Indo Count Industries Limited (NSE: ICIL) Q3 2025 Earnings Call dated Feb. 12, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Mohit Jain — Executive Vice Chairman
K. Muralidharan — Group Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Jatin Damania — Analyst
Palash Kawale — Analyst
Surya Narayan Nayak — Analyst
Narendra Khuthia — Analyst
Vikram Suryavanshi — Analyst
Prerna Jhunjhunwala — Analyst
Raman KV — Analyst
Sneha Jain — Analyst
Anant — Analyst
Pankaj Bobade — Analyst
Amit Kumar — Analyst
Sandeep Ved — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q3 and Nine-Month FY ’25 Earnings Conference Call of Indo Count Industries Limited.
This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions and expectations of the company as on the date of this call. These statements are not the guarantee of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict.
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 this conference, please signal an operator by pressing star and then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Mohit Jain, Executive Vice-Chairman, Indo Count Industries Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Mohit Jain — Executive Vice Chairman
Thank you. Good afternoon and a warm welcome to all of you joining us for the Indo Count Industries Limited Q3 and nine months FY ’25 earnings call.
I’m also joined by our Group CFO, Mr. Muralidharan; and Strategic Growth Advisors, our Investor Relations Advisor. We hope you’ve had the chance to review the financial results and investor presentation available on the stock exchange and on our company website.
Before we dwell into industry and our performance highlights for the quarter, I want to begin with a significant update in our leadership team, one that reinforces our commitment to building a stronger future-ready Indo Indo Count. At the corporate-level, we are pleased to announce the elevation of Mr. K. Muralidharan to Group CFO. He has been associated with the Indo Count Group for close to three decades, has recently played a key role in our strategic acquisitions of GHCL Home Textile division, the brand, Flu Vitex USA and Modern Home Textiles. With multiple new investments underway, he will now spearhead financial strategy, capital allocation and performance management across the Group.
To fortify our finance team, we welcome Mr. Manish Bhatia as our CFO, a seasoned financial professional and a chartered accountant. Mr. Bhatia brings with him over three decades of expertise across accounting, taxation, audit, legal and financial management. He has served as Group CFO at Trident Limited and healthy leadership positions at Prism Johnson Limited and Apollo Tires Limited. We strongly believe Mr. Bhatia’s presence at-will strengthen the finance, commercial and accounting functions.
For our US operations, we are excited to welcome Mr. Chris as CEO, US Operations. With over 40 years of experience in the home textile industry, Chris is a visionary leader known for driving innovation, growth and strong industry relationships. In his career, he is known to have leveraged his expertise in merchandising, global sourcing, product development and market strategy to expand the product portfolio and customer-base. His leadership will be invaluable as we expand our presence in the US market. Additionally, we have strengthened the senior management team with key hires across business functions in the United States. These strategic appointments reaffirm our commitment to building a world-class leadership team and ensuring Indo Count is well-positioned for its next phase of growth.
Coming to industry performance. The textile industry continues to navigate with momentum. During Q3 FY ’25, US retail sales have shown strong growth fueled by holiday spending, reinforcing marketing — market confidence. On the supply-chain front, while elevated freight costs have had a marginal impact on profitability, we are actively implementing strategic measures to mitigate these challenges and sustain operational efficiency. Meanwhile, in the domestic market, the outlook remains encouraging. Also, the resumption of India-UK FDA discussions signals potential opportunities for the sector, fostering optimism for trade expansion. Additionally, the government’s cotton productivity mission announced in the recent budget is a crucial step towards enhancing cotton yield, sustainability and fiber quality, particularly for long staple — extra long staple cotton, further strengthening the industry’s foundation. Lastly, the China Plus One strategy continues to drive growth, positioning India as a key player in the global textiles. Given these developments, we remain optimistic about India’s growth trajectory and are committed to capitalizing on emerging opportunities.
Now coming to our quarterly performance. I’m pleased to share that Indo Count has delivered a strong performance despite challenging market conditions with revenue growing by 61% and profit-after-tax increasing by 30% in Q3 FY ’25, demonstrating our strategic execution and market outperformance. We are happy to inform that our core bedding business remains on a steady growth path, targeting approximately 110 million meters for FY ’25 out-of-the total 153 million meter capacity. With a clear strategy and disciplined execution, our core betting business operates within the guided 16% margin rate and will continue to drive performance, backed by strong momentum, we remain committed to maximizing stakeholder value.
Our recent acquisitions, FluviTex USA, Modern Home Textiles USA and new licensed brands have started contributing to revenues, achieving approximately INR100 crores in Q3. To build-on this momentum, we have made significant investments in expanding our team, reinforcing our foundation for future growth. With marketing — market positioning strategy now in-place, we are gearing up for a successful launch in Q1 FY ’26. Having invested approximately $72 million in brands and acquisitions, we anticipate an additional revenue of approximately $275 million US dollars over the next three years. The near-term investments in US will impact margins by 150 to 200 basis-points till March 26. However, these strategic moves are set to fortify our foundation for sustained long-term growth.
Now coming to our greenfield project. Continuing our Indo Count 2.0 journey, we are taking another step-in the utility bedding business. Indo Count Global East, INC, a step-down subsidiary of our wholly-owned US subsidiary is further strengthening this business with a strategic greenfield manufacturing facility in North Carolina, USA. This reinforces our commitment to deepen our presence in the US market, ensuring speed, scale and efficiency in serving our customers. The new facility will have a production capacity of 18 million pillows with a total investment of $15 million financed through 75-25 debt-to-equity structure to start with.
