Abneesh Roy · Nuvama Institutional Equities
directInnovation in Makhana Better Snacks: product range, margins, distribution
So Better Snack Company is basically a brand that we will try to leverage for products which are healthier snacking products. So definitely, this is going to be a platform for us for the future. Makhana is, I wouldn't say it's commoditized, Abneesh. I think it's a very small category, and we are not looking at distributing it widely. This is going to be a modern trade, e-commerce launch only.
Abneesh Roy · Nuvama Institutional Equities
partialUpdate on salty snacks scale-up and relation to Better Snacks
Abneesh, that's a very tough category, and we want to make sure that we get all the data required before we do a wider launch. So even at this point in time, it's in test market. And as we have gone through the months, we've realized that there are so many things to learn from these test markets, and every month, there are new things coming up.
Avi Mehta · Macquarie
evasiveWhether price-based competition is largely behind and market share gains
So the trend, if you were to study trends in most categories, most FMCG categories, what happens is that in inflationary times, there are these smaller players who just go out of business, right, because they can not get there with the cost structures that they have. ... But once the commodity prices start to come down, they again start to give big discounts and big margins, and they start to come back to play in the market.
Avi Mehta · Macquarie
declinedWhether EBITDA margin guidance for FY24 needs revision given H1 performance
We don't give any guidance. Which guidance did we give? Did we give any guidance on EBITDA margin?
Shirish Pardeshi · Centrum Broking
partialFocus state growth slowdown and contribution of these states to revenue
See, what's happened is, as I was saying in the beginning as well, these markets are predominantly rural, right? And the rural growths, which were at about two times urban growth till last year, are now lower than urban growth this year, right? So rural growths have come down overall, right? And that's the reason why these growths have come down.
Shirish Pardeshi · Centrum Broking
directPacket growth for the quarter and volume loss concerns
The packet growth this quarter has been flattish, Shirish. So yeah. It's been flattish.
Shirish Pardeshi · Centrum Broking
partialAd spend quantum and expected level in next two quarters
So we have also, between the consumer promotions that we are running and all of the advertising that we are doing behind our brands, we have raised the ad spends, well, not ad but total advertising and promotion spends by about 1.5%. But it might not show in the P&L because some of the promotions, which are grammage-based, will not show in the numbers.
Aditya Soman · CLSA
partialBritannia's play in the INR 9 trillion branded F&B category and specific subcategories
So that's a great question. Now, we are, I would say, probably the most focused company in terms of what we do. ... We are basically in the bakery space and dairy. We are doing some experiments with salty. We are looking at some of the other categories as well. But we are staying close to the knitting so that we don't go too far from where our strength lies.
Percy Panthaki · IIFL Securities
directVolume growth or decline for the quarter and reason for QoQ drop in employee cost
Your first question was volume growth. It's flat. It's just about 20 basis points, right? So volume has been flat. The second question was on employee costs. There are some base issues. Otherwise, there's no real change in employee cost. There were some options, etc., which were in the last year. So there's no change.
Percy Panthaki · IIFL Securities
partialBreakdown of reasons for weak growth: high base, demand weakness, competition
So now, obviously, there is a slowdown as far as FMCG is concerned. ... Second, we have had a very high base. So last year, our growth was 22% in this quarter. So that also is contributing to it. Third, on the regional players, I think we wouldn't say that for the full quarter, this has been a big issue. But yes, for the first, let's say, month, month and a half, this was something that was an issue.
Jay Doshi · Kotak Institutional Equities
directCumulative price cut from peak pricing at portfolio level
Venkat, would you have some number for that? 2.5%? 1.5. So about 1.5%, I would say.
Jay Doshi · Kotak Institutional Equities
evasiveWhether 42.5-43% gross margin is new normal or will be reduced
No, that's a very tough question. ... I would say, first of all, we don't give a guidance. So I won't be able to tell you where we are headed. But I would say that it's reasonable to assume that we'll be somewhere around what you see as our margins.
