Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities Limited (BECTORFOOD) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Mr. Spector's Food Specialty Limited Q4 and FY26 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the lesson 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 a dashed on phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now have the conference over to Mr. Anup Bector, Managing Director and Promoter. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you so much, and good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of Mrs. Bector Food Specialties Limited, I extend a very warm welcome to all participants. Joining us for our quarter 4, 2026, and financial year 2026 results discussion call. Today, I am joined by Mr. Manu Talwar, our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Praveen Kumar Goyal, Old-Time Director, and Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Ishan Bector, Old-Time Director, and Mr. Suvih Bector, Old-Time Director. We also have with us our Investor Relations Advisor from MUFG In Time. I hope everyone has had an opportunity to review our investor deck and press release, which have been uploaded on the stock exchanges as well as on our company website. FY26 marks a significant milestone for Mrs. Vector Foods. We have crossed the INR 2,000 crore revenue mark, a goal we have set our sights on, and are proud to have achieved it. From INR 988 crores in financial year 2022 to INR 2,044 crores in financial year 2026, the company has grown at a 20% CAGR over these four years. With that, Biscuits Vertical grew at 20% CAGA and the Bakery Vertical at 23% CAGA. These four years have been equally defined by the foundations. We have built across several dimensions. Over the last four years, the company has undergone a meaningful transformation across every dimensions of the business. We transitioned to a professionally managed setup. Through deliberate leadership hiring, strengthening of IT infrastructure, and benchmarking and execution excellence across sales and distribution, a clear brand and sub-brand strategy was defined to move towards long-term brand equity creation and sharper market positioning, reinforcing visibility, and laying the foundation for sustainable demand-led growth. We have made substantial investments in expanding our manufacturing capacity across both biscuits in Rajpura and Andor, and bakery in Kolkata, Kapoli, and Bavadi. These additions represent some of the most significant capacity scale-ups in the company's recent history, strengthening our capacity to meet growing demand. Support new product launches and build the operational headroom needed to sustain our next phase of growth. Attuned to evolving consumer behavior, we have been and will be deliberately building quick commerce as a channel of significance. Structured mindset of cost optimization was institutionalized through project impact. On the international business front, we have steadily entered new markets and geographies. We have earned the trust of partners through consistent quality and reliable delivery, onboarded new customers through channels, and forwarded into new countries with a calibrated market by market. Today, our products reach consumers in more than 70 countries. A testament not just to the reach we have built, but to the credibility we have earned on the global stage. In Q426, the company reported a revenue from operations of INR 485.86 crores, reflecting a year-in-year growth of 8.9%. The Biscuits vertical delivered a resilient 8.4% year-on-year growth and witnessed a sequential uptick despite navigating geopolitical headwings from the West Asia conflict. This sequential recovery was partly supported by the GST reforms through increased grammages and reduced MRPs. Though we anticipate this tailwind being tempered in the coming quarter, as inflationary pressures from the conflict intensifies, with the raw material and packaging material costs rising, and some degree of price sensitivity expected in the market. The bakery vertical recorded 8.5% year-on-year growth in Q4 F by 26, with strong double-digit momentum through January and February. Before the complete shift of the Navaratri season into March tempered the closing month's performance, EBITDA margin came in at 12.7%, an improvement of 25 basis points over Q4 25. On a full-year basis, the company delivered a 9.1% growth. The Biscuits business delivered a growth of 6.7%, presented a challenging operating environment across multiple fronts. The year opened with uncertainty surrounding punitive tariffs and closed with pressures of West Asia conflict. In between, the GSC-20 reforms rolled out by the Government of India, while a positive structural development for the industry over the long term posed short-term inventory-led challenges in quarter three of the financial year 2026. With a discernible impact on domestic biscuit growth during that period, the bakery business delivered a strong growth of 14%. The current environment presents pressure across three key areas, disruption in supply chain and logistic costs within the exports business, Escalating crude prices, driving inflation across raw materials, packaging and fuel, and the very recent impact of minimum wage hike across key states. That said, mitigation measures are being actively pursued to deliberate increases and co-operative measures under project impact. With implementation underway from April 27, the gradual clearing of uncertainty around terrace has and is expected to provide further tailwinds as we move ahead. While the full impact of inflation-led price hike on consumer sentiments will be seen in the coming quarter, barring the uncertainties stemming from the Western Asia conflict, we remain hopeful of a stable demand environment across the categories we operate in, underpinned by stable consumption trends, a continuing focus on premiumization, and sustained investments in brand building. On new product launches, we expanded our health portfolio under Nature Big. Our clean label brand with the introduction of protein bread, a deliberate response to the growing consumer shift towards functional, health-forward eating as more Indians actively seek higher protein in their daily diet. We extended our dessert range with the launch of cheesecake jars under the English oven, tapping into the growing consumer appetite for premium ready-to-eat desserts, experiences, and the broader premiumization trend gaining momentum across urban markets. Rounding out the quarter, our Valentine's Day collaboration with Blinket continued the momentum from our Christmas partnership, where our Danish buttercookies then reached over 3 lakh households and generated meaningful brand goodwill. On the operation front, we successfully commissioned our Kolkata plant in January, marking our foray into the East and enabling us to serve general trade, modern trade, and institutional partners in the region. We also expanded the English-owned brand into Hyderabad, marking a strategic entry into key growth markets. Our Mumbai plant, Commissioning Q4FY26, is now in its ramp-up phase and is expected to progressively scale out over the coming quarters. Together, these initiatives are expected to sense its presence in the bakery industry across key markets, improve supply chain efficiencies, and support sustained growth through deeper regional penetration.

