Cello World Ltd (NSE: CELLO) Q1 2026 Earnings Call dated Aug. 13, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Anirudh Joshi — Analyst
Gaurav Rathod — Joint Managing Director and Executive Director
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Jaykumar Doshi — Analyst
Jaykumar Doshi — Analyst
Praveen Sahay — Analyst
Lakshminarayanan K G — Analyst
Percy Panthaki — Analyst
Achalkumar Lohade — Analyst
Bharat Gianani — Analyst
Sumant Kumar — Analyst
Karan Bhatelia — Analyst
Ashok Shah — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the fellow world Q1 FY26 earnings conference call hosted by ICICI Securities. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen 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 your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. Before we move on to the conference I would like to give a small disclaimer. This conference call may contain forward looking statements about the company which are based on beliefs, opinions and expectations of the company as of the date of this call.
These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involves risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anuruddha Joshi from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead, sir.
Anirudh Joshi — Analyst
Yeah. Thanks, Manav. On behalf of ICICI securities, we welcome you all to Q1FY26 results conference call of Celo World Limited. We have with us today senior management represented by Mr. Gaurav Rathod, Joint Managing Director and Mr. Atul Parolia, CFO. Now I hand over the call to Mr. Gaurav for his initial comments on the quarterly performance. Thanks. And over to you, Gaurav sir.
Gaurav Rathod — Joint Managing Director and Executive Director
Thank you, Amir. Good morning everyone and a very warm welcome to our company’s earnings call. Joining me is our CFO Mr. Atul Parolia and our Investor Relations Advisor SGA. The relations presentations are available on the stock exchange and on our website. I hope you had a chance to look at it. We had a decent start for the year with a year on year revenue growth of 6% reaching at rupees 529 crores. The growth was primarily driven by our consumerware segment which grew by 12% year on year. Having said that, we are yet to experience a full consumer demand recovery across categories.
The growth has also been hit by a slightly earlier onset of rains, particularly in May which affected the hydration category which saw a dip in sales in that particular month. For the quarter, we have achieved the highest ever gross profit margin at 54%. Reflecting our manufacturing excellence, strong positioning as a premium brand in the market and enduring relationships with our distributors and channel partners. Our partnerships with quick commerce platforms are also gaining traction and sales from these channels are on the rise. Nevertheless, General trade remains our leading contributor both in terms of volume and profitability.
Looking ahead, our strategy is to strengthen our omnichannel presence across general trade online channels. Modern Trade e Commerce and Free Commerce to broaden our product reach across India and outpace the industry. Slower Consumer Demand Trends Coming to Category Wise performance, our consumerware category delivered a year on year growth of 12%. Within the Consumerware category, the glassware business delivered a solid growth of 50% driving the overall growth of the segment. As I mentioned, the hydration category was a dip though it grew year on year but could have been better and due to the onset of overall early rains it got affected.
Other consumer care categories also delivered a decent growth of around 10%. Writing instruments continue to face challenges in terms of export demand slowdown which got further impacted by a slowdown in our domestic sales. Hence the segment revenue stood at 74 crore against 83 crore in quarter one last year. We are working on strengthening our writing instrument brand Onomax and to grow this segment in a more sustainable manner. Having said that, Onomax remains the highest margin product line in quarter one of financial advantage. To overcome slower demand in this segment, we have already introduced a few products and continue to introduce newer product lines like mechanical pencil which was introduced in quarter one of financial year 26.
Coming to the furniture business, the performance remains subdued with revenue of about 90 crores. The performance is in line with the industry trend and as previously mentioned we are working towards premiumization of product range here and expect slightly better growth trends in the coming quarters. We anticipate strong demand surge in the upcoming quarter driven by the festive season and good traction in the last month resulting in a better Q2 compared to quarter one of financial year 26. Celo is well positioned to capitalize on this uplift with its premium and innovative product portfolio and deliver faster growth with healthy profitability and return ratios.
I will now hand over to our CFO Mr. Atul Parolia for the financial highlights. Thank you.
Thank you Arab and good morning to everyone.
I will be sharing the financial details for the quarter that has gone by in Q1FY26 our revenue grew by 6% year on year to INR rupee 529 crore compared to INR 501 crore in Q1ASY25. Gross profit for the quarter stood at rupee 286 crore and gross profit margin at 54%. During the quarter employee cost and other expenses increased primarily due to the new grassware facility in Salah Ebitda. Margin for the quarter was at 24%.
