Monte Carlo Fashions Ltd

NSE:MONTECARLO

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q4

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Monte Carlo Fashions Limited Q4 FY '20 Earnings Conference Call hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services. We have with us today Mr. Dinesh Gogna, Director; Mr. Sandeep Jain, Executive Director; Mr. Rishabh Oswal, Executive Director; Mr. RK Sharma, Chief Financial Officer; and Mr. Ankur Gauba, Company Secretary.

[Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I now hand the conference over to Ms. Pavika Chaudhary from Emkay Global Financial Services. Thank you, and over to you.

[Unknown Analyst]

Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank the management and thank them for this opportunity. I shall now hand over the call to the management for the opening remarks. Over to you, gentlemen.

[Dinesh Gogna, executive]

A very good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for this earning call of Monte Carlo Fashions Limited to discuss the financial and operating performance for the fourth quarter and the annual financial year ending 2023. I would like to highlight that certain statements made or discussed over the conference call today will be forward-looking statements. A disclaimer to this effect has been included in the presentation of results shared with you earlier. Results documents are also available on the company's website, and also have been updated on the stock exchanges. A transcript of this call would also be made available on the Investors section of the company's website. First, I would like to talk about the macro environment. The Indian economy has rebounded strongly in financial '23, and we have witnessed a very strong financial performance by reaching our highest ever top line and bottom line.

All our stores across geographies continue to be operational, and the strong brand pool of Monte Carlo is driving in stock solid footfalls and generating sales growth. Indian domestic textile and apparel market is expected to grow 10% CAGR to reach 190 billion by 2026. And the shifting consumer preferences towards branded apparel give us ample scope for growth. Let me share the stand-alone financial and operational highlights for the fourth quarter of financial '23. In Q4 financial '23, the company recorded revenue of INR 237 crores registering a growth of 46% year-on-year. Operating EBITDA for this quarter was INR 33 crores, a growth of 44% year-on-year. The profit after tax stood at INR 20 crores, growing by 55% year-on-year. This strong revenue growth is primarily attributed to strong sales in summer categories of T-shirts, denim and trousers, along with a higher number of EBOs and MBOs selling the company's products have also contributed to sales growth. The company has also increased its presence in Southern and Western states. The financial '23 revenue from operations stood at INR 1,118 crores, growing by 24% year-on-year. Operating EBITDA was INR 218 crores which is a growth of 21% year-on-year. Profit after tax stood at INR 133 crores, representing a growth of 16% year-on-year. We had a cash balance of INR 283 crores which comprises cash and bank balance, along with the current and noncurrent investment. Long-term borrowing is INR 3 crore as of March '23 compared to INR 8 crore as of March '22, which shows our efficacy in servicing our debt. Monte Carlo Fashion continues with its endeavor to build a leading branded apparel company with a well-diversified product portfolio such as cotton, woolen, kids and home furnishing. Apart from the cotton segment, we also produced other garments. We also make cotton T-shirts under the economical category of Cloak & Decker, the ability to test various market segments provides the company a tremendous opportunities for growth in the years to come. The key strength is a vast and a growing distribution network with a diversified presence across India. The company's product reaches the end user through different distribution channels. The company currently has 2,450 MBUs, 350-plus EBUs and 1,100-plus national chain store plus SIS.

