergistic benefit also.
Okay, okay. And last question, any update on soy meal litigation that you would want to share?
As Monika just mentioned, we have filed the rebuttal, and we are expecting October and the decision from the department.
Okay. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your question to two per participant. The next question is from the line of Raman from Sequent Investments. Please go ahead. Mr. Raman, your line has been unmuted. Please go ahead with your questions. As there is no response, we will move to next question. The next question is from the line of Pradyumna Chaudhary from JM Financial Family Office. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Just a couple of questions. First is, if you can just give some sense on what the HoReCa contribution is to our total U.S. revenue and the same number for our Europe revenue. The idea is I'm trying to understand whether basmati in these countries is more consumed in home or in HoReCa. Yeah. So for us, it's in the range of; it depends on origin to origin, but on an average, 20% roughly goes into the restaurant and food service, what we call is HoReCa. And rest is all home consumption. This is for U.S. or total?
No, no. On an average, as a global consolidated average, I'm saying 20%-25% goes for this HoReCa, and the rest is the home consumption.
And when this number for U.S. means.
So if you talk about the category that where the category is being consumed, then I will say 40% HoReCa and 60% home. This is I'm telling on an average globally.
For the U.S., this 20%-25% would be lower or higher, the HoReCa contribution for us from U.S.?
I think 20% will be.
All right. And second question would be, what would be our normalized growth if you're just for this Golden Star acquisition? So what would be that, and why continental Europe has grown 57%? Is there some adjustments or a one-off?
Firstly, answering your question regarding Europe, as Monika stated, there has been full functioning of the U.K. facility. We have started a U.K. facility last year itself. So that became fully operational. And that gave me an incremental revenue of almost INR 80 crore in a quarter itself. So that had a one-off effect on the increase in the revenue size. As regarding if we normalize the revenue of the Golden Star and have that, what is the revenue size, then it is almost 17% growth that we have witnessed.
The normalized growth. Normalized growth.
Sir, just a couple of follow-ups. One is, ideally, even if our U.K. revenue has started coming in, but it's the same market we are serving, right? So either our India revenue would have taken a hit because of that, because not sorry, not India, the continental Europe's revenue would have taken a hit because earlier we were supplying from the European region. So it should not really happen, right, because the market remains the same. So that's one. And second, if you can just give your comments on a couple of cost items. One is how is the paddy price trending currently? One of the previous participants spoke about rising paddy prices. If you can just allude to that. And second, straight cost in this quarter was 5.7% of revenue. So earlier, in a normalized environment, we used to see 5% of revenue.
So is this going to come down further, or is it now stabilized at a higher level? These are my questions.
So answering your trade cost as a percentage to revenue, you are right. It is 5.7%. This was same in the last quarter as well, the immediate preceding quarter I'm talking about. And we expect that the logistic cost to remain as such in this quarter remaining part of the year as well. And as regarding the revenue sales, which you stated out the European and the U.K. operation, we have, as Monika in the opening speech has told, we have entered into new contracts in the U.K. So they have the four chains which we have acquired in this quarter in the previous year, but the sales was full in this quarter, which was not there in the last quarter. So that gave me an incremental revenue in this quarter of 80 crores.
That paddy part.
Continental Europe may have been hit or not. So continental Europe is stable. And so I've got a new growth from the new customers.
Regarding the paddy prices, yes, the paddy prices, as on in my books of accounts, as on 30th June is INR 29. So as Ashwani ji told, so it is pricing all the things that there will only be any kind of inventory gain or loss. So that has been taken care because the inventory which we have procured, that is backed by our brand, brand sales. So that we don't speculate in having acquired more quantity as such.
We don't.
No, like as.
Yeah. Sorry, I was just asking how is the current paddy pricing environment looking like? Is it?
I think the market is stable. On an average, I will say the paddy prices must be. It depends on variety, INR 34-INR 35.
