Monte Carlo Fashions Limited (MONTECARLO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q3 FY '22 Results Conference Call of Monte Carlo Fashions Limited hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services. We have with us today Mr. Dinesh Gogna, Director; Mr. Sandeep Jain, Executive Director; Mr. R.K. Sharma, CFO; and Mr. Ankur Gauba, Company Secretary. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Devanshu Bansal from Emkay Global Financial Services. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Yes. Hi. Good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome the management team of Monte Carlo Fashions Limited and also thank them for this opportunity. Without taking much time, I shall now hand over the call to the management team for their opening remarks. Over to you, sir.

Yes. Good morning, everyone. It's a great pleasure to greet you all on behalf of our Board of Directors. Thank you for joining us for this earnings call of Monte Carlo Fashions Limited to discuss the financial and the operating performance of quarter 3 and 9 months financial '22. I hope you and your family members are keeping safe and healthy. I would like to highlight that certain statements made or discussed on this conference call today will be forward-looking statements and a disclaimer to this effect has been included in the results presentation shared with you. Result documents are available on the company's website and also we have updated on the stock exchange as well. A transcript of this call would also be made available on the investor section of the company's website. Before talking about our financial and operational performance, I would like to talk about the macro environment. Indian economy has already moved to a normalcy in spite of minor disruptions caused due to newly evolved Omicron variant in the month of December and January. All our stores across geographies are now fully operational and people are definitely venturing out of their houses more freely for going for vacation, shopping and parties, which will further accelerate the demand for different type of clothing. Indian domestic textiles and apparel market is expected to grow at a 10% CAGR to reach 190 billion by 2026 and the shifting consumer preferences towards branded apparel gives us ample scope for growth. Now let me share with you the financial and the operational highlights for the 9 months ended financial '22. It gives us immense pleasure to inform you that the company has reported its highest ever revenues from operations of INR 741 crore during this 9 month as against INR 513 crore during 9 months of financial year '21, registering a growth of 45% year-on-year due to strong recovery in demand across all product categories. And more importantly, we have surpassed our last year sales of INR 656 crores. And also, we have achieved our pre-COVID sales for full financial year that were INR 726 crores. Also, we have surpassed that sales. We continue to witness an encouraging trends from all end sales channel, which stood at INR 48 crore as against INR 25 crores in 9 months financial '21, an increase of 85% year-on-year. Operating EBITDA margin decreased by 150 basis points from 22.8% during 9 months financial '21 to 21.3% 9 months due to increase in advertising and other expenses similar to pre-COVID levels. I would like to highlight once again due to seasonality involved in our business, investors should always see our business performance on full year basis and not only in the quarterly trends. Our balance sheet continued to remain strong with cash and cash equivalent of INR 194 crores and 0 net debt on 31st December 2021. We believe that we have built a strong foundation for the future with sustainable and a profitable growth for the long term. Our current strategy is to establish a strong brand by increasing our presence pan-India. Our key strength is our extensive distribution network, which is present across India. On 31st December 21, our company has been present through 315 exclusive business outlets more than 2,000 multi-brand outlets, 730 national chain stores, 235 shop-in-shops across all major -- and also present across all major online platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Ryka, Tata Cliq, Aijo and Kapsons, in addition to our website. During the 9 months financial '22, the company opened 31 new stores in different regions and at the same time, closed few nonperforming stores also. Majority of our net revenue comes from the franchise EBOs and MBOs where be primarily sell on preorder or outright basis. By virtue of this business model, there is no major inventory risk, and we always remain insulated from the normal sales in branded apparel business. I would like to highlight that till date, we have experienced almost 0 bad debt in our business, which stands testimony to our strong business model based on a 0 credit risk policy for the company. At Monte Carlo, we are pledged to provide our customers with the finest clothing through product innovations, high-quality and the launch of new collections from time to time. Moreover, we continuously work towards changing the look and feel of our store to give customers best-in-class experience. To further enhance recall and visibility of our brand among consumers, we are focused on advertising over different platforms like television, online and retail channels, national and digital newspapers, holdings and billboard displayed at airports and cinemas. As announced during last quarter to leverage the growth opportunity in home textile sector and to reap the benefit of PLI team announced by the government of India, we have incorporated a subsidiary company, which will manufacture rough around 13 million square meters per annum with a total investment of INR 355 crores over a period of 5 years. Moving in that direction, we have already filed the PLI application with the government of India, whose approval is expected shortly. At Monte Carlo, we believe in stable and the supreme performance with our focus will be on maximizing the revenue growth going ahead. Large interest is to build the profitability by maintaining cost control measures and focus on improving return ratios and maintaining healthy balance sheet position by following our asset-light model. So with this, now we open the floor for question-and-answer session. If any of you have any queries post this earning call, you may also connect us at investor@monte carlocorporate.com or Dickenson World, our Investor Relation Adviser.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Harish Shah from HS Investment.