Concerning online sales, we are looking to focus more on selling through our own portal. However, clothes are available on various e-commerce websites such as Ajio, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, FirstCry, Jabong and Kapsons. The company has opened 47 new stores in different regions, out of which 26 stores were opened in Northern region, 7 stores were opened in central region, 7 stores were opened in Eastern region and 4 stores were opened in Western region and 3 stores were opened in Southern region. With this, the total number of EBU has reached 350 across 20 states and 4 union territories. The company maintains the next year guidance of opening 50 to 55 new stores. The trade show for summer conducted in 2022 witnessed healthy traction, helping to build our robust order book for summer. The company continued to enjoy and strengthen its position in cotton and woolen portfolio simultaneously, thus building resilience and enhancing its operations. Most of our net revenue is from franchise EBOs and MBUs where we primarily sell on outright basis. Under the business model, there is no significant inventory risk, and we remain insulated from the average hazard sales in branded apparel business. To date, we have experienced almost 0 bad debts in our business, which is a testimony to our robust business model based on a 0 credit risk policy for the company. At Monte Carlo, we try to provide a customer with finance clothing through product innovation, high-quality launch of new collections from time to time. Moreover, we're continually working towards changing the look and feel of our stores to give our customers the best-in-class experience. We're optimistic about our future growth and earnings potential. We believe that we have a strong foundation for the future, which we will provide with sustainable and profitable growth for the long term. While our focus will be to maximize revenue growth going forward, our considerable interest is in building the profitability by maintaining post control measures. To further enhance our brand's recall and visibility, we focus on advertising through different platforms like television, online, retail channels, national and regional newspapers, hoardings, billboards displayed at airports and cinemas.

The company has recently implemented SAP S/4HANA solution, which is a fashion and vertical business. This intelligent ERP provides real-time and predictive consumer trend insights in all business areas. This will also enhance the flexibility and the ability to deliver end-to-end customer experience, at the same time achieve significant bottom line cost savings. Now we can open the floor for question and answer session. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes on the line of Keshav Garg from Counter Cyclical.

[Keshav Garg, analyst]

Congratulations for good numbers. But sir, it's the first time that in a long time that we are a net debt company and also the first time in a long time when our operating cash flow for the whole year is negative. So there has been a disproportionate increase in working capital. So you think that this will again revert back and we will become net cash company again?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

Yes, surely. This is just a short-term phenomena as we have some stock of last winter, the fresh stock, which we were keeping which has to built the inventory, but they're going to liquidate it I think in coming 3, 4 months. So as you have rightly said, we'll be definitely a free cash flow positive company by the year-end.

[Keshav Garg, analyst]

Now since we have had very strong growth post-COVID so the base has become higher and now we have crossed INR 1,000 crores revenue number also. So from this base now in FY '24, will we be able to sustain anything like 20% kind of growth?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

See, let me first off tell you that the market right now is discretionary spending is actually -- has come down in the last few months. But we see that the May is recovering. The May sales have been good as compared to April sales. So there are certain uncertainty in the market right now. So I would not like to comment on the growth part in this quarter, but definitely, we'll come out with our growth guidance in the next quarter in Q2.

[Keshav Garg, analyst]

Regarding margins, sir, with input prices going down, sir, do you think our margins can go up, or you expect them to sustain at the same level?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

One thing which is very, very sure is that we're going to maintain our margins in this financial year because as you have rightly said that the input costs have come down. And the quarter prices have also come down. So there is every chance that it can go up also, but definitely, we'd like to maintain our margins.

[Keshav Garg, analyst]

Right, sir. And sir, lastly, on the CapEx, what kind of CapEx are we looking to incur this year as well as next year? And sir, when will our Jammu home textile plant, when is it expected to come on stream?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

See, the expected CapEx in this year is around INR 100 crores. And we think that the Jammu plant would be operational by June or July next financial year.

[Keshav Garg, analyst]

So basically, if the plant operates for, let's say, 3 quarters of this financial year so what kind of capacity utilization, how fast can we ramp up that plant? And also sir, in the initial quarters, will there be some losses. I mean, by the time the utilization increases, will there be some initial losses in that plant?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

The plant is going to come only in the next financial year. So this year, it doesn't have any effect on any of our plants and business. So next year, definitely from July onwards, it would add to the revenues.

[Operator]

Next question comes from the line of Viraj Parekh from Carnelian.

