Som Distilleries & Breweries Limited (SDBL) Q4 FY23 Earnings Concall Transcript

Som Distilleries & Breweries Limited (NSE:SDBL) Q4 FY23 Earnings Concall dated May. 02, 2023.

Corporate Participants:

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Analysts:

Nitin Awasthi — InCred Equities — Analyst

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Manan Shah — Moneybee Investment Advisor — Analyst

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

Dixit Doshi — Whitestone Financial Advisors Private Limited — Analyst

Kuber Chauhan — Anand Rathi — Analyst

Pawan Kaul — Compound 26 Capital — Analyst

Nishant Sharma — Nuvama Wealth Research — Analyst

Presentation:

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the SOM Distilleries & Breweries Limited Q4 FY ’23 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

I now hand the conference over to Mr. Nakul Sethi, Director Finance & Strategy. Thank you, and over to you.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Good evening, gentlemen. We welcome you to the quarter four FY 2023 earnings call of our company. Last year was a eventful year for us. We achieved a number of milestones. Our annual volume for FY ’23 registered a substantial growth of 2.1x, reaching 149 lakh cases of beer, as against 68.3 lakh cases of beer in FY ’21-’22.

In the IMFL segment, we sold 8.9 lakh cases in FY ’22-’23 as against 5.7 lakh cases for FY ’21-’22, reflecting a growth of 65% over the last year. This growth was driven by strong demand for our products and our focus on delivering high-quality offerings that cater to customers preferences.

We are especially proud of the performance of our Hunter and Power Cool brands. Hunter volume almost doubled from the previous fiscal year, indicating a strong market demand for this product. Similarly, Power Cool’s volumes saw a 2.8x growth, having registered strong volume growth in Karnataka and MP, which is remarkable and demonstrate our abilities to identify market opportunities and respond effectively to premium customer sales.

On similar lines, our Company has registered a significant financial performance for both quarter four and FY ’23. For the quarter four FY ’23, our total income increased to INR2,530 million, a year-on-year growth of 73.7%. Our EBITDA stood at INR286 million, a year-on-year growth of 142% and net profit grew by 148% to INR159 million.

For the financial year ’23, our total income increased to INR808 million, a year-on-year growth of 121%. The EBITDA surged to INR103.4 million at a EBITDA margin of 30.8%, reflecting a growth of 5.2x on a year-on-year basis. Our net profit margin stood at 7.5%, resulting in a net profit of INR603 million. The impressive financial [Indecipherable] quarter four and FY ’23 on a year-on-year basis signify the success of our growth-oriented strategies and its effect on our profitability.

During the financial year 2023, we started expansion in all our three plants. Hassan and Bhopal has commenced commercial operation, while we expect completion of the expanded facility in Odisha by the month of June ’23. Post-expansion, our capacity for beer would stand at 3.02 crore cases of beer per annum.

As we look ahead, we are confident in our ability to sustain the growth momentum and capitalize on emerging opportunities in the market. We will continue to focus on delivering high-quality products that cater to our customers’ evolving needs, while also leveraging our strength and expertise to drive growth and Group profitability.

We are optimistic about the coming peak season, which is expected to further drive total capacities [Indecipherable] that will result in further margin improvements in the coming quarters. We owe our appreciation to all our stakeholders for showing their support and confidence.

With this, we would now like to open the floor for Q&A. Thank you.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Nitin Awasthi from InCred Equities. Please go ahead.

Nitin Awasthi — InCred Equities — Analyst

[Technical Issues]

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Sorry, I am not able to listen your question.

Nitin Awasthi — InCred Equities — Analyst

Am I audible now, sir?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah, yeah, much more clear enough.

Nitin Awasthi — InCred Equities — Analyst

Okay. So the question was regarding your home state, sir. Significant changes in the excise policy. One, as one deep-dive into the excise policy one, realizing that in MP, the point-of-sale for beer has expanded significantly. Is it true on-ground our country liquor shops now selling beer in Madhya Pradesh and is that having an impact on the ground?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah, definitely that has been a positive move for the industry and for us also. And the impact has been from last year when the point-of-sales have increased from about, I think, close to about 800, 900 to about 3,000-plus now. Yes, definitely that has had a positive impact.