Spread for the quarter came in rupees 76 crore to a margin of 14%. Our revenue mix for the quarter comprised 69% from the consumer repair segment, 14% from the lighting instrument and balanced 17% from the quality chain and Allied product. Among these, Lighting Instrument delivered the highest gross profit margin at 59% followed by consumerware at 56% and model condition allied products at 41%. General tape stays the largest revenue contributor at 75.8% followed by growth growing share from the online segment at 10.4, bottle trade and export and debit 5.4 and 8.4 respectively. With this I would like to open the session for question and answers.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you very much sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and one on their Touchstone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press Star and two participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We have our first question from the line of Jay Doshi from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Jaykumar Doshi
Hi, good morning. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is could you call out the revenue contribution of glassware business and more importantly, what’s the drag on profitability in this quarter which will help us appreciate the margins of rest of the business better.
Gaurav Rathod
Jay, can you hear me?
Jaykumar Doshi
Yes, I can. Hi Koros.
Gaurav Rathod
Sojay. Basically in the glassware segment it’s still in the negative. So there is a loss in the quarter for that particular segment which has dragged the profitability little bit but which was expected as I had mentioned that this year we are building capacity and we are at about 65% efficiencies at this point of time which ideally we would want it to be about at 85% which will happen over the course of the year which will definitely reduce our cost of production. Having said that, basically the drop has been primarily in this segment and the revenue growth has been there.
So I think this will continue for this couple of quarters before which we break even for the year. So the idea is that we have to be breaking even by the end of the year in this particular segment which we anticipate we will be able to do given reducing cost and rising revenue trends in this particular segment. But overall, yes, it will be a drag on profitability by a percentage point also for this entire year.
Jaykumar Doshi
So Gaurav, what are you not able to sort of understand is that 150 basis point decline in profitability was expected from glassware but this quarter it dropped 525 basis point at EBITDA margin level. So is there additional pressure over and above the drag from glassware in the core business that we should be aware about?
Gaurav Rathod
Right, right. So I think there has been a lot of margin pressure as well due to the demand pressure and the sales revenue pressures. So overall demand has been slow and that is why skill promotion activities has increased in terms of schemes and some discounts. So I think from that perspective, and we have not been able to raise prices. So our energy costs, if you see, have gone up for the year because there was a rate change in demand, specifically where the energy rate went up, the wages have gone up as well. But we are not able to increase prices from last year because of the environment.
And I think that has also contributed to that margin decline also coupled with because there is a degrowth in the instrument segment. The costs have still remained the same though revenue has gone down, the fixed costs have eaten up some bit of profitability there itself. So I think overall, as the revenue comes back on track, which should be growing a little faster than what we anticipated this quarter, this should mitigate. And of course Essex Seasons, these are biggest jump in because the product mix kind of changes a little bit. So we have better or higher or premium now gifting segment products that sell, which sells better product margins.
So I think that has been the reason for the drop. You know, it increased cost and you know, we’ve not been able to pass that in the market. That is our major reason for this quarter.
Jaykumar Doshi
Sure. Thank you. And last one is on writing instruments now after a week, FY20, we thought it will be back to growth this year, but it has again started with 10% plus decline in 1Q. So could you give us some outlook for what should we expect for rest of the year? And basically is this domestic pressure in domestic business or exports or both? Again, some color on the outlook for exports as well as domestic for that segment. That’s it from my side. Thank you. Thank you.
Gaurav Rathod
So I think in the writing instrument segment, yes, it’s been disappointing. We would like to be ideally growing this segment at about 10% year on year, but it has been challenging. From the export side of things, we have had more of a challenge coupled with domestic demand also not growing much, the industry also overall, if you look at only the pen segment, which we are majorly in, though we have introduced newer products but they still haven’t gained that much traction. So I think from the pen front it has been lackluster. But having said that, end of June, some parts of July have seen a decent fraction.
So we are still hopeful though for the rest of the year we’ll see how it goes in terms of export demand specifically. And also we are trying to gain more market share in the domestic side of things. It’s not been easy and it’s not a. We started spending some money on advertisement here also because being slightly newer brand it is at a certain level it grew but now we’ll have to put in a lot more effort to grow this further. So which we are committed to do and hopefully we grow at least this year by a little bit.
Jaykumar Doshi
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have our next question from the liner Praveen Sahai from Prabhu Das Leelagar Capital. Please go ahead.
Praveen Sahay
Yeah, thank you for opportunity. My first question is related to your guidance the last quarter what we had given related to the growth of you know, consumer wear business which is quite a higher like a 17, 18%. So where it holds right now I.
Gaurav Rathod
Think see this quarter again as I said a few things did not work. For example, the hydration season as I said was not very good. Plus on the steel slab business which we are starting to going to start producing from November, December that bit. So we saw some stock outs in those kind of product lines which also did not help. Right. So I think overall, yes from a company perspective we still died for about 12 to 15% overall. Given that the glassware business is growing pretty well also the consumer side of things we still see a decent traction.
It’s been dragged down by writing instruments and the furniture business. But the consumer business still remains healthy and it remains on the growth path.
Praveen Sahay
Okay, second question related again to the margin front, sir. So whether they say employee expenses increase or you know, the other expenses, it’s all because of your, you know, the glass business where you ventured out.
