Havells India Limited

Havells India Limited

1,031.00
INR
-42.00
(-3.91%)
26.45EPS
43.74P/E
727.53BMarket Cap
Jan 21Next Earn

Q1 FY2027 · Earnings Call TranscriptJuly 17, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Havells India Q1 FY25 earnings call. As a reminder, all participants' line will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be the opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes.

Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I now hand over the call to Mr. Aniruddha Joshi from ICICI Securities.

Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Aniruddha Joshi.

Aniruddha Joshi

Thanks, Sumit. On behalf of ICICI Securities, we welcome you all to Q1 FY27 results conference call of Havells India Limited.

We have with us today senior management represented by Mr. Anil Rai Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director; Mr.

Rajesh Kumar Gupta, Whole-time Director and Group CFO; Mr. Amit Kumar Gupta, Whole-time Director; and Mr.

Rajiv Goel, Executive Director. Now I hand over the call to the management for initial comments on the quarterly performance, then we will have the question and answer session.

Thanks, and over to you, Anil Rai Gupta, sir.

Anil Rai Gupta

Thank you. Good evening, everybody.

Thank you for attending the call today. Hope you would have reviewed the results by now.

We delivered strong revenue growth in the first quarter, as the demand was resilient despite inflationary pressures and the uncertainties arising from the West Asia situation. During quarter one, a decent summer supported cooling products demand, although a delayed onset restricted the full benefit of the season.

Given significant raw material inflation, we undertook calibrated and staggered price hikes across the categories to offset the impact. Encouraging to see that the consumer categories held well and absorbed price hikes.

Each category showed strength, and we are positive to build further from here. Renewables business continued to scale rapidly with robust growth in revenues, leveraging sector tailwinds.

From this quarter, we have begun reporting renewables as a separate segment. During the quarter, as planned, we significantly stepped up brand building efforts, led by mass media, with advertising spends more than doubling year-on-year.

While this front-loading of investments impacted the quarter's profitability, these will normalize during the rest of the year. We expect the demand environment to improve further and have a healthy outlook on the margins.

We can now move to Q&A.

Operator

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session.

Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two.

Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. The first question is from the line of Balasubramanian from Arihant Capital.

Please go ahead.

Balasubramanian A

Good evening, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity.

Sir, on the lighting side, I think earlier you have confirmed about the ASP declines have stabilized, and how's that pricing and volumes for this quarter, sir?

Anil Rai Gupta

Yes, as far as lighting is concerned, we have said that the pricing has stabilized. In fact, we may start seeing some price hikes in the coming times because of the electronics.

Otherwise, generally speaking, it has stabilized, and hence we're seeing some volume growth now in the business.

Balasubramanian A

Sir. Sir, on the switchgear side, get majorly impacted by West Asia export disruptions.

I'm trying to understand what is the mix of domestic and international for switchgears, and is there any margin difference profiles compared to domestic and on the international side? Because we have seen around 260 basis point margin erosion in that segment.

Anil Rai Gupta

Rajiv, would you like to take this?

Rajiv Goel

International business is normally 15%, but it varies from quarter to quarter. That's why it has been impacted.

We are expecting this to rebound this quarter. It primarily happened because there are no vessels going to that, but things have considerably eased since then.

We are very confident that Q2 will see a good growth in the international and overall switchgear segment. The domestic demand has been fairly stable.

Balasubramanian A

Sir. My last question on the renewables side.

I think we have seen an impact on the margin side. If you could quantify in terms of product mix shift, higher share of solar pumps, maybe lower margin versus other products, and competitive pricing pressure on solar module market, and raw material side.

If you could break down those impact on the margin side, and if you could also explain whether it's timing of the project side or is there any other reasons?

Rajiv Goel

I think you are asking about renewables. Solar pumps still is not very significant in this.

I think that should come in the ensuing quarters. Largely it has been because, see, there has been a strong demand on the panel side.

As panels have slightly lower margin than the inverters. There is that, but that also we expect to improve, you see, in the coming quarters.

I think renewable we believe is holding pretty well in the margins considering the industry scenario. As we move more towards the consumer side of the business, we are expecting improvement in the margins on the renewable side as well.

