Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to LT Foods Limited Q4 and FY25 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 the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Meet Jain from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Hi, thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and a very warm welcome to the LT Foods Q4 and FY25 post-results earnings call hosted by Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited. On the call today, we have the management team being represented by Mr. Ashwini Kumar Arora, MD and CEO. Mr. Sachin Gupta, CFO. Ms. Monika Chawla Jaggia, Chief Corporate Development Officer. We will begin the call with key thoughts from the management team. Thereafter, we will open the floor for Q&A session. I would now like to request the management to share their perspective on the performance of the company. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.
Thank you, Meet. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our Q4 and financial year 25 earnings conference call. Before we start with the key highlights of the quarter and year-ending 31st March 2025, I would like to highlight that certain statements made or discussed on the conference call today are forward-looking, and a disclaimer to this effect has been included in the results presentation shared with you earlier. Results documents are available on the company's website and have also been uploaded on the stock exchange. A transcript of this call will also be made available on the investor section of the company's website. We, at LT Foods, have built a strong brand by focusing on quality and smart growth. Being a global consumer food company, we put great effort into making better products and ensuring the finest quality, which helps consumers trust us.
By expanding globally and building a portfolio of very strong brands, we have become a top choice for many consumers. Our marquee brands, Daawat and Royal, are now well-known for high-quality basmati rice in homes across the world. This has helped us gain significant market shares in India and international markets like the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. We keep investing in sustainable practices, control our entire value supply chain, and continue to further strengthen our global distribution network. We have significantly expanded our product portfolio to meet the evolving consumer needs. We launched our RTH and RTC meal options, healthy snacks, organic foods and ingredients, and health-focused rice varieties that cater to the modern dietary preferences. Over the past year, we have undertaken major expansion projects in the U.K. and entered into a high-potential market that is Saudi Arabia.
We ended the year with a strong quarter, delivering a topline growth of 8% in Q4 financial year 25, wherein our revenue reached INR2,260 crores from INR 2,092 crores. This was because of increased sales from our core segment, that is basmati and specialty rice, as well as the organic and ingredients segment. Gross profit grew by 20%, and the gross profit margin is 370 basis points higher, that is 32.9% to 36.6%, which is attributable to the favorable input prices. EBITDA for Q4 was up by 11% year-on-year basis at 290 crores, and EBITDA margins stood at 12.8%.
PBT is up by 6% from INR 204 crores last year to INR 216 crores in Q4 financial year 25. PAT for the quarter increased by 7% to INR 161 crores compared to INR 150 crores in the previous year. EPS is higher by 8% at 4.62 versus 4.28 in Q4 financial year 24.
Cash profit for the quarter was higher by 9%, that is INR 213 crores. Now coming to our annual performance, our consolidated revenue for the fiscal year 25 increased by 12% to INR 8,770 crores versus INR 7,822 crores in financial year 24. This is because of the increased sales across all the segments. Gross profits stood at INR 3,030 crores, and the gross profit margins expanded by 200 basis points from 32.5% to 34.5%.
EBITDA increased by 8% to INR 1,067 crores compared to INR 988 crores last year. EBITDA margin was at 12.2%, that is marginally lower by 40 basis points. The profit after tax is higher by 2%, that is INR 612 crores versus INR 598 crores last year. The earnings per share is at 17.43, which is up by 2%, and the cash profit increased by 6% to INR 797 crores versus INR 750 crores last year.
Moving on to the key ratios of our balance sheet, the return on the capital employed stood at 21% in financial year 2025 compared to 21.7% in financial year 2024. Return on equity stood at 16.8% for financial year 2025 compared to 19.2% in financial year 2024. The net debt to equity ratio is at 0.2% in financial year 2025 versus 0.1% in financial year 2024, and the net debt to EBITDA ratio is 0.6% in financial year 2025 compared to 0.5% in financial year 2024. The current ratio, 1.9%, is there in the financial year 2025. Our net working capital days stand at 196 days in financial year 2025 versus 188 days in financial year 2024. Now, I think we can open the floor for the questions and answers, please.
