On behalf of Edelweiss, I would like to welcome you all to the Q1 FY23 Conference Call for Sheela Foam Limited. From the management today, we have Mr. Rahul Gautam, Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Rakesh Chahar, Whole Time Director, CEO of India Business, Mr. Nikhil Datye, Group CFO, and Mr. Devendra Ahuja, Group Finance Controller. I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Rahul Gautam for his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Rehan. Thanks a lot, and thank you for hosting this call on behalf of Edelweiss Securities. This is Rahul Gautam presenting the results of Q1 FY23. I must begin by saying that the standalone results and the consolidated results have been pretty encouraging, though we must discount the fact that the base for last year was extremely low because of the Corona that we were all experiencing. So standalone, we have done about close to 58% growth and consolidated 32%. However, I must say that the markets are showing some trends, some upward trends, and they are in bits and parts or in pockets. For example, our customers, the auto industry seems to be doing very well, while the furniture industry is not doing so well.
The basics appear as good, and it should eventually lead to a good performance. As we look into the current situation, the monsoons have been unevenly distributed. But by and large, the total quantum of rainfall has been as predicted, as hoped, as required. I think this should lead to a season which is good, and eventually all the other uncertainties should also look good. As far as Sheela Foam is concerned, our Australian entity is doing reasonably well. In fact, it is surprising that, though it's a mature market and it has already gone through the opening up, which has taken care of the pent-up demand, but still it continues to be strong.
The only reason that I see is that what we experience in our country as Atmanirbharta, coming as a direction from our Prime Minister. That seems to be the phenomena that is happening virtually across the globe. And so Australia, which were dependent by the trade on ports, are also feeling the need to depend on resources and materials within the country. It's a kind of a de-globalization that is happening. Our Spanish entity is a part of the bigger European economy, which is full of uncertainties at this point of time.
I think the real picture will emerge after the winter has gone by, and the use of oil and gas, which would go into heating our homes and people making lives comfortable, how much is the impact on the economy. Raw materials have always been a major part of impact as far as our business is concerned. In all the three geographies, we are experiencing very different kind of impacts. Some shows are very steady. Of course, they always have a very long period of, in quotations, "holding." Spain, the raw material prices are moving downward.
In fact, it has come to a stage where, the raw material people have started complaining that because of the increased energy cost, they are unable to make any money. However, the front end of the program, which is users like us, the demand is not there, and therefore, there's a, I mean, cost-based price increases, but demand-based, a huge push towards the reduction of prices. India continues to fluctuate. Polyol is on a little bit of a downward trend, but has been going up and going down, and therefore, there is no clear direction.
Sorry to interrupt. This is the operator here.
Yes.
Sir, your audio is slightly low. May we request you to come closer to the speaker and speak, please?
Yeah, thank you. I don't know, or, or maybe I'll just speak a little louder. So let me just get back to the raw material side. And as I said, in all the three geographies, we are experiencing completely different kind of behavior. Australia seems to be steady. Spain is moving downwards, and there is a phenomenon that is emerging, is that the raw material suppliers are not making enough money because of the high energy cost, while the demand is not there, and therefore, there is a push for prices to fall. So it's a mix that is happening. It probably will lead to a couple of plants closing down. India is still fluctuating, as far as TDI is concerned, a little more, and as far as polyol is concerned, a little less.
And however, we have no clear direction as to how it will move in the coming months. That is there. Sheela Foam has also been proceeding with a few projects, and I'm happy to say that the projects are just, are going ahead on track. The extra capacity that we were building in Australia, a little bit delayed, but otherwise on track, and January, February, it should be in production. The expansion that was happening in Spain, we are on track for that, and we'll continue to view it a little more critically as we go along, and maybe with you somewhere in September, October, but otherwise it is on track.
Our big, big project in India, which is, which we call it M5, or a mattress for every Indian, based on production facilities being set up in Jabalpur, progressing, but a little delayed, because of some special skills, et cetera, which kind of come from U.K. So by and large, we are. We continue to prepare ourselves for the time that the markets really open up. We feel that they should, and we look forward to that part. So thank you very much, and I open to questions now.