Balasubramanian A

We can expect in the H2, sir?

Rajiv Goel

That's right.

Balasubramanian A

Got it, sir. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Natasha Jain from PhillipCapital.

Please go ahead.

Natasha Jain

Thank you for the opportunity. Good evening, gentlemen.

My first question is if I see across the major revenue contributors, which is Lloyd, ECD, and cables, our top-line growth has slightly lagged the industry growth. First off, I want to understand is it because we took sharper price hikes and therefore maybe lost on volumes?

If that is the case, from a very medium to long-term perspective, could you call out what is the right mix between volume and pricing, especially given that there's intense competition across these categories? That's the first one.

Anil Rai Gupta

See, I think especially as far as Lloyd and ECD is concerned, this this particular quarter was the quarter where there was maximum volatility, and especially in the second and the third quarter, oh sorry, third fourth and the first quarter. There have been continuous price rises, raw material price rises, and we have taken, staggered steps of price hikes.

At this point of time, sometimes we are inward looking and hence we took calibrated price hikes. We do believe that we've taken the right steps towards price hikes, keeping an eye on market share as well as the fact that, we have been making some improvements in our distribution policy where wherein, a lot of focus has been ensuring that we do not unnecessarily load the channel and basically improving their return on capital.

A lot of things were happening in the first half of the year, first half of the calendar year. I do believe that on a long-term basis, including if we take secondary sales from the channel, we do believe that we have done a very robust job of ensuring that we do not lose any market share or in fact gain market share.

Natasha Jain

Understood. Sir, my second question is on the ad spend.

While it's highly appreciated that Havells continues to be a consistent spender here, what's the ideal timeframe wherein we can expect such aggressive ad spends to translate to revenues? More importantly volume growth, and on those lines, sir, if you could just call out the volume growth for Lloyd and if we are seeing any brand pull traction there?

Anil Rai Gupta

No, I think first of all as far as advertising spends are concerned, basically this is just a readjustment of our strategy between above the line and below the line over and between categories. One question is whether this will get normalized?

Yes, it will get normalized. How much it translates into volumes and value, it's usually advertising is a long-term investment.

Over a period of time it relates to volume growth, value growth, premiumization. It's not something like a FMCG where it's an impulsive buy.

Advertising has always been looked at as an investment for a long period of time. Hence even during the year, it will get normalized, but there was more front-ending in the first quarter because of the seasonal products.

What was the second question, sorry?

Natasha Jain

Sir, on Lloyd, the volume growth.

Anil Rai Gupta

The volume growth in air conditioners would be single digits, but value growth has been higher because of the calibrated price hikes during the first half of the year.

Natasha Jain

Got it. Thank you so much.

All the best.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Umang Mehta from Kotak Securities.

Please go ahead.

Umang Mehta

Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity.

The first question is on A&P. For the full year, last year you spent something around 600 crores.

Possible to share any kind of budget which you would have for the full year this year? How should we think about this now going ahead?

Do you think this is a new base on which we keep on growing every year, or do you see this as a lumpy episodic kind of investment you're making as now? That's the first question.

Anil Rai Gupta

No, as I said, lumpy could be during quarters and all that, but over a longer period of time, it's just a readjustment between the media that we've looked at. Maybe there is a slight impact during the entire year and maybe there's a readjustment, but as a percentage of revenue of consumer products, I think over a longer period of time, 4 to 5 years, we will be remaining consistent.

Umang Mehta

Got it, sir. Sir, any budget you can share for the full year?

Should we take north of 700, 800 crores?

Anil Rai Gupta

Somewhere around that number. Yeah.

Rajiv Goel

Yeah. Look, our long-term average has been around close to 2.7% as a company as a whole.

I'm not getting into consumer otherwise. We expect that to remain the same even for the current year.

Umang Mehta

It will

Rajiv Goel

be back to those percentages.

Umang Mehta

Sure. Thanks.

Second question was on renewables, given that you've carved that out as a separate segment. Any aspirations or targets you'd like to share?

Can we annualize the current run rate, or do you think there are certain tailwinds which are specific to 1Q? How should we think about this segment?

