MARICONSEQ4FY26May 12, 2026

Marico Limited

9,891words
92turns
11analyst exchanges
2executives
Management on call
Saugata Gupta
MD & CEO, MARICO LIMITED
Pawan Agrawal
GROUP CFO & CEO- INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS, MARICO LIMITED
Key numbers — 40 extracted
95%
ts improving volume growth trajectory during the quarter. Offtakes remained robust with more than 95% of the portfolio gaining or sustaining market share and over 90% maintaining or improving penetra
90%
remained robust with more than 95% of the portfolio gaining or sustaining market share and over 90% maintaining or improving penetration on a MAT basis. Investments under Project SETU are yielding
35%
volume growth after adjusting for mlage adjustments. With copra prices having corrected to about 35% from peak levels and expected to remain rangebound from here on, we have passed on the benefits t
20%
quarter led by volume growth in the low 20s and meaningful market share gains. The portfolio grew 20% this year, backed by strong momentum in the mid and Premium segments, which is non-Shanti Amla po
INR1,000
e back of double-digit growth in core Saffola Foods in Q4. The Foods portfolio exited the year at INR1,000 plus crores in revenue. We now have a wholesome play in foods with our portfolio spanning from mai
INR 350
growth. The portfolio comprising Serums, Male Grooming and Skin Care exited the year at an ARR of INR 350-plus crores. The digital-first portfolio of Premium Personal Care exited FY '26 at INR1,100 crore
INR1,100 crore
ARR of INR 350-plus crores. The digital-first portfolio of Premium Personal Care exited FY '26 at INR1,100 crores plus ARR. The scale-up of this portfolio is being accompanied by a structural improvement in pro
55%
trajectory with improving profitability. Our digital transformation continues to accelerate with 55% of Marico's core advertising spends now directed towards digital media. Of course, it is 100% spe
100%
with 55% of Marico's core advertising spends now directed towards digital media. Of course, it is 100% spends in the digital brands. Consequently, the combined revenue share of Foods and Premium Perso
23%
oods and Premium Personal Care, including digital-first brands in the India business, moved up to 23% this year despite the sharp pricing- led growth in the core portfolio. We expect the share of thes
27%
led growth in the core portfolio. We expect the share of these new businesses to expand to about 27%, which was earlier targeted to reach 25% in FY '27 and aspire to move about one-third of our busi
25%
ect the share of these new businesses to expand to about 27%, which was earlier targeted to reach 25% in FY '27 and aspire to move about one-third of our business by FY '30. Regd. Off: 7th Floor
Guidance — 20 items
Saugata Gupta
opening
“With FY '26 having concluded, I will begin with a brief overview of the operating environment, after which I will take you through our performance and strategic priorities going forward.”
Saugata Gupta
opening
“Investments under Project SETU are yielding visible results particularly in rural reach and execution quality, supporting the revival and sustained growth of general trade this year.”
Saugata Gupta
opening
“As pricing stabilizes, we expect the recovery in consumption with a Regd.”
Saugata Gupta
opening
“Email: investor@marico.com Marico Information classification: Official pickup in volume growth, which will be evidently visible from Q1 FY '27 itself.”
Saugata Gupta
opening
“These high- margin segments have delivered close to double-digit volume growth on a two-year CAGR basis.”
Saugata Gupta
opening
“We expect VAHO to sustain its double- digit volume-led growth trajectory, supported by a focused innovation pipeline, improved availability following GST rationalization and distribution expansion under Project SETU.”
Saugata Gupta
opening
“As we enter FY '27, we expect stable growth while maintaining our focus on the threshold level of profitability.”
Saugata Gupta
opening
“The scale-up of this portfolio is being accompanied by a structural improvement in profitability as we aim to exit FY '27 at a double-digit EBITDA margins and eventually teens EBITDA margins in FY '30.”
Saugata Gupta
opening
“We expect the share of these new businesses to expand to about 27%, which was earlier targeted to reach 25% in FY '27 and aspire to move about one-third of our business by FY '30.”