With a gradual rollout and revenue buildup targeted from September 2025, this facility marks a transformative leap in our global manufacturing footprint. With this addition, total US manufacturing capacity will expand to 31 million pillars and 1.5 million quilts annually. We want to reiterate that at a consolidated level, we aspire to double our revenues by 2028, driven by our core business, utility bedding and brands including our recently added licensed brands awards and recognition. I’m proud to share that Indo Count has been honored with the Home Excellence Award by HFP in New York, recognizing our exceptional growth in business expansion. It is a moment of great honor for Indo Count as our Executive Chairman, Mr. Anil Kumar Jain, has been awarded the prestigious Ratna Global Achievers Award by Texposal for his outstanding contributions to the Indian cotton textile sector. And further strengthening our commitment to sustainability, has also won recently the CII 18 National Award for excellence in water management for the year 2024. These achievements reflect our pursuit of excellence and responsibility.
That is from my side. Now, I request Mr. Muralidharan, our Group CFO, to share financial highlights of the company.
K. Muralidharan — Group Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Mr. Mohit. Good afternoon, everyone. Happy to connect with all of you once again on Q3 FY ’25 earnings call.
The financial performance, starting with volumes. For Q3 FY ’25, we achieved a sales volume growth of 42% year-on-year to 27.7 million meters. It’s important to note that last year, the same quarter was impacted on account of Sea challenges, which led to a subdued Q3 FY ’24. For nine months current financial year, our volume stood at 80.8 million meters, a growth of 18% over year-on-year. For full-year FY ’25, we will be at the lower-end of our volume guidance of 110 to 115 million meters. Total income. In Q3 FY ’25, our total income stood at INR1,168 crores, up by 61% year-on-year from INR727 crores in Q3 FY ’24.
For nine months FY ’25, our total income stood at INR3,162 crores, up by 26% year-on-year from INR2,507 crores in nine months last financial year. EBITDA. Our EBITDA for Q3 FY ’25 was INR165 crores, a growth of 40% year-on-year with an EBITDA margin of 14.2%. For nine months FY ’25, our EBITDA stood at INR485 crores, a growth of 11% year-on-year with a margin of 15.3%. In Q3 FY ’25, there was a product mix impact along with product promotions to end-to-end customers, which impacted gross margin. This will partially continue in Q4 FY ’25 as well.
Further, our upfront investments in team building resulted in profitability impact, which we believe will improve as we scale-up the US business for utility bedding business and brands. Higher shipping costs also led to higher expenses. However, this has started to rationalize in Q4. For the full-year FY ’25, we will be guided at we will be at guided EBITDA margin range of 50% to 15%.
PAT. Our PAT for Q3 FY ’25 stood at INR75 crores as against INR58 crores in Q3 FY ’24. Similarly, PAT for nine months stood at INR235 crores compared to INR246 crores in nine months FY ’24. Higher interest cost during the quarter impacted our profitability, driven by two key factors. Firstly, the absence of interest convention benefit, which was available last year, but discontinued from Q2 of FY ’25 led to higher financing expenses. Secondly, increased borrowings to support business growth and fund and fund acquisitions in the USA further contributed to the rise in the interest cost. Our EPS for Q3 FY ’25 is at 3.81 and for nine months FY ’25, it’s at 11.8 bps.
This is a roundup from my side. Now I open the floor for question-answers.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchstone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to please use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.
We have the first question from the line of Jatin Damania from Swan Investments. Please go-ahead.
Jatin Damania
Good afternoon, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, first on the opening remarks, Mr. Jain alluded that due to increase in the overall freight cost and the volatility, company has taken some initiatives in terms of the improvement in the operating efficiencies and the other sorts of things. So can you help us in details what are the initiatives that company has taken to insulate ourselves from the higher increase in the freight cost?
Mohit Jain
Yeah. Hi, Jatin. This is Mohit here. So, I mean as an organization, we are always looking at sharpening our pencil, you know and how — to see how our operations can be more efficient. So if there are increases in some other costs, we can save at other places. So my statement was a little bit generic that so across any of our facilities on the operating side, we are like trying to see how do we leverage them further, you know, to save any in cost that can go up in the future.
Jatin Damania
As far as our US operations is concerned, now with this brand acquisition, which has contributed INR100 crores of the revenue and we are targeting $275 million over next three years. So just wanted to understand how does the margin profile for that branding business will evolve?
And second thing, in the near-term as you indicated that till FY ’26, there would be an impact on overall 150 to 200 bps on the margin front. So is it fair to assume that the current level of 15% to 16% EBITDA margin that we are guiding for FY ’26 will be at the — will be at the lower than the 15% margin?
Mohit Jain
Yeah. So, for next year’s guidance, we’ll come back to you at the end of — along with our Q4 results, you know. And also at that time, we’ll be able to guide you a little bit more on how the new businesses, you know both utility betting as well as the branded business will play-out specific for next year.
From a three-year perspective, we don’t — we would expect our new businesses to be slightly higher than margins as we go-forward. But of course, there is a scale-up that is required in maturity to achieve like in any business.