Congratulation on a good set of numbers. Could you give me the volume of pieces sold in during the 9 months in FY '22?

Yes, sure. So the total volume for the woolens is having a volume growth of approximately...

9 million.

Around 30%. It was 9 lakh, 90,000 pieces in last year's financial year. And this year, it is 13 lakh, 73,000 pieces in woolens. And in cotton category?

Comparing this current [Foreign Language].

And cotton category, it was 18 lakh pieces.

[Foreign Language].

In cotton category, it was 25.62 lakh pieces last financial year, and this year, it is 40.76 lakh pieces.

Okay. Okay. And which includes any institution of sales or B2B sales?

It includes all the sales, including MBO, EBOs, NFCS and online channels and also corporate sales.

The next question is from the line of Venkat Subramanian from Organic Capital.

I had a couple of questions. A, what portion of the current quarter growth is because of destocking or lower level of stocking by all your distributors? And 2, input cost pressures have been pretty immense for the industry. What have you done about it? And how well are we equipped to pass on the prices?

I just wanted to ask what is the first question? You want to know that whether the distribution have destocked the goods? Is that right?

No. In the previous couple of calls, you've been mentioning that stocks actually inside the system of all our distributors has been pretty low. And therefore, there can be a good bounce back, which is really how it's panned out now. So the kind of growth that you had in the third quarter, how sustainable is it? And is it primarily driven by lower level of inventory in the system? Or is it also because there's a lot of demand for it?

No, no. See, when growth comes, definitely there is more inventory then only you can generate more sales. But as far as closing stock is concerned, the closing stock is lesser than last year's closing stock. So it means that the volume growth is there, the value growth is there, but at the same time, the stock, which has been there in the retail level and at another level, it has gone down. So as far as your second question, which is input cost is concerned, there have been a pressure of input cost from -- because of the raw material and also because of the fuel and other things. And so that costs have gone up. But still we have maintained our margins -- and also we have passed on most of the input cost to the consumers and retailers. Even in our recently conducted summer trade show, so there have been an increase of 18% in our summer wear prices, which have been completely absorbed by the consumer and retailer and those who have been passed on to the consumers.

Okay. So on both the trends, you would see that the current growth trends and current margin trends can continue or improve. Is that your message?

See, one thing which we have guided in the beginning of this financial year was that we will be able to maintain our previous margins of 18% to 19% EBITDA pre-COVID level margins. So last year, margins was exceptional margin because of cutting advertising cost, cutting salary cost, cutting other expenditure. But the historical margin of the company lies between 18% to 19% EBITDA, which we fully stand by and committed to achieve those guidelines in the future as well. And as far as revenue growth is concerned, at the beginning of the year, if you recall, we have given the guidance of 20% to 25%. Then in the middle of the year, we have revised that to 25% to 30%. Then in last 1 month, we have revised their guidance again to 30% to 35%. So the company has revised its price -- this guidance ended the year going forward, which shows the confidence of the company in its business model. And we are confident to achieve this guideline -- this guidance going in the fourth quarter as well. So the company see -- and one more thing I would like to add over here is that we are not IT or a pharma company, where the quarterly revenues are matched always. So it's an apparel company, which has to be seen on yearly basis. And we always give our guidance annual based. We have never given our guidance as a quarter base because there are quarter-based variations because of early dispatches because of late dispatches because of seasonality. But at the end of the year, whatever company has guided, we have always put by a guidance of the full financial year guidance and full financial year margins.