So that's higher than our book price, right? Our books contain INR 29. So there's been an increase. Is that the way to understand?
Yes, yes, but the market doesn't behave like on the present, so all the industry player, they source in the procurement time, then they average their price and do the pricing, so it doesn't behave like other commodity, and as Sachin said, it's mainly branded business. The only benefit we get is when the prices go up is that the new competition doesn't hurt you.
Yeah. In fact, I was concerned whether we'll be able to next year when these come into our inventory, whether we'll be able to pass on the increased paddy prices to our end customers. That's where my concern was.
So, the normal prices change when the crop changes. And the FY25 prices will get an impact in the month of, most probably, June. So, I think that's too long to forecast anything on this paddy prices up and down.
Understood. Understood. Thank you. Thanks for investing.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Hitesh Goyal from Origin Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for taking my question, sir. So this U.S. first question of U.S. growth of normalized growth of 18%. Is this growth also higher than your usual growth largely because there was tariff expectations? There was a deadline that after 31st July, the tariff will go up. So in this quarter, was there a lot of pre-buying by the retailers, the distributors in U.S.?
What is your tariff? What did you say?
Tariff is growth.
No, I'm saying the tariff was 10%, right? But the trade negotiations are still going on. So is there an expectation? Maybe there is an expectation of increased tariffs on agriculture products because of which the distributors in U.S. would have pre-bought in this quarter because 18% growth is very high growth, right? The usual growth is 6-7% in U.S. jobs.
We don't think that that has a bigger impact on that. We believe that it's a normal thing. It's nothing to do with this buying because of this duty impact.
So you think that this year actually U.S.?
I would say maybe 2%-3% if so, but not beyond that.
We are expecting a double-digit growth this year in U.S.?
Till then, yeah, that's what in the plan we have given. We are expecting roughly double-digit, which is in the range of 10%.
So that's the plan. Basically, yes, there were certain Ashwani ji told there might be certain things. But basically, this is mainly on the account of the distribution, the distribution reach and which we were able to have in the U.S. in this quarter itself. That had a positive impact on our revenue in this.
Okay, and sir, on India business, what was the volume growth? Why or why? You have reported a very healthy 10% revenue growth despite paddy prices coming down, right? So if you can give us the volume growth for this year.
Hi, in this quarter itself, on buy-on-buy basis, there is a growth of almost 13% on a buy-on-buy basis.
Basically, there was only 3% decline in realization on a buy-on-buy basis.
Correct. So there is a 2% decline in the realization.
And sir, basically, you have purchased a lot of inventory because of the last crop being very you got prices on the last crop. But now, even in this season, actually, rice crop is pretty good, right? So the rice prices, procurement prices, are going down further?
Actually, we didn't procure much. We procured it as per our plan. So we just pre-planned it and pre-planned it for our season itself. So that's what we did. So generally, we procured 60%-70% in the season itself and the remaining in the later part of the year. But being because of the favorable rates and certain factors, we procured 75% in the season itself. So that was also within our plan itself. So that was fully backed with my brand and other sales. Considering the current scenario, what we have. So considering this, it would be too early to predict the next crop, what will be there. Yes, the sowing is better as stated by the government data that we have. The sowing is better as compared to the last year.
So the rest. It's a three, four months journey that will finally decide what the real harvest, what kind of crop we have.
Sir, and my final question on gross margin. Actually, if you look at QoQ basis, gross margin is deteriorated by 200 basis points despite your export mix increasing on QoQ basis. So what is the reason for that? Because you are, I mean, and.
Concerned.
I'm talking more from a Q1Q perspective. Why is there a 70 basis points improvement in gross margin? But if you look at Q1Q basis, we did 200 basis points decline. And I thought it would be stable or declining, right? Because procurement prices have come down.