Thank you so much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants who wish to ask a question are requested to press star and one at this time. We'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We take the first question from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. I have several questions. I'll put it in two buckets, so 4 + 3. So the first bucket, I wanted some updates on one, exports out of India. Second is e-commerce sales. What was our expectation? What has turned out, and any measures over here? That's one and two. Third, basically, it was pertaining to M5. You indicated a little bit of delay over here. Any particular timelines over here? That's the third variable. The fourth variable was on the Indian Railways. Any incremental updates on approvals, scope for revenues for this fiscal? That's the first bucket, the four variables, sir. Thank you.
Thank you, Ritesh. So I heard the export and the e-commerce part, but the second one I missed out. Can you just repeat that part, please?
So the third variable was for Mattress for Every Indian, where you indicated there's a little bit of delay. Any particular timelines that we have in mind over here, and the scope of revenues or any details on the product launches over here, that would be useful. That was the third variable, and the fourth variable was pertaining to Indian Railways. To my understanding, we have a few zonal approvals. Any progress on supplies or have you booked any incremental revenues over there?
Okay. Rakesh, can you take care of the export part of it, export and e-com?
Yes, I can.
Yeah.
You want to touch upon M5 .
I'll do the M5 .
Okay. So as far as e-com is concerned, we are on course as far as E-tail, both brand.com and marketplace is concerned. So what we had planned, we are very much on course for that. We have also introduced Sleepwell on marketplace with a new portfolio and a new outlook to play a bigger role in the e-com part. So that has recently been done. So that is as far as e-com is concerned. On the railways, the product has been well accepted. And now, so in fact, there were some also clarifications and some due diligence within the railways because of the existing material. So that also has kind of recommended the product.
Now, now it's a scale-up time, where the quarter one has seen some part of it. So we have kind of done much better than what we expected in the first quarter, and the upcoming quarters are looking very promising from a railways point of view. On the export part, though the potential is still huge, and so there have been some hurdles. It all started with the ocean freight, which went up to a level of $17,000. And for a consignment of $30,000 or $17,000 was absolutely no, no. So therefore, the importers were kind of not able to import as much from India as they wanted.
So it is on a, those ocean freights have come down, but currently there is a slowdown in US, where the demand is subdued, and therefore, I think it will take some more time for the orders to come in. And recently, we also participated in one of the largest shows in Las Vegas. So there, I mean, we have also met existing buyers who are importing from us and also some new customers. So our persuasion towards that business is still kind of continuing. On M5, I would request if Rahulji can update.
Yeah. Thanks, thanks, Rakesh. So just to summarize what Rakesh said, as far as export is concerned, cost of trade containers, or the trade costs have come down, but the recession in U.S. is now playing out. And if something or the other is kind of happening, but it just appears that it's ready to take off, but it's, it has not taken. On e-commerce, we have expanded by adding Sleepwell, which is a new port for the on the marketplaces. Railway, Rakesh already mentioned as it's a bit, it's a steady, slow, steady rising progress, and at the moment what we are doing is well within the forecasted numbers. M5, which I said the project is delayed.
So the machine supplier, this is a, this is a specialized machine which was being manufactured in, in Europe, and it has required some special steam which comes from Ukraine. That's been delayed by a couple of months. We expect the machine to be shipped out by the end of this year, and somewhere in the middle of next year, in 2023, we should be able to start supplying to the, to the, to the market. However, in the meantime, the seed marketing and the market research and all that is already progressing.
Sure, sir, this is very helpful. I had a follow-up question over here. Probably I'll, I'll come back on that. My other bucket of questions was anything new that you are doing on the distribution side? Based on our recent checks, we understand that company is approaching MBOs for, I think, Feather Foam. Is this some change in strategy against from the last three to four years, what we had, wherein we had actually topic once flow? So the first question is on distribution. Second is basically, if one looks at the last cash flow statement, we do understand, the company has significant ammunition available.
If at all, we go for anything incrementally on inorganic side, do we have any balance sheet ratios in mind on net debt to equity? Or if at all, any, any acquisition target, will it be EPS accretive or not? Those are the two questions. I'll come back with the third one over here. Thank you.
So on the distribution side, besides our exclusive channel that we have, which is the retail stores, that which is for Sleepwell, we've always had Feather Foam as a brand. And in fact, Feather Foam is an endorsed brand of Sleepwell, but primarily a trade brand. And we had people in the market, MBOs, whom we were supplying the furniture cushions, as well as the other foam materials under the brand Feather Foam. And all that we are doing is a demand that's coming from the market, is to say that the people who were MBOs would like to deal exclusively with you, and therefore, is there a risk, is there a possibility that we can work on that partnership? However, our general strategy in the market still remains the same.
