Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Vaibhav Global Limited Q4 and FY 2023 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Disha Shah from Adfactors PR. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us on Vaibhav Global Limited earnings conference call for the quarter and full year ended 31st March 2023. Today, we have with us Mr. Sunil Agrawal, Managing Director; Mr. Nitin Panwad, Group CFO; and Mr. Prashant Saraswat, Head of Investor Relations. We will begin the call with opening remarks by Mr. Sunil Agrawal on the business operations, key initiatives and a broad outlook, followed by discussion on the financial performance by Mr. Nitin Panwad. After which, the management will open the forum for Q&A session. Before we get started, I would like to point out that some statements made or discussed on today's call may be forward-looking in nature and must be viewed in conjunction with the risks and uncertainties that we face.
A detailed statement and explanation of these risks are included in the earnings presentation, which has been shared with you all earlier. The company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements publicly. I would now like to invite Mr. Sunil Agrawal to make his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Disha. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for joining us today on this earnings call. It is my pleasure to share Vaibhav Global Limited performance for Q4 and FY23 today. I hope you would have reviewed both our results and presentation that provides details on business operations and the current market conditions. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused due to the short duration between the release of the results and the earning call. Let us begin by discussing the quarterly performance. Sales for the quarter were INR 693 crores, an increase of 1.1% from INR 685 crores in the fourth quarter of last year. However, our top line had a stronger growth of 39.2% over last pre-COVID period of Q4 FY20, which is a CAGR of 11.7% during this period.
The top line performance was in line with our guide, could have been better given the continued macro environment weighing on the consumer sentiments. Our vertically integrated supply chain, combined with a strong global sourcing reach, provides us with a competitive advantage and allows us to maintain a robust gross margin or at 61%. EBITDA for the quarter has been at 8% of the revenue versus 6.9% of Q4 of last year. YoY improvement in EBITDA is on account of operational efficiencies and cost rebase activities. Sequentially, the margin is lower owing to relatively leaner season vis-à-vis Q3. I would now like to touch upon each of our addressable retail markets. In U.K., economic headwinds continued with subdued consumer demand. This had an impact on revenue.
However, we are taking all mitigating measures like focus on lower priced products by increased airtime allocations for under GBP 10 and under GBP 20 products. In U.S. also, the current macro challenges are weighing down consumer sentiments and resultant demand. We are continuing to augment our reach by adding more TV cable and OTA households, and today our coverage in U.S. is higher by 4 million households YoY. We have also initiated additional marketing in OTT or connected TV homes, where the customer LTV is very high. We believe in seeding investments for long-term growth. Recently, Salesforce Marketing and Salesforce Service Cloud have gone live in U.S. and U.K. Our websites, marketing and customer service portals are all integrated. This enables us to give a great customer experience through integrated email, SMS, chat, website targeting for upsell, cross-sell, as well as precise retargeting on web, et cetera.
Our strategic partnership with Vodafone Cable Networks in Germany has enabled us to extend our reach to additional 13 million households, thus expanding our presence to approximately 90% of total households in Germany and Austria. Having achieved this milestone within 1.5 years of launching retail operations is encouraging and positions us for much stronger future growth. Our continued market share gain across territories demonstrates our ability to adapt and navigate any economic environment. Our vertically integrated supply chain has worked well for us. The low cost manufacturing and value sourcing enables us to serve value-conscious customers in our addressable markets in U.S., U.K. and Germany, thus achieving industry-leading gross margins. Besides lower costs, our vertical model also helps reduce new product turnaround time, excellent storytelling opportunities, and better control over design and quality of our products.
Our 4R framework comprises of reach, registrations, retention, and repeat purchases, forms the basis for driving operational performance. The reach of our TV networks by the end of FY23 was 141 million TV homes, which was 134 million in FY22. That is 14% higher year-over-year. We reach TV homes through cable, satellite, telco networks, and over-the-antenna based TV platforms. Our products are also available on digital channels, including all proprietary websites, smartphone apps, OTT platforms, marketplaces, influencer marketing, and social direct response. New registrations during 12 months were INR 3 lakh compared to INR 3.18 lakh in FY22. This is significantly higher by 69% over pre-COVID period. 57% of new customers were acquired digitally versus 56% in FY22.