Jatin Damania
So, I think for initially investment, there will be some impact on the margin, but once we’re able to scale-up time will probably get a higher, better profitability?
Mohit Jain
Absolutely. And we’ve been quite transparent in saying what the impact is as we are seeing of 150 to 200 basis-points.
Jatin Damania
Sir, last question from my end would be on the domestic market front, where — I mean, what is your total revenue contribution coming from the revenue — from the domestic market and what are the steps we are taking up to ramp-up or increase our market-share in?
Mohit Jain
Sure. So we have two brands in the domestic market. Our opening price point brand is called Layers and our aspirational brand is called Boutique. At this point of time, we are roughly at around 2.5% of our overall revenue comes from our domestic business. So although our revenue as it’s grown-up, we have — even last year we had 2.5%. So we’ve sustained the 2.5%. We have a great aspirations from our market in India. India is a growing country, growing GDP, you know, income of individuals is going on year-on-year basis. So of course, this is a — I mean, lot of effort that we are putting in as an organization to grow this business in the years to come. So this is a very-high focus area for us as a company.
Jatin Damania
Sure, sir. That’s all from my side. Thank you and all the best.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Palash Kawale from Nuvama Wealth. Please go-ahead.
Palash Kawale
Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on good set of results. Sir, my first question is again on the new acquisitions, which have contributed INR100 crores. So like could you help and throw some color on how these would be contributing in upcoming quarters, like next three or four quarters that would be helpful.
Mohit Jain
I think, Palash, we’ve been given a guidance with the new investments being done and the acquisitions done that our target is to achieve $275 million in revenue, you know. Of course, you cannot take $275 million and divide it by three each year, right? We don’t have visibility to how it will happen each year, but we are seeing a — we see each year being added on to the other one. These new facilities that we have already in Arizona and Ohio are already today as we speak, touching 50% capacity utilization. So we expect quarter-on-quarter better results from new businesses to come.
Palash Kawale
So, yeah, sir, you said that directionally the utilization should pick-up, right?
Mohit Jain
Yes. And hopefully it should grow sequentially every quarter.
Palash Kawale
Okay. Okay. That’s…
Mohit Jain
From a small base.
Palash Kawale
Yeah. That’s helpful, sir. And sir, how do you see this let’s see issue panning out now? Do you see relief or prolongs to continue or you see some disturbances again?
Mohit Jain
Honestly, we don’t have a crystal ball, but at this point of time the freight issues seem to be behind us. We see much better availability of containers across the world as well as prices of freight rates have stabilized, I would say, you know, on the lower side. So we are very hopeful that this should continue.
Palash Kawale
Okay. And sir, you are guiding for like reaching the lower-end of your guidance. So still in F — in Q4, you’ll need to reach the highest quarterly volume. So you — are you seeing a demand and shipments are there and everything is on the right path, right? [Speech Overlap] Do you see comfortability? Yeah, perhaps. Okay, okay. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
And sir, what is the debt level after the Q3?
K. Muralidharan
Q3 debt levels are around 1,200, 1300 crores overall. This is a gross debt. This is including working capital and long-term loans.
Palash Kawale
And what is the net-debt?
K. Muralidharan
That would be about INR150 crores less.
Palash Kawale
Okay. And sir, how do you see this debt levels for next year?
K. Muralidharan
Still our expansions are happening. So I think we’ll be able to address that in the Q4 when we give out the results.
Palash Kawale
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That’s it from my side. Thank you for the answer and all the best for the future — upcoming quarters.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Surya Narayan Nayak from Sunidhi Securities. Please go-ahead.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Yeah. Am I audible, sir?
Operator
You are audible, sir. You may proceed.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Okay, okay. Thank you. So sir, just to understand, just I just missed the gross debt figure, if you can clear. Hello?
K. Muralidharan
Number is around 1,300 roughly.
Surya Narayan Nayak
1,300 crores. Okay. Fine Sir, just a…
K. Muralidharan
This is on a consolidated basis, yeah.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Correct. Okay. So sir, just to understand here, so in the industry of expanding to the US market, we have done three acquisitions and we are doing also another greenfield one. So I mean, including brands, I’m saying. So will it be kind of full stop or still there will be scale more in the pipeline? What is the aspirations of the management because the leverage also is going up, although it is, I mean it is not alarming but below EBITDA, the interest portions are taking away much of the amount so that the translation from the top-line to bottom-line is not happening?
Mohit Jain
I think Surya, Mohit here. I think we have to keep in mind that all these investments have been done in the last six to nine months. So you have to give us some breathing room, right? So I think for now, we’ve announced whatever needed to be done in terms of investments and keeping in mind the top-line growth, of course, we are always looking at opportunities. So I think we have a very strong balance sheet, you know, as we move forward, but we are very, very conservative in our approach. We will take a very calculated call.
Surya Narayan Nayak
No, Mohit, only my submission is only to understand whether the acquisitions or let’s say, inorganic or organic expansions are done. That is only clarity.
Mohit Jain
Yeah. So as I said for now, for whatever we’ve guided, you know, we kind of feel in a good space. I can never say that we are done. We always are looking at opportunities, opportunities keep coming to us as an organization. So we evaluate each one of them. Of course, we are very prudent in our financial allocation of capital. And we wait, it has to be in our core business. We are very focused on the home textile side of the business. So whatever makes sense from a customer perspective to grow the business where we can get more wallet share of the customer. So, we look at businesses that way and then take those decisions. But I would say, in general for now, we are at a good space here.