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 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'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We have our first question from the line of Resham Jain from DSP Asset Managers. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good evening. So I have two questions. First one is with respect to the gross margins. If I look at full year, the gross margin has seen good improvement, almost 33.9%, 180 basis points improvement. And most of it has been visible in Q4, almost 300 basis points plus increase in gross margins. But when we look at EBITDA margin, it has not actually flowed through to EBITDA, just 30 basis points increase. So if you can help in explaining, is there like last time you mentioned about higher shipping cost and things like that, is there anything which is sitting in other expenses and not helping the overall improvement in EBITDA margins?
Evening, Resham. To your question, on the logistics cost, we have lost 1.7%. And then we have done the advertising. So I think 0.4% went there. And then there is, as you know, in the U.K., we have capitalized the facility. So admin cost has gone up. So this is broadly the breakup of where the gross margin has gone. I hope that answers.
Okay. Anything? Yes, sir. This is very clear. Is any, like, the three factors which you mentioned, any of the three factors, are you seeing any reversal in FY26?
Logistics cost, yes. It has come to normal. Advertising will be this year more because we have this year heavy spend on the consumer side. Advertising will increase more, but logistics cost will come to normal.
Understood. Understood. So maybe we can maintain or slightly improve margins in FY26, possibly. Is that how one should read it?
Yeah, that's what we are expecting. Yeah.
Okay. Understood. And so the second question is with respect to the acquisition, I think, which you have done, Global Green Group. If you can just give some color on the overall transaction and how can it help LT Foods?
Yeah. It's a canned food business, roughly EUR 40 million. It has a good synergy. I think the detail we will like to open on when definitive agreement is signed. But it's a good opportunity came to us, and we will tell more about once this definitive agreement is signed, but good synergies in that. It's a proposed acquisition. Today, in the board meeting, we have proposed acquisition.
Understood. Understood. Okay. I'll come back in the queue. Thanks.
Sure.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Pradyumna Choudhury from JM Financial Family Office. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. First, I just wanted to understand regarding two operational data points. One is why Europe has been so slow for us, 2% growth in Q4. That's one, and second is what would be the freight cost as percentage of revenue for Q4? I have more questions after this.
You want to know the freight cost as a revenue to sales. If you talk about the full year, it is 6.5% of my revenue.
Okay. No, for Q4.
For the Q4, it is 5.8%. It is 5.8%.
Why has 5.3%, you said?
5.8. 5.8.
Okay. And why has Europe been so slow for us?
So Europe is not slow. Actually, what has happened in Europe, there were two entities, Europe and U.K. So there are two separate entities. Now, the U.K. operations are being looked at by the U.K. operations as well. So previously, the Europe and U.K. were getting merged and consolidated. So that's the reason. Otherwise, it has also grown as per the market.
Consolidated, we have grown.
Yes. Consolidated, we have grown.
All right. Another couple of questions. One is, what is the likely impact of if there is any tariff, whatever tariff gets finalized by the U.S. on India? That's one. The impact of if, suppose, there's some sort of a recession in the U.S., given the kind of we are in more of a consumer-staple kind of a category, so would it really impact us? Usually, in the past, what sort of a consumer behavior we've seen in the U.S.? That's number one. Second, okay, after this, I'll ask my last question.
No, no. You wanted to ask the second question, or should I answer your first question, Pradyumna?
Maybe you can just take this up, and then I'll ask.
As far as the U.S. trend, so there is no impact on the recession, rather. Even in April, we are seeing the good signs. There is no impact on demand. We will grow. Second thing is your question about the duty impact. There will be no duty impact as it has been compensated by us this year. We had a lower material cost. Rather, we will improve the margin this year.
No, I was trying to understand more from a past behavior point of view. In the past, also, whenever the U.S. has gone into recession, what sort of customer behavior change we've seen? Do they tend to downgrade? Do they tend to go for cheaper brands?
So, what we have seen in history, we have seen two, three times we acquired this business in 2008, and there was a recession in 2009, 2010. But what we have seen in all the times, even in COVID time and all the time, when the recession comes, the home consumption goes up in America, especially in the food side. So historically, this has happened. We have not seen any negative on the consumption side.