Sure. Sure. In this, the major contributor for the decline in this gross margin is one of the segments, the organic segment. In this organic segment, my GP margins have dropped. This is mainly because of my product mix that we sold out in the organic segment. There were certain lower GP products that were sold in this quarter itself that overall impacted my GP margins. Otherwise, in t
Basically, it's the only soy meal export. It's export. So there is no impact on gross margin in Basmati business on Q1Q basis. We can infer that? Yes.
One of the things, major in the Basmati is you have to age.
Mm-hmm.
Aging is important.
Mm-hmm.
Our inventory days, if you consider from the last.
Mm-hmm.
Last.
last.
Last.
inventory days, if you consider from the last.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Inventory days, if you consider from the last quarter or the March quarter.
Yes.
Yes, the inventory has reduced.
Mm-hmm.
But, this is normal process.
Mm-hmm.
because you get Kharif crop.
Mm-hmm.
Eight in September, May.
Mm-hmm.
September, October, May, May.
Mm-hmm.
Kharif crop area 80% higher.
Mm-hmm.
So the inventory days gets reduced, after that.
Mm-hmm.
It builds up from September onwards.
Mm-hmm.
Okay. So, but still, would you think that 270-day, 277 days is high?
Mm-hmm.
That's not compared to the previous year, but if you look on it, on absolute terms.
Normally, Basmati requires an aging of 600.
Answer, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, plus minus yeah, yeah, this is the normal. You know, you consider it normal.
Okay. Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Raman, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Hi.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. I just wanted to inquire because in the last phone call, which was on January, you had mentioned that we would be getting a credit from the Supreme Court as the Supreme Court had ruled in our favor. But I don't think that amount of INR 190 crore has been credited yet, right? Is there any guidance on when exactly it would be received.
Duba-Dubarap, Pushnaap, yeh, the Supreme Court mein kya?
Pension and settling.
No, but we have got that, na. We have got that money against bank guarantee, yes.
Okay.
That.
last quarter.
That is there, and we have full amount that is sitting in my books. So it is yes, it is backed by a bank guarantee. So we have taken a FDR against the same.
Pesa agea heh.
Okay.
Abhi now, you know, it is in the High Court for the final decision. So, hopefully, you know, but the money is there, yes.
Okay. Got it, sir. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Ishan.
I hope.
Thank you.
You know, you have got the answer. Hello?
Yes, sir.
Hello?
Yes, sir. The next question is from the line of Ishan from Antique Institutional Equities . Please go ahead.
Hello. Am I audible?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
So, congratulations on a good set of numbers. Could you please share the current inventory levels as of June 30th, both the paddy and rice? So, broken down by volumes as well as value as well. Hello.
Yes, sir. You're audible.
Hello. Am I audible?
Yes, sir.
Could you please share the current inventory levels as of June 30th for both paddy and rice in volumes and value terms?
Hello.
Hello?
Hello. Hello?
Yes, sir. You're audible.
Hello. Am I audible?
Yes, sir.
Meet, are you there?
Meet. I'm there. I'm there.
Hello?
Hello.
Yeah. Am I audible?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. You're audible.
Yeah.
Yes, sir. Yeah.
Yeah.
Can you please share the current inventory levels as of?
Okay. Yeah.
Hello?
Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management seems to have disconnected. Please hold while we reconnect. Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management has been connected. Thank you and over to you, ma'am.
So please continue with your questions.
Okay, sir. The next question is from the line of Ishant. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Congratulations on a good set of numbers.
Yes, sir.
Yeah. Hi.
Thank you, Ishant.
Could you please share the current inventory levels as of June 30, for both paddy and rice, by volumes and value terms?
So the revenue inventory in my books of accounts is 2,085,000 tons of paddy at an average rate of ₹29, and 3,000,000 tons of rice at an average rate of ₹51.
Okay. With the monsoon progressing well, how do you see rice price trending in the second half of FY26?
Ishant, आपने नाम बताया ना?