Thanks.

Anil Rai Gupta

I think if we look at renewables a bit more strategically, our focus will be looking into various categories of renewables which are adjacent to our brand and distribution. We are looking at installations in not utility-scale of installations, but more residential homes, commercial and industrial establishments; also looking at more strategic inputs for the future, battery energy storage solutions, EV chargers.

These are the kind of categories that we are getting into where we can utilize and leverage our brand and channel.

Umang Mehta

Sure, sir. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Rehan from Trinethra Asset Managers.

Please go ahead.

Rehan Saiyyed

Hello, good afternoon. Sir, I have two questions.

First, the management declined to give specific FY27 growth guidance due to market volatility. Given this quarter's result, can you now provide a clearer view on full-year revenue and margin expectations?

This is my first question.

Anil Rai Gupta

I think if you attended calls for a longer period of time for Havells, we do not give guidance for the year. Yes, the quarter start has been very positive, and we are hopeful that a good resilient growth momentum will maintain during the year.

Okay.

Rehan Saiyyed

My second question is around your price hikes across multiple categories. As the company implemented calibrated price hikes across multiple categories to offset raw material inflation, yet contribution margin remained broadly stable around 18.3%.

Going forward, if commodity prices remain elevated, do you believe there is still pricing headroom available, or will future margin improvement depend more on operating leverage and product mix than further price increases?

Rajiv Goel

I think that will be part of the initiative definitely because it will be led by the growth. Look, these prices have been increased to compensate, but there are usual price increase which happens also, you see, once in a year.

Those will always be undertaken. Then the contribution margin you're looking at is also a product mix.

We do expect, and we are seeing certain growth momentum in our other categories as well. As they grow, we are expecting growth of contribution and overall profitability much higher than the value growth in sales itself.

It will be dual play. It will be leveraging, but will also be, you see, growing the high-growth categories as well.

Rehan Saiyyed

For clarification, and I'll join back in the queue.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Indrajit Agarwal from CLSA.

Please go ahead.

Indrajit Agarwal

Hi. Thank you for the chance.

A couple of questions from my side. For the cables segment, can you split out between the value and volume growth in this quarter?

How has it differed in wires and cables?

Rajiv Goel

Volume has been largely flat, very very low single digit, but I would term it more as flat, and this is across wires as well as cables.

Indrajit Agarwal

Sure. In renewables, would it be more volatile or the quarterly run rate is something that we can maintain?

At what top-line level we can see more insourcing than outsourced model?

Rajiv Goel

Look, as you are aware, I'm coming to insourcing, outsourcing first. The strategic investment in Goldi that we made was the part of a very planned execution.

Goldi, I don't know you put it outsourcing or insourcing, because this was a strategic decision taken on that, I think which has held well, because now as there is so much clamor, I think we are able to sort of have a very significant and assured supply chain there. I would term this is a strategic insourcing rather than outsourcing to that extent.

Inverters, we have been doing ourselves in-house. The other categories you're talking about, there will be very strong strategic tilt towards that, and a lot then will be done in-house, either through the assembly or through the technical collaboration.

I think the sectoral tailwinds are strong, and the way we are looking at the adjacencies as well, we are hoping internally that we should continue to grow well in this category because this is a strong economic imperative for renewables in India, which is also reflecting how the government is supporting this initiative. We are very positive on this, and we expect it to become a larger segment, and that's the reason why we have also carved out renewables so that can be tracked both by the company as well as our investors on how we are doing this thing.

I think it just demonstrates our faith and belief in this category and the growth impetus here.

Indrajit Agarwal

Sure. Thank you for the detailed answers, and all the best.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Siddhartha Bera from Nomura.

Nomura, please go ahead.

Siddhartha Bera

Thanks for the opportunity, sir. First question is on the cable and wires.

If we look at the gap between the contribution margin and EBIT margin, it seems to have gone up a bit in the current quarter. Is it because of the ad spend, or if you can highlight what has led to this?