Financial performance.

Talking about FY26 financial performance, the consolidated revenues for FY26 so that INR 2,043.6 crores versus INR 1,873.9 crores in FY25, thus registering a growth of 9.1%. EBITDA for FY26 stood at INR 257.7 crores versus INR 251.5 crores in FY25, thus registering a growth of 2.5% with an EBITDA margin of 12.6%. PAID for FY26 at INR 140.9 crores with a PAID margin of 6.9%. With this, I request you to open the floor for questions and answers. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask question may press star and 1 on the touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Avnish Roy from Noama. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on the current cost inflation you are seeing. If you could specifically comment on wheat, raw material, we have picked up conflicting signals, but most of the studies are saying that this year, although wheat crop was good, there was a damage because of the unseasonal rains. So, how much is the current inflation from the bottom in the last three months? And how is the overall scenario for the raw material basket? Currently, when you are seeing the petrol hike and all this, so if you could tell us in terms of RM basket, how much is the inflation and how is the wheat raw material?

So, in the RM side, you know, there has been inflation, especially which comes from palm oil and crude, and also from our packaging material. So, these are actually the three major, you know, impacts which have come in. And other than that, you know, we, because this will be on the wheat front, we are as per our AOP, we have been, you know, we have done good for this quarter, and we have also quite booked for the next quarter, and the wheat quality, like for our, in the bakery side, our major businesses, part of our business is QSR, we block it for the year. So, you know, our inflations are covered over there. On the biscuit side, where, you know, the based quality actually only damages certain part of gluten. So, biscuits don't require gluten. So, you know, we do not feel that there should be a substantial impact. So, if it is specific to it, yeah. So, in the, in the, totally, if I see what we anticipate and what we have seen till now, we look at around three, three percent, you know, impact, which comes in from all over areas, right, which is including labor, logistics, you know, logistics is very fresh for domestics. It might come in a bit later. We have not yet got it. But that's where we are. And Manu can talk about the recovery, you know, if you want to know about the recovery also.

I would like to know.

Yamannu, over to you.

