See 13-14% rev growth in FY14; 300 bps margin growth: Emami

NH Bhansali, CEO, Emami Group expects 13-14 percent revenue growth for FY14 and growth in gross margins by around 300 basis points (Year-on-Year).

Earlier the company had expected 17% revenue growth but with the growth moderating for the FMCG sector, they too have moderated their projections, says Bhansali. In case the winter sets in properly then the company expects products like Boroplus, Chyawanprash, lotions to do well and aid growth in coming quarters. Also read: Buoyed by rupee fall in Q2, Raymond fixes focus on exports  Below is the verbatim transcript of his interview on CNBC-TV18 Q: What is the sense you are making of winter months, which are basically strong months for you? What could be the sales and margins? A: Winter is yet to set in. It has been delayed because of extended monsoon but in case winter sets in properly then our products like Boroplus, lotions, Chavanprash are expected to do well. That would help drive growth consistently in the coming quarters. Q: What are you targeting by way of a full year sales? A: We would be able to achieve growth of around 13-14 percent for the full year and similar for the two quarters as well. Since the overall market and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector has moderated, I think we are inline with that moderation. Therefore, within that moderation the growth is intact. Q: What about on the margin front. Do you think commodity price pressures could hit your margins and you would see levels of below 21 percent mark that you saw this quarter? A: We have moderates our projections for the whole year. Earlier we had expected revenue growth of around 17 percent or so but looking at slowed down in the FMCG sector, we have grown in both the quarters by 13 percent and we expect this kind of growth to continue going forward. The good thing is that we have been able to strengthen our market share. On revenue front, we feel 13-14 percent kind of growth is something which is achievable for the year. Since in the first and second quarter our gross margins have increased substantially, going forward we feel that they would grow around 300 bps on a yearly basis. That can be expected.