Nitin Awasthi — InCred Equities — Analyst

Okay. And because of that, do you see the market is still expanding rapidly in Madhya Pradesh, which was stagnant for some years now?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah, so we have seen that the market has expanded last year. And we expect the market to expand this year also.

Nitin Awasthi — InCred Equities — Analyst

Understood, sir. Sir, secondly, on the Karnataka market, there has been news flows that there is a shortage of liquor. Are we doing and are we holding our gates well in Karnataka? Is this liquor shortage for the industry as a whole, but not at the Company or what is the on-ground situation.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

I think there has been a excessive demand or you can say the demand for beer is tremendous currently in Karnataka and companies are finding it difficult to fulfill the demand, but we are trying to match the demand.

Nitin Awasthi — InCred Equities — Analyst

So, as of now have we lost any sales?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

No.

Nitin Awasthi — InCred Equities — Analyst

Okay. Got it. And Odisha plant where our expansion is not complete, if I’m correct?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yes, sir.

Nitin Awasthi — InCred Equities — Analyst

Okay. But Odisha as a state, our plant was the only plant again which was under-utilized and now we are expanding in the State of Odisha, are we targeting the states around Odisha, for which we are expanding in Odisha?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Exactly. And so this year, we expect that the plant should do quite well, Odisha plant. And we are also looking at some strategic tie-ups in the short-to-medium term for that particular plant.

Nitin Awasthi — InCred Equities — Analyst

Understood, sir. Understood. Thank you for answering my questions. Best of luck for all of you for the coming quarters.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Abhishek Getam from Alpha Invesco. Please go ahead.

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

Yeah. Am I audible, sir?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yes, very much.

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

Yeah. Congrats on a good set of numbers. So just expanding on the last question, you said you’re looking for strategic tie-ups at Odisha plant. So does that mean you have contract — looking for contract manufacturing for other players?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Let us see how things evolve. We’ll announce in the market whenever we have a development on that line.

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

Okay. Okay. Understood. Sir, another question was what has aided the volume growth year-on year? I mean, which states have contributed the most or any volume-wise breakup for states that you could give?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

So all the states where we have plants and since — contributed significantly to the growth. So that’s the whole point. But in terms of volume growth, first case we’ll be not able to give you that number.

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

Okay. Okay. Understood. So, apart from the three states we operate, did we sell any major state that we export to that aided the volume growth?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

90% of our sales comes from the states where we are present. And the remaining comes from the other states. But last year we had a lot of difficulty in meeting the demands in the state where we are present. So let’s see how things pan out this year.

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

Understood. Next, another question on that is when we sell in the state or when we export to other state, what is sort of the gross margin differences between that?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

It depends from state to state. Very difficult to define, but obviously you incur additional transportation charges, as well as [Indecipherable] excise duty has to be paid for the states where we want to sell. So it varies from state to state. But obviously, it makes more sense to sell it in the states where your plant is, of course.

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

Yeah. Because, I believe that if, let’s say, if manufacture in MP and sell in Maharashtra, that would not be much profitable, right, it might just would be a volume gain?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yes, yes, exactly. And once you achieve critical volumes or significant volumes then obviously we will want to install a plant or acquire a plant in Maharashtra itself.

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

Okay. So out of the 10% is Maharashtra significant in the remaining 10% right now?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Sorry?

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

You said 90% is in the states where we have plants, the rest of the 10% is exported. So out of that is Maharashtra significant out of the 10%?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Not right now.

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

Okay.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Our — the other states would be, say, just like [Indecipherable] canteen stores and that should be profitable business.

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

[Indecipherable] Okay. Sir, another was recently Mr. Arora on a TV interview mentioned that we’re looking for a Maharashtra acquisition plant and sort of INR300 crore, INR200 crore for plant and INR100 crore for working capital. So any updates on that?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

I think he mentioned that Maharashtra and some other states could be probable states where we could enter next. So we are looking at various opportunities.