So, lastly, it is coming from the packaging, as Anoop said, and it's about 3%, including some of the impact on minimum wages, because there have been minimum wages, steep revision in GP, as well as, you know, now we're heading in Karnataka also. So, but yes, we had taken the recovery actions in terms of pricing and cost efficiency. So we expect ourselves to be covered on this inflation to keep our value addition in line in the H1. So, as of now, if nothing further deteriorates on pricing, We should be more or less in line with our gross margin, which is value addition for quarter one. So with pricing actions and some bit of cost efficiency on manufacturing side.

Sure. My second and last question is on biscuits. So, 8% growth, wire-wise, 16% growth on a two-year basis. Are you happy with this performance given you have a huge headroom to expand market share in many states? And what will be the outlook on market share in FY27? Second is, odd pricing by, say, Parley ITC of 4.5 rupees and 9 rupees, pricing which they had done post GST 2.0. Did that impact you in any way in the branded biscuits in the domestic business?

So, answering on your both questions, were we happy with the last quarter or last year growth on Biscuit? I would say it was a somber kind of growth, and we are looking at doing much better than that in this coming financial year. Be very confident of, you know, touching on the Biscuit segment somewhere between low to mid-teens kind of growth in this financial year. Things look promising. Last year, both domestic as well as export was impacted. Export impact largely came because of U.S. tariff issues, which kind of clouded around almost a full financial year. On the domestic-biscuit side, although GST change was a good change, but it is linked to your second question, the post-GST revision. And some of the large players continued at a 450 pricing, as you said. And we had moved to five, and Britannia had moved to five. So that definitely had its impact in the last quarter of the financial year, quarter three and quarter four of the year. But now, obviously, things are settling in, in terms of, you know, rightful pricing by everyone. I would say one of the last players is still into transition, as not fully transition, but they have sorted the transition and everybody is coming to the right coinage pricing. So this year should be fine.

So one follow-up on that. So that odd pricing, was that an aberration? Because these players have tasted success. So, would you be confident that either you or any other player will not go back to 4.59, say when the raw material again turns favorable, or irrespective of that, ultimately, it doesn't have too much to do with raw material. If someone chooses to go to 4.59, they gain market share. So, would you be confident that this is just an aberration by the industry players?

Yes, it's an abrasion, and I think that... Most of the players in a rightful manner, we went to five, will be more careful, including us. The next time, any grammage increase or decrease whenever it happens. I would say at least we will be very, very watchful of the competition, which we normally are. Probably this time was a miss because one of the very large players decided to stay at a lower pricing.

Understood.

Thank you. That is all for my time.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sidesh Deshmukh from IIFL Capital. Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. This is Percy Panski here. Just a question on your bakery segment. We have been in the past doing high teens kind of growth on that segment. Even Q2 was 16%, and then Q3 slowed down to 13%, and now it is at 9%. So what is really the reason behind this slowing growth in the bakery segment, and what kind of growth do you think is realistically possible over the next few quarters?

So, the only impact was, I'll explain to you, that we are largely not based business. This time, Navratri, so Jan and Pep went very well. So, Navratri was in March. And Navratri is a time, last year it was in April, but during Navratri, the bread consumption really dipped because in North India, they fast and they don't eat non-vegetarian eggs and all. So that's a seasonal cyclic thing which happened in the last quarter. It has nothing to do with the business trend. So we continue to be bullish. English oven has been growing at high teens for the last... And we expect a similar trend to continue on that. On a QSR side, there are some initial good signals after almost two and a half years that their consumption is moving up. And we are very hopeful that trend should continue. So on the QSR side, we expect a low-teams kind of growth in this financial year.

And Bakery overall should also be at a low-teens kind of a level?

Overall as a company?

Bakery.

No, Bakery, Bakery.

Bakery will be at a mid-teens kind of level on overall basis. Understood. Secondly, on margin, given that we are seeing inflation in a few commodities, how do you see your gross margin and EBITDA margin for the overall company on a YOI basis for the full year?