Gaurav Rathod
So employees majorly due to the glasses because the, because we started manufacturing so we employed new people. So I think that is just because of that reason. Other expenses, as I said, case promotion expenses for the quarter has increased due to sales pressures because it’s been a tough quarter overall. So a lot more discounts, a lot more skis have been passed on and which and you know, ideally every year we kind of raise prices in April but unfortunately we were unable to do that this year given that there was very aggressive pricing by a lot of competition for this quarter to try to gain traction in sales.
So I think from that perspective is where we see a slightly different margin which a little bit we would of course cover over the period of the year.
Praveen Sahay
Okay, next question is related to the furniture Business last two quarters we have seen the gross margin contraction continue. So where you will see this gross margin of a furniture business to settle.
Gaurav Rathod
So I think the gross margin has been because of the product mix. It keeps changing a little bit throughout the year. It depends on what product sales during the year. So I think it remains flat. There will be no expansion in the margin. But overall, you know, as the product mix changes throughout the year this will stabilize at a flat margin of last year. So I think going forth in the furniture category, as we have already mentioned that we are in the premiumization path. So once those synergies also click in, though it grows slowly, it doesn’t grow by 10, 15%.
The premium segment grows by a percentage point every year or a couple of percentage points. That keeps adding to the gross margins as well. So I think it should be stable as per last year as us.
Praveen Sahay
Okay. And do you see that you’re writing export business to improve in the next nine months?
Gaurav Rathod
Yes, it is because I think July for us was decent and we hope it should continue that the overall growth trend should continue. We have a good pipeline of orders and now things seem a little better also you know, after the Middle east war has now is almost over so the trade routes are now pretty open. There are no shipping delays. So I think that should definitely help the business.
Praveen Sahay
And this majorly coming from where?
Gaurav Rathod
Majorly it’s still Middle East, Russia, you know, Latvia and a little bit is from the US we will not be much hit by the tariffs though because the orders are still in place and limited.
Praveen Sahay
Okay. Lastly sir, Capex for this financial year.
Gaurav Rathod
The capex for this financial year is majorly going to be the steel flood which is in the tune of about 40 to 50 crores which is the new Capex which is going to happen and otherwise it’s just maintenance Capex. So it will be around 50, 60 crore rupees. So about 100 crores for the year.
Praveen Sahay
Thank you sir and all the best. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have our next question from line off Lakshmi Narayan from Tunga Investments. Please go ahead.
Lakshminarayanan K G
Thank you. Do you actually give the breakup of. The consumer wear into Nasware, openware and the hydration?
Gaurav Rathod
No, we actually report only consumer vetigas. We do not do a breakup.
Lakshminarayanan K G
Got it. And in terms of your distribution, do you actually give the distribution mix for consumerware? Like I mean how much is modern trade? How much is general trade?
Gaurav Rathod
Yeah, we can definitely share those numbers with you. Currently, you know, in front of me I’m only having the numbers for the Entire company. But it’s. So just to give you an idea, it is of course online in the consumer segment is the highest because the stationery and the furniture business is almost very limited. So I guess if you look at the numbers, it’ll be like about a couple of percentage points here and there. And exports majorly comes from our stationary business. So for a detailed makeup, of course we can share that with you anytime.
Lakshminarayanan K G
And how seasonal is your consumerware business? Is it high on Q2 and then low on Q4? Can you just give some thoughts on that?
Gaurav Rathod
Yes. Consumerware business typically picks up in Q2, so festive season for consumer business is slightly larger. So it’s about 1.2x or 1.3x of a normal month sale. So it definitely is slightly on the higher side, which is Q2 immediately.
Lakshminarayanan K G
And how has been your distribution expansion in consumer wear?
Gaurav Rathod
So I think distribution wise we have purpose being present all over India. So we do have a Pan India presence. Overall, it is more. Deeper penetration is what we are looking at. And deeper penetration comes from opening new retail outlets or going or are people visiting more outlets, which unfortunately in India is not rising at this point of time. So the number of outlets for us is still remaining the same. But what we are seeing is more shelf space on those same outlets is what we are gaining. And of course the other channels of sale which is online quick commerce has seen good traction for us.
So I think going forth, general trade will be of slower growth overall compared to the other channels of growth which is online and quick commerce kind of channels.
Lakshminarayanan K G
Got it. And how are you handling the channel conflict with respect to online in the consumer?
Gaurav Rathod
So we typically try to differentiate the products on each platform. You know, because of the wide area of product lines that we have, we do about almost 17,000 SKUs. So we are able to play around with, you know, a little bit of product mix is different for different channels. And also the end product is slightly differentiated as much as possible. Of course, not 100% but about 60, 70% of our portfolio is a differentiated product itself. And now we have a strategy to kind of make for E commerce. So I think now that has completely changed.