[Viraj Parekh, analyst]

Congratulations on a great set of numbers. A few questions from my end. Firstly, we had a strong quarter 4 this year. Historically, we haven't been a profitable Q4 quarter. I just wanted to understand that is this like a one-off quarter, or can this be the same going ahead? And what led to the performance of such a strong quarter? Can you highlight a few points for that?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

See, I think if you see the last quarter also was we have a good profit of around INR 16 crores before tax. Before that, yes, we used to have some losses because of winter sales USS. But as the summer sales is increasing every year and last year, it was good. And this year, it is even better. So as the summer sale is increasing in the fourth quarter, definitely we're going to have a profit every quarter.

[Viraj Parekh, analyst]

Okay. So this quarter 4 was mainly dominated by summer sales. There was no kind of spillover of any late winter sales to Q4.

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

Yes. There are some winter sales also, but it's dominated by the summer sales because summer dispatches happen normally in February and March.

[Viraj Parekh, analyst]

Sir, second question is in terms of -- we upgraded our guidance in terms of store openings, like we have guidance range of 50 to 55 store openings in FY '24. So I just wanted to understand whether it will be concentrated in the North and East? Or are we looking to go a little bit aggressive in the South versus central region of India?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

No. We already said in our last con call also that we are looking at Pan-India. Our 15% to 20% stores are open in South and West and rest are coming in Northern and Eastern Central India. Last year, we guided for 40 to 45 stores, but we opened 47 stores. And this year, we gave a guidance of 50 to 55 stores. And again, the phenomena remains the same. The 15 to 25 stores will come in Southern and Western markets.

[Viraj Parekh, analyst]

Another question is in terms of Rock It. I guess last year, we decided to take it more towards the off-line channel. So if you can understand how -- what is the contribution of Rock It or athleisure segment in FY '23? And how are we looking into ramp up going in FY '24? Like what's our strategy going ahead?

[Rishabh Oswal, executive]

This is Rishabh Oswal. So as you said, we launched the Rock It category during summer in this financial year, and we are seeing good traction. We've also done the order taking for the next winter session, and the sampling that we made was well accepted by the market. The pricing was suitable and we've got a good order book value. So I see Rock It doing good in the coming years. More focus is on the athleisure segment. We saw that the 100% polyester dry-fit T-shirts do not really sell well in the multi-brand outlets. So we've differentiated the mix of the products and we're getting a good response with that. We're targeting a turnover of INR 15 crores in this financial year from the brand.

[Viraj Parekh, analyst]

I'm sorry, 15 or 50?

[Rishabh Oswal, executive]

15, 1-5.

[Operator]

Next question comes from the line of Himanshu Upadhyay from O3 Wealth and Asset Management.

[Himanshu Upadhyay, analyst]

Congrats on a good set of numbers. Can you give an idea of how are the rentals -- rents moving for commercial? And are we seeing the rents are reducing on that space? And is it a good time to growth? What is leading to so much of a penetration on retail side new store openings, can you give...

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

As there are some slowness in the market, which I think you have witnessed. So there are some negotiations which are happening right now, but it's not considerable ones. The locations which are our prime locations are not offering any discounts. But yes, there are locations [indiscernible] where when we are going for a negotiation for the new locations, yes definitely scope is there for reduction of the rents.

[Himanshu Upadhyay, analyst]

Okay, okay. And do you think that this would be a good time to grow because of -- and are the agreements also happening for a longer period of time?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

The agreement normally happens for 3 plus 3 9 years, so the rents change after 3 years. So all the agreements basically what we do is for 9 years.