Customers bought an average of 23 pieces on TTM basis versus 27 pieces in corresponding period of previous year. Our retention rates stood at 38% on TTM basis compared to 40% of FY22. Both repeat and retention were slightly lower due to higher price points and adverse economic environment. At Vaibhav Global, we recognize the importance of creating a positive and conducive working environment for our employees. During March quarter, Vaibhav Global Limited India was recognized with the Great Place to Work certification for the sixth consecutive year. On sustainability front, this quarter we distributed 100 additional e-scooters to employees free of cost for official commute purpose. With this, a total of 184 e-scooters have been distributed, resulting in reduction of 12 buses from the fleet, saving approximately 70 tons of carbon emission per year.
This quarter, we touched the milestone of generating 11 million units from our solar power plants on cumulative basis. As stated earlier, we intend to become a carbon neutral in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by FY 2031. Further, I'm delighted to share that VGL's SEZ unit in Jaipur has been certified as Net Zero energy building status by IGBC. This is a major achievement by VGL as till date only 15 projects across entire India have been certified so. I would like to take a moment to share our continuous efforts of giving back to society. Through our Your Purchase Feeds, we have served approximately 70 million meals to underprivileged children in U.S., U.K., and Germany till date, with current run rate of 50,000 meals every school day.
This initiative aligns with our values of corporate social responsibility and making positive impact on the communities we are part of. Amidst the current macroeconomic challenges and the ever-changing landscape, our outlook for the future remains positive. I would like to reiterate our correct guidance and outlook for the business and are confident to deliver 8%-10% revenue growth in FY 2024 and to deliver mid-teens revenue growth in subsequent periods with decent operating leverage. We remain committed on maintaining balance sheet strength alongside returning meaningful cash to shareholders. The board has recommended final dividend of INR 1.5 per share, which is subject to shareholder approval. Including interim dividends, total dividend payout against earning of FY 2023 would be INR 6 per equity share. With this, I now hand over the call to Nitin to discuss financial performance. Over to you, Nitin.
Thank you, Sunil. Good evening, everyone. Let me now start with the discussion on quarterly financial performance. Revenue for the quarter was INR 693 crores, a year-over-year growth of 1.1%, which was in line with our guidance. Our focus on offering value conscious buying options has resonated well with customer demand. In comparison with Q4 FY20, the growth is 39.2%, implying a CAGR of 11.7%. Had the broader economic environment been favorable, the performance could have been relatively better. In local currency terms, Shop LC U.S. and Shop TJC U.K., a decline of 12.1% and 4.6% respectively in sales. The decline in sales is attributable to weakened consumer sentiments. Inflationary environment, particularly energy in U.K. and recessionary fear in U.S., had an impact on the demand.
However, we believe this is to be temporary in nature. Germany is scaling up well with revenue and customer numbers increasing every month. Having associated with Vodafone, one of the largest cable TV network provider in Germany, the growth has further accelerated recently. Though we expect a short-term impact on profitability due to the additional airtime cost, but the same will be covered up in future as revenue from new households starts to kick in. At operating level, we are confident we will break even in this territory by H2 FY 2024. For the quarter, our TV revenue was INR 409 crore, and digital revenue was INR 256 crores. Year-over-year, TV revenue declined by 1.7%. However, digital revenue grew by 2.1%.
Against pre-COVID period of Q4 FY20, the growth is encouraging, with TV growing by 25% and digital by 51%. TV refers to our proprietary TV channels that includes free to air channels and OTA platforms. Digital includes our proprietary website, shopping apps, OTT platforms, marketplaces and social commerce. Digital continued to perform better than TV segments owing to wider discovery potential. Our core focus to promote and encourage customer to transact on both TV and digital platforms, which gives them a unique shopping experience, and such omni-channel customers tend to have significantly higher customer lifetime value than customers that buy only on TV or only on digital. For financial year 2022-2023, the Budget Pay revenue mix was 39% of retail revenue. During inflationary environment, Budget Pay offers affordability to customer to buy even high ticket size item with ease.