Ishant, देखो, अभी-अभी क्रॉप, you know, sowing चालू है, and we are expecting, you know, good crop. The expected opening price, it depends, you know, on how the crop performs. But, we expect that पिछले साल से तो, you know, it will be roughly higher by, you know, 8%-10% average. Okay.
On average.
On an average.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Thanks.
Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Vipul Kumar from Sumangal Investments. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity, and congrats for a very good set of numbers. So my first question is.
Yes, sir.
Why this RTH and RTC segment revenue has degrown although base is very small? And at what level of annual sales this segment will break even at EBITDA level?
Yes, sir. This year, what has happened in the RTH and RTC segment, there was discontinued one of the products in this category. There was Daawat Sehat that we had launched two years back. So we discontinued this in the last quarter last year. So it had a revenue share. So that we lost. So otherwise, everything is as per the plan and as per the target set up. And yes, this segment will break even in the EBITDA category once it crosses the INR 350 crore mark, and which we expect in two to three years.
So Vipul, you know.
So, the ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook is growing.
Mm-hmm.
In USA also, we are, you know, done with the capacity. We are building new capacity. The plant will be operative in the next two, three months. So then that will start giving us a next level of growth. On the, you know, this new product we have launched in India, which is biryani rice. Now we have launched, you know, Thai curry rice kit. So that we are getting, you know, promising, you know, results on that. Even on the rice cracker side, the snacking side, we are seeing good food initiative. So hopefully, you know, and as to your question, the next two years, we will be on the break even. In USA, we are already making money on EBITDA level, as far as RTH is concerned.
It is only in India where we are investing in rice cracker and, you know, this ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat segment we are trying to build up.
Okay. And as per my second question, why is our revenue from Middle East region so low when the market size, as per your presentation, is so huge, 40,000 crores? So is there any culture issue or the product mix are different? So how should one look at it, this?
I think that's an opportunity for us, you know, as explained earlier also, that we were focusing on the other market for the last three years. We have started focusing in India—sorry, Middle East. Although, you know, that's a very mature market, very, very high entry barrier. But we will deliver as per the guidance given in, you know, five years. The Saudi has also done well, but very mature, very high entry barrier market.
So, means, what are the entry barriers? Means, can you elaborate, please, a little bit?
Like any consumer business, the entry barriers are the brand and the distribution. That's what, you know, the entry barriers are. And as per the guidance given, we have strategies to grow our business, but that will be a slow burn. Yeah.
Okay. And, sir, I would drop you a mail, but I want quantity and value of all regions. I ask this in every call, and yes.
I'll pass your mail and.
So please. Yeah, yeah. Okay, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press star and run now. Participants who wish to ask questions may please press star and run at this time. The next question is from the line of Ketan Chheda and Retail Investor. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. My question is this one. INR 2,124 crores of the revenue that we have received in Basmati and specialty segment in this quarter, could you break that into how much is Basmati and how much is non-Basmati, please?
Can you repeat the question?
Yeah. I'm saying INR 2,124 crores of revenue that we have clocked in this quarter in Basmati and specialty rice category. How much is Basmati and how much is non-Basmati?
Okay. First of all, you know, so let me tell you what specialty rice is. One is basmati, the other is jasmine. And, you know, that's the main two varieties.
85% of my overall revenue, 85% revenue comes in category. Yes, there are certain regional rices that we sell in India and as well as the exports. So overall revenue size in the Basmati, in the Basmati and specialty category, 85% is Basmati, 15% is the others.
Okay. So 85%.
So basmati.
Yeah.
Sorry, sorry, sorry to interrupt. 85% of 2124 number, right?
Yes, yes.
Okay, okay. Yes, sir. Please go ahead, sir. You're saying something.
No, no. I'm saying, you know, mainly Basmati followed by Jasmine and followed by the regional Indian rice.
Right. And one more clarification. So, whatever Basmati we sell, everything is sourced from India, or do we source it from some other geographies as well outside India, specifically for Basmati?