[Himanshu Upadhyay, analyst]

Okay. And 1 more thing. Are you seeing competition being also that aggressive on the retail side? Because or do you think competition has also reduced because what we see is the market, there is some slowdown what we hear from most companies. But most of the listed players have shown very decent growth rate in last 2, 3 years. And almost everyone said revenue is far higher than what it was in pre-COVID and the type of growth what we are seeing in FY '22 and '23 is also much ahead of what we're seeing from FY '15 to '19. So is it just some competitive intensity reduced or you also seeing that customer affinity has significantly changed towards some of the brands? How should I as an investor try to understand this phenomena?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

See, I think if I say that after COVID, people were not shopping at all. There was no revenge traveling. So they were not going out. So I would say that these 2 years have been -- most people were confined at home. So these 2 years have been people are shopping, people are going for traveling, you're not getting airline tickets. Those are getting expensive. Rails are not available. So I think these 2 years, everybody grew because people were spending money like anything as they were confined to the rooms. But now as we see that the inflation is actually moving up, but in the last 1 month, it has gone down. So there are some cuts in the discretionary spending what we have witnessed. And that is also witnessed from the mass market, if you see the results of all the like Dollar, Lux or Page industry, they have gone down and their margins are also affected. So the mass level, definitely, there is some debt. But fortunately, we are in a segment, which is a premium segment, where the effect is not that, I would say that intense so we have been able to grow. But definitely, people are actually getting impacted when the price rise is there and when inflation is there. But good thing -- 1 good thing which I think we see is that now inflation is under control from last 2 months. And there is every chance that in next 2, 3 months, there is some cut in the interest rate also, which could further pay to the recovery, and we are very confident that going forward, I think in the September-October time, we should have the recovery in place.

[Himanshu Upadhyay, analyst]

And you are not seeing any downtrading on the customer side? Means you are seeing the -- because this is a discretionary product what we are selling and a lot of scope for downtrading is there, okay? Are you seeing some risks of that or the customer behavior in that direction? Or do you think customer is moving on the uptrade only right now?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

Yes. That's what I said. April was little slow for us. So major recovery has started, and we are confident that going forward as the inflation is contained, and also, there is every scope that RBI cuts interest rate also. So I think that will boost the spending also. So we are confident that -- when we reach to September, October time, the economy would be back on track.

[Operator]

Next question comes from the line of Nitya Shah from KamayaKya Wealth Management Private Ltd.

[Nitya Shah, analyst]

Congratulations on a good set of numbers. I just wanted to understand how is the online segment of your business doing like all the channel partners you have online? How is the sales from there?

[Ashit Desai, analyst]

So again, this is Ashit Desai. So as you would have seen after the Covid, we almost doubled our sales. This year, it has been stagnant. There were some issues because of doubling the sale. We had some operational issues, which has now been resolved. We've hired a couple of new third-party logistic companies to take care of the inventory. And we've also increased the production and focus on the supply chain of online. Also, for 3 months during winter, our online advertisement accounts were affected due to some technical difficulties, which have now been resolved. And this win back again in January. So if you see, I can share the data later on month-on-month. From January, we've been doubling our own website sales, which is the AdSense account issue has been resolved. So we see going forward, this year, we should be growing at a 15% to 20% rate.

[Nitya Shah, analyst]

For the online part, right?

[Ashit Desai, analyst]

For the online part. And the main focus on this would be on our own website. So we want to increase our own website by around 50% to 60%.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of Arjun Sharma Chandrani, an individual investor.

[Unknown Shareholder]

Congrats on a great set of numbers. So what I wanted to understand was, since there's a lot of inventory buildup this year, is this inventory going to be discounted now because it's winter inventory over the next 3, 4 months? And is this how it's going to be sold? And also what's the inventory levels at the franchise stores?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

No, no. This is basically what happened. The last winter, the winter was delayed. So what we did was that some of the sites, some of the articles, which were complete new articles and they were like the set-wise, when we say it's a fresh merchandise. So we kept it at our store, and we have not dispatched it. So there is inventory which is showing in the books. But that inventory we will liquidate it in August and September this financial year. So going forward, we see that the inventory comes down once this inventory goes back to the stores. And yes, there are inventory as far as franchises and our user concerned, it is same as the last year's levels but it's under control.

[Unknown Shareholder]

And just 1 more question. The store that you'll be opening, how many will be franchise operated and how many will be company-operated? If you have a ballpark figure in mind.