So, you know, you must appreciate that the situation remains very, very dynamic, and the way pricing is volatile, literally on a quarter-on-quarter basis, but based on whatever is pricing and whatever the war impact, which we just stated is close to 3%, we have taken actions to cover it up, right? So, we should be able to cover it up. To not impact us on our margins negatively, on a beta margin side, and also on the gross margin side. But if something very volatile happens in the future, we will take certain actions, but I won't be able to comment on that. But as of now, whatever impact has come in inflation because of war, we have taken two actions to cover up that impact. And so, as we told last time also, that we will be working towards improving our EBITDA margins. And so, as of now, we are fairly optimistic that, you know, quarter on quarter, we should see an improvement in the EBITDA margins side.

So, would it be fair to assume that unless, let's say, crude suddenly spikes up again above 100, we should at least be maintaining EBITDA margins on a YOY basis?

Yes, we should be maintaining. Yes, unless until the crude kind of breaks the roof. And in India, if you look at India, Yeah, the... Oil prices have started going up only recently, and there have been, I think, four or five revisions in the last two weeks' time. So it will have a laggard impact on the inflation, right? So if you ask me, I see the impact of this to start showing somewhere in quarter two, right? And that's on the logistics and other side, because logistic cost is something fundamental based to everything, which gets moved. So, but yes, as of now, whatever has happened, we have covered ourselves. And we will take all necessary actions. We will take all necessary actions to be, you know, to do our best to cover up the future cost impacts also.

And last question, if I might squeeze in on the biscuits portfolio, could you just tell us, like, without specifying any numbers, if that's a problem, like, which are the two or three states which are sort of growing significantly above average, and which are the two or three states whose growth is lagging versus average in the biscuits portfolio, not just for this quarter, but let's say for FI26 as a whole?

So, you see, our growth, okay, let me explain to you how are we driving. So, we are driving our distribution primarily within 400 kilometers of our north plant, which is in Rajpura, which is Punjab, and that will be the large source of growth for us. Secondly, as our MP plant, indoor plant, dhar plant has come up. So, we will be driving our distribution in the central India and some part of western India. So, that will be our source of growth. So, these two will be source of growth. So, within north, of course, we have a higher share in upper India. So, large part of source of growth will be lower part of north.

Okay, sir. That's all from me. Thanks and all the best.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Soham Samathan from Motilal Ossal Financial Services. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. I just wanted to check on this quarter district number. So we have, I mean, it grew 8%. So within 8%, what is the bifurcation in export and domestic? This last quarter, export was a low single digit. So how is the export market doing right now?

So, export was again low single-digit even in this quarter, right, in the quarter four. But yes, things are optimistic and things are looking brighter now, and you should get to see good growth in both export and domestic in the quarter one, quarter two.

So, again, export will grow. What is our target? Mid-teens kind of a growth? Will we take for effort only?

Mid-teens, mid-teens kind of, low to mid-teens kind of growth.

Last quarter, if I'm not wrong, challenges were these competitive pressure from Latin America and all. How is the competition right now over there?

So, it was, you see, it was not a competition kind of issue. There was a... Issue on account of local competition creating a regulatory and duty pressure on us. So we have collaborated and taken help of our Commerce Ministry and External Affairs Ministry. Rather, our, you know, export head and director, Suvir Vector, wasn't there. He just returned it from there. Having a meeting with the Indian ambassador as well as Dominic ambassador to India, he was present in that country. So these efforts are now giving some positive results, which have created pressure in the last financial year, and we're very hopeful that with all the efforts by the... The Commerce Ministry as well as the External Affairs Ministry and by us and our partner there should resolve this problem and we should be able to grow well in this territory in this financial year.

Okay. And the next question, English Open, last time we spoke, our target, we are scattering the market like Chennai, Hyderabad and all. How are we looking at this market as of now or what is the traction over there right now?

I would request Ishan to take up this.

