Britannia's cost cuts also need a volume growth rebound

Britannia Industries Ltd's consolidated revenue growth of 9% year-on-year in Q4FY25 to ₹4,432 crore was primarily led by higher price realization, given that volume growth was tepid at about 3%.

- Manish Joshi

The biscuit maker did not see any additional volume boost from the Mahakumbh mela in the quarter. It's worth noting that Britannia's volume growth rate has been decelerating. The measure was 8% in Q1 and Q2 FY25 and then slipped to 6% in Q3FY25.

Q4FY25 gross margin contracted sharply by 480 basis points (bps) on-year to 40.1% due to a steep rise in raw material prices. Sequential trends indicate that the raw material pricing pressure has not eased. Wheat flour, forming 30% of the raw material costs, rose 9% quarter-on-quarter and is unlikely to decline soon, due to higher minimum support price for wheat.