It is just possible that some of the MBOs may tend to become or will become exclusive, and that is what adds to the total number. On the cash flow, Nikhil, I would want you to respond to it, but I just want the inorganic part of it. I would say that these opportunities come and kind of go, but the appropriateness of that has to be there before we really go in for adding an inorganic opportunity. But the cash flows, et cetera, Nikhil, can you take care of that, please?
Yeah, yeah. So, so Ritesh, you know, too difficult at this moment to comment on what will be the impact on EPS, whether it will be accretive to EPS or not. But the opportunities which we are looking at, obviously, will add to the long term. And, and these opportunities are looked at both from two point of view. One is filling up the gap to acquire more market share, and that, obviously adds to the bottom line in the long run. So in the long run, obviously, all ratios will get better, but depending upon how the opportunity materializes, at what point of time, in the initial periods or at this moment, it is difficult to comment on that.
Sure. Last question as a follow-up. You indicated a big thing, putting Sleepwell on the e-com platform. Is it something which will go fine with the traditional channel that we have? How do we ensure that our existing distribution network they aren't very unhappy with the move? I'm sure, like, there would have been a lot of thought behind it. Some color over here would be quite useful. Thank you.
Look, thanks, thanks, Ritesh, for this question. E-com is also another way of just reaching the same consumer or a similar consumer. And I agree with you that it's normal for a friction to exist between the offline and the online. The way that we are tackling it is that we would have a limited portfolio of Sleepwell on e-commerce, and for the same range or same portfolio, in our offline same or absolutely identical or similar to identical offerings would exist on offline. And we have taken a long time to do that. Our experience shows that if the offer is similar on the offline offer is similar to the online one, people tend to buy materials from the brick-and-mortar store.
Therefore, we are pretty comfortable with that. There would be very little or handleable friction that would be there.
Sure, sir. Thank you so much, Ajay. Thank you. Wish you good luck.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one at this time. A reminder to the participants, anyone who wishes to ask a question, may press star and one. We take the next question from the line of Nihal from Edelweiss. Please, go ahead.
Yes, thank you so much. So a couple of questions on the distribution part. In our presentation, we mentioned currently we have around 5,500 outlets where our products are available. Could you give a sense of what this number was last year and how it has improved? And how is the distribution for the Starlite and Feather Foam brand coming along?
Hello? Hello.
Yes, RJ. Am I audible?
Now, Nihal, yes, but I just lost you for that, 10, 15 seconds or so. You'll have to speak, please.
Sure. My question was that our presentation mentions that currently we are available in 5,500 outlets. Could you give a sense of how this number was last year? And also for our two other brands, the Starlite and Feather Foam, what is the current distribution reach in MBOs, in total at this point in time?
Okay. Thank you. Rakesh, would you please respond to that?
Yeah. So, Nihal, the number is expanding, increasing by the quarter. So we have an expansion plan, and we are able to kind of meet most of it. So now, last year, the number would be close to about 5,000, and we would have added 500 number in quarter one. So that's because we focused on expansion in quarter one, both on the exclusive dealers and the showrooms coming up. As far as the Feather Foam Starlite is concerned, we have an MBO network, which we are also kind of creating a new network, which was the earlier question, where we have our furniture cushioning and Feather Foam as the offering, and we are calling them as cushioning partners.
So today it starts with the MBO, but eventually, we want to also convert them into a PBO network. So that process is also on. And as far as MBOs are concerned, we have our industrial products in Starlite, so that we currently sell to more than 3,000 dealers, and which will continue kind of growing the number on the MBO side too. On an overall basis, if I see, we'll be more like 9,000-10,000 outlets that we are servicing today.
So, 9,000-10,000 is the current figure for Starlite and Feather Foam combined.
Combined, correct. Correct.
That's helpful. My second question was that, on the mattress volumes, you know, if we, if we compare this to pre-COVID, and assuming there is not too much of a mix change between our core brands, Sleepwell and Starlite, it is still slightly lower. And, you know, in the past quarter, we are seeing a strong traction. So is it that there is a shift in consumer spend, which is, say, happening more towards other categories or, or spend, whereas home improvement as a category has already seen a lot of the spend, happen in the previous quarters? And generally, what are the kind of trends that you're seeing even after the quarter is closed? If you could just give a sense of that, that would be helpful.
Rakesh, you want to take that?