Saugata Gupta
opening
“This is expected to drive both differential growth and margin expansion over the medium term.”
Risks & concerns — 15 flagged
However, the onset and progression of monsoon as well as the inflationary impact of the West Asia crisis will remain a key monitorable.
— Saugata Gupta
We'll continue to monitor the impact on sales in some markets of the Middle East, which contributes to only 4% of our total turnover, but we see no immediate major concern.
— Saugata Gupta
To sum up, we have delivered on our aspirations across key performance parameters while navigating a highly volatile input cost environment and strengthened the underlying growth drivers of the business.
— Saugata Gupta
I understand March, there was a sharp decline or maybe no business for most companies.
— Abneesh Roy
But I think in terms of offtake, we have no reason to have significant concern.
— Saugata Gupta
And I think the one big change that has happened now that we have a house of brands, we are seeing the impact of synergy at least in the back end, which benefits long-term profitability, long-term traction or even, for example, if you know that like in a brand like a Popcorn and 4700BC, we see a price point pack can be taken over by GT.
— Saugata Gupta
And as I said, that we don't acquire or buy stake in places where there is we believe that the business is fundamentally weak or unit economics is not there.
— Saugata Gupta
I do understand things are volatile on a daily basis.
— Abneesh Roy
But if it doesn't really sort of, then it's difficult to sort of tell where exactly we will be.
— Pawan Agrawal
I wanted to just understand on your rationale behind the upward revision on the EBITDA guidance as this is despite the new acquisitions, which could have some drag on the margins, plus the inflation in crude derivatives that we are seeing currently is very sharp.
— Mihir Shah
And we have a stress test version of what crude could be, of course, it is very difficult to predict.
— Saugata Gupta
Or is inflation a concern and hence their growth could take a hit?
— Avi Mehta
As I said that I don't think we have any concern as far as Foods is concerned, at least immediately, and you will see the results coming from quarter 1.
— Saugata Gupta
And can it actually accelerate the copra growth and act as a buffer against the general sort of slowdown we see during a deflationary cycle in volumes of copra?
— Percy
So do we see any kind of slowdown just from the point of view of absolute size of the brand?
— Percy
Q&A — 11 exchanges
Q
Congrats. I have three questions. First is on international business. Two subparts to it. One is Bangladesh, there is a sharp acceleration of sales growth to 35% versus full-year growth of 25%. So any one-off here? Was there some delayed pricing, which is benefiting now? Or was it a soft base? And given now in FY '27 entire year, a democratically elected government is there versus a very fragile government in most part of FY '26 in Bangladesh, what will be the outlook? Second subpart to the international piece is MENA, obviously, in the March month was challenging for all FMCG companies, which
Saugata Gupta
In Bangladesh, we have been extremely steady. Now obviously, there are some pricing which has been taken into account. But I think overall as long as we continue to deliver, Bangladesh has been a critical component and has continued to remain resilient and therefore, with annualized double-digit growth, we are happy. We believe that we have been resilient in Bangladesh and continue to diversify and deliver consistent growth. We'll continue to invest behind brands and diversify. We are pretty confident Regd. Off: 7th Floor, Grande Palladium, 175, CST Road, Kalina, Santa Cruz (East), Mumbai – 40
Q
Congrats on the very good performance. I wanted to just understand on your rationale behind the upward revision on the EBITDA guidance as this is despite the new acquisitions, which could have some drag on the margins, plus the inflation in crude derivatives that we are seeing currently is very sharp. I believe in 3Q, as Pawan highlighted, you had highlighted about mid- teen EBITDA growth and now it's been high teens. So what is driving the change in assumptions? I would appreciate some thoughts on those?