Surya Narayan Nayak
And secondly, Mohit, will you be reporting the PLO is a separate section because going-forward, the revenue contribution will be closer to maybe INR2,000 crores going-forward? So, it is a substantial portion. So will you be reporting separately because the margin profile of US operation and the Indian operations will be different.
Mohit Jain
Sure. So we will come back to you on this. We will report at the revenue level, you know, but not at the unit-level.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Okay. But the margin profile of US operations will be lower at the par with the operations after the maturity level there?
Mohit Jain
And we wanted to be expected to be slightly better.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Okay. Okay. So any plan on the expansion on the Indian side after the 27th or so when we will be existing the villa the Indian operations?
Mohit Jain
Not at this point of time, we’re always evaluating, as I mentioned before.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Okay, I’ll come in the queue later. Thank you.
Mohit Jain
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and one to ask a question. We have the next question from the line of Narendra from RoboCapital. Please go-ahead.
Narendra Khuthia
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. So, sir, my first question is regarding the revenue guidance that you have of doubling the revenue in 2028. So is this including the US business or would it be 2x of the current revenue that is around INR3,800 crores plus the $275 million?
Mohit Jain
Yeah, Narendra, the revenue guidance that we’ve given as an organization is on a consolidated basis. 275 million is from our utility bedding business and the brands, you know. And then we have extrapolated our 110 million meters full capacity. And that’s how we’ve said that by 2028, we expect to double our revenue.
Narendra Khuthia
Okay, sir. Understood. And when can we see the utilization at the US greenfield facility to reach the 70%, 80% kind of a revenue utilization? Yeah.
Mohit Jain
I mean, I think we are already in 2025 and we’ve said we will do 75 million by 2028, so it’s not too far away, right?
Narendra Khuthia
Yeah. So, we’ll be doing it in the next two years after…
Mohit Jain
Two years at least.
Narendra Khuthia
Yeah. Okay. Okay, great sir. Understood. And…
Mohit Jain
Any company can expand in a new area in such a short period of time.
Narendra Khuthia
Yeah, I totally agree, totally agree. Yeah. And regarding the borrowing, sir, so are we at the peak or do we see the borrowings going up still? What could be the guidance on debt?
K. Muralidharan
Yes. I think the gross debt should remain more or less at the same level. We expect the working capital to come down a little bit, which will compensate by the increased investments we’ll be making in the greenfield. So overall, I think INR1,300 crores gross should be the same should remain.
Narendra Khuthia
Okay, sir. Got it. Got it, sir. Thank you so much and all the best, yeah.
Operator
Thank you. Participants, you may press star and one if you wish to ask questions. Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Vikram Vilas Suryavanshi from PhillipCapital India Private Limited. Please go-ahead.
Vikram Suryavanshi
Yeah, good afternoon, sir. Just to continue with the date figure, if look at if — how is the working capital in terms of inventory pressure which was there. So if can you breakup on working capital debt within that and long-term debt and comment on your working capital going-forward?
K. Muralidharan
So I think about INR1,000 crores is in the working capital, which is expected to come down still. Okay, on the long-term debt, we have about INR300 crores roughly.
Vikram Suryavanshi
Understood. And this quarter, I think there was around INR100 crores…
Operator
But your line seems to be a little muffled. If you could please change the mode on your device.
Vikram Suryavanshi
Is it okay now?
Operator
Slightly better. Please go-ahead.
Vikram Suryavanshi
Okay. Thank you. So this quarter, I think we had around INR100 crore revenue from this acquired entities in USA, but that could be because of partial revenue. So full-quarter next — in 4th-quarter would be how much approximately revenue expected from these acquired entities in USA?
Mohit Jain
It will be slightly better, but we would not be able to spell out exact numbers.
Vikram Suryavanshi
Okay. But is there any for how many months it was consolidated or added in this quarter or will it be like a full-quarter impact?
Mohit Jain
I mean, the FluviTex acquisition we did in September, the Modern Home acquisition we did mid-October. So I would say that we got 90% of the quarter benefit.
Vikram Suryavanshi
Understood. I think that’s helpful. And I think a margin here talked about, but does it also have some impact of advertising, brand promotion, which can taper down going-forward or probably that will as a percentage of sales remain same going-forward as well?
Mohit Jain
When we said the 150 basis-point to 200 basis-point lag, we’ve factored all of that in.
Vikram Suryavanshi
Okay, understood, sir. Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Prerna Jhunjhunwala from Elara Capital. Please go-ahead.
Prerna Jhunjhunwala
Thank you for the opportunity. I joined in a little late. I don’t know if this has been asked earlier. I just wanted to understand the opportunity for this utility business that we have acquired three — we’ve acquired two entities and we’re also setting up one greenfield expansion. Could you please highlight some details on the opportunity in this space? What is driving this aggressiveness in this business?
Mohit Jain
Sure, Prerna. Mohit here, I’ll take this question.
Prerna Jhunjhunwala
Thank you.