As far as our product mix is concerned, jewelry accounts for 73% of our total retail sales, rest 27% comprises of lifestyle products, which includes apparel, home decor items, beauty and accessories. Gross margins during the quarter came in at 61% owing to our vertically integrated business model. EBITDA margin for the quarter was 8% compared to 6.9% of Q4 FY 2022. Historically, Q4's EBITDA margin had always been lower than Q3, being a linear period versus Q2, it is at par. Efficient pricing, product mix and continuous cost rationalization were key focus areas of the group during last years. We endeavor to continue the cost reduce momentum in future as well. Profit after tax for the quarter is INR 23 crores against INR 27 crores of last year.
Operating cash flows were at INR 126 crore for FY23 against INR 86 crore of FY22. Free cash flow of INR 90 crore in FY23 against negative INR 214 crore of last year shows the impact of CapEx reverting to normalized level. ROE and ROCE of 9.1% and 14.4% respectively reflects impact of subdued profitability during the year. The board has paid dividend of INR 4.5 per equity share during the first nine months of FY23, and have further recommended final dividend of INR 1.5 per share subject to approval of shareholders. We are committed to creating enduring value to our stakeholders by striking a harmonious equilibrium between growth, investment and regular payouts.
As we move forward, I would like to reiterate our earlier guidance and outlook for the business and are confident to deliver 8%-10% revenue growth in FY 2024, and to deliver mid-teen revenue growth in subsequent period with decent operating leverage. With this, I hand over back to the moderator.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star two. Participants are requested to use answers while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Anyone who wish to ask a question may please press star one at this time. The first question is from the line of Ankur Kumar from Alpha Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. Congrats for a decent set of numbers in a tough environment. Sir, one question. When you say we will expect decent operating leverage, so we are at our peak, we made 15% EBITDA margin. You think we can reach that number over, let's say, a two years period?
Thanks for your question, Ankur. We would strive to reach back or across 15.3% that we achieved in FY 2022, FY 2021. But we are not giving a specific guidance of how soon we'll reach that. But our effort would be to reach that as soon as possible.
Got it, sir. Sir, for the coming year, what kind of employee cost increase and other expense increase can we expect? Because you're saying revenue will grow 8%-10%. I just wanted to check on these two numbers also, about expected growth on these numbers.
Employee growth, and? You're asking for employee and?
Yes, employee growth and other expenses. Because other expense would include logistics also, which should have come down. What kind of numbers can we expect on these two fronts?
They will grow lesser than the revenue growth. The leverage. We're not giving specific guidance on specific expense heads. Leverage will come because they will grow lower than the revenue growth.
Got it, sir. Sir, on Germany side, we were talking about break even from the second half. Are we sticking to that number? What is our loss, say, for Germany in this quarter as well as the full year?
Yeah, just one moment.
Germany right now, Germany, as we recently had our partnership with Vodafone, we are seeing improvement in sales. We are keeping the guidance that by H2 we will make break even. But right now we are around 60% of the what sales need to be achieved. Forty percent that is required more, which is almost a $1 million per month net sales additionally required to get the break even numbers.
What was the loss last quarter?
Loss last quarter is flattish compared to the same time of last year. It is almost around EUR 1.5 million, somewhere, and it is similar to last year. However, in the presentation, if you see, there is a forex difference where, because of rupees forex difference, there's a gap of 0.3% down in EBITDA level. In local currency terms it is flattish compared to last year.
Sorry, you said EUR 1.5 million loss for the quarter?
Yeah.
That is in Q4.
Sure. Sure, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you, Ankur.
Thank you. A reminder to our participants, please press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Pradeep Medhi from RGI Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah. I want to know that why the company has decided to expand its new business at Germany and Austria. Why not in other countries? What are the advantages company look in the future that Germany and Austria they can grow more?
Sorry, Pradeep , I could not understand your question. Can you repeat, please?
Yeah, I can repeat. Why the company has decided to expand its new business at Germany and Austria? Why not in other countries?
Yeah. Thank you for the question. Germany is considered to be a large economy which comfortable with long distance shopping, that is the television and e-com shopping. The economy is bigger than U.K., and we had a past experience in Germany, so, we felt comfortable going into Germany. Other markets in Europe, like Italy and France, they are smaller markets and in future we may go into those markets as well.
Okay. One thing, how the company will improve its net profit percent in the future? I mean, FY 2024.
Yeah. We are not giving guidance of net profit, we do give guidance that we'll grow 8%-10% this year with operating leverage. That means if we are making 8% EBITDA last financial year, we will have higher EBITDA in this financial year. That is FY 2024 with 8%-10% revenue growth.
Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir. Nothing else.
Thank you.
Thank you. Any participants who wish to ask a question may please press Star and One at this time. The next question is from the line of Aman Gupta from Credent Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you for taking my question. My question was about the changes in inventory...
Aman, can you use your handset, please? Your voice is not very clear.
Yeah, sure. Is it audible now?
Yes.
Yes, it is.
Yeah. The change in inventory of finished goods. Last year, it was like minus INR 168 CR and now this year it's INR 21 CR. I just want to understand like where this... Have you added new inventory or, you know, moving inventory from other parts of the country?
Let me take this question, Aman. The inventory level, which is showing increase over last year, is mainly related to rupees devaluation over last year. In local currency terms, in U.S dollars, it has declined. Last year same time we had a group wide $84 million inventory, which is reduced to $78 million in this year end. The impact you see is related to mainly rupee devaluation.
Okay. Okay. What are your, like, marketing expenses like in digital and, TV?
Yeah. Affiliate cost comprises roughly around 8% of our business. Digital marketing cost is our increase in past year, mainly related to our conscious investment in digital learning expansion of new customers.
Okay. Okay. Understood. Understood. This D2C brand like TAMSY and Rachel Galley. What are the growth there? Why are you only targeting women which are 40 years above? Like why not the other women also?
Yeah, this is Sunil. That's a good question. I'll answer that. Our TV audience is largely 40 + women who have time on their hand and they have need to get the company from live hosts from us. They have time on hand and they are lonely, so we give them company, give them education, give them a live communication. We answer, we call their name out, so they feel engaged and they watch us for a long time. Our product development skills are geared towards that demographic, and that demographic is increasing in size and affluence in our geographies. That is U.S., U.K. and Germany. We remain focused on that demographic because that is continuing to. That will continue to grow for many years to come. That is what we've done for our digital channels as well.
Okay. The TAMSY, that D2C brand which we acquired, previously?
Yeah. That we initiated, about a year and a half ago. They are growing, not as fast as we would have liked because of the macro environment. We scaled back the earlier planned investments into marketing. Even then, they both are growing year-over-year in terms of revenue. Still small base, but they are increasing the revenue also from the cost perspective. The marketing spend as a ratio of revenue is improving sequentially year-over-year.
Okay. Okay. Understood. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ankur Kumar from Alpha Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. One question on the logistics cost. Can you please tell what is the logistic cost for this quarter and the full year?
Sure. Thank you, Aman. Logistic cost. Just one moment.
Yes, I have the number. For the quarter, our shipping cost was about $5.6 million compared to $9 million last year. For the year it was about $25 million versus $33 million last year. This is the shipping cost at the retail level, not the shipping cost. It does not include the shipping costs from our supply chain over to our retail unit.
Got it, sir. Sir, do we expect reduction in this to continue because things should have reduced in terms of costs?
Largely the cost reduction was owing to the lower volume this period. There was some re-negotiation that we were able to achieve with carriers as well, but largely with the volume reduction. The guidance that we have this year is to a similar price point and the volume will increase, so cost will increase in proportion to the volume.
Got it, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you, Ankur.
Thank you. A reminder to our participants, please press Star and One to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Nayan Gala from Etica Wealth. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hello? Can you hear me?
We can hear you.
Yes. Yes. Thank you for the opportunity. Actually, I joined a bit late. If you can just, you know, give a breakup of the revenue between TV and digital. [audio distortion]
Sure. Yeah, for the quarter, TV and digital.
Yeah, for the quarter and full year, both.
For the quarter, TV revenue was INR 416 crore and INR 250 crore for the Digital. TV has a degrowth of 1.7%, but we have growth of 2.1% on Digital. For a full year terms, we have INR 1,633 crore sales for the full year with compared to INR 1,699 crore of last year on TV. Digital, INR 977 crore sales compared to INR 986 crore of last year. we have relatively lower degrowth on Digital. For a full year it is 0.9% lower degrowth on Digital compared to TV is 3.9% degrowth.
Okay. In terms of the EBITDA margin, will there be a significant difference when we, you know, when the sales happen through the TV or maybe through digital? What will be the difference in terms of the margin?