Second question is, sir, on the price hikes and costs. If you look at say ECD or Lloyd, how much have we taken in terms of price hike in the current quarter, and how much more do we need to take to pass on the current costs?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think as far as your first question is concerned, yes, it is due to higher A&P spends during the quarter. It's across the businesses, not just cables and wires.

As I have said already, during the year, it will get normalized, we do not expect any major changes in the overall profitability for various divisions. As far as price hikes are concerned, look, different product categories require different price hikes depending upon the kind of raw materials used in that category.

Generally speaking, 7 to 8% would be the right price hike average if we take it. Whether everything has been passed on, we were actually disciplined enough to say that we have been able to pass on the entire cost, but some of the remnants of some averages might be coming in the second quarter.

I would say most of the price hikes have already been taken now in a staggered manner.

Siddhartha Bera

Okay. At current commodity costs, we should ideally see margins improving from the coming quarters if it stays at that level?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think raw material prices have also moved up in a staggered way and price hikes have also moved up. I would say we will now see the normalized margin levels.

Siddhartha Bera

Got it. Contribution margin levels.

Anil Rai Gupta

Contribution margin levels.

Siddhartha Bera

Okay. Second question is, sir, on the Lloyd.

Lloyd, we used to do a double-digit contribution margin, which has now been in high single-digit for quite some time. Given the competitive dynamics and your focus, do we anytime soon see that going to that double-digit levels, or do you think that may take longer now given the industry?

Anil Rai Gupta

No, I think except non-seasonal quarters of second and third quarter, but we should be seeing double-digit sooner than later with all this has happened also due to the volatility and timing differences between passing price hikes and all that. Otherwise, in full quarters, we will definitely see it coming back to double digits.

Siddhartha Bera

Got it, sir. Thanks a lot.

I'll come back in the queue.

Anil Rai Gupta

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Praveen from PL Capital.

Please go ahead.

Praveen Sahay

Thank you for opportunity. My first question is related to the pricing.

Sir, last quarter, Q4, you indicated 5 to 20% of a price hike implementations. Is there some challenges have you faced in absorption of those price hikes in this last quarter, Q1 as well?

Anil Rai Gupta

I would not say challenges have been faced. I think challenge was to pass on the price hike, and which we've been able to do it successfully.

As I said, I always remain skeptical about what it means for the volumes. Thankfully, the demand remained resilient in the first quarter, and hopefully in the coming times also it should remain resilient.

Any improvement thereon in terms of raw materials or the world situation, definitely it'll be either further passed on or reduced. As of now, we believe that we have been successfully able to pass on the price hikes.

Praveen Sahay

Okay. Second question, sir, is related to the capex, nearly around 1,400-odd crore of a capex for '27 what you had given in the press release.

Can you give us some color on the bifurcation on the segment-wise, where it is going for a full year in this number? Look,

Anil Rai Gupta

the bigger part of that is going into the cables and wires business, almost about 800 crores. About 200 crores is going into the new R&D center.

The rest is all divided into other business.

Praveen Sahay

Last question, sir, related to your collaboration on the BESS. If you can give some more color on this, on the revenue and the margin visibility, and when that's going to contribute to the numbers, this Pixii collaboration, and how is going to work, whether you are going for assembly of those or just a distribution you are planning for?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think these are early stages to discuss this on the call right now, one. Two, is anyway part of the whole overall renewables strategy.

As things pan out, we will be coming back with more information. It is too early to comment on it.

Praveen Sahay

Thank you, sir, and all the best.

Anil Rai Gupta

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sonali from Jefferies.

Please go ahead.

Sonali Salgaonkar

Sir, thank you for the opportunity. My first question is if you could shed some more light on the weaker performance in switchgears, both in terms of demand and margins, especially because this is your highest margin segment.

How should we look at this segment going forward in the coming quarters? I do understand you have mentioned in your press release that the demand has been impacted because of West Asia crisis, but since we are amongst the key market leaders, a 4% decline in sales year-on-year and with a margin dip seems a bit concerning to me, which is why I'm asking this question.

Thank you.

Anil Rai Gupta

No, I think one is not only the West Asia crisis, but it's also, switchgear is one of those business where again volatility of raw materials was high and I would say because of this volatility in raw materials, there was also confusion amongst the trade also on buying products. I think it has fairly stabilized, and which should mean that the demand should be coming back from the second quarter.