All right. And one question was, how are we really positioned in the US market? Are we amongst the lowest price players there? Because from a simple exercise I did, I just went to Amazon.com and I searched for basmati rice on some random US address. And from whatever options seem to be available, Royal Brand seemed to be among the lowest priced ones. So that's how we position ourselves, if you can just help with that.
Royal holds more than 55% market share. We are number one selling brand, both in mainstream as well as in ethnic channel. Regarding price point, there are two price points available. The Royal is on the price point you have seen. There are other price points, but which sells only very slow. It's only total category roughly 5% to 7%. In that price point, we have a Daawat. We have positioned there, and it's also doing very well.
Okay, but that understanding is correct, right, that we are amongst the lower priced in the U.S. market for basmati rice?
There are two price points, only not lower. So there are two price points, and we are in the range of that price point, which is roughly $20 20 lbs. Yeah. And sometimes it happens there might be certain schemes that might be running it in order to there are certain times the platforms run its own scheme. That might be the case at your time when you might be seeing the price, it might be lower. Otherwise, we are priced at a premium itself in most of the markets.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you, Pradyumna.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Harsh Shah from Bandhan AMC. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Good evening. I just have two questions. First is that just to clarify on the last question, you guys mentioned that in case of any tariffs, we will not be taking any price increase. It will be subsumed by the lower RM price, right?
So as I said, it has been compensated.
Okay. So currently, they have 10% base tariff if that remains. Basically, we will not take any price that will be more than offset by the lower RM prices.
So that's right. It is offset by the lower RM cost.
Got it. And secondly, when we look at the standalone number, it's a flat kind of a growth. It's flat number, revenue number this quarter. So that basically 8% India revenue growth is offset by lower pricing. India volume growth.
So yes, you are right. In India, our last, if you look at the previous numbers as well, our Q3 in India is highest because there are certain in the West, we have the Bharti scheme and other schemes that go on. That's why in the Q3, generally in India, it is the highest. So that's why you are seeing that in India itself, there is a growth of almost 9% on the quarter-on-quarter basis.
So why, if you look at the standalone business, it is flat, right?
Why is it flat? So why on why, yes, you are right. So it is basically because of the price here itself. So price reduction is taking it. So if you ask, overall, we have grown by value terms 9% and volume 10%. So yes.
That is for the consult business.
Correct.
No, India, you are.
So in India, if you look at the India business as such, India business, in the volume terms, we have grown by 12%. Whereas in case of the value growth in India, it is 13.5%.
Only the Basmati rice segment in India.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
What is the volume and value growth in Q4?
The Q4, if you talk about the Q4 itself, on the year-on-year basis, volume has increased by 15%. And the value growth is 7%. So the realization has decreased by 6.5%.
Okay. And how do you see this because of this lower tariff prices? How do you see FY26 panning out for us, both if you could give us a sense in terms of India business and overall at consol level? What is the kind of volume growth and value growth that you expect in FY26?
Volume growth is roughly overall the consolidated. We are expecting 7%.
Okay.
Consolidated level, consolidated, that's the volume we are expecting this year. We are expecting full year with the integration of the balance 49. We are expecting the revenue to be 10,000 growth.
Okay. And if you could split between volume and value, let's say organic business, I mean, organic as in organic aspects of the integration.
No, this is a consol of all three verticals, which is specialty rice, organic, and you meant to say organically?
Organically in the aegis of the integration.
Yeah. So roughly because there is a value degrowth, so almost same value, but volume growth will be there.
Same value as in same like FY25, basically.
But there will be volume growth of almost 9% to 10% of volume that will happen.
Okay. Thank you. And sorry, just one more question. Do we source anything from Pakistan for our Middle East business?
In the last year, we sourced from Pakistan, but this year, we don't have any position from Pakistan. It's all sourced from India. But last two, three years, we were sourcing from Pakistan.
What was the proposal of that sector for our procurement?
Sorry?
What was the proposal of sourcing from?
No, no, no. That means we do roughly 700,000 tons. Pakistan, we only 30. So 4% to 5%.
Okay. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Abhilash Bhandari from Vasuki India Fund. Please go ahead.