Let me answer this, Sunil. Digital is pretty well connected with our TV business because within digital we have three components. One is the live streaming goes through digital platforms. The second is the catalog, and the third is the auction, $1 auction or GBP 1 auction. The first two components, the TV and as well as catalog, their margin is similar to television. The auction is much lower because there is a cleaning, clearing mechanism of TV inventory, the tails and the dogs which are left over that we put through $1 auction because we are vertical unit. We can't return that product back to the vendors. We clear that most of those items through this $1 auction, and that margin is around 15%-20% only compared to 50s%, 60s% in TV and web.
Okay. This, Sir, just wanted to know a rough, you know, figure as to, you know, the $1 auction that we do, that would be how much of the total yearly revenues? A rough estimate would be fine.
Yeah. 5% of the total business sales for a unit.
Okay. Over the year, this has been around this level or it has gone down? If you can just comment.
Relatively similar ratio.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Thank you . Sir, I was just going through your presentation, in that you have mentioned that you have, you know, tied up with Vodafone, wherein, in Germany, wherein, now you are targeting around 90% of households. If you can just, you know, help us understand the kind of opportunity that is there and how we are going to and what will be the timeframe for the same to capture this 90% of the household.
Vodafone is 13 million homes out of total, 36. O ut of EUR 42 million, on Germany and Austria. Out of 42 million homes, Vodafone is 13 million homes. It is not completely 90%, but now we cover 90% of Germany and Austria after addition of Vodafone. The TV homes, they take anywhere from 6 months to 18 months to become fully mature. Break even of those homes differ from platform to platform. Some platforms start to break even in four, five months. Some platforms take eight to nine months to break even. This is still, this is very new, and this is ramping up pretty good. That is why we have a fairly reasonable confidence that we will break even in H2.
In H2 of FY 2024?
Yes.
Sir, what is the CapEx amount that we have incurred, or what is the CapEx amount that we are going to incur?
For this particular Vodafone investment?
Yeah, for this investment.
Yeah. It is a OpEx. There's no CapEx in this. It is a broadcasting right. We pay it on monthly basis what service we use.
Okay. Okay. Any similar plans in different geographies that we have?
We continue to look for additional airtime in U.S. especially. There's still lot of distribution on OTA that is still available to us. Now, it, there's no no such, you know, right away availability, but we whenever it is becomes available, we have a team looking for that airtime, and we find an opportunity, we take it.
Okay. Thank you, sir. This is all from my side. If I have some few questions, I will come back to the queue.
Sure.
Thank you. Any participants who would like to ask a question at this time, then may please press star 1. The next question is from the line of Hritik Tulsyan from Concept Investwell . Please go ahead.
Hello. Yeah. Am I audible?
Yes, you're audible.
Yeah. Yeah. Hi, sir. I have few question. In FY 2023, we got a benefit of currency depreciation, right? Assuming this year that is in FY 2024, we don't get the same benefit. Given that, how confident are you of achieving the guidance for the full year? If we see U.K. and U.S., the demand is not materially improving, right? How confident are you?
Yeah. Our guidance does not take into account the exchange devaluation or exchange fluctuation. This is for like for like. We expect to grow 8%-10% in constant currency basis. There may be some element of foreign exchange fluctuation that will come in, but we have not factored that in at this time.
Oh, okay. You have said that you are gaining market share, right? In which geographies you have gained market share? Is it all three of them or, you know, the specific U.K. and U.S. only?
We look at our competitors who are in these geographies, U.S., U.K., Germany, and who are addressable and publicly listed countries. Against those entities, we have gained market share consistently over last many years. The data I have in front of me, for the last, four years we have consistently gained market share.
in both the geographies, U.K. and U.S., right?
Yes. U.K., U.S., and now, as we are going into Germany, we are starting to include Germany as well in our calculations.
Okay. Sir, how was the growth in the month of April 2023? Like if you cannot quantify but just give us some, you know, highlights on how was the growth?
We cannot give a guidance on specific period, but we are confident of achieving 10% for the whole year in current financial year.
Okay. One more question I just have. That is if I see, you know, the geography-wise margin differentiation. In America we have significantly low margins when we compare it with U.K. and India. Why is there such a, you know, gap between margins when we compare it between geographies, specifically America and U.K.? What is the difference? What accounts for this difference?