Saugata Gupta
So I think two things. Firstly, just to give a perspective, 2 of the 3 acquisitions, for example, Cosmix and Skinetiq are profitable. As you know, Skinetiq is in the mid-20s, Cosmix is in the high teens. And number two, as we talked about in Plix, which is a large part of the digital business, which is also experiencing an upward trajectory in operating margins. Now we have a firmer view of copra, which is now going to be range bound for the rest of the year. And we have a stress test version of what crude could be, of course, it is very difficult to predict. Obviously, we have taken some pric
Q
Just wanted to kind of understand you pointed about supply chain constraints that are present by the smaller players and especially in Parachute. Could you give us a sense on how is it? Where Regd. Off: 7th Floor, Grande Palladium, 175, CST Road, Kalina, Santa Cruz (East), Mumbai – 400098. CIN: L15140MH1988PLC049208. Email: investor@marico.com Marico Information classification: Official are we, what are the kind of constraints you're facing to better appreciate the competitive advantage that you were kind of alluding to?
Saugata Gupta
See, I think it could be, as you know, all polymers, packaging material, it could be fuel in the factory. Now we don't have such constraints. We have ensured to the best of our ability, these things are managed. And also, obviously, ability to foresee , for example, any smart player would have bought in advance in March, early March because this issue started off on 27 February. Obviously, some people had a window of ensuring that you have that supply chain assurance, which gives you both the cost advantage and as well as supply chain advantage. So a smaller player's response times, ability to
Q
Just two or three from me. One was on the gross margin side on the standalone entity. Given that sequentially, I know, we normally see some sequential drops. But given that there has been a sharp improvement sequentially. Is it fair to assume that the low-cost base completely starts playing out in quarter 1 only for copra? Is that the right way to think about it?
Pawan Agrawal
That will start playing out from quarter 1. But let me not get into quarter-wise as to what could be the gross margin expansion. But rather, I would want to paint a picture for the full year. And I believe for full year, about 300 to 400 basis points improvement over the exit of FY '26 is fairly possible. Got it. And just one thing on your sense on this consumption uptick, which it looks like in quarter 4, right? You've seen a lot of the companies actually deliver numbers which are ahead of third quarter trajectories. I mean, what would be your kind of prognosis thought process at least on a t
Q
Congrats on good set of numbers. So I have just one question. See, we have been navigating macro headwinds well over the past few quarters, in fact, past few years. And while the government has kind of parallelly for the last one year or one and a half year is trying to revive consumption by making a lot of interventions. So as we look ahead next year, our growth confidence is primarily driven by internal execution? Or are you beginning to see signs of sustainable consumption recovery at ground level as well?
Saugata Gupta
As I said, in the second half of the year, the sector has started accelerating. Having said that, at the end of the day, we have to ensure that we continue to deliver top quartile performance. We believe that we have multiple vectors of growth, whether the recovery of the Core, SETU has significantly given us a distribution reach advantage, the VAHO turnaround, the diversification strategy, the stable business in international and the significant profitable growth trajectory of digital. So I think multiple vectors are playing out. And sometimes 1 or 2 are not playing, might not play. For examp
Q
So congratulations on a great year, Saugata and Pawan. My first question is on Foods. So if I look at the 16% growth, I assume this includes turnover part quarter turnover from the acquisition. So if you could just help me understand how the organic business has done relative to the last couple of quarters? And are you seeing an improvement there and what are the buildings of there for FY '27 as you go ahead in the organic part of the food business?
Pawan Agrawal
So I think the first good news is that in the quarter, the Core Saffola Foods has grown in double digits. Now why overall foods growth is still not looking all that great in this quarter is because True Elements is lapping up the base quarter, which was a high base. And secondly, we've also taken some SKU rationalization call over there for some of the low GC products to accelerate the path of profitability in True Elements. However, we definitely expect teens growth in True Elements in FY '27 also. And thirdly, also for Plix, over the last 3 to 4 quarters, Plix is now more pivoting more to Pe
Q
Great results. Two questions. The first question is, and I understand there is a fair amount of volatility because of whatever is happening around us. But when I just look at your guidance of INR15,000 crores Fy '27 revenues and high-teen EBITDA growth, if I just calculate the margins, the margins are actually lower than what you would have done in like four out of five years in the past, whether FY '25, '24. Is it -- so -- and this is despite the fact that copra is correcting, your mix is getting better, some of the new initiatives have started to contribute, the portfolio mix is getting bett
Pawan Agrawal
Are you suggesting that we are not going back to the peaks of the operating margin? Is that what your question is? So your margins here, Pawan -- yes, so it's still -- way lower than what where, let's say, the last five, six years margin highs were. So I just want to understand what am I missing if there is something dramatically different from, let's say, '21, '23, '24, '25? What am I missing then? So one thing which has to be kept in mind, Vivek, is that peak margin was also a year where we had low inflation in all the commodities. Now in this year, while we would have copra tailwind, but wh
Q
I had two questions. First is on the PCNO part. So what would be the relative price index at this point in time after we've taken the price cuts? And given a firm view of corporate, you already have, what is the incremental pricing action we are thinking?
