Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description

Strengths:

Strong presence of brands in North and Northwest India and improving revenue diversity

MBFSL earns 76% of its biscuit revenue from North and Northwest India and is among the top three biscuit manufacturers in many states (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi National Capital Region). The company distributes across 23 states in India through a network of more than 250 super stockists and 900 distributors that supply to a wide range of clients through 550,000 retail outlets.

Furthermore, the company has been increasing its premium product portfolio and leveraging its presence with focus on high-margin biscuits, such as cookies, creams and crackers; and reduced dependence on low-margin glucose biscuits. Strong growth in the bakery segment is reflected in its contribution of 33-36% to the overall revenue in the nine months through December 2021. English Oven is among the leading premium bakery brands in India. With addition of new lines and new products (premium breads, croissants and buns), the growth is likely to continue over the medium term.

* Established relationships with large institutional players

The company remains a preferred supplier of buns (for the past 15 years) to McDonald’s (Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd in West and South, Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt Ltd in North and East), Burger King and KFC (Devyani International Pvt Ltd). It is also targeting new quick-service restaurants, supported by continued focus on quality. Longstanding relationships with large institutional customers have resulted in steady source of revenue over the past few years. MBFSL also supplies to Subway and Faasos.

The company exports biscuits to around 59 countries as of December 31, 2021. It also undertakes job work for Mondelez International Inc.

Established customer relationships should continue to provide stability to operating income and profitability, given the revenue visibility and cost-plus profitability built into long-term contracts.

* Strong financial risk profile

The financial risk profile continues to remain strong, with estimated gearing of below 0.3 time, and robust debt protection metrics with net cash accrual estimated at Rs 80-90 crore in fiscal 2022. Interest coverage and net cash accrual to total debt ratios are expected to remain healthy at over 14 times and 0.7 time, respectively, over the medium term. Going forward, gearing is expected to remain at 0.2-0.3 time, despite debt-funded capex.

Weaknesses:

* Modest, though improving, scale of operations in the intensely competitive biscuit industry

MBFSL is a relatively small player in the biscuits industry vis-à-vis other manufacturers, with estimated revenue of over Rs 900 crore in fiscal 2022. Although the Cremica brand has an established presence in North and Northwest India, it has limited presence in other parts of the country. Furthermore, the biscuit industry is intensely competitive, with large players (such as Britannia; rated ‘CRISIL AAA/Stable/CRISIL A1+’) vying for a greater market share. With the entry of ITC, Mondelez and Unibic, the competition has intensified across product categories.

* Susceptibility to changes in raw material prices and forex rates

The biscuits segment, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the company’s total revenue, is price-sensitive with little product differentiation, especially in the low-end biscuits segment. Thus, players have limited ability to pass on increase in input prices (wheat, sugar and oil comprising 50-60% of total cost) to customers. Operating profitability will likely remain exposed to sharp fluctuations in raw material prices and forex rates. Though the company undertakes forward contracts to hedge against forex risk, it is able to pass on price rises to consumers only with a time lag.

Key Financial Indicators (CRISIL Ratings adjusted financials)

Annexure – List of entities consolidated

Note for Media:
This rating rationale is transmitted to you for the sole purpose of dissemination through your newspaper/magazine/agency. The rating rationale may be used by you in full or in part without changing the meaning or context thereof but with due credit to CRISIL Ratings. However, CRISIL Ratings alone has the sole right of distribution (whether directly or indirectly) of its rationales for consideration or otherwise through any media including websites and portals.

About CRISIL Ratings Limited (A subsidiary of CRISIL Limited)

CRISIL Ratings pioneered the concept of credit rating in India in 1987. With a tradition of independence, analytical rigour and innovation, we set the standards in the credit rating business. We rate the entire range of debt instruments, such as bank loans, certificates of deposit, commercial paper, non-convertible/convertible/partially convertible bonds and debentures, perpetual bonds, bank hybrid capital instruments, asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities, partial guarantees and other structured debt instruments. We have rated over 33,000 large and mid-scale corporates and financial institutions. We have also instituted several innovations in India in the rating business, including ratings for municipal bonds, partially guaranteed instruments and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs).
 
CRISIL Ratings Limited ('CRISIL Ratings') is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CRISIL Limited ('CRISIL'). CRISIL Ratings Limited is registered in India as a credit rating agency with the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI").
 
For more information, visit www.crisilratings.com 
 

About CRISIL Limited

CRISIL is a global analytical company providing ratings, research, and risk and policy advisory services. We are India's leading ratings agency. We are also the foremost provider of high-end research to the world's largest banks and leading corporations.