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

90% it's a franchise operated only. It's only 10% are company operated.

[Unknown Shareholder]

Okay. For the next year also that you will be opening, you're looking at the same ratio.

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

The ratio remain the same.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Next question comes from [indiscernible]

[Unknown Analyst]

So even though last year, we had good growth for our dividend, it's constant year-on-year. And sir also for any thoughts on the share buyback instead of dividend? Because it was more back efficient than most of our shareholding. And individual name only and not institutional holding, the taxation is 35% versus 23% and in our buyback. So your thoughts on the trend?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

See, I think we discussed the same in our management meeting. So in case we will go for a buyback as the price is also very high now, it involves a lot of [ CAT ] to be distributed. But as far as this year is concerned, you know that we are putting up a blanket plant in J&K, which requires a lot of investment, it's around INR 100 crores of investment, which is going in there also. So that is why we completely decided that it's the right time to give dividend to conserve some cash so that the future CapEx is also kept in mind in the company's mind so that we can use that cash in the upcoming plants.

[Operator]

Next question comes from the line of Viraj Parekh from Carnelian.

[Viraj Parekh, analyst]

Just 1 question. If you can share some numbers in terms of volume growth segment-wide for FY '23, would be helpful like how are we doing there?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

I can give you the broad woolen and cotton numbers. The broad number is that in volume terms, we grew almost -- so it was 15 lakhs,11 thousand for this financial year and for cotton it was 57 lakhs, 67 thousand, and this year it is 66 lakhs, 87 thousand. And for textile, it is 9 lakhs, 93 thousand, which is 10 lakhs, 71 thousand for this financial year. And for kids segment, it was 11 lakh last year, 12 lakh, 76 thousand this year. Overall, the volume growth is 1 crore, 6 lakh which was last year and 1 crore, 16 lakh this year so there is almost 15% growth in the volumes. Total of all the business.

[Operator]

Next question comes from the line of Danesh Mistry, Investor/Adviser.

[Unknown Analyst]

Congratulations on a good set of numbers. I had 2 questions both are related to your working capital. Number one is as you talked about the inventory being high, I think about roughly INR 171 crores, the increase that has happened as per your cash flow. Sir, did we -- did we have more winter inventory than what we anticipated to sell? That's question number one.

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

See, as I explained earlier also, the last winter was a delayed one. So some of the merchandise inventory, we didn't send it to our EBOs and LFS channel because it would have gone for discount sales. To save that part, we just kept that inventory at our warehouse, which we thought that will be used next year because these are the fresh articles, they were not at discount amounts. So that is why the inventory of around 100 crore went up in last financial year, and I think that will be liquidated in August and September this financial year. It will come back to the normal level.

[Unknown Analyst]

So we will sell it at full price going into the next winter season.

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

That is why it was not sent to the showrooms in USS period last year.

[Unknown Analyst]

And sir, on a similar round, if you could help explain understand the receivables as well because the receivable increase has been fairly high. So what is the situation there?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

One was because of the increase in sales also as increase in sale is there, so receivables have also gone up. And secondly, definitely, there have been some delayed payment, but I think that by June 30, we'll be able to recover everything.

[Unknown Analyst]

Got it, sir. And these delays are from existing channel partners or some new channel partners, sir?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

I believe it's more from NPL business where there are some delays, but those have been sorted out. And by 30th June, we'll be getting everything.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Next question comes from the line of Danesh Mistry Investor/Adviser.

[Unknown Analyst]

Sorry, I just wanted to ask 1 more question. What would be this receivable that we are hoping to recover from the MBOs by June 30? Any sense on the quantum?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

That's -- just regular sales. It's not anything which is a -- sometimes what happens is that the payment which comes in 90 days normally takes 100 days, 10, 15 days extra. So that's what is there. So when we have our balance sheet ready, so we would see that this come to the normal level only.