The next question is from the line of Deepan Shankar from Trustline PMS.

Congrats for a good set of numbers. So firstly, wanted to understand, so woolen business, do we also expect Q4 to be strong with some more growth coming due to extended winter?

Definitely, yes. USS we sell everything, including woolens also including cotton source. So Jan-February, basically USS and then the market is fresh category sales starts. So we are very confident going forward. And the trend will continue like the annual guidance which we have given is it stood by this guidance, even though there have been disruptions in the economy by the Omicron variant in summer and January. But still, as of today, I think we are more confident than before going forward.

Okay. So otherwise, generally, Q4 seemed to be a discount sale for winter goods. So are we expecting this discounting to be coming down this year as compared to last year?

I can't say the discount will come down this year because there have been disruptions by the economy by the Omicron variant, and there were some shops which were closed in Delhi. There were some shops which are closed in Haryana and other regions also. So that actually made every company to go for a discount early and also the bigger higher discounts to get rid of the inventory because of the early disruptions. Still, I think we have been very fortunate to have our inventory liquidated. And at this moment, we are very confident that our closing stock of winter goods at a retail level will be same or less than the last financial year.

Okay. Okay. And this employee cost at this current level, so this run rate will continue? Or we expect some degrowth at this cost level?

Yes, employee cost is only increased because of the increments given in last financial year because it was not given to last to last year. But going forward, the percentage will remain the same. It may come down because of -- when the value increases. So by percentage, it may come down.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Sir, and lastly, on the rings -- Rugs and Mink Blanket business, so any updates can we throw on sustainable margin front? So what kind of margins we can make on that business?

See, as far as the DPR, which is Detailed Period Report, is concerned in reps, in the second or third year, we'll be going to have the margin of 18% to 19% EBITDA, which is same as in our business. So I don't think it will affect our business. It will only increase our revenues as well as the profitability going forward.

The next question is from the line of Danesh Mistry from Investor Adviser.

Congratulations for the good sales growth. I just had 1, 2 questions, if you can. And the first 1 is, sir, the other expenses for us have gone up quite a bit, almost 50% on year-on-year basis, given that we are looking at seasonal quarters, so last December versus this December. So what do you think has driven that, sir? Do you think it's the logistic costs? Where have we seen this inflation? And do you think it is sustainable? Or do you think it is going to come down, sir? And by how much is your estimate?

See, if you see the comparison, it was 14.65% last financial year, and this is 15.5% this financial year. The major reason is it's an increase of 90 basis points. That is not that much. It is because of traveling cost. Because in COVID, people didn't travel to various locations. But in this financial year, definitely, because when you need to grow, you need to travel to different areas. So that is part of the business. So that is why it has gone by 90 basis points. I think that's marginal and as far as our business is concerned.

No, simply because we have maintained our gross margins, but it is the employee cost, other expenses and advertising cost and CSR, which has actually resulted in a negative 2% Y-o-Y growth. That is the reason, sir, to understand. So do you think that these expenses will remain at these levels? Or do you see them coming off, sir?

No, no. I think they will remain at this level or marginally they can come down as we grow next year.

Got it. And sir, the advertising expenditure, sir, it was very heartening to see that we have taken this up to 8 CR. Do we continue with this level, sir, of advertising expenditure?

Yes, advertising means basically this is the lifeline of any brand. So basically, you need to be present in the market to know people what you are making. So in COVID year, basically, we didn't do much advertising because of -- to cut down the cost in various areas to save our -- but now I have to increase our presence to other geographies where we are not that strong. So it will definitely be into level of 2% to 3%, but I think it was just 1% in last financial year. And that is why you see that this year's quarterly profit has gone down by 5 years because we have increased our advertisement spend.

Got it, sir. And sir, for the CSR, INR 1.8 crores that we have done, will we be doing that every quarter? Or was it a one-off thing? Because last time same quarter, we did not have it. That's why I just take...

So this is once in a year. So this is 2% of your net profit, which we have to do as per the government regulations.

And sir, the last question...

Yes.