Yeah, so, you know, we have launched Calcutta and we've launched Hyderabad. I think the response in Calcutta has been fairly good. On Qcom, I mean, we're already reaching a high single-digit market share. So, you know, clearly showing that brand acceptance is there. I think we're also making strong inroads into GT, into General Trade. Hyderabad. This is positive, however, slightly muted compared to Calcutta. Right now in Hyderabad, we're going to be focusing largely through the coupon segment, as we said to establish the brand in the market, followed by then getting into general trade. But we're very hopeful of these two markets adding to our portfolio because, you know, as we scale success in not only these two markets, but a further couple of markets is going to be very important for the growth of English over.

What are the next couple of markets we are looking at?

So, you know, see, we've been getting a good response in Punjab as well, right? You know, we will further make inroads into Punjab. I think Chennai will be another market that we will look at. If you ask me, where are the biggest opportunities? I think our biggest opportunity still is Mumbai, right? I think we still have a low market share. I think the new plant that is coming up. It's going to really unlock supply chain inefficiencies that we have at the moment, as we are very largely dependent on co-packers. And, you know, it's been, and we are very hopeful that this new plant is really going to bring in that supply chain efficiency, cost reduction, but also, you know, significant improvement in quality. So, I think if you ask me in Mumbai, we can 3x from where we are at the moment, you know, so. So I would say that Mumbai, Calcutta, and Hyderabad, Kela, and then maybe Achinnai or, you know, and Dabad. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ruanak Shah from Equidius Securities. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. So, my first question is regarding the export incentives. So, last few out quarters, there is a hold on the export incentives. So, is there any update on that? And secondly, the managed was trying to offset that YFU initiative. So, what are that initiatives? Are there any benefits coming from that aspect?

So, on the export incentives, you know, we are pursuing with the government, and on a restart of the incentives, but still the file is in progress. I think probably with certain amendments, they might be bringing out the file, but nothing concrete as yet. On the import side, we... Had evaluated certain possibilities, but have not been able to fully utilize direct import, other than we are importing some, you know, whey protein, like whey powder, not protein, whey powder, so which is, you know, being used in the biscuit side. Thank you. So, other than that, this is still, you know, I think we are pursuing with the Ministry of Food Processing to take this forward.

Mr. Ronald, I will just add further to that that you asked me what we have done in the business, export business, is that we have worked on our cost efficiencies as well as on pricing with customers. So we have moved well in terms of covering that part of DFI incentive partially, and while we continue to pursue for that incentive, rather there was a ministry and roundtable just about three days back with the secretary of food processing, and we have taken up with them. But we have worked on cost and the pricing to cover up quite a bit of that impact.

Understood. Now, second question is on the project impact 1.0. So it's been last few odd quarters when we have implemented. So are you seeing any quantitative benefits which you can highlight to us? Because if we see last six odd quarters, your margin is largely into the range of 12.5 odd percent. So can you highlight what are the benefits you are yielding right now? And what can be the trajectory going forward?

So, Mr. Raman, this is now Project Impact, which we started two years back. It has become an annual where we, when we do our annual plan, we do make cost efficiency. And last year, this impact had a fairly decent good result for us, both on the manufacturing cost side, some bit on the supply chain side, and some bit also on the S&D site, right? These were the three areas where we kind of worked on and also on the recipe rationalization site. So this year, again, we had made a plan and we reviewed it on a monthly basis, which is definitely, as I told you in case of exports also, that Through the cost efficiency, we will be covering some part of the impact of DFI. So this program is certainly running fine and building up in terms of defining the target for cost savings and then monitoring them on a monthly basis to ensure they are fulfilled.

Got it, got it. And lastly, on the distribution fund, so we have realigned strategy via focusing more nearing to the plant vicinity. So now if we see the throughput per store, how you are seeing the changes in trajectory, and secondly, in terms of the overall distribution expansion, how you are now revisiting your earlier targets in terms of the direct and the overall reach.

Yeah, so what we are planning for this financial year definitely is that we are going to take our build outlets, which we track, and we were around 310,000, 320,000, so that we are targeting to take it up by 40,000 outlets in this financial year and keep building it up. Yes, our focus, as I said earlier, would remain within 400 kilometers of our plant.