Mohit Jain
Like our sheet business, which is our core business, you know, the business size in the US, for example is between billion to INR4.5 billion in revenue at the retailer side. Similarly, utility bedding is a similar category with $4 billion to $4.5 billion in revenue. Utility bedding consists of pillows, mattress protectors, mattress pads, downhall comforters. Lot of these are very bulky products. So the freight component is extremely important. That’s how we’ve decided to go for multiple manufacturing locations, one on the West Coast, one in Midwest and the new one is in the East Coast. At Indo Count, we have a lot of feedback from our customers to increase with whatever service we’ve given them over the years, over the last 15 years or to increase the wallet share with the customers. So this is a category that we identified.
And our reason to acquire two companies were to shorten the gestation period of ramping-up the business. So we did that. And then we’ve also got some very capable team members across board, product development, sales and marketing, finance, supply-chain to able to run this business for us. So when we felt comfortable, then we’ve taken the fall on the third location, which is on the East Coast, which will start coming up and we should start seeing revenues from September of this year onwards. So that’s the premise of getting into the business. And [Speech Overlap] belief that we’ve taken the right decision.
Prerna Jhunjhunwala
And how is the profitability in this business as compared to cotton sheets business that you’ve?
Mohit Jain
As I said in both utility betting and our brands, we should do slightly better. That’s our estimate once the — once the business goes through the gestation period, we should be able to do slightly better.
Prerna Jhunjhunwala
Okay. Understood. And how do we see the cotton prices which are at very low levels currently impacting or affecting our business positively, negatively over the next six to nine months, plus how is rupee depreciation likely to impact our performance given it’s very sharp in a short period of time?
Mohit Jain
Sure. So cotton prices are at around INR55,000 to INR56,000 a candy. And of course at, we use multiple types of cotton. We import cotton, we use domestic cotton. So in our product mix, cotton prices have not made that much of a difference. So the current cotton that we had in our warehouse before the new season started will take us up to Q4. And maybe Q1 onwards, we could see some benefit in terms of domestic cotton prices that we could see that happening in Q1 because we are procuring that cotton in the month of December, January that will only get into shipments after April, May onwards to customers.
In terms of ForEx, we are 50% to 60% hedged at any point of time. So of course, our hedges, which have already been taken place are at around 550 levels, you know. So we’ll have to, of course, execute those. Nobody expected the rupee to depreciate in the last four to six-weeks, you know. But as and when we go through those hedges, it should be a benefit. But of course, we have to look at other countries around us and you know-how does a country like Bangladesh play-out, Pakistan, China. So, we have to look at it in totality and not only from an India perspective, from a competitiveness point-of-view.
Prerna Jhunjhunwala
Okay. And one last question. From the greenfield plant that you are building in, is this one is also for pillows. So all three factories are for pillows or how is the capacity divided between the three in terms of product mix?
Mohit Jain
So the plant that we’re building right now will start with only pillow manufacturing on the East Coast, which is under our company Indo Count Global East. The modern home textile facility is again with 8 million units is again a pillow facility. Both these facilities can do multiple types of pillows. There is a type of pillow called garnet pillows, shredded memory form, blow fills there different types within that. For ease, we are just calling it pillows, but the different types of products within pillows that we can manufacture. And our facility in Ohio can do both pillows as well as quills.
Prerna Jhunjhunwala
Okay, okay. And last question on geographical diversification that you’re trying to achieve over a period of time over the next three to four years, given that US for cotton sheets for sure is our market-share has surpassed 60% as a country. So where in other geographies are you seeing opportunities or is it — it will still — is it still US, which is going to give you the bulk of the growth going-forward?
Mohit Jain
So as we look at our nine-month results, our growth in rest of the world has been at the same level as the US so we’ve grown in countries across — I mean we ship to 54 countries, so right from Australia, Japan, Middle-East, Europe, UK. So all of those businesses for us is also growing. But of course, from an overall consolidated basis, once our utility betting and branded business take-off, then US will become a slightly larger share compared — but compared to other businesses. But having said that for our core business, which is sheep that we are manufacturing in India, we are growing in all the other countries also as we speak.
Prerna Jhunjhunwala
No. Thank you and all the best, sir. We’ll come back to the question queue required.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Raman KV from Sequent Investments. Please go-ahead.
Raman KV
Hello, sir. Can you hear me?
Operator
Sir, you are audible. You may proceed.
Raman KV
Yeah. Sir, what is the capex plan for this particular — this financial year?
K. Muralidharan
So, this financial year, we — apart from the normal capex, which we had estimated of about INR65 crores, we intend about another 50 crores in the new plant basically of — for USA. This is the estimate and we have of course incurred part of the expenditure. So I think against INR483 crores is the estimate which you have made.
Raman KV
INR483 crores?
K. Muralidharan
INR463 crores to be precise, INR463 crores.
Raman KV
Okay, sure. Sir. And also you said you are planning to double the revenue in two years. Sir, is it like from — are we considering this from FY ’25’s revenue like assuming we do around close to INR4,000 crores in FY ’25 so from there, you are planning to double the revenue?
Mohit Jain
Sorry, can you come with your question again, Raman?
Raman KV
Okay. My question was you — the management said they are planning to double the revenue in the next two years. So assuming the base year revenue of FY ’24 or FY ’25?
Mohit Jain
So, what we are saying is FY ’25, wherever we end, we want to double our revenue by 2028, not in two years.