In the past we used to make for general trade and sell on E commerce, but now it’s made specifically for E commerce. So I think that from a mindset, change has also happened within the company.
Lakshminarayanan K G
Got it. I’ll get back in queues.
Gaurav Rathod
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have a next question from Lino. Percy Pentaki from IFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Percy Panthaki
Hi sir, so last year you had given some data about the new plant. That 20 crore of sale has come from the new plant out of which 10 crore was import substitution. So can you give the similar figures for this quarter please?
Gaurav Rathod
So about we are around about 15 to 16 crores came again from, you know, from our sales from our factory. And the rest were still, you know, traded items which will further go down. So about 60% now is the factory product line and about 40% is the import product line which will, which will keep, the ratio will be changing. They’ll keep going down.
Percy Panthaki
Understood. And, and the new plant, what was the sales from the new plant this quarter? 15, 16 crore.
Gaurav Rathod
Yes, yes, yes. So about about a 5, 5, 5 and a half crore average sale.
Percy Panthaki
So why is it lower than Q4? Q4 you had done 20 crore of sales from the new plant.
Gaurav Rathod
Yeah, but normally the first quarter is always slightly weaker. It is always going to start from the second. Third quarter is stronger demand trends. So the first quarter will always be a little subdued for the glassware category.
Percy Panthaki
I understand that would be the case normally. But like we are starting from almost scratch. So that should not be affected by seasonality, the ramp up because we are like significantly below the capacity of the plant right now.
Gaurav Rathod
What happens is basically what kind of product line sell is also important. So say there was a surgeon, say bottle demand. The bottles do much better, which is a traded item for us. It’s not a manufactured item. So those kind of items you pick up. So the overall sales still grows. But some of the sales that, you know, the product mix that we are making has not grown in this quarter which again this is the next few quarters that we grow in. So because we had started also you have to realize that we started the last quarter so it was a launch.
So the product has just gone into the market. So now it is repeat demands also. Understood.
Percy Panthaki
Understood. So how do we think about the total top line from this new plant for the full year basis?
Gaurav Rathod
For the full year basis we are anticipating about 110 to 120 crore of sales and which is at the current capacity levels that we are producing, we will have sold out about 65 to 70% of our capacity. Because of course our capacity expansion will happen over a period of time or the efficiency gains will happen over a period of time. So by next year we will produce about a lot more. But currently what we produce, we will sell about 30% of it.
Percy Panthaki
Understood. So the sale for this new plant at full capacity, that works out to how much?
Gaurav Rathod
About 200 crore, roughly 200 to 200. It depends again on the product mix. But it anywhere starts from about 200 to 250. So when I say 250 it’s because of value additions. So we say we do a little printing on it. We do some, you know, colored glasses and all of that. So that will add, you know, more in terms of the revenue.
Percy Panthaki
So do we reach that 200 crore level FY27 or it might be one more year for that.
Gaurav Rathod
I think 27. I think 27. We should definitely reach that.
Percy Panthaki
Got it. My second question is on the total company EBITDA margin. So earlier you had said that they might dip by about 150bps yoy on account of the glassware plant. But now you mentioned that there are some other costs also which are inflating. So how do we look at the company level EBITDA margin for this year?
Gaurav Rathod
I think for this year you should look at EBITDA margin of around 23 odd percent for the entire year. Could be better. But I think given the environment and given that there is too much aggression by a lot of players in the market, we are, you know, hoping to end this year at about 23% EBITDA.
Percy Panthaki
Okay, so overall basis, 12 to 15% top line and 23% EBITDA margin. Got it? Got it. Thank you. That’s all for me.
Percy Panthaki
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have our next question from Lino Achel Lohade from Newama Institutional Equity. Please go ahead.
Achalkumar Lohade
Yeah, good morning. Thank you for the opportunity. First question I have is if you could give some sense about what is the revenue and the, you know, EBITDA level loss for the new plant.
Gaurav Rathod
So EBITDA level loss, we don’t put it here. If you, if you need that information, we share it to you, you know, a little later.
Achalkumar Lohade
Right. And revenue, you said it’s 15, 16 crores from the new factory.
Gaurav Rathod
Correct. From the new, new facility.
Achalkumar Lohade
Right. The second question I had, if we look at the gross margins for the houseware, for the consumer wear, right. It was 55% in 1Q25 and it is 56.2. So ideally with the in house manufacturing of the glassware, the margin should have expanded. So if you could give some better sense about how do we see this margin, gross margin for the consumerware.
Gaurav Rathod
Since it is the beginning of a facility, the costs are a little higher and also the efficiencies are lower at this particular point in time. So glassware is going to be, as I said, it’s going to be because once we started the plant, it’s a 10 year story. So the idea is that we are of course ramping up production, ramping up new products as well. So as and how we improve efficiencies, cut costs and increase revenue, you will start seeing those numbers ticking in terms of profitability.
