With Brand Saffola, Marico Eyes Rs 850-1,000 Crore Food Business By...

FMCG firm Marico will continue to expand its health care brand Saffola as it aspires to build an Rs 850-1,000 crore business from its food portfolio by FY24, said a top company official.

In the last two years, Marico has extended the brand Saffola in immunity, foods and recently launched mayonnaise and peanut butter, its Managing Director and CEO Saugata Gupta said.

"We will continue to launch a significant aggressive innovation programme under the brand Saffola in line with our aspiration to create Rs 850-1,000 crore food portfolio by FY24," Mr Gupta said while replying to the queries of shareholders in the AGM.

Marico will continue to launch and expand the addressable market in the segment through Saffola or any new brand. 

Under the brand Saffola, Marico is selling various products, including noodles, oats, honey and immunity booster Chyawanprash, besides the edible oil.

The food portfolio of Marico has already achieved the aspiration of reaching Rs 450-500 crore topline in FY22, Mr Gupta said. 

Its digital-first brand portfolio clocked an exit run rate of Rs 180-200 crore in FY22. 

"Beardo scaled up to cross the Rs 100 crore exit run rate in FY22. We aspire to build Rs 450-500 crore portfolio by FY24 through a mix of organic and inorganic brands," said a transcript of the AGM shared by Marico with exchanges on Thursday.

Presently Marico's 9 per cent of sales are coming from online sales through e-Commerce and the contribution from the segment is growing further, he added.

"Our spend in R&D is in line with benchmarks in the industry and we continue to increase our investment in R&D for driving innovation and research," Mr Gupta said.

While replying to a query on capacity utilisation, he said Marico's overall capacity utilisation ranges between 80 to 95 per cent.

However, when asked about the valuation of Marico's key brands - Saffola and Parachute, Mr Gupta replied: "We do not do valuation of our self-generated brands. Only when we make an acquisition, we do valuation".

On whether Marico has any plan to enter plant-based meat, Mr Gupta said: "We have a plan for increasing the addressable market of Saffola brand as part of our food journeys and as you know, we have already launched Soya Chunks and therefore you will see innovations in future in the next couple of years".

The company hold its aspiration to deliver 13-15 per cent revenue growth over the medium-term on the back of 8-10 per cent domestic volume growth in the domestic business and double-digit constant currency growth in the international business.

"We expect to maintain an operating margin at 19 per cent over the medium term," said Mr Gupta.

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