Raman KV
Yeah, yeah. Okay, 2028. So, as by 2028, you aim to do INR8,000 crores of top-line?
Mohit Jain
Yes.
Raman KV
Okay. And sir, I just wanted to understand the new business which you acquired, one is the utility business and another one you said was a branded business. Can you please explain both the dynamics and market?
Mohit Jain
There are two areas of businesses that we are focusing on. One is utility bedding, which is basically pillows, schools, mattress, downhall comforter. So for that, we acquired two locations. First, we acquired a facility in Ohio in Columbus and the second, which is a company by the name of FluviTex USA. And the second one we acquired is in Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, this company by the name of Modern Home Textiles. So that’s our utility betting business.
On the branded side of the business, in April of this year — last year 2024, we acquired a brand called Wamsuita, which is Bed Bath & Beyond’s number-one brand. It’s been there from 1846 and we acquired Global trademarks and IPs for it globally. And last year, we also took the license of two other brands called FieldCrest and Globally. So, that’s our brand portfolio for now and under new brands.
Raman KV
Okay, understood. Thank you, sir.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, you may please press star and 1 if you wish to ask questions. We have the next question from the line of Sneha Jain from SKS Capital. Please go-ahead.
Sneha Jain
Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I want to build-up on the last participants question and towards the worldwide specifically, I want to talk about UK and Europe. We had a very good like sale over there. And any progress with the UK FTA that you’re talking about or I mean, are we planning to build-up our positions even there because they are good margin businesses?
Mohit Jain
Sure. So, yeah, we already have an office in Manchester and a team there with team heading at design, warehousing, all showroom, all of those capabilities. So the India-UK FDA negotiations have just resumed at the beginning of this year with a focus of finalizing this agreement as a part of UK government’s broader goal to strengthen bilateral trade between the two countries, you know. There is of course, no definitive updated update on the conclusion at this stage. So we are all hopeful that hopefully it will conclude this year and that should good be good for Indian businesses.
Sneha Jain
Okay. And any impact of the — of Bangladesh using it’s maybe some of the market-share that we’ve gained from us?
Mohit Jain
Bangladesh is a predominant apparel driven business, you know, I mean — and they play on labor arbitrage. In-home textiles, they have a smaller role to play. But yes, I mean, even with that, we see customers wanting to not come out of Bangladesh, but spread their risk slightly more across countries rather than be very focused on Bangladesh as a country.
Sneha Jain
Yeah. And so if I might have missed the — is there any impact of the dollar or anything?
Mohit Jain
No, at this point of time, as I mentioned that most of our dollars were hedged or are hedged in the short-term. And from a long-term perspective, it should be slightly helpful to the organization, keeping in mind competitiveness of other competing countries.
Sneha Jain
Got it. Thank you. That’s from my side.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Anant [Phonetic] from Mount Intra Finance. Please go-ahead.
Anant
Hi. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. I just have one question related to your greenfield expansion. I think it’s mentioned you would — a total investment of $15 million. Is this going to be annually? Is this going to be a one-time investment? How is it because on your CPD, one-side says total investment of $15 million and on another side, it says $15 million annually. So if you could just clarify that.
Mohit Jain
Anant, this investment is in our North Carolina facility out of — which will I mean, INR15 million will happen, let’s say, starting now to September of 2025. So it will happen in stages because — but between now and September is when it will take place.
Anant
But this is a total investment, right?
Mohit Jain
Sorry?
Anant
It’s not going to be — this is the total investment you’re doing?
Mohit Jain
Yes.
Anant
It’s mentioned $15 million annually, so I’m just clarifying that. But yeah, thank you.
Mohit Jain
It’s not a $15 million annually. To put up this facility, it’s a $15 million investment, which is spread over two financial years or two accounting years, whichever way you want to, call-it, you know. And that we’ll invest starting now up to September, you know. And this will get us a capacity of 18 million pillows. If tomorrow, we decide to do further capacity there, we have enough space to further expand, but that those costs will be taken much later on. So it’s the initial capex in this location.
Anant
All right. Thank you and all the best.
Mohit Jain
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pankaj from Affluent Assets. Please go-ahead.
Pankaj Bobade
Thanks for taking my question. Am I audible?
Operator
Sir, you are audible. You may proceed.
Pankaj Bobade
Well, well, sir, I have two questions. One, we are expanding heavily on in US in this specific field, I mean to say the pillows, pillow pilos and pilo covers. So where do we stand as a percentage of market-share at this moment and going-forward, what would be the situation as and when we come up with the complete facility?
And second thing, as you have guided that we will be doubling our revenues by FY ’28 or 2028. My back calculation just gives INR8,000 crores of top-line, 15% market — 15% EBITDA margins and around INR800 crores to INR900 crores of PAT. Am I assuming I mean am I on the same page as with you?
Mohit Jain
So Pankaj your first question as to you know the US is a large market with I mean this investment is complete, it should put us in the top-five players in the utility bedding business in the US for the execution…
Pankaj Bobade
I just wanted to understand whether we have very small market-share or we have two bigger market-share that it will be difficult for us to expand?
Mohit Jain
No, no, it’s a new business for us, right? So with the new business, we’ll have to — we take one-step at a time. So with this — with this capacity that we are creating now, now, we’ll be in the top-five players in this space. So it’s a reasonable capacity. It’s not too — it’s not a very small capacity nor that it is too big but directionally we are in the correct place.