CRISIL is majority owned by S&P Global Inc, a leading provider of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide.

For more information, visit www.crisil.com

Connect with us: TWITTER | LINKEDIN | YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK

CRISIL PRIVACY NOTICE
 
CRISIL respects your privacy. We may use your contact information, such as your name, address and email id to fulfil your request and service your account and to provide you with additional information from CRISIL. For further information on CRISIL’s privacy policy please visit www.crisil.com.

DISCLAIMER

This disclaimer is part of and applies to each credit rating report and/or credit rating rationale (‘report’) that is provided by CRISIL Ratings Limited (‘CRISIL Ratings’). To avoid doubt, the term ‘report’ includes the information, ratings and other content forming part of the report. The report is intended for the jurisdiction of India only. This report does not constitute an offer of services. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, nothing in the report is to be construed as CRISIL Ratings providing or intending to provide any services in jurisdictions where CRISIL Ratings does not have the necessary licenses and/or registration to carry out its business activities referred to above. Access or use of this report does not create a client relationship between CRISIL Ratings and the user.

We are not aware that any user intends to rely on the report or of the manner in which a user intends to use the report. In preparing our report we have not taken into consideration the objectives or particular needs of any particular user. It is made abundantly clear that the report is not intended to and does not constitute an investment advice. The report is not an offer to sell or an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment in any securities, instruments, facilities or solicitation of any kind to enter into any deal or transaction with the entity to which the report pertains. The report should not be the sole or primary basis for any investment decision within the meaning of any law or regulation (including the laws and regulations applicable in the US).

Ratings from CRISIL Ratings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold or sell any securities/instruments or to make any investment decisions. Any opinions expressed here are in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only current as of the stated date of their issue. CRISIL Ratings assumes no obligation to update its opinions following publication in any form or format although CRISIL Ratings may disseminate its opinions and analysis. The rating contained in the report is not a substitute for the skill, judgment and experience of the user, its management, employees, advisors and/or clients when making investment or other business decisions. The recipients of the report should rely on their own judgment and take their own professional advice before acting on the report in any way. CRISIL Ratings or its associates may have other commercial transactions with the entity to which the report pertains.

Neither CRISIL Ratings nor its affiliates, third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively, ‘CRISIL Ratings Parties’) guarantee the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the report, and no CRISIL Ratings Party shall have any liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of any part of the report. EACH CRISIL RATINGS PARTY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. In no event shall any CRISIL Ratings Party be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of any part of the report even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

CRISIL Ratings may receive compensation for its ratings and certain credit-related analyses, normally from issuers or underwriters of the instruments, facilities, securities or from obligors. Public ratings and analysis by CRISIL Ratings, as are required to be disclosed under the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (and other applicable regulations, if any), are made available on its website, www.crisilratings.com (free of charge). Reports with more detail and additional information may be available for subscription at a fee – more details about ratings by CRISIL Ratings are available here: www.crisilratings.com.

CRISIL Ratings and its affiliates do not act as a fiduciary. While CRISIL Ratings has obtained information from sources it believes to be reliable, CRISIL Ratings does not perform an audit and undertakes no duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives and/or relies on in its reports. CRISIL Ratings has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of certain non-public information received in connection with each analytical process. CRISIL Ratings has in place a ratings code of conduct and policies for managing conflict of interest. For details please refer to: https://www.crisil.com/en/home/our-businesses/ratings/regulatory-disclosures/highlighted-policies.html.

Rating criteria by CRISIL Ratings are generally available without charge to the public on the CRISIL Ratings public website, www.crisilratings.com. For latest rating information on any instrument of any company rated by CRISIL Ratings, you may contact the CRISIL Ratings desk at crisilratingdesk@crisil.com, or at (0091) 1800 267 1301.

This report should not be reproduced or redistributed to any other person or in any form without prior written consent from CRISIL Ratings.

All rights reserved @ CRISIL Ratings Limited. CRISIL Ratings is a wholly owned subsidiary of CRISIL Limited.
 

CRISIL Ratings uses the prefix ‘PP-MLD’ for the ratings of principal-protected market-linked debentures (PPMLD) with effect from November 1, 2011, to comply with the SEBI circular, "Guidelines for Issue and Listing of Structured Products/Market Linked Debentures". The revision in rating symbols for PPMLDs should not be construed as a change in the rating of the subject instrument. For details on CRISIL Ratings' use of 'PP-MLD' please refer to the notes to Rating scale for Debt Instruments and Structured Finance Instruments at the following link: https://www.crisil.com/en/home/our-businesses/ratings/credit-ratings-scale.html