Achalkumar Lohade
Right. So I think Gaurav, you mentioning from a EBITDA perspective at the gross margin is there in the case of heavy discounting, because we are still trading in the channel with our brand, our product and hence the margin improvement is less than what we were earlier expecting at the gross profit level, which is realization and the raw material cost.
Gaurav Rathod
Absolutely. Because I think. I think there has been margin pressures definitely for this quarter.
Achalkumar Lohade
Got it. Another question I had, you know, in terms of the demand scenario, you mentioned in a passing remark that things have improved in the month of July. Have I understood? Right.
Gaurav Rathod
Yeah. So we are seeing good traction in month of July for all categories. Basically. That’s what I mentioned.
Achalkumar Lohade
Across categories.
Gaurav Rathod
Right, across categories.
Achalkumar Lohade
And in terms of the channel inventories, how are these channel inventories as we speak? Because I presume earlier we had a challenge with respect to higher inventories in the channel. And what is the situation now? Has it normalized or it still continues to remain high?
Gaurav Rathod
I think it’s better than before. I wouldn’t say it’s the best because again, you know, we saw great quarter last March for consumers specifically. But again, having slowed down demand this quarter, again in terms of the secondaries also, there would be a certain amount of inventory, but it’s still much better than what it was last year, that’s for sure. So it has been an improving trend because. And we see that in our collections also. So our collections have been better for the quarter.
Achalkumar Lohade
Right. How do you see the competition? Because we see numerous brands actually also getting into our categories. So does that mean that in terms of the margins, we have kind of peaked in terms of margins and from here on you will have either. You will have to sacrifice margins or growth.
Gaurav Rathod
I think for certain categories we have peaked and we will now have to innovate and probably expand into other channels of growth because as I said, we are not seeing very great demand in those general trade channels. So our other channels will of course be the growth drivers for the next few maybe years. And of course, as I said, we are now looking at consolidating our portfolio, which I had mentioned in the last call as well, in terms of the product so that we control our inventory better. Second point is that of course we’ll Also be we are having a sharp eye on cost as well and we would like to cut costs as well so that we still maintain our margins.
So from the cost perspective also we will see certain things that we are focusing on, which is probably employee cost is one of them. You know, our promotional strategies is another one where, you know, we will try to save as much this year so that, you know, we still end up at a good EBITDA level.
Achalkumar Lohade
Understood. And last question, with respect to the acquisition, anything on that front, can we expect in one, two quarters or it is still some time away?
Gaurav Rathod
No. So in terms of what acquisition? Sorry, no.
Achalkumar Lohade
As in the, you know, looking at different companies from a acquisition perspective, you are. Because last, if I, if I remember right, in the last quarter you had said, you know, earlier we were evaluating certain acquisition and it is off the table now.
Gaurav Rathod
Yes, yes. So it was definitely off the table. So there is nothing on the table at this point of time in terms of any acquisitions. So last time, as I mentioned, we had done some due diligence of the target entity. We were not satisfied. And that is why, you know, that it was off the table. But there is no new entity as such that we’re looking at.
Achalkumar Lohade
Got it. And just one more question, if I may, with respect to the electrical appliances, any thoughts on the same, like how soon can we expect and what kind of spend you will require to get into that particular category?
Gaurav Rathod
So we are present in that category, though our focus has never been to expand it in a very big way because though it is a good market in terms of revenue, the margins there have eroded a lot for all people. It’s a very cluttered category for us that is a supplementary category because we are going into the same retail outlet. So it just occupies more shelf space for us. It’s not a category driver. It is more going to be a supplementary product and we sell it at our price. If we start selling at prices which other competitors are doing by cutting quality, we don’t wish to do that.
And we wish to grow this at about 15, 20% year on year, kind of staggered and slowly, you know, give out good products. So I think, I think our strategy in this category is very clear. It’s not about, you know, a lot of, you know, disruptive growth.
Achalkumar Lohade
Right. Understood. Thank you and wish you all the best. Thank you.
Gaurav Rathod
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have our next question from Lionel Bharat Gyani from Control Money Control Pro. Please go ahead.
Bharat Gianani
Yes, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, first question you said the exposure. I just wanted to Get a sense of overall exposure to the United States. What would be that as a percentage of writing instruments, I presume that it’s mostly export is on the writing instrument site. So just wanted to get a sense of what’s the exposure to the United States.
Gaurav Rathod
I think it’s not a lot. It’s about 5 to 7% of our export sales is the United States. So we don’t have major reliance on them. And currently we have not seen any cut in orders or any of that sort at this particular point in time. So I don’t think it really affects us much.