In terms of your question about revenue, I think I mean directionally, whatever you said, probably your thought process is in the right direction, but you would like to leave it to that.
Pankaj Bobade
Sure, sir. Thank you. Thanks so much.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Amit Kumar from Determined Investments [Phonetic]. Please go-ahead.
Amit Kumar
Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity, sir. My question relates to Slide 6 of your presentation, so I understand the acquisitions, I understand the branded business, but in terms of the utility greenfield expansion that you are doing, I mentioned a $15 million investment resulting in a peak revenue potential of about $90 million and you also mentioned that margins are going to be slightly better than the 15% you know average for the company right now, let’s say it’s around 16% 17%. I mean that results in almost 100% pre-tax, you know return on capital. So I’m just sort of trying to reconcile this. And I mean the US, US textiles business in US slowly and steadily moved away everywhere. I mean the opportunity sort of just seems a little bit too good. So could you just — I mean, is that your expectation to begin with? 100% pre-tax ROC in this expansion?
Mohit Jain
Sure. Amit, on a call, I would like to avoid discussing specific numbers right now for competitive reasons. There’s a lot that goes about — behind executing a business of this. It’s cannot just look at capital invested to the revenue, you know, otherwise everybody would be in it. So I think there’s a lot in terms of execution, team focus that’s required. So I think we have to look at it in totality. And of course, there’s a gestation period. So it’s not that we’ll achieve those revenues in year-one. So there will be a time lag that we are able to build-on and get to it over the next three years.
Amit Kumar
So that’s what I’m just trying to understand. As you sort of yourself said, I mean it sort of seems too good to be true and if this was the case, pretty much everybody including your Indian peers, you know camera to you know, develop these facilities yourself. So I mean, is there an element, I mean you know when you’re sort of talking about a 16% 17% margin which is sort of pretty high as it is given that it’s ahead of your margins. I mean, is this sort of divided between, I mean, some processing will happen in India, you will sort of tend something…
Mohit Jain
Higher than our brand business. So I gave an overall average of our utility bedding and brand business. At this point of time, we are not breaking it up, you know. But as I mentioned again that it’s not — you cannot just look at investment to revenue in a business like this. The customer relationship, execution skill, supply-chain, a lot of factors come into account, labor costs. So there are so many factors that one has to keep in mind to be able to run this business at an efficient level.
Amit Kumar
Okay. Sorry, I’ll take this offline. And just second question, which you also mentioned on the brand side. So again, brand side also, we are looking at a fairly heavy $100 million peak revenue potential and so again, margins, whether on the brand side or on the utility bedding side will be sort of slightly better. But specifically on the brand side, there is always a manufacturing component and there is a brand component. So manufacturing you are doing in India, you know for red sheets and other products within your brands and then exporting it to US and that now you have control of the brand also. So when we are looking at, 16% 17% or slightly better than current margins as whatever they may be, are those like core brand margins or does that sort of include the manufacturing component, which principally happens on the India side? Is that a consolidated margin that you’re looking at or you know those are above-average margins are like pure brand margins?
Mohit Jain
It’s a consolidated number when I’m giving you. You got to keep in mind also in this consolidation is, we are producing the product that we produce at our manufacturing facility like fashion bedding sheets will all come out of our own facilities. At the same time, these brands are going to sell window curtains, bath, any soft home textile. So things that we do not produce, those will get sourced from vendor partners.
Amit Kumar
Thank you. That’s it from my side.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sandeep Ved [Phonetic], an Individual Investor. Please go-ahead.
Sandeep Ved
Good afternoon. I just wanted to clarify that the 1.5% to 2% hit that you’re going to take-over the next 12 to 15 months because of your US investments. Is that factored in the 15% to 16% EBITDA margin guidance that you have given?
Mohit Jain
For next year, as you mentioned, Sandeep, that we’ll come out with our guidance at the end of Q4, you know, looking at what the business looks like. So we’ll be in a better position to say that. For this year, our Q3 results have already factored that into account. And it’s on that basis also that we’ve given the Q4 and the full-year guidance.
Sandeep Ved
Okay. So for Q4, 15% to 16% is after the 1.5% to 2% hit that you are currently taking.
Mohit Jain
The 15% to 16% is the full-year guidance that we provide for the — on a consolidated basis.
Sandeep Ved
Yeah, you are at 15.3% for the first-nine months. So broadly speaking for 4th-quarter also, you are seeing that you will be in a similar range.
Mohit Jain
Yes.
Sandeep Ved
Okay. And from FY ’27 onwards, you’re saying that this 1.5% to 2% hit that you are currently taking will not be there.
Mohit Jain
That’s our expectation as we see visibility to business. So it’s the ramp-up, it’s all dependent on the ramp-up of the business of the new manufacturing locations and there is a very extensive team. So the team is more or less in-place now. So of course, as the assets swept, that the overheads get divided including salaries over a larger base. So once that happens, then you know, then the margins improve. We’ve given ourselves 15 months for that to take place. The good thing is that because we had two acquisitions, that has allowed us to go into the market and also start pitching to customers, you know, and now everybody has taken it seriously that we are in the business, you know. So now we hope that the able to ramp-up production you know at the earliest as we get machines on-stream, train the workers and move forward.