Yeah. We have a similar kind of margins. You are mentioning about gross margins, right?
The one you have uploaded in the results. The earnings before interest, tax and exceptional items.
One second. Actually, for the compared to previous years, the LC, in Shop LC we have the margins, our higher labor cost and shipping cost that we are seeing as a, in U.S. the territory is quite big. It's normally our shipping cost is higher in Shop LC, in U.S. market and in U.K. it is much lower shipping cost. That is coming in bottom line profitability better in U.K. in previous years. Also, the affiliate cost also, in U.S. it's much wider and bigger market in affiliate side, affiliate as a cost percentage is compared to U.K., in U.S. it is higher. That is why in financial 2021 if you are referring or 2022, it is the PAT margin in U.K. is better than U.S.
Okay. That's it from my side. Thank you, and have a good year.
Thank you, Hritik
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rupesh Tatiya from Intelsense Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Can you hear me?
Yes, Rupesh.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I haven't had the opportunity to go through the presentation yet. Sorry if my, you know, the data is there. My first question, sir, is what was our content and broadcasting cost for FY 2023?
Yeah. Just one second. The content and broadcasting for the full year, it is INR 273 crores compared to INR 233 crores of last year. It's a full year cost.
Okay. Do you have what is the budget for FY 2024?
Yeah. The budget actually within the last... Usually it is related to Germany investment that we have done it. It was not as high airtime cost in that time. The new, also the new Vodafone venture we have taken it, so that will be additional over the top of it. But normally we see based on the opportunity comes up. If any airtime is giving a profitability based on the cadence that we have decided, we always really take the opportunity.
Okay. Do you have kind of some range, sir, you can give?
It's almost around $35 million.
Okay. Okay. sir, in annual report 2022 you had this broadcasting rights of INR 75 crores. What is the depreciation policy on that? Amortization or depreciation?
Yeah. It is a perpetual broadcasting right that we have for the perpetual period that we have taken it. We are amortizing it in 10 years.
Okay. That, what is the value at the end of FY 2023?
Yeah. Usually it's a perpetual right, we don't really need to amortize. As a prudent business principle, we are amortizing it over 10 years.
Okay. Okay. Sir, my second question is can you give me the, you know, number of unique customers for FY23?
Yeah. What is your question?
What is the number of unique customers for FY 2023?
It's 461,000 unique customers for FY 2023.
That number has gone down, right? If my memory serves right, it was INR 5 lakh for FY 2022.
Good memory. That has gone down slightly and that is owing to higher price point. Our ASP was higher and the economic environment was a bit tough.
How do you see this number moving in FY 2024 and then also FY 2025?
Yeah. We expect it to go up in FY 2024 and coming years with additional Vodafone distribution that we have as well as the digital investment that we are making. We expect it to go up. We are not giving specific guidance, but we expect it to go up meaningfully in current financial year.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for answering my questions, sir.
Thanks, Rupesh.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohan Mehta. As an individual investor, please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening, everybody. I'm sorry I had got disconnected in between, pardon me if some of my questions have already been covered. Sir, with regards to our lifestyle products, how are we seeing Germany panning out compared to our past experience of U.K.?
For lifestyle in Germany, as we are new in the Germany and we have a brand authority in jewelry. Since historically we are doing past for 40 years in business in jewelry, we know and we manufacture the products, so we are more comfortable in initial period in jewelry side. However, the percentage to sales of lifestyle product is not as in U.K., similar in Germany. As soon as we will see the customer behavior on the lifestyle products, then we'll start increasing the lifestyle share in Germany but majorly it is around roughly 18%-20% of the Germany sales is through lifestyle products.
Okay. Okay. I see, sir. On the same lines, speaking of opportunities in Germany, is it too early to say if we are targeting any particular new segments to penetrate the German market apart from the ones you mentioned?
LSP is a very wide segment. We continue to explore new product categories and bring those categories to our customers. Your question is about the product or is... What is it about?
And so about the end segments that we might be targeting to get into with the German market. Like you said, jewelry, is right now at a particular stage. So is, if you have any other segments, end segments in mind with the German market?