Got it, sir. And sir, last question from my end, sir, if you can just touch upon you had mentioned a couple of calls ago that you were looking at the T-shirt market and that time, it was about INR 100, INR 120 CR on an annualized basis of sales. So some tents on that, have you launched that other brand that you were talking about? And how do you see that market growing for yourself, sir?

Which one?

T-shirt market. So you had mentioned that there were certain categories like t-shirts, which were in more affordable segment. and which were unorganized and all, and therefore, you were looking at launching a sub-brand, a less premium brand, which would kind of address that market, sir.

No, no. I think there are some miscommunication in that. We only wanted to increase our presence and to strengthen these categories and that we have been able to do this financial year. If I just compare the volume of last year, it was around 8 lakh, 64,000 t-shirts. And this year, we did 12 lakh, 77,000 t-shirts. So there has been a volume growth of around 50% in t-shirts sales in this financial year.

Understood, sir. Understood. Got it, sir. And our cash balance today, net cash is how much, sir, net cash?

INR 191 crores.

The next question is from the line of Keshav Garg from Counter Cyclical Investment.

Sir, many congratulations, especially on the revenue side. And sir, I wanted to understand that, sir, our seasonally Q4 and Q1 are weak quarters and we often face some operating loss, which pulled down the profitability for the full year. So going forward in the -- for the next 2 quarters, sir, you think that the company is now in a position to at least break even on EBITDA level?

See, I can't comment on the fourth quarter numbers right now because there have been discounts going on, and we will only come to know further -- we have 31st March. But I think the annual guidance, which the company has given we purely stood by the guidance. That is 30% to 35% growth, and we'll be able to maintain our margins to pre-COVID levels. So by that, you can estimate the kind of the growth we will do in next quarter and also the kind of EBITDA. See, we are not concerned or bothered about the quarterly movements. So in some quarters, there are lesser sales in some quarters, there are more sales. But the overall EBITDA and overall growth of the company will remain at that level, which we have guided in the first quarter conference call.

Sir, so now that we have a high base of this year due to stupendous growth. Sir, in FY -- next financial year FY '23, sir, how do things look? Sir, what is the feedback that you are getting from the retail channel about demand? And how much can our revenue grow on this base next year?

Thank you very much. So I was just expecting this question and that just came from you. See, I'm just giving you some of the comparisons with our competitors, which are there in the market. See, we are the only listed apparel company, which have grown the full year sales of pre-COVID sales. I'm just giving you an example. In 2019-'20, the company had annual sales of INR 726 crores. And we have achieved INR 742 crores even in 9 months, we have closed that sales. In case of Kewal Kiran, the sale was INR 530 crore for pre-COVID sales in 2019-'20, and they have just done INR 438 crore. In case of Raymond, it was INR 6,482 crore and they have done INR 4,220 crore. So why am I listing -- giving you each figure is that the company has changed its strategy from last 2 years that how they can grow faster than their competitors. So we have been opening our plants in various areas, particularly in EBOs and MBOs and national chain stores and e-commerce, wherein all the segments and all the categories we're experiencing the growth. So this year, when we can grow 30% definitely, I can't say that growing 30% per annum definitely will be growing double digits going forward and healthy growth rate as all our channels, all our categories are doing very well, and there have been a very good acceptance for our brand by various retailers who are even not working with us. So going forward, I think we are never very confident what we are in this financial year, if I compare last 4, 5 years. I hope that this answers your questions.

Yes, sir. It does and sir, very heartening to know. And sir, lastly, just 1 request on behalf of shareholders, sir, company has a very healthy dividend payout. Sir, but instead of dividend, if we can do a share buyback, our stock is still cheap if we take out the cash, then it is in single-digit price to earnings. So if we can do a share buyback instead of dividend, we can reduce the number of outstanding shares, and our EPS will grow faster than our profit growth going forward. Please consider that.

Yes. Thank you, and we definitely appreciate your suggestions and this has already been proposed to the Board by various investors also. So Board will take appropriate decision when it comes to taking decisions.

The next question is from the line of Zaki Nasser, individual Investor.