Sandeep Ved
Right. And on, so the planned launch in the first-quarter of FY ’26, is this as per the timeline you had in mind when you acquired the brand or there has been some slight delay in that?
Mohit Jain
You can say more or less 1/4 here or there, when we acquired it, it was not — we wanted to do it properly. So we wanted to research what does the brand mean to the consumer? It’s been a heritage brand. So we really wanted to get to the mitigrities of it. So that took a little longer than we would have expected, if I have to say so. But I mean, we are looking at this from a five to 10-year perspective. This is not a short-term thing that we have in mind. So it really doesn’t matter.
Sandeep Ved
Okay. Thank you so much.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Surya Narayan Nayak from Sunidhi Securities. Please go-ahead.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Yeah. Mohit, just to understand from your side that because we are actually there — so-far as CT is concerned, we are from India and for building — for the utility building on the or ancillaries we have from procuring from the US operation. So just to understand the complementarity of the business and especially the logistic issues are also there in-between. So how you know-how they correlate each other?
Mohit Jain
Surya, can you come again because I’m not able to follow your question 100%.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Okay, okay. So because our CP operations is from India and PLO operations from pillow and utility bearing from the US. So there could be at times logistic issues or kind of — or some issues could be cropping up. So here the — just I wanted to understand the complementarity of the business of the utility building, what is the realization it has exactly with the seed business? And two, whether — I mean whether in future, when we expand, then the similar kind of expansion would be required for seating. I mean that is the equation just now to understand. Is it clear, sir?
Mohit Jain
Yeah, I’ve understood broadly what your question is. So firstly, these are two completely separate businesses for us in two separate countries. They are both manufacturing businesses. So like India, when we manufacture, we have to keep in mind that we have enough raw-material in our warehouse, whether it’s cotton, cotton yarn in the back-end to be able to produce. Same way the US business keeps in mind shipping lead-time, issue at a port, transit times, how much time does a manufacturer take couple of weeks of inventory in their warehouse for raw-material, all of that into account. So it doesn’t matter you know, tomorrow if the lead-time goes up from 10 to 15 days or 15 days to 20 days, it does not really hinder the business because there will always be material in the supply-chain and in the warehouse, you know. So hopefully that answers your question.
Surya Narayan Nayak
But sir, for Wamsuta, it has historically legacy of a lot of you know brand brands and different set of you can say designs. So we could be having one of in a situation where you know there could be let’s say for a particular let’s say batch of seating, there could be a requirement of that cannot, that may not be fulfilled or vice-versa. So will that situation arise, if at all?
Mohit Jain
Maybe I’ll answer your question in a different way. We run a very strong e-commerce business from a UAE warehouse, UK warehouse, US warehouse and we ship to almost every single e-commerce customer, you know. And in that case, we are carrying the inventory in those warehouses, you know, and then shipping to customers. So same thing like will happen for these brands. The product gets produced, we’ll go in — will go to a warehouse. There will be weeks of supply in that warehouse and then get ultimately delivered to individual customers.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Okay, but so SLI mean that the PLO business or utility business can stand-on its own irrespectively of your seating business?
Mohit Jain
Absolutely. It’s a separate manufacturing business. There are synergies with the parent business, but it can stand-on its own for sure.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Okay. And just two bookkeeping questions, because we are — are actually planning for INR463 crores of capex this year and solar and generality will be scaling over to FY ’26 and maybe we could be adding another INR10 crores towards the maintenance capex towards INR75 crores and the greenfield project INR80 crores will be spilling over to next year. So putting together INR255 crores-odd figure is coming out. So apart from that, any other — any CapEx that is lined-up for FY ’26 known capex?
K. Muralidharan
No new capex.
Mohit Jain
No, nothing as of now. And again with our Q4, we’ll give the exact plan for next financial year for ’25, ’26 also.
Surya Narayan Nayak
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Mohit Jain
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, we will now take one last question, which will be from the line of Prerna Jhunjhunwala from Elara Capital. Please go-ahead.
Prerna Jhunjhunwala
Thank you for the opportunity. Just wanted to check with you on this $10 million strategic investment. Is it anything new that you are planning or is it a part of already done investment of slide number 6?
Mohit Jain
So, we put that as a as a placeholder for any other debottlenecking or any other opportunities in these locations that we’ve just invested in. Any location might require something going-forward as we run these businesses or customer requirements. So, that’s why we kept that as a kitty in there.
Prerna Jhunjhunwala
Brownfield is what would — what it would mean I’m just trying to understand whether it will be a brownfield or a new acquisition also that could be on the card or something like that or how it would…
Mohit Jain
It could be a mix of anything in that $10 million.
Prerna Jhunjhunwala
Understood, sir. Thank you. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
K. Muralidharan
Indo Count is progressing firmly in its version 2.0 growth rate with strategic investments in utility bedding, branded business and deepening our presence in key end-market end-markets. While these initiatives have a short-term impact on margins, we are building a more resilient and diversified business. Our focus remains on driving operational excellence, strengthening market leadership and enhancing shareholder value as we seize new growth opportunities.
Thank you once again for joining today’s call. In case you have any more questions, you can get-in touch with us or strategic Growth Advisors, our Investor Relations Advisors. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. On behalf of Indo Count Industries Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.