Okay, and in terms of the overall reach, what is the current status, and over next two to three years, how you are aiming for that?

You see, I would say that we in North India are around 35% rated availability as per AC Nealston, and our reach is around. So, objective over the next three years, or next four years, rather, till 2030, would be to take this weighted availability between somewhere around 40 to 45%. So, that should be the target, which also would mean that in terms of outlets, which all over India, we have around over 700,000 outlets available. So, we should get somewhere between, you know, 900,000 to a million outlets, but your large focus will always remain on the weighted outlets because that's what we want to achieve data weighted availability to, you know, up by, you know, 15 to 20% over four years.

Understood, understood. That's it from my side.

Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, you may press star and want to ask questions. The next question is from the line of Lokesh Manik from Valeram Capital. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi. Good afternoon, Nanook Ji and team. Sir, my question, just I had a clarification. In the frozen food segment, when we are supplying to a lot of catering...

Hello, hello. Sir, Manik, the line dropped it. I'm disconnected.

Okay, okay, okay.

Yes, we have connected with the management. Yes, sir, go with a question, please.

Yes, good afternoon, Anupji and the team. Sir, my question was on the frozen food segment. So just a clarification here, when we say that we are supplying to small cafes, are we supplying the bread itself or are we supplying the finished products in the sense that even the ingredients we are making and the sauces and everything, it's the finished product that we are supplying? Just a clarification.

So it's a mix of both. So in some cases, we supply raw dough, which is not like a baked bread. In some cases, it's a baked bread. And in some cases, we have products like toasties. Which also have sauces and cheese and veggies on it, but they are all procured from outside. So it's not like we are manufacturing the sauce or anything. I mean, it's all procurement. But it's a mix of ready-made sandwiches and...

Okay. So how do you see the growth now going forward here? Because this is a very interesting segment, given that your association with a lot of QSR players, you also help them come out with new products on their menus, which you can leverage towards these small B2C outlets. So what is the thought process here, strategy here to scale this part of the business, which looks very interesting as a future growth driver?

See, you know, as I would say, as you know, we are upgrading our facilities. So with the new bread plant, which is coming up in Kapoli, right? We are also talking about setting up the Bangalore facility. You know, our idea is to have each plant, which can do burger buns, breads. You know, and value-added products. Now, those value-added products could be frozen, frozen dough. It could also be sourdough, right? In fact, In our North-based plant, we have just, you know, increased capacity for sourdough breads in the market, right? So at the end of the day, our focus is on value addition. I think through the Q-commerce space, now we are playing not only on the B2B side, but also on the B2C side on all these categories. So, you can see that we have a frozen range of products, you know, which are available on Qcom. In Delhi NCR, we are seeing month-on-month growth there. You know, sourdough is something where we always had a capacity bottleneck, actually, right? So, you know, with that happening, that is going to bring value addition on to our English oven brand as well. So, you know, as these bakeries come up, I would say that, you know, in the, let's say, coming quarters or coming years, you know, we will get a fair sense of how much capacity is needed in each of these businesses. But what is very positive is that we understand the business. We already have a proof of concept. We're already selling these products in the market. So we've already started building our relationships with our customers, both on the B2B and the B2C side, which gives us a lot of confidence that as volumes ramp up, we are able to scale quickly.

Great. So just if you can give us a sense from a perspective that, you know, today, value-added products will be what percentage of revenue for bakery or consult, whichever is, you know, convenient for you. And what is the aspiration to take this, let's say, four or five years down the line by FY30, if that's the vision?

See, how we look at it is we look at, let's say, our premiumization, you know, that we look at internally. So we are at about 55-56% premiumization on the English oven front. You know, like NatureBait, right? NatureBait as a business, as a new brand, I would say at the, you know, it's become quite reasonably, We'll be touching an ARR of almost 10 crores for a new brand, and we see it scaling up very quickly. So our focus on premiumization is going to continue. I think NatureBate has seen very, very positive movement towards the clean label side, sourdoughs coming in. So I think our target more so than is, you know, how can we bring this premiumization to, let's say, 65%, you know, or see positive uptake quarter on quarter on these metrics.