Yeah. We already distribute apparel, fashion, accessories, some beauty, some home. We, within these segments, they are pretty wide segments, and our buyers and merchants travel to all over the world. When they find right opportunities, they bring those. They also do the trend spotting, and wherever they see something trending, they will bring those products in [audio distortion] for us to explore and take the opportunity, capitalize on.
Right. Right. Understood, sir. Sir, prior to this, Vodafone acquisition, we had about upwards of 60% odd of coverage in Germany in terms of households. After the Vodafone acquisition, it has grown to around 90% odd number of households. The differential that has been added was Vodafone exclusive to these households in Germany, or was there also an overlap of this market share that we have gained? Basically, whether only new households were added or can there be additional inflow of revenue from this new synergy from Vodafone?
Yeah. Largely exclusive because people have to pay upfront, and they usually do not pay to two carriers on a monthly basis.
Right. Right. Right. That's fine. All right. Sir, if you can just shed some light on the gross addition of households that we have had in the U.S., in the U.K. and now in Germany except, Vodafone, barring Vodafone.
Yeah. Just one moment.
Sure, sir.
Yeah. U.S. we added 4 million new homes in the period, in the quarter.
U.K. was...
Hello?
Did I answer your question? U.S. was $4 million and Germany U.K. was flat.
Flat. Okay. Germany was? Sir, I'm sorry, I missed your number.
13 million Vodafone homes.
Okay. Okay, sir. These are, net of any households that we've lost, or these are totally new additions?
Yeah, they are net.
Okay. All right, sir. Just one last question. Our platform, is it only the platform that is the key differentiator vis-à-vis our competition, or do we have any product? Is there a certain niche within our product differentiation also when compared to other similar companies?
The biggest thing is the value perception. We position ourselves as the best value player because of our vertical model, and we keep relatively average price point lower than competitor. Within practice, we excel in jewelry because of our long history and other products also bring in lower price point than competitors. Therefore, the value perception becomes more.
All right. All right. Understood. Fair enough, sir. All right. That was all from my end. All the best. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Ashish Shah from [Business Match]. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hello, sir. Sir, I have a few questions, you know, on your slide 19, which talks about your own brand portfolio. There's one data point over there that the current revenue mix is about 30%. Sir, could you give us a rough idea of what would this number be a couple of years back?
Yeah, just a moment. We don't have the data right now, Ashish.
Okay.
It has grown steadily because we do focus on bringing products under certain brand so as to create affinity with that customer who likes a certain brand. The repeat purchase usually goes up if somebody has affinity for a certain brand.
Got it. Sir, you know this revenue target mix of 50% by FY 2027, does this dramatically alter your margins and working capital profile positively, like, over the next few years?
It improves repeat purchase of those customers. Margins, we are not taking any meaningfully more margin in brand.
Okay.
Our objective of brand is to create better affinity and better retention.
Okay. Sir, lastly, on that same slide, do you have any thoughts of acquiring any licensing or, you know, licensing brands to achieve the same objective? You want to feed your brands, you want to pursue the more inorganic opportunities?
Usually, when you take up known brands, if it's say, a Disney or other brand, the margin that we need, 60%, is usually difficult in those brands. We would avoid brands that will not allow us our 60% margin.
Okay, okay. Sir, one other question, you know, not related to this. You mentioned to the previous participant that our differentiation has been this lower ASP. However, ASP has gone up quite sharply. Sir, any thoughts over there?
Yeah. Recently, because of inflationary environment, a lot of people have shown affinity and interest in gold product, like gold chains or gold rings or gold pendants. We've taken benefit of those opportunity and offered to those customers. We believe that this is not a long-term phenomenon. As the business goes back to normal, our ASP would settle back down a bit.
Okay, okay. Okay, sir. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Ashish.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya Mehta from GK Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Firstly, one of the previous participant asked about broadcasting and content costs. You mentioned INR 200 odd something crores. Could you please repeat that figure?
Yeah, just one second.
Yes, that was INR 415 crores.
INR 415 crores, okay. Where do we see this cost going forward in FY24, since most of our expense, investments have been done right now?
This cost will increase, but lower than the revenue growth that we are projecting.
Okay. About the employee cost?
Again, lower than the revenue projections that we are projecting.
Okay. Secondly, my question is with regards to do we have any data point from which we can compare the performance between OTT versus OTA homes? Since we, the world is moving towards OTA home and experience over OTT is totally different from an OTA. Any data point, like per household revenue in OTA versus OTT?