Yeah, I can take that. So the numbers are slightly lower than to FY 2020, FY 2019. The general trend that we have seen is the challenge is more on the ASP side. So there are quarters where, especially when the marriage season is there, there is a lower end which tracks faster. In normal time, the higher end customer because of the COVID and experience of staying at home. So it's a mix of both, which is happening. On the general volume side, I mean, there is our whole effort on the EBO side is to influence consumer to buy a better and a higher mattress.
So we track more of sales value for the outlet, and then we worry more about the attached ratio of the STP products and which is the cross-selling. So that's how we are kind of operating in the EBO. But as far as this network that I just mentioned about, that is where we are expecting a huge volume expansion through these networks that we are developing for Feather Foam and furniture cushioning going forward. This process has already started, so we'll start seeing volumes coming in from end of quarter two.
Understood. Just one last question from my side, Rakesh, is that, you know, we noticed that there has been an improvement in our average realization for a mattress. So have we taken a price hike over the last three months, which is now reflecting? And if you could just quantify that quantum of price?
No, we've not taken any price hike recently. So, it's just because of the ASP.
You mean the mix, maybe more of the feather mattresses were sold this quarter?
Correct. Correct.
That's helpful. I will come back on this. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Bhavin Rupani from Emkay. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. My first question is, if you see the volumes of mattresses on a three-year basis, it has declined. Have we lost any market share because of this decline?
Rakesh, you want to attempt that? I mean, I, I don't know. D uring the entire COVID times, there have been the general market research that was being done by the association has also not, not been done. So I guess you will have to rely on more what those, what the inputs from the market are and what the feeling is.
Yeah. So, so the general feeling is that the overall market has not really grown. And what is, what has happened is more of redistribution, where some part of the market has been taken away from online. And, and this was, this got accelerated during the lockdown period. And in some also on the organized side, because of the supply chain disruptions, so that also we, we see that there has been a, a little traction on it. But now as things are becoming normal, so, and the brands have also started, because there was also a period where the brands were also skeptical into into doing any development, brand building awareness kind of activity, which has started now. So, so right now, this is generally the hearsay that we get to hear.
Also the environment, especially in quarter one, has been subdued. So which is reflective, because now we have a program going on, and we track footfalls at our stores. So we, we daily track footfalls, so we also see a reduction in footfalls, which is, which is also reflective of what, what people have been saying about the market size. I hope I was able to answer your question.
Yes, sir.
As far as the research part is concerned, what Rahulji was mentioning, so that was also waiting for normalcy so that the people can visit retailers for the research and for the numbers. So that is being instituted now, and we should have the report by maybe next four months. Which will be the first one after the COVID.
That's useful, sir. My second question is, what will be the margins and working capital in online and offline sales? Will it be same or different?
Nikhil, do you want to take that?
Yeah, I can take that. So, you know, as far as offline business is concerned, gradually we have moved away from, you know, higher inventory in the channel. It's because we have improved and gone back to what we call as F 24. So we try and service the consumer demand at store within 24 hours from our nearest stock point. Decentralized manufacturing and distribution helps us in doing that. As far as most of our distributors are concerned, which service the offline trade, they run either on cash and carry or on a 15 days credit basis. So both put together, the working capital is managed very effectively. As far as online trade is concerned, there are two ways in which online also gets managed.
where the fulfillment is taken care by an online partner, and where the working capital requirement is normally high because they manage 30-60 days inventory, and also their payment terms are around 60 days. But again, you know, as we started ramping up our online presence, we have gone away from that model, and now we are distributing the products directly from our warehouses. So we have also increased our footprint in terms of warehousing for online channel. So earlier, we used to distribute it through Amazon, Flipkart warehouses. Now we have about 6-7 warehouses across India, dedicated for online. So that has helped us in managing our working capital for online more effectively.
With that, you know, online working capital will be slightly better than the offline, but both our margins, I mean, have seen a reduction over a period of time because of these initiatives.
That's okay, sir. Any sense on margins?
Well, margin, as far as margin is concerned, definitely, general trade, in the picking order is at little higher level than online. Online, the space is more competitive. The product offerings are more basic and economy in nature. So the product segmentation and consumer segmentation is also very, very different. Apple-to-apple comparison of that segment with general trade, I would say that margins will be at par. But overall, when you look at general trade also services, a premium and luxury segment, which as a proportion of business for online is less. So comparatively, offline business will be better in terms of margin play.