Congrats on a fantastic set of numbers by the entire team at Monte Carlo. Sir, the cotton prices have been going a bit haywire, sir. And you mentioned that you've increased your selling price by approximately 18% for the next season. Sir, what do you think this raw material finished product parity will be maintained, sir? That is my question #1. Question 2, as I mean, see, this year will be a very robust kind of a sales figure. It may be like maybe touching INR 900 crores plus/minus kind of stuff. So would you confidently say that from next year onwards, at least 15% growth on that would be possible?

Yes. Thank you again. The first thing you asked is the raw material. See, raw material price have increased, and we have taken that increase in our sales price, as you rightly mentioned, 18% to 19% in summer wear, which is accepted well by our consumers. And moreover, it has grown more than 20%, the trade show booking, even though the price was increased almost 19%, that shows the brand has the pricing power. And the customer can accept that price hike that showed this trend of the brand. Now going forward, the second question, which you asked?

On the growth for the next financial year, sir in terms of...

The heartening thing, as of now is that the stocks at the stores have gone down as compared to last financial year, and we believe that our closing stocks would be lesser than last year's stock level. So that will definitely help us in giving the good growth number next year also. But as every year, we give our guidance in the fourth quarter once we have our financial year ended after examining everything regarding the stock, regarding the inventory, regarding the retailer status. So we'll be able to give the guidance on any next financial quarter's conference call.

And we're confident to achieve it.

And we are confident to achieve going forward a good growth level double-digit going double-digit growth.

If I have one more question, sir, on the strategy. I would like to know your broad seats because Monte Carlo is becoming a more broad-based brand now. I would like to know the management strategy on South and West region of the country, sir.

See, I think in last quarter financial call, I have mentioned that we are opening stores at Bombay. We are opening stores at Bangalore, UP and other areas. So we have added, I think, almost 5, 6 stores, and now we have a plan to add another 10 store in Southern and Western region. So that shows, I think, the company's aggressive policy towards South and West where we would be opening our own EBOs. And they're doing well also, like the response which we have got from Bombay, is open at Kurla and then 1 more, it's coming up in another mall then 2 or 3 are coming in Bangalore and Chennai also. So for the response from the EBOs which we opened in South and West are actually giving us confidence to have -- be more aggressive in those areas. So going forward, the major strategy for South and West would be opening our own EBOs.

The next question is from the line of Dwarka Prasad, an individual investor.

Can you hear me, please?

We can hear you.

Sir, I am individual investor. I have 2 questions. One is company seems having INR 191 crores of cash, why don't you announce buyback at the earliest so that your share price can go up. Secondly, some footnote to come in your quarterly results, what happened you may have to announce new reserves? Share came down to 10% and the figure lower circle of the sale so some footnote should be there in your part there should be compared to year-to-year, this is not on quarter-to-quarter basis, so usually the shareholder doesn't suffer.

I think you have rightly mentioned that the share price has come -- came down in Q3. But I can't comment on the share price at the moment, what I can comment on the company's performance. So company has performed best among the peers, all the listed companies, if you compare the results of 9 months, we have stood out as far as our performance is concerned. And if you compare my sales at pre-COVID sales of all the companies then you would also like come to know the growth which Monte Carlo achieved over the other competitors. And when you come on the share price, we are the lowest value company right now, I think, in a parent listed space, the newer companies which have come up in their market cap, and yet you see the PL issues. I think investors will understand in one way that they have to be present particularly in Monte Carlo seeing the growth potential, seeing the EPS and seeing the field what we are playing at.

See, what I mean to say happened that because of the confusing the mind of shareholders, they have just compared quarter-to-quarter there's no year-to-year. That's why they're holding and sale price figure at the lower level. My request you to sir at least give some footnote in your quarterly result that it would be compared to a year to year basis also. Hello?

Just allow me a minute, please. Requesting the participants to please stay connected, we are just checking the connection for the management again. Requesting all the participants to please online. [Technical Difficulty] Sir, we have the question from Mr. Dwarka Prasad, you may please go ahead.

Yes, so as far as buyback -- and this company has been very generous in giving dividends because we would like to return to our shareholders. So as far as buyback and dividend is concerned, the proposal has already been submitted to the Board. So whenever we have next Board meeting, I think the Board will take the appropriate decision noting all these plans from the investors.