Yeah. OTA is similar number as a cable home or satellite home. OTT lifetime value is more than double of TV home because the app download, once they download the app and start interacting, there's a stickiness around the app behavior.
Any revenue per household number?
We look at lifetime value, so it's about $1,500 on OTT versus about $800 on television.
Approximately double of OTA.
Yes.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I'll get back in queue.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Parth Dalal as an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello. Can you hear me well?
Yes, Parth. I can hear you.
Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. The question is, I'll take you back to the history, let's say four years, five years back, when management's opinion was that the business model of Vaibhav Global is such that, you know, we will grow faster during such unfavorable economic environment because people tend to move from the brands to the value provider like us. The question is there any change in the business model since now we are, you know, waiting for or anticipating the unfavorable economic environment to change to favorable for us? Any change that has happened?
Yeah. Thanks for, Parth, for the question. I remember saying that, and I still stand by.
Standby of gaining market share in any environment. Whether it is a recessionary environment or economically robust environment, that we continue to gain the market share owing to our value proposition. Now, the current environment is combination of multiple factors, the war, nervousness, the inflationary environment, as well as the recessionary fear and interest costs being up, so people's disposable income has been seriously impacted. Our product is still not necessity, it is discretionary. In such environment, discretionary product will take a hit for all retailers of discretionary product. Compared to other retailers, we have continued to gain market share. Three or four years ago when now, we have gained market share.
That is the reason I assume we are moving the focus towards the $10-$20 products, basically the low ASP products. Is it that reason?
Yes. Especially in U.K. and Germany, we are seeing more impact of gas prices and the food costs. The interest costs. There we are giving more air time for lower price point, and we are seeing customer interaction better in those price points.
I still believe we could have done that, I mean, couple of quarters back. Anyway, at least we are moving it now. Another question, sir, is around the B2B. Again, I mean, years back you were saying that it will reduce, but I think last two years it has increased. Even if you compare this quarter year-over-year, had it not been B2B, we would have been in red in terms of top line for the quarter. How do you see that trending now?
Yeah. We take opportunity because our manufacturing capacity was idle. Our retail units were not fully lifting the product. Our ASP went up, so we did approach other retailers, and they were happy to give orders to us. We took opportunity of the capacity. For going forward, we'll continue to have the relationship with those retailers as long as we continue to get ROCE for those businesses. If that continues to give us ROCE, we'll continue to expand and capitalize on that. Our CapEx for expanding on the capacity whenever we will need is relatively very low.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you. Thank you. I'll come back in touch.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is a follow-up question from the line of Hritik Tulsyan from Concept Investwell. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thank you for the follow-up. Sir, I just have one question, that is currently your run rate in Germany is close to EUR 2 million odd, right? The last con call you said that to achieve breakeven we have to have EUR 3 million run rate. With the Vodafone tie-up and the investments we have made, are you confident of achieving that run rate, or do you have to make more investments? Basically I want to know the investment trajectory in Germany.
Yeah. The current run rate is about EUR 1.5 million.
Okay.
As of this time, after Vodafone cost, it is about EUR 2.5 million. We just need to achieve additional EUR 1 million per month to reach breakeven, and that is what we believe in, overall for the H2, we should be able to get there. Of course we are seeing repeat rate, repeat purchase rate by the customers, existing customer as well as Vodafone customer. That gives us confidence to reach there.
Okay. basically we will not have to make additional investments, right? A lot of, a lot investments.
No. There's no other CapEx or additional OpEx needed to reach there. Because we are seeing the repeat purchase behavior of customers that we have acquired previously. Yes, when we extrapolate that behavior on Vodafone or other customers, we reach to the same conclusion that we reach breakeven in H2.
Okay. Okay, Sir. Thank you. That answers my question.
Thank you, Hritik. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that would be our last question for today. I now hand the conference back to Mr. Agrawal for closing comments. Thank you. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, operator. I want to thank all the participants for your time and great questions. If you have any further question, please feel free to reach Prashant Saraswat, our VGL, or Amit Sharma at Adfactors PR India. We all will be happy to answer your questions. Thank you once again. Thanks all.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Vaibhav Global Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.