[Unknown Analyst]

Got it. And sir, just 1 more question. But last year, I know you had locked in rates on the raw material side. So this year, how are you looking at the raw material purchase and locking in rates for the rest of your year?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

They're very favorable. You know that the cotton prices have come down from peak to almost 30%. And this year, we'll be getting benefit of that raw material purchase. So definitely, you would see that it's helping us in improving our margins.

[Unknown Analyst]

Got it. Because I'm just trying to understand from the perspective that if you see Q4 over Q4, our gross margins have contracted a bit. So was that on account of product mix, selling price or was that on account of the raw material, sir?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

No, no, I don't think this is a significant one. And please see us on a yearly basis. So the [indiscernible]

[Unknown Analyst]

No, no. I see yearly basis only. I'm seeing Q4 versus Q4.

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

On a yearly basis for a full year revenue I'm talking about. So there might be some quarter-to-quarter variations. But if you see the yearly wave, we are more than stable.

[Unknown Analyst]

Got it. Understood. And our advertising will be stable at that 3%, 4% of sale?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

No, no, it's going to go down. So last year, it was just 2.3% of our sales. This year it is going to 4% of our revenues in this financial year. But next year, we're going to bring it down to 3% of our revenues.

[Unknown Analyst]

And you see that it will not impact our brand and our distribution and all that.

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

No, no, no. Because even we thought of spending 3% last financial year, but there are some areas we think that it is required to spend more. So there was spent because of that. But otherwise, normally we maintain 3% of our guidance in every financial year.

[Operator]

Next question comes from the line of Piral from PhillipCapital.

[Unknown Analyst]

So I can see that in last 2 years, sir, we have seen a very strong acceleration in revenue in our store opening in our margins. So what has changed in our underlying strategy, which has led to the phenomenal growth because if I look at the past few years growth, not comparing FY '21, but beyond that, growth has remained stagnant, but now we have -- our business has improved drastically.

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

I think there were 2 reasons for that. One reason is that acceptability of summer quarter is increasing every year. So it always takes time when you introduce a new product. So customers takes time to accept it and then comes with peak purchases. So that's what is happening from the last 2 years. And also so there have been some aggressive expansion plans also in LFS, in online, and also, we have started aggressively opening our EBOs from 25, [ 32 ], 40 to 45 because summer range is now more acceptable. So we started opening our EBOs at South and West also, which we were not doing earlier. And you will see that in the last 2 years, the sale which was INR 37 crores in South and West has gone to INR 100 crore in 2 years' time. So that is how -- when the summer products are gaining acceptance so the revenue is also increasing every year.

[Unknown Analyst]

And sir, when you talked about the discretionary spending is somewhat slowing down, although you have seen some recovery in May, but what gives you confidence to open 55 to 60 stores in FY '24 versus 45 or 47 stores in FY '23?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

Again, I would repeat what I said is that. So the inflation is impacting the masses. Definitely, it is impacting the upper middle class also. But that is less as compared to masses. So that is why as we have seen a traction in our sales in last financial year also. And going forward, as we're getting acceptance in South and West also, so it gives us confidence that we should go ahead with our current expansion plan. And we think that this is a short-term phenomena. India is a long story. So there are 3 or 6 months, which are definitely comes always when there are 2 years of aggressive spending by the Indians. So I would say that it's a break of 4 to 5 months. And again, we'll be back on track by September or October. As inflation is also coming down, so that would definitely a good spending going forward.

[Unknown Analyst]

And sir, lastly, on the online side, when we are talking about just a 15% to 20% kind of a growth in FY '24, so on a low base, growth should be, in fact, even higher, right? Why we are talking about just a 15%, 20% kind of a growth, sir?

[Ashit Desai, analyst]

This is Ashit Desai. So as you know, most -- majority of the sales that happen online are on a discount basis. Because we have a large off-line presence, we are very particular in terms of the discounting parity that we offer across all the channels. So that is 1 reason. But as mentioned earlier also, we're also seeing a shift from some buying patterns. Earlier, these partners used to buy outright from all the brands. But as they are working on their profitability their outright purchases have reduced significantly and most focus is on the marketplace model. So you're not taking that into account, we've given a guidance of 15% to 20% and 50% growth for our own website.