Hello sir. I have two questions. The first one is, now the Indus Waters Treaty has been canceled. What will be the impact on Pakistan's basmati rice production and India's market share in the world for basmati rice? And the second one is, what will be the impact of U.K. FTA if the tariffs are reduced or anything for our supplying Europe?
So, answering to your first question, that we don't do. India doesn't do business with Pakistan. It's our European subsidiary which used to buy from Pakistan. So there is no any treaty impact. So although in this year, as I said earlier, that we are not buying, so India was more competitive. So this year, we bought only from India. And that's what we are expecting next year also. We will most probably buy from India only. So on the Indus treaty, there is no negative impact on us. So it is same as on the brown rice, there was a zero duty this year also. No change in that.
So what about ready-to-cook segment?
So, ready-to-cook segment, what? What you wanted to ask? Hello?
So no. So would we have any impact, any benefit in the ready-to-cook segment if U.K. agreement is not taken?
No, in U.K., we don't do any ready-to-eat. Ready-to-eat is more U.S. and India-centric business so it doesn't have so no, we are not doing any business with U.K. on ready-to-eat.
Okay. So answer one last question. What will be the impact on Pakistan's production of rice due to the Indus Waters Treaty?
That is too early to assess, but in the coming months, we will be able to know what will be the impact.
So do you think?
Growing happen in the first week of July or midweek of July. We will only be able to know, but I don't think there will be any impact here.
Okay, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Damodaran Kutty from Aequitas Investment Consultancy. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Just two questions from my side. One is on the Golden Star business. So can you give some outlook on the margins there? Given the margins, I think from your last call, you had said that margins were impacted because of the freight cost and margins are almost halved. So for FY26, what is the outlook on margins and growth there and the impact of tariffs on sourcing there in that business? Because I believe you source from Thailand, and that has at least by initial reports, they were quoting a 46% tariff there. So will it change our competitiveness in terms of sourcing? That's on the Golden Star business. And on the other question on CapEx, including so you have the option of buying out the 50% stake, including that, what will be the CapEx outlay for this year?
Yeah, those are the two questions.
Second question, Sachin will take. So first question on the Golden Star, we source Jasmine rice under the Golden Star brand. So there is a specific community which consumes this rice, so they are very loyal. So we don't see any impact on the demand side. Regarding the impact of the duty, as I just said, that 10% there is a duty, and we have passed on to the customer. So we have yet to see any impact on the demand side, but we expect that there will be no impact here.
Okay. So I mean, if I get you correctly, you're saying we are already passed on the 10% impact. Is what you're saying?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Okay. Great, and on the freight cost, if you can answer.
Freight cost this year is normal. It's back to normal. So yeah. Because last year, only in between the disruption came, and we were not able to pass on. But this year, it has been normal, and it's all in control.
Okay, so you should expect margins to revert back to their normal state.
Yeah. That's what we are expecting, that the margin will improve.
Sure. Great. Thanks, and if you can answer on the CAPEX and.
As regarding the CAPEX this year, what we have is almost INR 40 crores of CAPEX that will be there, and that will be majorly in the warehousing facilities and the RTH facility in the U.S. That will be there as regarding the CAPEX this year in 2025-26.
Okay. You said warehousing and the U.S. facility.
RTS. RTS in the U.S.
Okay. INR 640 crores. So this doesn't include the stake buyout that you'll have, I mean, the option to exercise.
That will be a separate, and yes, that will be a separate one.
Okay. Got it. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Meet Jain from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi sir. First question is regarding the falling prices of Basmati. So is this because of the better output in the Indian market, correct?
Sorry. Can you repeat that, please?
So we are seeing a falling realization for FY26 in the Indian market. This is due to better output, but we are seeing domestic basmati production. And do we see similar kind of price fall in other geographies wherever we are present in?
So there will be impact of net impact in U.S. and India. I don't think there will be any impact on the other part of the world.
Okay. So what can be our margin trajectory going ahead? Are we expecting a stable kind of margin for FY26 as well?
Yeah. We are targeting in the range of 13% EBITDA margin.
13%. Okay. Second thing was on the logistics trade. Earlier, we mentioned that we will be expecting similar kind of logistics cost for our FY26 quarter as well. So are we on that stance, or we are seeing better normalization in Q1 as well?