Okay, sir. And lastly, on, our competitor is planning to appoint a brand ambassador. Do we have any thoughts on that? And what will be our, advertisement spends for the year?
Sorry, I did not get that question. Can you repeat it?
Sure. So our competitor is planning to appoint a brand ambassador. Have we put on any thought about it? And what would be our advertisement spend for the current year?
Nikhil, take care of the ad vertising spend know that. On the other part I'll respond.
How would you want to.
Okay, okay. So, you know, on an average, we, I would like to split the overall, marketing selling spend in two buckets. Something which we derive as, P&L slash, selling expenses, that on average has been around 10%, year-on-year for us, and that's completely or largely variable. As far as marketing spend is concerned, that will be around, two and a half, 3%. That is one area where we are, as a, as an intent, also we have said that we would, step up that, expense. But it will hover between at a total level, selling plus marketing, will hover between 13%-14% range.
Okay. I hope that takes care of that question.
Yes.
Yeah, coming back to this issue of a brand ambassador. So our belief is that when you are introducing a brand, or introducing either to a new market or the brand is new, then the brand ambassador plays an important role. However, you know, in the current scenario, the salience of Sleepwell or the recognition of that is reasonably on a good level, and therefore, having a brand ambassador will not serve the purpose. That's our belief. However, tomorrow, you know, especially if we are going down deeper into the markets, this issue may change.
Or if we look at areas where we are very weak, for example, in Kerala or maybe little parts of Tamil Nadu, it's possible that we may take a regional brand ambassador.
That's okay, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Devesh from D S Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Just quick trend-based, you know, thought, if you can share. If you were to look at, you know, our last 10 years journey, so I'm talking about pre-corona, right, which is probably 2012, 2013 to, let's say, 2019, 2020. You know, so if we were growing top line by X, our operating margin and profits were proportionately growing higher, right? So it could be 1.5, 2X type, right? Or even 3X, if you take longer horizon. Now, if you were to go a little forward, so I'm not looking at, you know, next couple of quarters, but let's say next 5-10 years, how do you see this growth quality that would, you know, pan out in the way you are thinking?
Thank you, Devesh. It's really a very deep question, you know, s o on the short term, we have this difficulty of getting a clearer picture and uncertainty and haziness kind of existing. On a long-term basis, from all aspects, we see that India in general, our home improvements sector per se, our Sheela Foam and its presence in that sector, in all—I mean, all the three, I see positive trends which are existing. So if we go back to the 10 years prior to COVID and say that based on that or on similar circumstances, how do you look forward? I mean, honestly, I look at a degree of growth rates of 10%-15%, which should be there.
That's how, that's how India should pan out.
Okay, great. That's, that's quite helpful. And, and if you could sort of, share your, your view in terms of what's happening in Europe, in the sense that, you know, because Spain was also planned to be a major export hub for us as well as the Europe, consumption side. Do you see these issues, you know, probably, gonna be there till the war sees some solution? Or do you see there are different, drivers that can sort of, change the ecosystem or demand can revive? Or h-how do you see any signs that you're reading for Europe?
So, first of all, about Europe. Europe has enjoyed a good 8-10 years of run, where the raw material prices have been steady or slightly kind of increasing. The demand has been good, the business has been okay, and it's been steady sailing. If you go by the law of cycles, something needed to happen or something would happen. Now, whether it's triggered by the war or it would have been triggered by something else, it'll be difficult to say. But at the moment, it is the war which has increased the energy costs, which has, you know, people are scared of spending money and saving it to see a winter through. The fuel costs have gone up, et cetera. So that's the kind of sentiment that are existing.
As far as our company in Spain is concerned, we are a very small speck of the market, you know? So even if the market shrinks a little, our opportunity to grow still kind of still exists. And therefore, if I would see, let's say, if I would take a period in the recent past, the European market would have shrunk by about 30-odd%, 34%-35%. However, our, we would have done half of that, as far as the shrinking is concerned. And at this point will also get corrected because all the plans that we had when we took over the unit in December, no, sorry, October 2019, those were, those plans were just put aside because we were battling with Corona.
We were looking at raw materials, we were supplying, the business was also all right. All those things were happening. But the newer initiatives, which are newer, segments, some very close to where the unit is, you know, whether it's the shoe industry or the furniture industry that we intend to take. So we don't, we're not unduly concerned by, what's happening in Europe. However, we now need to do stuff at our end to, I mean, honestly, we have to be just 1% of the, of the market, you know? And therefore, we should not have any impact, yeah.
