Marico eyeing ₹850-1,000 cr food business through Saffola by FY24

Marico Managing Director and CEO Saugata Gupta said that the firm has extended the brand Saffola in immunity, foods and recently launched mayonnaise and peanut butter.

Gupta said while replying to the queries of shareholders in the AGM, “We will continue to launch a significant aggressive innovation programme under the brand Saffola in line with our aspiration to create ₹850-1,000 crore food portfolio by FY24.”

Marico will continue to launch and expand the addressable market in the segment through Saffola or any new brand. 

Saffola has expanded its brand base with multiple products including noodles, oats, honey and immunity booster Chyawanprash, besides the edible oil.

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Talking about the business, the food portfolio of Marico has made, Gupta said that Marico has already achieved the aspiration of reaching ₹450-500 crore top-line in FY22. Its digital-first brand portfolio clocked an exit run rate of ₹180-200 crore in FY22. 

“Beardo scaled up to cross the ₹100 crore exit run rate in FY22. We aspire to build ₹450-500 crore portfolio by FY24 through a mix of organic and inorganic brands,” said a transcript of the AGM shared by Marico with exchanges on Thursday.

Presently e-commerce is contributing to 9 per cent of the sales for Marico and the contribution from the segment is growing further.

“Our spend in R&D is in line with benchmarks in the industry and we continue to increase our investment in R&D for driving innovation and research,” Gupta added.

While replying to a query on capacity utilisation, he said Marico’s overall capacity utilisation ranges between 80 to 95 per cent.

On the question of valuation of Marico’s key brands – Saffola and Parachute, Gupta replied: “We do not do valuation of our self-generated brands. Only when we make an acquisition, we do valuation”.

On whether Marico has any plan to enter plant-based meat, Gupta said: “We have a plan for increasing the addressable market of Saffola brand as part of our food journeys and as you know, we have already launched Soya Chunks and therefore you will see innovations in future in the next couple of years”.

The company holds its aspiration to deliver 13-15 per cent revenue growth over the medium-term on the back of 8-10 per cent domestic volume growth in the domestic business and double-digit constant currency growth in the international business.

“We expect to maintain an operating margin at 19 per cent over the medium term,” said Gupta.

(With inputs from PTI)

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