Bharat Gianani
Okay. Yeah, next question from my side is that in quarter one we have seen 6% growth and probably lower than what we would expect. And for the full year you’re guiding 12 to 15% growth. So probably in your view nine months should see a very healthy double digit kind of a growth. So just wanted to check on like what factors you are banking on to have a double digit growth, strong double digit growth for a nine month period. So is it the. Are you expecting the market to rebound in a much better manner or is any company specific intervention that you expect will drive this kind of a growth? So that would be next.
Gaurav Rathod
So I think one is of course the glass side category which is going to add new revenue. So that is definitely going to drive growth. Secondly, overall the next couple of quarters because of the festive season as well normally we’ve seen that things improve drastically and we’ve already started seeing signs of that. So I think, you know, of course consumerware from that perspective will be the highest growth lever, you know, and then we would of course by the end of the year still going to grow a little bit in the, in the stationery segment also which kind of degrews its quarter.
So I think having both of these perform at a decent level would definitely make us reach that 12 to 15% kind of growth platform.
Bharat Gianani
Okay sir, and so last question from my side. So I mean you said in your earlier comment that in some of the categories the margins have kind of peaked in the consumer space. So I understand this year the margin pressure is there because the glassware facility we have just kind of started and it would be loss making until the end of the quarter four and there has been pressure on the writing instrument side and furniture business has also not performed well. So in FY27 probably should we kind of pencil in that the margin would come back to the trajectory it earlier used to be like say FY 2425 levels or is that a different take on that.
Gaurav Rathod
I think of course that will require a lot of intervention from our side and hopefully demand also surges. Then everyone sells in a good market. When the market is cycling, everyone tries to sell and there is margin pressure. So overall that is to be seen. I don’t want to project anything for the future because I really don’t know. It will have to. From our end, what we can do is we can change the product mix a little bit, start introducing more premium products, start introducing more margins which can give us better margins, products like that and which we have always been working on.
Of course, as I said that we are also having a sharp eye on cutting costs at different level as well. So that will also kind of help in terms of, you know, helping with the margin to come back a little bit. But overall for the year also, I think it would not be this bad. It will somewhere stabilize at about 23 to 23.5% of EBITDA margin and which in the next year or so, you know, by interventions it can happen. So there is nothing but yes, of course there’s a lot of work to be done for that.
Bharat Gianani
Okay, great, sir. Thanks and all the best.
Gaurav Rathod
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have our next question from line of Suman Kumar from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Sumant Kumar
Yeah, so in this quarter in writing instrument we have seen a 12% growth. So can you talk on how is the domestic market and as well as export, is it because of the realization degrowth, because of correction environmental prices or volume degrowth also?
Gaurav Rathod
I think it is volume degrowth also and also a little bit of value regrowth. But the idea is that overall, yes, domestic kind of was still, you know, almost flattish and major degrowth was still exports. So I think domestic is also in line, you know, because we are majorly in the fence sector. We are not into the art crafts and other segments. Though we have introduced them, they still not gain traction. So I think that is the reason why you see the degrowth in this.
Sumant Kumar
Segment and in domestic market. I have seen our competitor is doing good and shown good numbers and they have launched and they are doing good in 5 degrees spin segment also. So how is the competitive intensity and what are the key steps and we are taking to combat the challenges?
Gaurav Rathod
Of course the competitive environment is intensifying in this category. There is no doubt about that. But having said that, the major growth for all these players have come from art crafts and stationary product lines, which we have still not seen a uptick in. So if you look at purely the pen segment for all these guys, it’s very limited. So the idea is that of course by more product introduction covering more and more geography or more and more outlets. We have covered geography, but more and more outlets is the way to go in the market. So for as I said, slightly lesser known brand still and in an environment like this, it’s more challenging for a lesser known brand to grow faster.
But we are taking all measures to grow this as fast as possible. And also as export comes back, you know, we should still start seeing better.
Sumant Kumar
Numbers and export market changing global scenario. How you think about export business, say Russia, we have exposure, we have also exposure in UK and other European countries. So in this scenario, how it is and in the going forward, any changes and also UK fta how it is going to benefit anything else?
Gaurav Rathod
UK we really don’t have too much exposure to. So I think UK will not. There’ll be not much of a benefit. But overall, if you see, you know, right now things are okay, you know, all shipping routes or you know, demand everywhere is all right. So I don’t see anything at this particular point in time. But yeah, so it’s a very crazy world out there. I don’t know what’s going to happen, you know, in the next few months. But right now it all looks okay. It looks good.
Sumant Kumar
Okay. Thank you so much.
Gaurav Rathod
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Yeah. Next question from the line of Jaid Oshi from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Jaykumar Doshi
Yeah, hi, thanks for the opportunity. Again. Just a follow up question and a clarification on your margin guidance. Now when we look at the presentation, you know EBITDA margin in the presentation is computed. You know, it include ebitda, includes other income and the denominator only includes operating revenues. So FY25 was 26%. Whereas the street has a different way to look at it, looks at it in a different way. We look at operating EBITDA. So are you indicating or guiding for a 300 basis point yui decline? So what was 26 for you in FY25 will be 23 or so in FY26. Is that right? Understand it.