Hopefully the international situation may also improve, but at least the domestic demand will remain stable from here. It seems so.

Sonali Salgaonkar

Sir, how much of our sales in switchgears is from international just in the context of 40%?

Rajiv Goel

15%.

Sonali Salgaonkar

Understood. Got it.

Very helpful. My second question is you did mention about the staggered price hike, on an average about 8%.

Would you be able to help us understand which category, on an average, how much price? I understand you don't give outlook or guidances, but how should we look at the margins in the coming quarters, as well a broader range, should we expect it to revert back to our normal 9, 9.5%?

I'm talking of EBITDA margin.

Anil Rai Gupta

No, I think again, as far as price hikes are concerned, it range between, let's say, 5 to 20%. Cables and wires have seen a larger price increase because of direct relation with copper and aluminum.

Otherwise, as I said, most of it is average about 7 to 8%. As far as margins are concerned, going forward, I think we are looking at stabilizing contribution margins.

I would not so much comment on EBITDA margins because there's a lot of things associated with that, volume growth and all that. At least contribution margins, we do believe our results are right now quite safe.

We're working towards managing the volatility in the raw material prices, and hopefully these things should remain stable in the coming quarters.

Sonali Salgaonkar

Understood. Sir, and just one last question, sort of a confirmation, for the capex for FY27 we should expect at about 14 billion, right?

Anil Rai Gupta

1,400 crores, yes.

Sonali Salgaonkar

Okay. All right.

Thank you so much, sir, and all the best to the team.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nitin Shakdher from Green Capital Single Family House.

Please go ahead.

Nitin Shakdher

Good afternoon to the management. This is a question not as an analyst, but more as an investor.

Obviously the renewable business is showing excellent growth rate. I just wanted to get a sense of what the management is thinking in terms of revenue and top-line in the future from the renewables and the strategy towards that, because it's showcasing a lot of positive revenue off-take and huge growth.

If you could just talk us through some strategic aspects of the renewable business for this year?

Anil Rai Gupta

See, I would say that Havells has looked at this business, especially with the Goldi investment last year. We're looking at this business very strategically and for a very long period of time.

We've made huge investment in fact for ensuring our supply chain for the coming years. Basically, if I look at it strategically, we are very hopeful that this business can become very big.

We are still evaluating all the possible places where Havells could actually make sense not only as a business, but also as a supplier to the renewable category. When you're talking about renewables as a business, that's just one business, but also you can understand when all this capex and investments are happening in the country, a lot of our products, including switchgears and cables, is also positively getting affected by that.

Having said that, I think the future will also depend upon how the government looks at this, how the regulations looks at it, what kind of manufacturing happens in India, what kind of tariffs are there, what kind of subsidies are there for the consumers and users. There will be a lot of moving parts to this business.

I would only say that I think India has a great future in renewables and Havells wants to play a part in that. I've also mentioned that we will be looking at it more not at utility scale, but more at the consumer and commercial and industrial installation.

That's how we are looking at this segment. There are tailwinds, and hence it's reflecting in good growth in this year.

I think we have a very positive outlook for the entire category.

Nitin Shakdher

Sir, my second question is we obviously mentioned that because of doubling of ad spends and raw material pressures, bottom line has been at least hit for the first quarter a little bit. Now obviously looking at a future outlook by the close of next year, do you anticipate to recover the net profitability and come up to a certain level which showcases a growth, or do you anticipate this year to be a bit flat?

What's your anticipation in terms of the margins which have been hit on the net profit for the first quarter, going ahead for the second, third, and fourth quarter?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think without giving any guidance, I can say that, one, on the A&P spends, things will normalize for the entire year. There will be a initial bump in this year because we do believe that we need to get back to that percentage of what Rajiv just mentioned, between 2.5 to 3% of the spends for the brand, for building long term.

Also I've also said that we are looking at hopefully stabilized margins in the coming quarters also. We've proven our fact that we've been disciplined in pricing despite the volatility in raw materials.