Abhishek Getam — Alpha Invesco Research — Analyst

Okay. Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you. I’ll get back in the queue, sir.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Right.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ritwik Sheth from OneUp Financial. Please go ahead.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Hi. Good afternoon, sir. Sir, I have a few questions. Firstly, if we see our gross margins this quarter, it has been lowest in last few quarters. So can you point out what is the reason for this sharp decrease in gross margins?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

See, I mean, there has been cost pressures all around and especially in the case of glass bottles, which has seen, I think, close to in the last one year we have seen a 35% to 40% price increase. Similarly, we have seen the case of barley also, but now barley has stabilized. So, I think that is one of the reasons. And we continue to use new glass bottles as we grow. So that is one of the reasons why gross margins are low.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Okay. And sir, what would be the impact of barley in Q4? How much that would be up versus the previous year?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Barley has now stabilized.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Okay. Okay.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

So, it is down to quarter one of last year level.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Okay. So it was —

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

In quarter two and quarter three, there was a slight increase, but now it has come down to quarter one level.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Okay. Okay. And sir, do we procure ENA as well for our IMFL?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yes, we procure ENA, yes, we do, but IMFL is 10% of [Indecipherable].

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Right. Right. And any comments you would like to draw in the trend of ENA pricing in the last four quarters and say in the coming few quarters?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

No. I think, I’ll not give any comment on ENA, because ENA is a very small component on what we operate. And I think, going forward also our first tag will be on beer.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Okay. Sure.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

IMFL is just for complementing our sales.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Okay. Got it. And sir, any price hikes we have been able to take in any of the states?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yes. So we have taken price hikes in MP, Karnataka, Delhi, Orissa, four states we have taken price hikes.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

MP, Karnataka, Delhi and?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Orissa.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Orissa. Okay. And what would be the range of these price hikes?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

It would be in the range of about, on an average, about in the range of 4% to 5%.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

4% to 5%. And this would majority be beer only, right?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah, yeah, because, I mean, volumes come from beer only.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Right. Okay. Sure. And sir, how has the consumption been so far in March-April versus last year?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

I would not like to comment on that.

Ritwik Sheth — OneUp Financial — Analyst

Okay. Okay, sir. Sure and thank you and all the best.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Right. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rishikesh Oza from RoboCapital. Please go ahead.

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Am I audible?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yes sir, you are.

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Okay. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my first question is, if you could provide market share in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Currently, we will be not in a position to share the market share numbers, because we don’t have in front right now. [Indecipherable]

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Okay. Also, sir, regarding our expansion plans in other states, what exactly is our plan and the target market share to?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

We can’t answer that question right now.

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Okay. And what would be [Technical Issues]

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Sorry?

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

What would be our [Technical Issues]

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

I’m losing you. Sorry.

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Am I audible now?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah, yeah, you’re audible now.

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

I’m asking for marketing spends for [Technical Issues]

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Marketing spends?

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Yeah, marketing spends.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Spends would be in line with what the competition does.

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

[Technical Issues]

Operator

Rishikesh, are you there?

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Yes, [Technical Issues]

Operator

Rishikesh, can you hear us?

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Hello? Am I audible now?

Operator

Yes, please go ahead.

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

[Technical Issues]

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

No, we can’t hear you.

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

[Technical Issues]

Operator

Hi, Rishikesh. This is the operator. Your voice is not audible to us.

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Am I audible now?

Operator

Rishikesh, you there?

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Am I audible?

Operator

It’s still not clear, Rishikesh.

Rishikesh Oza — RoboCapital — Analyst

Hello, am I audible now?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

I think, it will be better if you can do something online. I think, let’s shift to the next caller.

Operator

All right, sir. Our next question comes from the line of Manan Shah from Moneybee Investment Advisor. Please go ahead.

Manan Shah — Moneybee Investment Advisor — Analyst

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations for good set of numbers. My first question is this capex of INR35 crores in the Odisha plant, how do we plan to fund it?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

So we have already taken a term loan of about close to about INR25 crores from DNB. And we have taken about I think about close to about INR16 crores, INR17 crores of disbursement also.