So the freight rate is normalized now.
So we can see a better margin in Q1?
So that's what I said. We are targeting in the range of 13% EBITDA margin.
So Meet, as Ashwini ji had earlier told, so we will be investing more on the brand. So yes, the logistics cost as it is softening up, but our investment in the brand will be increasing in this year. Got it. On the similar logistics cost, are we seeing from Thailand also for the Golden Star business normalization in that year also?
I mean, freight cost.
Normalized.
Normalized. The freight cost globally is normalized. Yeah.
Normalized. Okay. Thank you so much. I'll get back with you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Amit Doshi from Care Portfolio Managers. Please go ahead. Amit, are you there? Amit, are you there?
Yeah. Can you hear me?
Yes. Now we can hear you.
Yeah. I'm seeing that the logistics cost has been normalized, is what we are seeing. If I have to just put it in numbers, last year you mentioned 6.5% of sales was our logistics cost. So what is the likelihood of that percentage this year, FY26?
Oh, if you look at our Q4 numbers, our logistics cost as a percentage to revenue is 5.8%. So that's what we are one or 2.1% or 2.0% downwards. So that's the normal logistics cost.
Okay. Understood. And in terms of this Global Green Company proposed acquisition, while I understand that it is still a proposed acquisition, just wanted to understand your thought process in terms of this funding of around INR 600 to INR 800 crores that is projected. And what kind of likely margin of that product of that company?
First of all, its value is around 25 million, 24 million. So it's not INR 600 crores. It's only in terms of rupees; it's around INR 200 crores. Partly, we will roughly what we are proposing is 6 million to 7 million. We will put equity. The rest will be through borrowing. And going forward with the synergy in sales and we are planning to put the rice factory in East Europe also because to service the rest of the part of Europe. So all in the coming years, we are expecting the return on equity in the range of 20s. It's a canned food business. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So I don't know. In the press release, it is mentioned EUR 6 million cash consideration.
Yeah. EUR 6 million is the equity. And the rest, the company holds borrowing. So that we will acquire that company. The borrowing will also come.
Okay. And sir, margin of the company, the margin profile of these products?
So on the margins, the EBITDA margin is in the range of 6% to 7%, but with the synergies, we are expecting to improve.
Understood. Understood. Okay. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to take questions from all participants in the conference, please restrict yourself to only two questions per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we request you to rejoin the queue. We have our next question from the line of Resham Jain from DSP Asset Managers. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for taking my question again. So two questions. First is on the inventory. I could see that compared to last year, your inventory is higher by 25% in value terms. I think that possibly the volume increase will be slightly higher than 25%, given that prices have come down, the procurement prices. So I was just trying to understand, given that you mentioned that 9% to 10% volume growth is what we are expecting for the full year, is that more conservative, given that your procurement has been quite good?
Resham, as you said rightly, one is the inventory gone up because of the volume growth, and the second, the prices was very in favor of us. Normally, we keep as a policy, partly we buy in procurement and partly we buy in off-season, but this year, we thought it's a very attractive price, so we bought more inventory than regularly we buy. But of course, we are a little optimistic also as this year the prices are good, so we are expecting that we will have a better growth than the projected.
Okay. Understood. And do you mean that you bought more paddy than rice this time?
Yes. Yes. More paddy.
Conversion margin will also be slightly better than usual?
Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Okay. Understood. So the second question is on the overall balance sheet. I think you have managed it very well, and you have received, I think, INR 250-odd crores from insurance in April. And you are carrying a very high inventory. So by September, do you expect the overall net debt situation would be almost closer to zero? Because you will not buy incremental inventory in the next six months. You will keep consuming that inventory. And at the same time, you have received this INR 250 crore additional money as well. So how should one think about the net debt situation going forward?
So Resham, you are right in that sense. So in India, our net debt position will be positive. So we won't be having any kind of debt impact in the month of from July end onwards. So our cash position and the net debt basis, we will be positive. The debt requirement will be in the case of the European entity. So apart from that, there will be no debt in the Indian or the U.S. entity. So India and U.S. will be completely debt-free. Yeah.