[Unknown Analyst]

Okay. So working capital remains same when we sell it to the online partner as compared to the offline partners?

[Rishabh Oswal, executive]

It is more or less same because they pay us on a sales-based method. So whenever the sale happens, the payment comes to us in the next month. So more or less, it is in line with the large format store and shop-in-shop partners, the payment terms.

[Operator]

Next question comes from the line of Akshay Kothari from Envision Capital.

[Akshay Kothari, analyst]

Congratulations on a good set of numbers. So if you look at the Northern, Central and Eastern part where your 86% revenue is concentrated, the GDP per capita of these states are increasing. But what is actually driving the growth over there in terms of structurally, if you can mention it?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

I think it's a merchandise and addition of categories, which is driving our sales in these markets.

[Akshay Kothari, analyst]

So I'm talking from the economy perspective. For example, UP, Bihar, what has actually changed over there because these states are growing x amount around 15% plus.

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

Yes, I think the government is definitely supporting -- as far as UP is concerned, it has -- the spending is increasing because income level is increasing. So we see that UP offers a lot more potential than it was, I would say, that 5, 7 years back. So similarly, in any state where we have good governance, definitely, the sales increases.

[Akshay Kothari, analyst]

Are we looking for any inorganic acquisition for foraying in South and Western markets?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

No, not at all. Not right now. So we are just concentrating on improving our brand awareness and improving our businesses in those areas.

[Akshay Kothari, analyst]

Okay. And sir, what are processing charges in your other expenses, which you have mentioned?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

They are smaller -- some of the contract work which we do at the factory, which is in the process of the garments. That was the processing charges we pay to the contractors.

[Operator]

Next question comes from the line of Keshav Garg from Counter Cyclical.

[Keshav Garg, analyst]

Sir, I just wanted to understand that, last year, out of roughly 24% growth in our revenues, sir, what percentage was approximately revenue and what percentage was realization growth?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

16% was the volume growth, rest was value growth.

[Keshav Garg, analyst]

And sir, have you taken any price cuts due to falling raw material price of prices till now, or do we plan to take it going forward?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

No, no. MRP doesn't go down even if raw material prices are going down. So MRP remains same, but it actually goes up 1% to 2% every year because to cover the other expenses.

[Keshav Garg, analyst]

And sir, I was just comparing our company with other listed company grow fashion so their working capital is a fraction of our working capital. So I mean, can we do something to reduce our steady state working capital? I mean I understand that this 31st March, there was a disproportionate increase, temporary increase, but I'm talking from a mid to long-term time horizon, that can we do anything to reduce our steady state working capital?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

See, both the businesses are not comparable at all. So they are like FMCG products. So we are basically more focused on apparels. So if you see that the third quarter constitutes almost 50% of the sales. So for that to -- go for that sale, we need to have the inventory build up at least 3 to 4 months in advance. So our cycle will remain like that. But definitely, we have to compare us on an annual basis that about the other parameters, not only inventory parameter.

[Operator]

Next question comes from the line of Nitya Shah from KamayaKya Wealth Management Private Ltd.

[Nitya Shah, analyst]

Yes. So last con call, you had spoken about the fact that you all were planning to hire a few brand ambassadors or new faces for advertising of the company. Is there any update on that?

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

Yes, we have finalized 2 brand ambassadors, and we'll let you know in the next con call. One is for home furnishing range and second is for Monte Carlo.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of question-and-answer session. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.

[Sandeep Jain, executive]

Thank you very much for attending our session. And if there's any query which is unanswered or if you have any future queries, you can please talk to our agency for further interaction. Thank you very much.

[Rishabh Oswal, executive]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. On behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.