Manan Shah — Moneybee Investment Advisor — Analyst

Okay. And this expansion is largely towards the brewing or bottling, if you can just mention there is about that.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

So we are grew — increasing the bottling capacity from 42 lakh cases to about 60 lakh cases. And certain balancing equipment also is in setup.

Manan Shah — Moneybee Investment Advisor — Analyst

Understood. And post this capex and including the working capital that we would take, what sort of peak debt are we anticipating this year?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

I don’t think that considering that whatever the debt is currently, we don’t expect any further increase in the debt for the current financial year.

Manan Shah — Moneybee Investment Advisor — Analyst

Okay. Understood. My next question was a bookkeeping question. In the balance sheet for the current year, we have seen a significant increase in current tax assets — sorry, in other current assets from INR55 crore to INR96 crore. So if you can just highlight what led to this sort of increase.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Let me get back to you on that separately.

Manan Shah — Moneybee Investment Advisor — Analyst

Okay. And just wanted — my last question was regarding have the plant stabilized? I mean, that expansion that we did at Bhopal, as well as Hassan, have these plants stabilized and at what utilization would they be operating?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yes, obviously the plants have stabilized and we are operating at maybe close to about 85% to 90% capacity currently.

Manan Shah — Moneybee Investment Advisor — Analyst

Understood. Thanks. I’ll get back in the queue for follow-up.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Deepak Poddar from Sapphire Capital. Please go ahead.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

Hello?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Hello.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

Yeah, am I — okay. Sir, just first of all I wanted to understand with this doubling our capacity in Karnataka, what’s our total capacity as of now?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

It’s about 90 lakh cases in Karnataka.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

19 lakh cases. And ideally we did around 15 lakh cases — 19 lakh cases overall, right? 9-0, 90 lakhs. 90 lakh, 9 million, right?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah, yeah.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

Okay. And our volume in FY ’23 in beer was about 15 million?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yes.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

Okay. And this capacity that you said 90 lakh, so I was just trying to understand overall, as a company level, what is our capacity as of now?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Currently we are at about [Indecipherable] when we complete the Orissa expansion to be about 3 crore cases.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

3 crores. And Orissa would be how much separately?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

60 lakhs.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

6 million. So around — if we exclude that, around 24 million would be our current capacity, right, 24 million cases?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

No, no, so Odisha currently is at 42 lakh cases.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

Okay. So incremental is 18 lakhs?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

Okay. I understood. So basically, I think, FY ’23 our volume was close to about 15 million, right. So there is a big scope for growth in terms of utilization level that we can improve, right, going forward?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah, yeah. So we have added capacity in March to April, so we have added 45 lakh cases in Karnataka, which was earlier 45 lakh cases only. And another 18 lakh cases we are adding in Odisha.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

Fair enough. And what sort of volume we might be looking at in beers in FY ’24?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

We are looking at about 20% to 25% growth in our sales, which should I guess to reach about INR1,000 crores.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

INR1,000 crores, you’re saying from beer or overall — beer revenue or overall? Hello?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yes, sir.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

So I was just asking this INR1,000 crores is revenue you’re talking at the Company level or at the beer level?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah, at the company level.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

At the — and what sort of margin trajectory we are looking at? I mean, earlier we had said in the past that maybe 13%, 14% is our aspirational margins, right? I mean, but we —

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah, yeah, that’s our aspirational margin, but we are in a [Technical Issues] in terms of cost pressures are there. So, let’s see how quarter one performs, then we’ll have a better idea about how the year will end at.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

Fair. But do you see all the cost pressures have already been factored or there are any more pressure that we expect to come in first quarter?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

No, I said that now, for example, [Indecipherable] prices have also decreased for April. So we are hopeful that the glass bottle prices also have now picked up as for our expectation is. Let’s see.

Deepak Poddar — Sapphire Capital — Analyst

Okay. Fair enough. Okay, sure. That’s it from my side, sir. All the very best. Thank you.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Dixit Doshi from Whitestone Financial Advisors Private Limited. Please go ahead.

