Varun beverages has been a wealth creator from the time of its listing and is one of the high growth #FMCG companies. I have been following this business and as @ishmohit1 from @soicfinance says, start from the easier business and build on the knowledge.. This is my first
(1/n)
business study and I enjoyed the process. Now, I know what to track in this business and what are the expectations and definitely have more conviction on this. Here is what I learned from its latest concall and few other sources. Please bear with me as I am new to this
(2/n)
1. In Q3 CY2022 VBL presented awesome results with revenue growth ~ 32%, PAT growth ~ 53% and Volume growth ~ 22%. (All numbers are YOY). Volume growth is mostly driven by Sting. 2. Sting (value energy drink) is helping in bringing the realisations higher to Rs 167/case
(3/n)
2. (6.8% growth). One more reason for this higher realisation is higher mix of smaller SKUs (250 ml) 3. Gross margins at 53.7% and EBITDA margins ~ 22% (best in the world in this business). Guidance is to keep margins 20%-22%
(4/n)
4. Sales split : 70% from Carbonated Soft drinks (CSD), 25% from water and 5% from juice. 5. Debt was reduced to 2300 Cr from 3000 Cr.
Runway for Growth : 1. Entering into snacks in Morocco from Jan 1, 2023. Currently, 150 Cr business. No manufacturing yet.
(5/n)
2. Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe are other African countries where they are active. Will increase slowly the operations there. 3. New capacity in MP and Rajasthan coming up (1300 Cr capex) which will increase the overall capacity of CSD by ~ 20%.
(6/n)
4. Strong demand and 100% capacity utilisation. More capex needed to get more facilities. 5. Dairy products (VBL brand) sales picking up. More capacity to be added in H2 CY2023. 6. Adding 40k-50k chilling equipments each yr. Current reach to 3M dealers, tot dealers r 11M.
(7/n)
6. Adding 10%-12% dealers per year. Carrying size for dealers also increasing by 5%-7%. 7. Recent high growth can be sustained based on the opportunity size of Indian market, upcoming African market and foraying into new products like Dairy products and Snacks.
(8/n)
Underlined comments from Management :
1. Double digit growth guidance for next 3-5 years and beyond. 2. Competition from Coca-Cola and Reliance will be healthy. Market is big enough to accommodate many players. 3. Strong demand, not enough supply so more capex needed.
(9/n)
4. Margins to be kept in range of 20%-22%. 5. No private label production. 6. Africa provides opportunity. Morocco snacks business will be an experience.
For me, its a high growth company which technically is in Stage 2. I m riding its growth and will add more in dips.
(10/n)
Keep tracking the volume growth and capex numbers. Look for the effect of competition.
It's a pity seeing my fellow Physicists, scared of equity markets and thinking it like casino. It is casino with one difference, one can create a favorable environment where the probability of your winning is much higher. It's probabilistic with some defined knowns and ofcourse
some unknowns.
I learnt about investing and in general about finance in last 1 year. After spending some time in this world, i realised I entered late but it's ok..better late than never. I am 34 and hopefully have more than 20 years of runway in front of me.
Studying finance brought me closer to real world affairs, otherwise we Physicists are very much in world of our own 😍 Being in biggest particle lab of the world is an advantage because you can meet people from so many geographies and observe them, work with them.
I see a lot of people recommending Gold investing to hedge against the Equity markets. Gold again is glavour as crypto crashed. My view for #NRIs :
What is better for NRIs? #GoldETFs or just simple tax exempted #FDs in NRE bank accounts..@YESBANK proposing up to 7.5% FD interests
Being a NRI, if you really want to keep your money safe and if your earning potential is good and clear for next 10-20 years, then having a good amount in high yielding fixed deposits is not a bad idea. Of course, one should also have clear investment strategy and goals but for
me at least, Equity + FDs seems like a good and healthy mix. Equity of course includes direct stocks + MFs + Index and it can be India + US.
Equity -> For long term goals
FDs -> for short to medium term goals
Allocation depends person to person (age, risk, capital requirements)