The next question is from the line of Kartik Jain from Sequin Investment.

My first question is, how has our sportswear brand Rocket performing currently? And my second question is what kind of sustainable EBITDA margins are we targeting for the upcoming years?

Yes. As far as Rocket is concerned, we are doing it only online. So it will be doing a sale of around 3.5 to 4 CR in this financial year, which was, I think, approximately around 2% to 2.5% last year. So -- and going forward, I think we have always mentioned in our previous conference call also that we will be maintaining our EBITDA margin of 18% to 19%, which have been historical margins pre-COVID level. The last year margin was exceptional because of cut down in advertising cost, cut down in the salaries, cut down in the traveling. So the EBITDA went up 100 basis points. But the overall EBITDA, which we have been doing in the last many years is 18% to 19%. And going forward, we will have to maintain that EBITDA or it may improve further also.

The next question is from the line of Neha Sharma from Pearl Globe Investment.

So I have a question. Sir, could you please tell us how have we proceeded on the PLI scheme that we had announced during the last quarter? Could you please update us on that?

Requesting all the participants to please stay connected while we have the management reconnected. [Technical Difficulty] We have the management reconnected. Ma'am, you may go ahead with your question.

Yes. Sir, could you please update us that how have you proceeded on the PLI scheme that you had announced during the last quarter?

See, we have uploaded our application through the government portal and it is under -- I think the last date is 15th February, and then the government will take the decision. So once it is approved, we'll start the process.

The next question is from the line of Abhishek from Share Giant.

So just to give the first question from my side is do we give some type of margins? Like do we give the same type of margins to these online platforms as we give to our distributors? Or how do you see the trend in online sales going ahead? And how will it impact our in-store sales because as I see from the results in the investor presentation, like the online sales have grown pretty good. So that's where my question is coming from.

Online, we give the margins normally a little higher than the offline channels, because it involves the transportation cost and also there are some more sales and discounts, which is happening in online sales. But overall, the margin profile, if I see like from all the channels, the difference is 100 to 200 basis points when it comes to the net level, which is a net realized sales level. So the growth of online this financial year, it is almost 80% -- 85% to 90%, which was -- which has yield INR 48 crores as compared to INR 25.92 crores last year. A trend is very encouraging because people are preferring to buy online, particularly the younger generation, which prefers to buy online. So this is growing at almost, I would say, that 70% to 75% per annum. And I think this trend will continue as more people are accustoming to buy it online.

So sir, my second question is like can you give some kind of like color on the kind of EBITDA margins you generate from the online channel?

We don't make a separate balance sheet for online or EBOs or MBOs. It's a consolidated balance sheet only. But as I told you that net realized price level is 100 200 basis points better than the off-line channels.

Okay. And my, sir, last question is as on 31st December, the company is sitting on INR 194 crores of cash and cash equivalents. So do we have any major CapEx plans going ahead?

The CapEx already announced. I think if you have heard in the last conference call, we are going for a PLI scheme for Rugs -- and which will be setting up in Madhya Pradesh. So the application is submitted to the government. So I think as and when it is approved, we'll start the process. And the CapEx involves a total investment of around INR 350 crores over 5 years and which is 70-30 debt equity. So our investment would be in case, but in case there will be 30% of INR 355 crore, that is 100 CR in next 5 years.

The next question is from the line of Rahul Mehra from Infinity Capital.

Yes. Sir I wanted to know what kind of cotton inventory levels we maintain and how do we factor in the increase in cotton prices? Like is it the hit on our margins? Or do we take price hikes accordingly?

We don't keep any inventory of any cotton at any point of time. See, our business model is, we go for a trade show for summer bookings. Like we went for a trade show in the month of October first week. And then once the booking is made, we cover all our raw material and then we start the production. So we are insulated as far as hike in cotton prices in the midyear is concerned because whenever we have the trade show conducted, simultaneously within 15 days, we cover all of our raw materials by taking every hike in increase in the sales price. So as in October, there was an increase of around 40% increase in the cotton prices. So that resulted in 18% increase in the sale price of the garment from our end. So we incorporated that increase and passed on to the consumer, which is well accepted, and we got the -- even the booking increased by 20% as compared to last year. But as far as margins are concerned, we are insulated because every hike is being passed upon the customer fortunately, because of the pricing power brand, which it has in Monte Carlo.