Gaurav Rathod
That is right. That is right. So 23 would be what we are projecting given, you know, the intensifying competition in some of the categories is what we would like to do better. 100% and hopefully we will. But you know, given what the situation is right now, that is what we are writing.
Jaykumar Doshi
Yeah, that’s great. Thank you so much. That’s it for my slide.
operator
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Karan Batavia from Asian Market Securities. Please go ahead. Hi.
Karan Bhatelia
Am I audible?
Gaurav Rathod
Yes.
Karan Bhatelia
Yeah, yeah. Hi, Gaurav. Just wanted to understand the capacity utilization on our no expanded capacities. So can you help me out with that?
Gaurav Rathod
So Opalware, we are at about 80, 85% of utilization and we have about 15% capacities that are yet to fill. So I think, yeah, that’s pretty much what Opalware stands at.
Karan Bhatelia
And how do we understand the pricing scenario and the margins compared to a yoy basis?
Gaurav Rathod
I think again, Opal well has also seen different margins as all other categories as well, primarily because our energy costs have gone up, our wages and salaries have gone up. But again, we are not able to increase price. So I think that is the reason why Opalware has also seen a little dip. And Opalware is one segment that will, in this year at least will have margin pressure because. Because there’s new people entering this segment as well. So I guess the competition is going to be a little intensified.
Karan Bhatelia
Right, right. And on the writing stationary part, we mentioned about expanding the other stationary wear and art category. While during the IPO days, we also mentioned a very strong addition to the channel partners on a Pan India basis because there was a lot of headroom for growth. So where do we stand now and how do we see this portfolio two years down the line?
Gaurav Rathod
So I think we have expanded in terms of geography, but we have not seen those kind of growth from this channel. Right. So overall and that time also, the growth in the first two, three years was very good, as I said, because the environment was also very conducive. Currently, you know, it doesn’t look like that. But having said that, you know, we are trying our best in terms of, you know, the other stationary products that we’ve introduced to kind of have an uptick there because we’ve still not seen that coming. Though the products have been launched, a lot of them have been launched.
And even this quarter we launched mechanical pencils, which was a new product for us. So that also I have still not seen the, the kind of volume that we would like to see. So I think having said that, I think about, you know, though we were, we’ve already been guiding about 10% or increase every year. You know, we will have to see this, you know, next couple of quarters. How things perform though July seemed decent and had good traction for this category. So we see how it goes in the next couple of quarters and then probably we’ll have a better idea on things.
Karan Bhatelia
Right. And on this 50 crores of capex on flask. What could be the asset turns and the margin profile? You know, at peak, is it better than the other consumerware category or better than glass opal? So how do we read through?
Gaurav Rathod
Yeah, of course. So I think steel flask as a category would be about 5×5 times at the turn is what we’re looking at in this category. Glassware is very different. Glassware is one is to one. But all our other consumer wear categories, including our plastic houseware is about almost 7 times asset turn. So these are 5 to 7 times asset turn kind of product lines.
Karan Bhatelia
And just to continue on this, can we achieve peak utilization in the very first year given the fact that BIS is in place?
Gaurav Rathod
Yes. So I think 100% we should be able to achieve full utilization. But only one factor is how fast we produce good quality. Because it is not something that happens on day one. It takes a few months to get a hang of it. Because it’s not a very easy product line to just start and start selling. But initially of course maybe our wastage and other things because it’s a steel product, it would be higher. But eventually we will achieve pretty good utilization in this new facility.
Karan Bhatelia
Right. And margin profile could be in line with other consumer category or could be in line to our Opal wear.
Gaurav Rathod
I think margin would be pretty as per the other consumer wear category, not Opalware but you know, other houseware and plastic categories.
Karan Bhatelia
All right, thank you. That is. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Ashok Shah from Eclip Invesco family office. Please go ahead.
Ashok Shah
Please go ahead. Thanks for taking my questions and very best wishes for future. So my questions relates to the our another business furniture business which is in subsidiary and also listed there. We have shown very good results with other income. But other income is not elaborated in the north. So can you explain it’s 100 increase?
Gaurav Rathod
Sorry, I didn’t get your question.
Ashok Shah
No, my question is regarding Vin Plus Limited which is our other business in the 55% subsidiary where the our profit has increased and everything has increased. But this is due to the other income. But other income there is no footnote is given what is the other income which has been arrived?
Gaurav Rathod
Other income is invested income which is basically investment in, you know, financial instruments. So other income is only derived from. That and that’s it. There is no other reason for the other income.