And in India, there will be surplus that will be available. Okay. Understood. Okay. Thanks. All the best. Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Resham. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Devesh Kaslal from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, on the Indus Waters Treaty, so I'll just frame the question a little bit better over here. So if at all India stops water and this continues and becomes structural, so do you think output from Pakistan to Middle East will go down and that can increase our opportunity in the Middle East region where we are right now focusing on as well on a structurally longer-term basis?
This is all a political thing. We can't have it. But Pakistan is not at the moment. It's a big player in the Middle East. So, Pakistan, right? India exports roughly this year. We will be around 6 million tons. And Pakistan is not even 700,000 tons. So, I don't think with this Indus we will have any impact from Pakistan. And the basmati is even grown in the Punjab, so they have the other sources of water also, which is groundwater. It's all an estimate, but not going to change any position in our thinking.
Okay. Okay. Thank you so much.
It's not a big factor to.
Going forward with that.
To our business. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Dipal Kumar Shah from Sumangal Investments. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. So, sir, can you give me the volume figures, meaning India tonnage, U.S. tonnage, and Europe tonnage and value for each for the quarter and year?
So you can write it to our IR team, and they will provide you with the relevant data.
But every time, means last two, three calls, means I have raised this. And I think on one of the occasions, you have promised it to be part of the presentation. So why don't you give it on this call, means?
Sometimes for a competitive reason. Sometimes for the competitive reason, we don't want to have this on. But as last call also we said, if you will write to the IR, we'll definitely get into that.
Sir, this acquisition, so due to this acquisition, all the revenue will be consolidated for this full year?
Yeah. As we have proposed, if acquired, will be consolidated.
Yes. So the remaining part of the year after the acquisition, the revenue will be consolidated. So what was the revenue of that entity last year?
It was a EUR 40 million revenue last year, the last calendar year.
EUR 40 million?
EUR 40 million.
Euros.
Something like that.
EUR 40 million. So that will be consolidated only after that transaction is completed, right, for the remainder part of this year?
Yes.
Sir, don't you think we are stagnating since last one year? There is hardly any profit growth. In spite of volume and revenue growth, we are not able to translate into the profitability at the net level. Are we facing any competitive intensity, or are we investing in the brand? How should one look at the?
Definitely, we are improving our margin. If you see, from ROE perspective, we have moved from 14% to 21%. On the PAT level, we have grown, yes, in the five years from roughly 350 to 600, 100 crores. So we have done very well. As far as if you're talking about the percentage margin, that's also moving. But the mix is also changing. So some business has a lower working capital requirement. They have that kind of margin. We have built a very, very high-quality business, which is generating the free cash flow, higher ROE, growing. So all factors are, we are very happy with the way we are growing.
Lastly, over five years.
Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Vipul.
One last question, please. In the continuation of that last point only, if you allow.
Sure.
Yeah. So sir, over the last five years, what type of market share gain we have in India?
I don't have, but I think we have moved from 21 to 27.
21 to 27?
Yeah, so we have doubled our business in India in the last five years.
No, I'm talking about market share, sir.
So that's what I'm saying that 21% to 27%. Yeah. That's the, yeah, market share we have improved on.
Okay, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Lavita Lasrado from Mirae Asset Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Yes. Yes, please.
So can you talk about more on the partnership with SALIC? How is the Saudi business progressing? How is the margin profile in this region? Are we going to benefit down the line?
It is progressing well. We are doing as per our plans, progressing well.
Can you talk more on the margin profile? Is it going to?
Margin now?
Is it going to help down the line in terms of increasing our margins, considering the product profile that we have in this country?
In the coming 2025, 2026, our revenue will be more than INR 10,000 crore, and at the moment, Saudi is contributing only INR 55 crore rupees, so it will take some year to make sure the impact from the bottom line and top line, but we are positive. We are doing business as per plan in Saudi Arabia.
Okay. Thank you. So I have a second question. Can you give me channel-wise contribution in India? The current status?
Right now, we don't have this at the moment, but you can write to IR.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Tom from Geojit. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. I would like to know about the tariffs imposed by U.S. What is the rate, and when will it be applicable? Could you throw some color on it? And another question is, how are we going to pass on it to customers? Yeah. That's my question.