Got it. Got it. That was very much helpful. Thank you so much. That's it from my side.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that management is able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, please limit your question to two questions per participant. Do you have a follow-up question? We request you to rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Achal Pal from Monath Network. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Thank you for the opportunity. So, I have three questions. First, how much did the export business grow on a full year basis? And second question is on Kapoli plant. So, just wanted to know what is the current utilization rate and have you commissioned second production line or any update on that?

So, I'll take the... Manu, you start, okay, then I'll follow.

So, export growth last year was in single digit, right? So, that was the kind of growth we had. Anup, Kapoli, Anup can update you.

Yeah, so Kapoli, you know, our band line has already been commissioned and has already, you know, started. So, since it's a very large line, you know, we are a little bit, you know, we are yet working with our equipment suppliers to, you know, have it fully, you know, commissioned in the right manner, because a major part of the equipment comes from abroad. On the breadline, breadline is nearing completion. I think within this quarter, you know, we'll be rolling out products end of the quarter. And so I think we are in tune. We are in line with everything.

Okay, so any number, if you want to quote on the utilization rate, like, what is the current state?

Utilization, because right now, currently, you know, on the utilization side, we're running both the lines. We're running up an old line also, we're running the new line also.

You understand?

So whenever we find a small defect, we pass on the line to the team. Okay, now, because we are running the line, I mean, for, you know, substantially, but whenever there's a need, we have to pass it down, right? So we're running both the lines. So it will not be very fair, you know, to tell you exactly percentage, this is the percentage, but the line is well commissioned. It has come out beautifully well. It's a very automated line. And in fact, we would once, you know, in the probably after the monsoons now, because Kapoli has lots of rain, we would definitely, you know, invite you all to the facility. It's one of the best facilities in not only in India and probably, you know, a lot of many other European countries too. So, we will not be able to specify today. You know, it will not be fair on me, but on utilization, it will lead to a substantial utilization because also, you know, QSR numbers are also growing now and they are more positive. So, I think it will be very fair. So, right now, it will not be right to give you the number right now.

Okay, okay. My last question, in this quarter, we have launched our English oven jar dessert. So, what kind of traction we are getting for this, and which are the markets we have launched it?

So currently, we are focusing only on Delhi NCR. Blinkit has been our launch customer, but we have four or three customers who are following up with us to launch the product with them as well. We have also made a small investment for a line, automated line, which can increase our capacity for doing jar desserts that can be leveraged not only in B2C, but also in B2C. So, you know, right now, it's still small scale, but... From what, you know, we have looked at, the unit economics are very positive. In fact, even, you know, with a limited supply chain, you know, we have cash flow positive in this business. So I think as, you know, as our capacity increases, not only will we be more bullish on B2B, but also on B2C.

Okay, okay. Thank you so much.

The next question is from the line of Rohit Harikal from Aditya Billamani. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. My question is on the biscuits export business. So with U.S. tariffs having reduced from peak level, so are we seeing order volumes come back for this business?

No, I can take it up. Hi. So, yes, the tariffs have reduced substantially. So, we were actually visiting the U.S. a week back. We've discussed a lot of potential new business with clients, and, you know, with the reduced tariffs and India's good relation with the U.S., customers are already onboarding us on some new projects. So... I think it will be, you know, a great start with a couple of new retailers and new projects going forward.

And this low single-digit growth for Q4 in exports, was it because of the West Asia conflict or even the U.S. contributed to the lower growth?

It was a bit of both, but a lot of influence was there from the U.S. tariffs because at the peak, the tariffs were at 50%, which made it hard for a lot of importers who were importing our brand or their own white labels. It made them harder for them to, you know, change the price point for the consumers. So that had hampered the business a bit. But now we are seeing, like I mentioned, a positive trend for it to go forward. And we had a little impact also because of the U.S. and Iran conflict going on.