Ashok Shah
So it’s 100% increase. So if the footnote not is given, it will be much better in next from next quarter
Gaurav Rathod
you will have the. Balance sheet Next you Know quarter anyways. So you will be able to see that.
Ashok Shah
Okay. Secondly, are there any plan to merge it and what’s your plan? Because there was some news that merchant is going to happen with our subsidiary in the parent company.
Gaurav Rathod
It is already out there. We are merging it and we are almost through with it. So another couple of months and we are the merger will happen.
Ashok Shah
So what would be the ratio? Say it is a complicated merger.
Gaurav Rathod
It’s not a complicated merger. It is just we needed some, you know, permissions from Sebi and I think that’s already come and now we’re in the phase of merging.
Ashok Shah
So how many shapes of the cello only would be allotted?
Gaurav Rathod
It’s I think already in stock ratio. Yeah, they already point 86.
Ashok Shah
Is it said that in our market that it’s not favorable to a small shareholder of the 40% of the wing class limited compared to the financial so of the seller world.
Gaurav Rathod
So it will be beneficial to all actually.
Ashok Shah
Okay. Okay sir, thanks for. Sir, thank you. But that’s all from my side.
operator
Thank you. We have our next question from the lineup. Sukrit Bajan from Eyesight Pintrade. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Yes, sir. Good morning to the fellow team. Just to follow up on the previous quarter. In last quarter you have spoken about expanding your product range and deepening your consumer network. As you look ahead, what is the boldest move that you are planning to grow? Celo especially if consumer habits or retail channels are changing fast. And how are you preparing for things that may not go ahead as planned? I mean talking with in you with the previous campaign her salute.
Gaurav Rathod
So I think basically as we see channel changes and see different channels growing and some channels not growing so fast, we are launching products as per the channel. So as I mentioned that in the E commerce world now things are looked at differently on each platform, say an Amazon or a Flipkart, there are different kind of customers for each platform. So we look at it from that lens and we launch products from that lens and some of our products are basically just E commerce first and then they go offline. So I think that entire bit has changed within the company and that’s how we have started approaching our product lines as well as for channels.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. Also just to close the loop, is Telo thinking of going for any smart partnerships in the coming coming years to boost business growth?
Gaurav Rathod
What do you mean by smart partnerships?
Unidentified Participant
Would you be tying up with any other E E commerce platforms other than Amazon or Flipkart or you know, going for any local brands?
Gaurav Rathod
So I think we are already you know, the quick commerce also we have started and I think whatever new comes in, we’ll of course partner with all of those platforms. So we’ll not leave any, you know, stone unturned there. So we will be on all platforms.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of concern. Joshi from SKSM Retail, please go ahead. Are you there?
Unidentified Participant
Hello, can you hear me?
Gaurav Rathod
Yes, yes, absolutely.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah. Gaurav, first of all, congratulations to the whole team. Because all of us are aware about how the current market conditions are. I’m here to ask you more from a long term trajectory how I see the Celo will be growing in India. So how excited are you looking from a five to ten year story? Because I understand glassware is definitely one of the area where you have a big thing to achieve in the market. Is there any other segment which you are discovering based on the changes in the consumer habit which you feel that could be a growth engine and it could be a synergy for us also?
Gaurav Rathod
I think that’s because we are always very excited about all the categories we are in. Plus we are always looking at synergetic categories. Four years back, we would have never thought about glassware. We thought about it because we had Synergic. It made sense to make it in India because no one was doing it. So I think, you know, going forward you should always look at Celo as a company that will keep getting into different things as well. Because, you know, there are a lot of things in India. A lot of things become very commoditized very soon.
So you have to get out of things and you have to get into newer things. So I think that perspective we have always carried and of course some of our core businesses will always remain where the brand is extremely strong. But we keep venturing into newer horizontal categories as the years pass by and as the opportunities come. Currently there is not much. I think there is a lot on our plate at this point of time with the glass plant, with newer channels of sales, which are becoming very disruptive. So I think there is a lot of stuff that we can still do with what we have.
And eventually, yes, we will keep entering different segments because in India, after a certain point, every vertical becomes very saturated very quickly because either there are too many players or there is saturation in terms of consumer demand. So I think as a company we are always looking at, you know, growing into different verticals.
Unidentified Participant
No, that is completely true. And I hope that brings value to the shareholder also because it has almost been one in two years. And I understand, like, we are currently in the expansion mode, and that’s why we are feeling the heat and hoping and wish you all the best for the turnaround happening in the upcoming time.
Gaurav Rathod
Great. Thank you so much.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you.
operator
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That would be the last question for today, and I now hand the conference over to the manager for closing comments.
Gaurav Rathod
Thank you very much, everyone. Great questions this time, and hopefully we’ll have great quarters coming up. So thank you so much and thanks for all the support that you guys have always extended. Thank you.
operator
Thank you, sir. On behalf of ICICI securities and CELO World, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.