So now it's a 10% tariff. We have already implemented the price hike, whatever the price adjustment. So it is in effect. I hope that answered your question or something I left you?
Yeah.
Yeah. Passing on how and how is the accounting done? Will it be part of the other expense and revenue?
So it is a procurement cost if you talk about. It is the cost of securing that material in the U.S. So it will be the cost of goods sold in that.
Okay. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks so much.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Hitesh Goel from Ritesh Advisors. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for taking my question, sir. I have two questions. First, on the RM basmati, right? So most of the procurement benefits have come through in this quarter, right? Because we've already procured for the full year. Basically, you said that in earlier right now you will not pass on the tariff impact in U.S., and you will absorb it through the RM cost decline. Now you are saying you have already passed on. Can you please clarify this again?
It has been adjusted. I corrected myself. I said it has been adjusted.
So basically, the impact is yet to come, right? I mean, in next quarter, the gross margin will deteriorate because basically, the raw material cost benefit has already come through, but the duty impact will come from the next quarter, right?
Not really. Not really. As you know, this is a basmati, and you require the aging. So whatever has been procured in this season will come into effect from the Q2, from the Q2 or Q3 itself. So in this quarter or the previous quarter, we have a crop that was for the last year.
So basically, more procurement benefits will be coming through as the newer inventory gets used up, right?
Yes. Yes. So that's what Ashwini ji previously told, that in the second or Q3, the impact on our GP margins will further improve. There will be margin increase in the import tariffs.
Sir, on the other expenses, basically, first is obviously this freight cost. You had said there's a 2% increase which has happened from the in last one year, one and a half years. There's been 2% increase in the percent of sales, right? Now you are saying it's almost done. It is almost done, and we've already realized only 100 basis points. This is now new normal? We'll not get that more 100?
Yes. Yes. So that's what we are expecting. So currently, what we are seeing, that is the new normal, 100%, 1% decrease from the hike that was there.
Okay, and my final question on advertising. I'm not able to understand, sir. Your market share is quite high in India as well as in the U.S. So why are we always and our advertising expenses are also higher than our competitors? So why are you spending so much on advertising?
First of all, both the markets are growing in the double digit, and if you wanted to grow, so then you have to keep investing behind the brand. That's what you know.
But sir, I mean, this year, anyway, the demand is quite strong, right? Because prices have come down. So why are we spending more on advertising expenses?
If we all understand consumer business, you have to keep investing behind the brand every year if you wanted to acquire new consumer, if you wanted to sustain the in this competitive world. Whereas the category is also spending money. So in competition, if you see, it's roughly INR 250-300 crore is being spent on the category alone in India, and we are spending, and now we have the new consumer proposition, which is जब आप कोई कसर नहीं छोड़ते हो, तो तब उसको दावत कहते हैं, and that has been delivered by Mr. Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, and it's doing very well. It's very impactful, and we are quite confident that that will bring the market share gain and the new consumer and the new growth.
India is a key impact in the coming, which I can tell that in the coming five years also, what we are expecting that India will keep growing 10%-15% in this category. And.
Okay. No problem, sir. Thank you and all the best. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Abhilash Bhandari from Vasuki India Fund. Please go ahead.
Hi there, sir. I just one more question. What is the revenue share of Jasmine rice in the top line? Because it's not mentioned in the PD.
No, the Jasmine, the Golden Star revenue is not getting consolidated. It is a JV. It is just the profit from the JV that is getting consolidated.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of.
Ji, ab aapko bhi aur specialty ka 7,500 crore.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Nandita from Marcellus Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. I just wanted to ask what exactly has come into the other income part of the profit and loss statement this time in Q4. It has gone up roughly around INR 13 crores to INR 30 crores. So I wanted to just understand what actually happened over there.
So in this, Nandita, the major portion is the exchange fluctuation profit that we have earned. And secondly, yes, so we were charging certain portion from Golden Star. So there is the income from the Golden Star as well. So that is there. The Golden Star revenue is quite good in the Q4. So that has resulted in the increase in the other income.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this would be the last question for today, and I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
So thank you so much for joining, and look forward to seeing you, sir. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. On behalf of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.