Saugata Gupta
As of now, I think we have taken that what Pawan alluded to at around a 10%-ish on the non- price point packs. I believe copra will be range bound. And if we could manage with this, we'll manage. We'll see, wait and see. And as I said, that we seem to be in a relatively advantageous position compared to the other deflationary cycles because of weaker competitive positioning because of all the supply chain issues. Right. But the 10% cut would still, from an RPI perspective, take a premium to the loose coconut oil. So is that something we'll consider in terms of readjusting or we are not looking
Q
This is Percy from IIFL. So my first question is on -- am I audible?
Saugata Gupta
Yes. Saugata, my first question is on the construct of the overall hair oil markets between VAHO and coconut. We have seen in the last few quarters, very strong growth in VAHO across all companies, not just Marico. And do you think this has got anything to do with the fact that copra price has -- I mean, the coconut oil price has become very unaffordable. So there is a little bit of market share shift towards VAHO. And going ahead, do you think that market share shift could reverse a little bit where copra price is coming down and there could be a sort of a little bit of market share move towa
Q
Thanks for the opportunity. So two questions. First, on the sort of guidance of INR15,000 crores. Now the growth is obviously lower than what you've delivered. And is this largely a function of so deflation in copra prices? Or is there anything else that again is -- which is why the growth is more conservative than what is delivered out there?
Saugata Gupta
So I think delivering double-digit revenue growth is not conservative in any category and any sector. I don't know where you are coming from in terms of conservatism in this. See, this year, what happened is a significant inflation that was built in. What we have said consistently that we are confident of delivering high single-digit growth in India, kind of a mid-teens constant currency growth in the international business. And subject to that, that leads to a kind of a growth, which is, again, a double-digit revenue growth overall blended. Obviously, as you know, that we have taken some pric
Q
Thank you for listening on to the call. To conclude, we closed FY '26 on a very strong note, achieving multiyear highs on most of the key business parameters in India and International business. These results underscore the strength of our brands, disciplined execution and strategic diversification and premiumization initiative across geographies and categories. In a volatile environment, we believe that our ability to foresee and manage risk will continue to hold us in good stead. As some of you rightly mentioned that we are in a unique position in terms of RM cost, which is a great positive
Management
Speaking time
Saugata Gupta
27
Moderator
13
Pawan Agrawal
11
Vivek Maheshwari
6
Avi Mehta
5
Percy
5
Mihir Shah
4
Harit Kapoor
4
Arnab Mitra
4
Nihal Mahesh Jham
4
Opening remarks
Saugata Gupta
Hi, everyone, and good evening to all those who have joined the call. With FY '26 having concluded, I will begin with a brief overview of the operating environment, after which I will take you through our performance and strategic priorities going forward. During the quarter, demand sentiment remained broadly stable, supported by benign inflation, improving rural sentiment and favorable policy stimulus. These are further aided by the enhanced affordability following the GST rate rationalization implemented during the financial year. We are optimistic of a gradual improvement in consumption trends in the quarters ahead, supported by these factors. However, the onset and progression of monsoon as well as the inflationary impact of the West Asia crisis will remain a key monitorable. I will now move to our performance. FY '26 marked a year of strong execution in a tough operating environment. Volume growth in India business, constant currency growth in International business and consolidat
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