Dixit Doshi — Whitestone Financial Advisors Private Limited — Analyst

Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Most of the questions have been answered. Just one point, considering the seasonality, what could be the peak utilization any plant can do?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

See, we have operated plants considering the peak utilization also at about 85%, 90% in the past. And for that matter, the the capacity of the Woodpecker plant was at 45 lakh cases. We have seen it operate at about 100% also. So, we can easily achieve, I think, about 85%, 90%.

Dixit Doshi — Whitestone Financial Advisors Private Limited — Analyst

Okay. Okay. That’s it from my end.

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Kuber Chauhan from Anand Rathi. Please go ahead.

Kuber Chauhan — Anand Rathi — Analyst

Yeah. Thank you for taking my questions and congratulations on good set of numbers. Most of the questions have been answered. And I would like to know what could be the ad spends towards to improve brand visibility?

And secondly, what would be the first year utilization for the Odisha plant after the expansion?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

I missed your first question.

Kuber Chauhan — Anand Rathi — Analyst

Two questions were there. Are you planning for any spends on brand visibility, and just to enhance our brand and just to do more kind of a marketing?

And secondly was on the utilization for the Odisha plant after the commencement in the June.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

First, on the marketing spend, we — I only assume — earlier calls also I mentioned that we need to work with the [Indecipherable]. So our marketing spends or our spends towards promoting our brands would be at the point-of-sales and the [Indecipherable]. So we are happy with that strategy, because that has given us good returns in terms of volumes as well as sales.

Coming to your question on Odisha capacity utilization, let’s see, I mean, we obviously will want more utilization having spent INR35 odd crores. So, let’s see, I mean, how things work out for the remaining part of the year.

Kuber Chauhan — Anand Rathi — Analyst

Okay. And also are we planning to tap any other states, new states which are into your focus.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

So we are looking at increasing our sales in Delhi, UP in the current financial year.

Kuber Chauhan — Anand Rathi — Analyst

Delhi and UP. Okay. And any sort of price hike if you can — if you are planning for this year, in FY ’24?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Sorry?

Kuber Chauhan — Anand Rathi — Analyst

Any kind of a price hike, which you are wishing to take in FY ’24?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

No. On the price hikes, I have already mentioned in the call that we have taken price hike in four states.

Kuber Chauhan — Anand Rathi — Analyst

Okay. And any further price hikes?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

No, no. I mean, these are the key states where we want to operate. And I mean, there’s no use of taking a price hike in a state where you don’t have volume. So, I mean, these four states are the states we want to sell more.

Kuber Chauhan — Anand Rathi — Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Pawan from Compound 26 Capital. Please go ahead.

Pawan Kaul — Compound 26 Capital — Analyst

Hi. Thank you. Couple of questions. So most of our revenue growth was driven by Karnataka this year, right. Could you talk a little bit about what drove this kind of rampant growth just in terms of the market?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Sorry, sir, can you please repeat your question again?

Pawan Kaul — Compound 26 Capital — Analyst

Sure. So, most of our — I’m assuming most of our growth was driven by the Karnataka market. So, could you talk about what happened within the market and how did we — because I’m assuming that the market is pretty saturated. So how did we get this kind of a growth rate in this market?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

So our growth has not only come from the Karnataka market, but yes, Karnataka has also contributed its fair bit. And the growth — the Karnataka market itself has grown, but we have grown more as compared to the industry players. And we had grown in ’19-’20 also, but we do see COVID coming in and two years were vodka was especially in the peak season. But our brands have been very well accepted in the state and especially [Indecipherable] has also supported us. So we have seen phenomenal growth of our two key brands, Black Fort and Power Cool in Karnataka.

Pawan Kaul — Compound 26 Capital — Analyst

Understood. And in terms of your sales strategy, sir, could you talk a little about what is it that you kind of did different in terms of sales strategy versus competitors? How many sales force — salespeople did you recruit onboard to kind of get these kind of growth numbers?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

So our sales strategy is simple as others. I mean, I don’t think that we are differing in any way. But I think, the first starting point for any brand to be successful in the market is that it should offer good value-for-money, good taste, good packaging to the customers. So that we have trials at first, then you have customers coming in and asking for your product. And of course, your product has to be available at all the points of distribution, distribution has to be there. So it has cover all the point-of-sales in the state. And your brand is available to all the consumers. So that’s basically has been the way we had been able to taking more market share in new states where we entered.