There is a constant eye on the margin as well as managing spends. I do see that we should see improvements in this year both in volumes and profitability.

Nitin Shakdher

Thanks a lot, and all the best to the Havells family. Thank you.

Anil Rai Gupta

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, you are requested to restrict your question two per participant.

The next question comes from the line of Jatin Sangwan from Optiwise. Please go ahead.

Jatin Sangwan

Thanks for taking my question. My first question is related to A&P spends and the market share that we are continuously losing in AC.

Because if we think of medium term to long term, to get the customers top-of-mind share, you have to continuously spend on A&P to get that share back, and this will result in your increasing market share in AC. Of course the AC season is over, and you may not spend too much on marketing for the next two quarters, but let's say when the Q4 of FY27 comes, or Q1 of FY28 comes, how do you think of this advertising and promotion spends?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think there are two things to advertising spends as far as Lloyd is concerned. One is ensuring that we, we we remain top-of-the-mind awareness for the consumer during the season, but also to ensure that we build a long-term premium image for the brand.

These two aspects we are always keeping in mind when we are advertising for Lloyd. Having said that, yes, the first quarter was primarily depend upon, not just ACs, but other product categories also.

Coming fourth quarter also we should be looking So the way we look at is that Lloyd spends on A&P will remain elevated for the next couple of years because there is a dual, requirement of also premiumizing the brand in the product categories. The kind of quality and the features that we've given our products need to be communicated to the consumers for a longer period of time.

Jatin Sangwan

Got it. My second question is around wires and cables.

If I compare it with our competitor who reported a couple of days back, they have reported high single-digit growth in wires and low to mid-single-digit growth in cables over a very high base that they had, while we are almost flat. Of course our margins have also declined.

What we do actually need to win in that segment, and there we are losing to some of our competitors. How do you plan on gaining that market share back in wires and cables?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think as I said that especially in domestic wires, we have done a very good job in terms of not only ensuring that our contribution margins continue to remain the way they are, and also, as I mentioned, we've made certain distribution strategy changes to ensure that we become more of a sell-out brand rather than just a sell-in brand, which also impacted some volumes at the end of the quarter where suddenly the copper prices had started going down. We are becoming more of a sell-out brand.

As far as cables is concerned, we are seeing very good growth, but also it is linked to the capacity expansions which are happening. I would say that the whole idea of doing in this business in cables is more capacity expansion, ensuring that we continue to build our capacity there, and also in wires we continue to keep the customer confidence very high in terms of brand and distribution channel.

I think if you may have seen that during the quarter we have spent part of our advertising and promotions on wires as well. I do believe that we have a very positive about the long-term prospects for cables and wires portfolio together.

If you're talking about lower margins, that also is affected by the fact there was disproportionate spends on advertising and promotion for the quarter, which will normalize over time to come.

Jatin Sangwan

Just a follow-up on this, and this will be the last question from my end. When you say you are spending higher on wire and cable side also, and still it is not resulting in sales for us.

Of course, you may say that it will result in coming quarters, but over the time we have seen that we have been consistently losing market share to the competitors. How do you think of this advertising strategy on wires and cables, and when will it lead to results?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think I don't need to repeat my answer. I've already answered.

Jatin Sangwan

Sure. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Keyur Pandya from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

Please go ahead.

Keyur Pandya

Thank you. Sir, first question on the Lloyd side, room air conditioner, because of our product placement timing, last year Q1 itself we had a low base versus industry, and even last quarter was a low base for us.

Despite that, when Q1 numbers are relatively lower after summer season, is there any change in strategy or some music, and apart from that any market share loss that you think you have reported on secondary sales side?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think initially I had mentioned that as a company we have made certain improvements in our distribution system where we are becoming more of a sell-out brand, and same is the case with Lloyd as well. We are focused right now on the sell-out from our channel.

Because of the de-rating changes, there were certain stocks which were pushed during the third quarter and the fourth quarter in the channel. We do believe along with the delayed summer, onset summer during April, we have been able to have a decent sell-out from the channel.

Sell-in may have been affected, but I think over a long period of time, this should get stabilized. This is also during the entire volatility in the raw materials.