And for the H1, so the sum of this impact should continue, right, from West Asia and U.S. to ramp up? And then next two weeks.

So, a bit on the West Asia, minor impact will be there, but we are already finding other avenues of growth in other territories, and we are still working on building the volume. In the GCC region, only majority two of our markets have been impacted, which are Bahrain and Kuwait. Barring that, we are still able to deliver our shipments into the UAE, Saudi, and Qatar through the Saudi. So, you know, our teams are actively working on finding solutions to still deliver the goods in the market and being very competitive at it.

Okay, so for F527 mid-teens kind of growth can we expect or like low to double digit?

I think as a, so as a CEO mentioned, our target is a low to mid-teens growth coming in. So that's our target as of now.

Okay, okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Darshid Vohra from SHC Meta Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.

Yeah, I'm out of it.

Thank you for the opportunity. And I just wanted to add that, you know, in the previous phone calls, we've said that we are starting, I mean, we were aiming to start to get towards the 14% kind of under the margins by H1. And then for the full year, more than 14% under the margins. So given the prices that you've done, and considering that there is no further Thank you very much. From here onwards, do you see that to be something that it achieves you, or are you slightly down with that kind of trend?

As the situation stands now, as I said that we should see improvement in our EBITDA margin quarter over quarter. So quarter one, we should see improvement over quarter four, and quarter two also, we should see improvement over quarter one. The objective is to get as close as possible to 2014, but you must appreciate the kind of disciplinary, inflatory impact which have been there, which we have done our best to cover up. But yes, as of now, where we stand, we should see improving our EBITDA margin both in quarter one and quarter two.

All right. All right. Got it. And finally, would it be correct to say that our domestic bakery has grown by early double digits?

Yeah, they have grown in high teens, yeah.

All right. Okay. Thank you so much.

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhishek Mathur from Systematic Group. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Hi, sir. Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity. On the biscuits business, I just wanted to check what is our sales salience of the rupees 5 and rupees 10 packs currently in our portfolio. And related to that, do we also maintain certain forward covers in certain key commodities such as wheat or palm oil, something like what the market leader does? That's all I wanted to check. Thanks.

Okay, I'll just quickly tell you on the percentage of 510, which is about 65 to 70, around 65 odd percent, which is fairly in line with industry. And I'll hand it over to Anu to, you know, brief you on the commodity feature cover.

Yeah. So, you know, we would normally, if you ask me, is there a strategy, you know, to hedge for a particular time? Currently, no. But wherever we feel the situation needs hedging, we definitely do hedge. So like in case of wheat, you know, we would hedge wheat flour. So, in case of sugar, when we feel that sugar prices, we can climb up to this particular type of month, we will hedge milk powder. We normally, you know, we hedge. So, edible oils, we also hedge. I mean, but how much are we hedging or, you know, what has been our, you know, hedge at the particular time when prices have gone up or gone down, you know, is actually for, it's not, you know, to be disposed. So, but as a hedge, we definitely see to secure, you know, our time. So, I mean, wheat harvest is in April or early March. So, we will see that, you know, we are hedged. So, depending on the wheat crop. So, this year, the wheat crop has been good. So, our hedging would be restricted, you know, for particular quarters, right? Last year, there was, they said the wheat, what we felt was that there was a wheat shortage. So, because the year last, we saw a lot of inflation. So, you know, so it all depends, you know, very situational. Yes, whenever there's a need to be, we definitely work towards hedging.

All right. So, that was helpful. Thanks and all the best.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to the interest of time, this will be the last question. I now have the conference. Over to the management for closing comments. Over to you, ma'am. Yes, sir. Over to you for the closing call.

Okay, sir. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. I hope we have been able to answer all your queries. In case you require any further details, you may please contact us or MUFG in time, our investor relation partner. Thank you so much.

Thank you. On behalf of Ms. Spector's Food Specialties Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.

Thank you.