Thanks a lot for that detailed answer. Last, more on our home front. So, you know, again, thank you for the detailed long-term perspective. Just diving in, let's say if you were to sort of do a quick next couple of quarters view, is it fair to assume that B2C will take some time to build up the momentum, wherein B2B, we are seeing better traction, be it railways or the new launches that we talked about? So the B2B part will do some heavy lifting in near future. Is that a right way to look at next few quarters?
I mean, that's exactly what's happening right now. But for, for us to believe in the coming quarters, it'll remain like this is, is not okay. The B2C reviving will only need a little bit of a trigger because the intrinsic demand or the inherent demand is there. People need the, the home improvement products. People need all those things. It's just a question of one small trigger. It could be a good monsoon to, to a good season to something like that to happen. However, forecasting for the next 3-4 quarters, I would not regard a guess. But then, that's just a belief that this, this is what could be happening.
Got it. And do you see any correlation of the home sales and, you know, the number of consumer sales that we do? Do you see any correlation with a lag or something, the way real estate is sort of giving good data?
This is absolutely normal for the consumer sales to happen with a lag after the real estate or the homes, those sales increase. And I see that they are in the last at least a month or so, there has been a pickup on that. So eventually those will need to be furnished and need to be taken care of, therefore, that should happen. And generally, the lag to my mind is averaging about 3-4 months between home sale and consumer sale product.
Sure, sounds good. Thanks a lot for detailed answers. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you. Anyone who wishes to ask a question, may press star and one at this time. Participants, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one on your touchtone telephone. We take the next question from the line of Simrajdeep Singh, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for, you know, taking my question. See, I have, I have certain questions in my mind. First of all, can you provide some, you know, EBITDA margin guidance for the next nine months of, you know, FY 2023? And second question is that I was going through your Q4 FY 2022 conference call transcript, where you had mentioned that you are looking for some inorganic opportunity. My question is relating to the part that, are you looking for the inorganic opportunity where you don't have any presence or where you have a less presence, in the sense that, you know, that, that will be for, you know, that will be more fruitful to your company. So can you brief me something on this?
Thank you for the question. As far as the EBITDA margin guidance is concerned, I think we would refrain from doing that, except that it should be healthy, it should be double digits, and that's our expectation that it should be like that. Coming to the issue of growth and the organic growth that you're talking about, I would look at it in three ways. One is clear that the segment as well as the geographies that we are present in, would we do that? No. There is no need for that to happen. There are geographies where we are very weak. The segment remaining the same, if an opportunity comes up, we would definitely consider it.
However, balance it with saying that, how good is our, you know, our brand's opportunity to really expand into that area?
Okay.
The third, yeah. The third one is, obviously, if it's a completely new segment, we would again refrain from doing it at all. This is the kind of segment that we know. So if there are newer ways of reaching the consumer, if there is a better distribution channel that kind of comes through, we would definitely look at that.
Okay.
In Q4, I remember that we said that the two primary businesses, one is the manufacturing foam, and the other is the consumer business that we have. Manufacturing foam can be virtually anywhere in the world. It doesn't bother us because let's say the rules of that game or you know what will tick there is your raw material purchasing capacities, your formulations, machinery, technology, and then the geography doesn't matter so much. That we would be open to, as I said, globally, although also at this particular time, the globe is also going through problems which are very uncertain.
But in the Indian market, I just said that it will be consumer facing. It's the ways to reach the consumer and et cetera. That is it.
Sure, done. Thank you. All the best for the upcoming quarters. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Thank you.
As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you, Deeksha. Thank you for moderating this. And Nihal, thank you, and thanks, Edelweiss, for holding this conference. I want to also thank all the participators, the participation, and you know, with the questions. There may have been fewer than normal people questioning, but the questions were as incisive and as sharp as ever. I know that in the shorter term, that there is a lot of haziness and a lot of uncertainty which is existing, and therefore, some of our answers would also have been in similar manner, you know, with very little sharpness to it or very little b ecause that's exactly how the picture is at the moment.
But on a long-term basis, as mentioned a little earlier, from an India perspective, from the segment perspective, and from Sheela Foam perspective, we are extremely buoyant. We are extremely positive about it, and we feel that there is no other way except for everybody to do well with all these three India segments and the company. So thank you very much, and thanks again for participation.
Thank you.