Sometimes during a particular quarter or a half, some brands may choose to adopt a certain

Keyur Pandya

Hello?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think there's some disturbance in the line.

Keyur Pandya

There's no market share loss,

Anil Rai Gupta

sir? You can separately connect with our IR department.

Keyur Pandya

Sure.

Anil Rai Gupta

Can't hear you

Keyur Pandya

properly. Certainly.

Next question on profitability of switchgears and ECD

Operator

Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Pandya, your voice is not audible.

Keyur Pandya

Am I audible now?

Operator

Hello, can you please speak right now? Yes, you're audible.

Say.

Keyur Pandya

Okay. Last question is on the profitability of switchgears and ECD.

Apart from the A&P spend this quarter, for last two years we have seen state decay in profitability of these two segments. When you say normalization of margin, what would be normalized margin?

That is one point. Second, specifically to switches and switchgears, for last three or four years our absolute EBIT has remained same even with slower sales growth.

Probably we have lost market share as well as profitability. Any outlook on switches and switchgears?

Anil Rai Gupta

Can't really hear properly. You're saying that the normalized margins are somewhere between 37 to 40%.

That's the question that I understood.

Keyur Pandya

Let me connect with you separately. Probably some issue with my connectivity.

Thanks a lot, and all the best.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Achal Lohade from Nuvama Institutional Equities.

Please go ahead.

Achal Lohade

Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity.

Just wanted to check in terms of the cable segment, how are you seeing the momentum? Was there any pain in terms of the demand in last couple of quarters, or it is purely to do with the teething issues in the asset ramp-up for us in cable segment, sir?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think cable segment we've been doing well. We've been ramping up our capacity, and I don't think there are teething issues.

We are actually gaining good growth in the cable segment. The challenge that could have seen in the last couple of quarters is the volatility in raw material prices.

Sometimes material gets pushed, or sometimes there is a slow pick up because of suddenly the volatility, raw material prices start going down. Other than that, on the cables, I think we are on the planned track of increasing capacities and increasing sales.

Achal Lohade

Fair. Just one question I had with respect to solar cables, in terms of offering, do we have all the relevant SKUs, and what is the contribution of solar cables for us, and also, if possible, for the industry?

Just your thoughts on the same, sir.

Anil Rai Gupta

We do have the entire range, but we'll come back to you. I think if you talk to our IR, they can give you more color on this.

Achal Lohade

Sure. That's all.

I'll fall back in the queue. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ravindranath Nayak from Nirmal Bang Securities.

Please go ahead.

Rabindra Nath Nayak

Good evening, sir. Thank you.

Sir, in this quarter there is a significant rise in the A&P spend. Is it possible to quantify how much it has gone for Lloyd and how much in non-Lloyd business of the company?

If at all you're targeting 800 crores, and how much you're planning for Lloyd and the rest of the business of the company? Thank you.

Rajesh Kumar Gupta

The break-up we don't give. Normally Lloyd depends upon also the quarterly, which is very seasonal.

Overall, and I don't think we have given any guidance for 800 crore. As we said, this should be normally around 2.7, 2.8% of the net sales, which has been the trend for the last few years.

Rabindra Nath Nayak

For this 286 crore, any idea that how much it is gone from Lloyd and non-Lloyd business?

Rajesh Kumar Gupta

As I said, we do not give bifurcation on the division-wise.

Rabindra Nath Nayak

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Sameer Gupta from IIFL Capital.

Please go ahead.

Sameer Gupta

Hi, sir, and thanks for taking my question. First question is on Lloyd.

Now I understand this question has been answered during the course of this call, but I am just trying to find my interpretation here. You're saying that there is an impact due to higher sell-ins in previous quarters, and normalization of that has taken place, plus staggered price hikes over the course of the last two quarters, that might have impacted primary offtakes.

Would this be a correct interpretation?

Anil Rai Gupta

Yes, and a few other reasons also, but yeah, primarily these two reasons.

Sameer Gupta

Sir, just a follow-up on this then. Basically higher sell-ins in previous quarter should have then resulted in higher growth in the previous quarters, which I'm not able to see.