Pawan Kaul — Compound 26 Capital — Analyst

Okay. Got it. And did we make any kind of large recruitments within our sales force through this year?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

So, I mean, see, you have a strategy of you cannot have a sales force, which is large initially. So we see we will keep on adding more people as you grow. So obviously, we have added more people as we grow and as we want to grow. So that’s how we have been doing this.

Pawan Kaul — Compound 26 Capital — Analyst

Okay. Got it. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nishant Sharma from Nuvama Wealth Research. Please go ahead.

Nishant Sharma — Nuvama Wealth Research — Analyst

Thank you for the opportunity, sir, and congratulations for good set of numbers. So my first question is related to the new areas where we are planning to enter like Delhi and UP, what will be your strategy to expand our footprint in these two states and at a Pan-India level, what is the POS for us?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

So, there are certain questions which I obviously do not answer like POS across India. Either we can discuss strategy of how we sell more in Delhi or how we want to grow, but to give you something [Indecipherable] I mean, about 10% of our sales was coming from Delhi in ’19-’20, unfortunately because of COVID reduced and there was a change in the excise policy of Delhi, which has a very material impact on the various business was being done in Delhi. And last year there was so much of demand from our existing state, where it does not make much sense to sell in Delhi, but we have got a good presence in Delhi. We are establishing our presence in UP and with our numbers going forward [Indecipherable] in these two states.

Nishant Sharma — Nuvama Wealth Research — Analyst

Thank you. And sir, in terms of debt level, how are we seeing our debt levels going forward?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Our debt levels would be at similar level and actually we would want them to reduce going forward.

Nishant Sharma — Nuvama Wealth Research — Analyst

Okay. And you are pretty confident in achieving this, if I’m not wrong, you have guided for about 20% to 25% kind of a topline growth.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Yeah.

Nishant Sharma — Nuvama Wealth Research — Analyst

And if I talk about on the margin side, you mentioned that gross margins were under pressure due to certain raw material — escalation in raw material prices and also we are focusing on large bottling. So, can we see some improvement going forward or these are likely to remain at those levels?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

No, it’s our endeavor that our gross margins would improve, that’s why we have set up our canning facility in MP and we are trying to sell more of cans as compared to glass bottles, so that our gross margin improve, because cans give you — one, there is — the cost escalation in cans has been limited to about 15% to 20% as compared to 40% in glass bottle, plus cans also give you the advantage of a higher realization from the glass bottles. So we are trying to improve our sales mix from glass — pure glass bottle to cans in the coming short-to-medium term.

Nishant Sharma — Nuvama Wealth Research — Analyst

Sir, what would be contribution currently?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Cans would be, for example, in Karnataka, is about 10%. So we are improving it there also. In Bhopal also about 10% with cans. So we are trying to improve that also going forward.

Nishant Sharma — Nuvama Wealth Research — Analyst

Okay. So this 12%, 13% kind of a EBITDA margin, which we were able to clock for last three quarters, will it be sustainable levels or it is likely to be around 11%, which we achieved in the current quarter?

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

See, I mean, as the strategies, which I mentioned to you, we are working on them. Let’s see how quarter one comes out. And then, I think, it would be better if we can talk about the margins then.

Nishant Sharma — Nuvama Wealth Research — Analyst

Sure, sir. I’ll take it offline. Thank you.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. And I now hand the conference over to Mr. Nakul Sethi for closing remarks.

Nakul Sethi — Director Finance & Strategy

Thank you all for joining the call. I trust that all your queries have been adequately addressed. Should you require any further information, please reach out to our investor relations advisors or me. We will revert with all the [Indecipherable] at the earliest. Thank you so much.

Operator

[Operator Closing Remarks]