Okay. Sir, noted. Sir, coming to online sales, they are growing very sharply. So just wanted to ask.

Yes, please go ahead. Hello?

We just lost the line for the current participant. [Operator Instructions] We have Mr. Abhishek R. from Share Giant back.

So my next question is what is our strategy on EBO expansion going forward?

I think we are opening 25 to 30 EBOs every year. So next year also, we have the same target. It may go up also in the coming financial year. But there, the complete guidance will be given in the next quarterly conference call.

Okay. Sir, my next question is on like as you are a very strong brand. So would you like to further make investments in the brand and improve your visibility? Are you planning to onboard any brand ambassador as well?

See, we have tried it earlier, I think most of the models which we've tried actually become the sales staff later on. So as of now, we are using only the normal models, and I think that's serving the purpose because already awareness is there among the consumers.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Nitin Kapoor, an individual investor.

Sir, I have been personally using this brand for the last 30, 35 years, and it's quite an exceptional brand. But what I feel is that we have not exploited fully the potential of this brand. So how do you plan to grow this brand in the next few years? And any other products you plan to launch under this brand?

First of all, thank you for being loyal to the brand from last so many years. And you are right that we have not exploited this potential fully, and we are also aware of that. And I think we are trying our level best in last 2 years how to increase our strength, how to increase our sales in areas where we are not present and how to increase our areas where we are present. To further increase this year to the category, which are a little weak as far as total portfolio is concerned. And definitely, we are aware of it, and that is resulting in increase in revenues also. And if you see in this financial year also, the strategy is paying off. We have been growing at such a handsome rate. And I think that we are on the right track to explore the potential going forward also. Just let me just tell you because if you see the history of Monte Carlo, you would realize that with the passage of time, we had been expanding our activities to a different level, like it started in 1984. In 2002, we entered into cotton side because once our brand was accepted by the market. Then in 2006, we came out with the other cotton products. Then in 2011, we introduced the other cotton products. Now we are -- every time whenever we find an opportunity, we introduce a new product. And fortunately, the products which we introduce in the market is widely accepted also. And that is the reason like we have been able to achieve the growth.

Yes, right, sir. As a follow-up to that...

We started only as . But now our presence in the market is throughout the year. It is a pan-India brand now.

Sir, I completely agree with you. And just wanted to ask any other products you are planning to launch under this brand inner wear and if you're expecting things like that?

No, no. I think we are not putting any focus on the inner wear segment, right now. It's already a very, very competitive segment where I think large companies are present in that. But we are focusing on the home furnishing segment, which you have seen that the company is adding newer categories like we have added towels this financial year, bed sheets we added last financial year. And also now we're going for add in the rugs which is totally export product. So these are the categories which are being added in the last few years.

Secondly, sir, you just said you have booked this cotton wear. You have given the trade shows. You have booked 20% more. 20% more is of volume or what?

Volumes.

Volume. So at a price of more than 18%, you have booked 20% more volume?

Yes.

Okay, sir. And 1 more, sir, is it a fair statement that due to extreme winter this year, the inventory in the woolen market would be quite low, which should be beneficial for us for the next financial year?

Yes.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Naveen Jain, an individual investor.

Sir, I want to ask 1 question. It's like any plans to go into inner wear category?

I've already told that we don't have any plans to go for inner wear category as of now.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of P.S Chaudhry from CSF Financial. Looks like we've lost the line for the current participant. [Operator Instructions] Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference back to the management for their closing comments. Over to you, sir.

Thank you very much for, I think, all the questions you have asked. And we are fully confident that going forward, the company has a lot of potential to grow in coming years as well as we are right now on the right strategy to have our growth channels to exploit it. And if you have any query relating to anything, you can always have a e-mail to Dickenson World, our Investor Relations agency and also at the corporate -- montecarlocorporate.com website. Thank you very much.

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