EPL conducted conference call on 07 February 2024 to discuss the financial results and performance of the company for the quarter ended December 2024. Mr. Anand Kripalu – MD & Global CEO, Mr. M.R. Ramasamy – COO and Mr. Deepak Goyal– CFO along with other senior management of the company addressed the call

Highlights of the Concall

• Amesha revenue fell 0.6% to Rs 350 crore in Q3FY24 compared to Q3FY23 but Ebitda rose 2.5% to Rs 74.9 crore. Ebitda margin improved to 21.4% from 20.8%.

• EAP revenue increased 11.6% to Rs 252.4 crore in Q3FY24 compared to Q3FY23 while Ebitda rose 11.4% to Rs 54.6 crore. Ebitda margin remained flat at 21.6% compared to 21.7%.

• America revenue rose 11.9% to Rs 252.8 crore in Q3FY24 compared to Q3FY23 while Ebitda jumped 49.1% to Rs 40.9 crore. Ebitda margin improved to 16.2% from 12.1%.

• Europe revenue rose 8.6% to Rs 207.6 crore in Q3FY24 compared to Q3FY23 while Ebitda jumped 75.2% to Rs 19.1 crore. Ebitda margin improved to 9.2% from 5.7%.

• Brazil plant, which became operational last quarter, has successfully stabilized.

• Revenue grew 3% in Q3FY24 versus the previous year underpinned by strong underlying business performance in most regions impacted by negative pricing due to soft commodities as well as the adverse impact of the Egypt economic challenges.

• The company reported strong EBITDA margin at 18.8%, an increase of 224 bps YoY and 74 bps QoQ. EBITDA grew by 17.1% YoY

• India standalone business grew by 4.2% while AMESA witnessed a negative growth of 0.6%. EAP has continued its consistent strong performance of double-digit growth at 11.6%. Europe grew by 8.6% and Americas by 11.9%.

• Personal Care and Beyond now contributes around 48% to total sales in the year-to-date FY24. Along with Personal Care, it has seen significant gains in the pharma category as well with India doing the highest ever revenue in pharma in December 2023.

• The company is on track to double its recyclable tube sales versus prior year, accounting for 20% of its total volumes.

• EPL has continued its emphasis on beauty cosmetic category while actively pursuing smaller customers and increased sales headcount by 20%

• The company continues to remain optimistic about its revenue and margin potential though soft commodity prices will continue to put pressure on revenue growth in the short-term.

• The company has delivered consistent margin improvement in the last few quarters. It is continuing its efforts behind active pricing, mix improvement and cost as well as structural interventions in Europe. It has a solid pipeline of these initiatives, which will continue playing over the medium term to help it to get to its stated objective of delivering 20% margin.

• Polymer and foil USD prices have declined from Q1 FY23 but stable in the last 2 quarters, however the prices remain higher than pre Covid level

• Ocean freight rates saw an increase due to red sea issues.