Mainly India, some, sometimes, you know, from Pakistan. But this is mainly India.
Okay.
Our EU, our new operations, you know, they source from Pakistan, but that's it. It depends on year to year. But this year is only less than 10%.
Sure, sure. Thank you. Thank you for that. And the other question I have is, in terms of the future growth plans that we have shared in the presentation, I see that, you know, you mentioned the EBITDA will grow at a CAGR of 16%, whereas the PAT will grow at a CAGR of 21%. So could you help me understand what will change between EBITDA and PAT that will help us grow PAT faster than the EBITDA? So yes, it is normal. Whatever the EBITDA grows, the PAT normally grows at a faster pace if any constraint, any kind of industry, any one. So yes, there are the interest and the depreciation component, which doesn't grow in the same proportion as the growth in the EBITDA percentage.
So our PAT, what we are expecting is a growth, then greater growth than what we are expecting in the EBITDA. But more to add to it, but we are focusing more on the ROCE, the ROCE that we project to have a 23% plus in going forward years. So from a 21 levels, we expect this to grow to a 23-plus level.
Okay. Thank you so much. Those are my questions. Wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Pradyumna Chaudhary from JM Financial Family Office. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Just a couple of follow-ups. One is, you said that the consolidated, normalized growth adjusted for the Golden Star acquisition was 17%. But if I just look at your numbers, I think Golden Star in this quarter would have been around 300 crores, right?
Correct, correct. So, but as Monika stated, it got consolidated in 31st May. So after that, the revenue was getting consolidated. So before it,
Okay.
The revenue was yes, yes. That's.
Only one month, you know.
Only one month sales was there.
Understood, and second, I'm still not able to wrap my head around this Europe 57% growth, right? Because Europe would be, what, almost, it must be around INR 400-450 crores quarterly revenue rate, and even if INR 60 crores has come from UK facilities, even then, that 57%, adjusting for the INR 60 crores also looks like a very high number.
So yes, in this, the European sales in this quarter, if you include Europe, the U.K. as well, that was INR 376 crore in the rice and the specialty segment. Last year, it was INR 239 crore. The incremental U.K. sales this year contributed almost INR 80 crore. So if we eliminate, if we normalize that also, there is a 24% revenue growth that came in the European operations this year.
What's driving this growth?
Both, you know, it's a you know mix of Daawat, which is growing. Second, you know, we have done a little bit you know the B2B sales. And third is we call it you know the label we pack for the stores. So all three level you know growth has been led.
All right. Like, but it's not coming more from a private label, right? It's coming majorly from branded?
All three revenue drivers, brand, you know, the kind of B2B sale and which we do private label for the stores. So in a way, you know, partly this growth is driven by.
Understood. And why another question was on the organic side, why was Daawat Sehat discontinued?
It is not on the organic side. So it was under, you know, the value-added thing. So we launched Daawat Sehat, you know, rice in India, which has not much appreciated by the consumer, no response, so we discontinued.
All right. Because it seems like it was contributing quite significantly to your segment of revenue.
Yeah. We have pushed it very strongly. We invested money. We, you know, put in our whole distribution, but it has not worked as per our expectation.
Understood. Thank you. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you, sir. This was the last question for the day. I now hand the conference over to the Monika ma'am for closing comments.
Thank you. On behalf of the management of LT Foods, thank you all for joining us on our earnings conference call today. We hope we have been able to address the majority of your queries. The nature of our business and the operating segments and the geographic market don't generate highly dynamic quarter variations, so making semi-annual reporting cycle more aligned with our operational rhythm and better positioned to deliver the meaningful comprehensive insight to our investors. So thus, starting from Q2 financial year 2026, we will conduct our earnings call semi-annually. In the meanwhile, you may reach out to me or our investor relations partner, EY, for any further queries that you may have, and they would connect with you offline. We now close the call. Thank you all.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.