Is it that the last year the sell-ins were very high, and that is normalizing now?

Anil Rai Gupta

You see, if you remember last year, there was a very bad season, and also, a lot of de-rating changes happened at the end of December, plus the volatility in the raw materials in the first quarter. Also I've also mentioned that Havells and Lloyd both have gone through a change in the distribution strategy for the company, which is we believe is a foundation for a very positive growth in the coming quarters.

All this put together, yes, it has reflected in this growth that we have achieved in the first quarter.

Sameer Gupta

Thanks for the detailed answer, sir. If you could just elaborate on this change in distribution in Havells and Lloyd that you're talking about?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think for the purpose of this call, I would say that as both Havells and Lloyd have become more sell-out oriented than sell-in oriented.

Sameer Gupta

Basically primary aligning with the secondary, that's what it would mean, right, sir? Got it.

Thanks, sir. Second question, if I may squeeze in.

Ad spends, if I'm looking at this quarter, and again this has been discussed, pardon me if something that I've not been able to interpret correctly, but on an absolute and as a percentage of sales, both, it is among the highest that we have done in any quarter, especially in a quarter where there is RM pressure across the board. Is it driven by any major event like an IPL or something, or just wondering if this could have waited?

No,

Anil Rai Gupta

that depends upon the strategy of the company. Company looks at the long term.

All the raw material fluctuations and everything are short term, right? Brand building is long term.

If I would have been too concerned about short-term performance, then of course I would have definitely said that it could wait on. I think brand building is a continuous activity.

As I said, we have relooked at the entire strategy of A&P, and that's where it led to us coming back to certain media or certain product categories. That's the only thing.

Otherwise nothing. Again, as I said, the difference between thinking long term for certain things and short term for certain things.

Sameer Gupta

Got it, sir. That's very detailed.

Thank you so much. I'll come back in the queue for follow-ups.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ashish Jain from Macquarie.

Please go ahead.

Ashish Jain

Hi, sir. Good evening.

Sir, my first question is on renewables. Can you share some thoughts from a, let's say, 3 to 5-year perspective, how big this business can be in your vision, and what are the key products which will be driving that?

Anil Rai Gupta

I've already said this, that it's too early to give any more detailed answer than what we've already given.

Ashish Jain

Okay. Sir, secondly, on cables, it's a bit surprising that, four quarters back or six quarters back, we had capacity issues, and now with capacity coming in, also our cable volumes are flattish.

How should one think about that in your view, and what's driving that?

Anil Rai Gupta

I think I've given this in a lot of answers that while capacity utilization has been high, some part of the cables is also affected by the raw material fluctuations, which also means that sometimes the sell-in becomes slower when the raw materials are fluctuating heavily. It's not everything is going to projects, because there's a lot of dealer sales also in cables.

When the raw material start going down, the dealers start selling out from their own stocks rather than picking from the company. There are a lot of factors.

I don't think we should look at one quarter.

Ashish Jain

No, sir, just an extension of that. Should we think that for cables and ACs in particular, for the same reason, the channel inventory today is lower than normal?

Is that the right way to think then, and

Anil Rai Gupta

that could reflect in our At least at the end of the quarter, yeah.

Ashish Jain

For both the products. Okay.

Thank you so much, sir.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Pulkit Patni from GS.

Please go ahead.

Pulkit Patni

Sir, thank you for taking my question. Sir, first question is in your opening remarks plus a few other times, you sounded a lot more confident on overall growth.

My question is, is this confidence stemming from the price increases that have happened across categories, or are you also feeling more confident about volume growth going forward?

Anil Rai Gupta

I'm always confident.

Pulkit Patni

About, sir, volume growth or it's the pricing growth that is going

Anil Rai Gupta

I'm always confident about Havells' growth.

Pulkit Patni

Sir. My second question is would you be able to highlight what is the capacity utilization at the cables and wires division right now for us?

Anil Rai Gupta

Can't give it to you on this call.

Pulkit Patni

Okay. I'll take it from the IR team separately.

Anil Rai Gupta

Thank you.

Pulkit Patni

Thank you, sir.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question.

I will now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.

Anil Rai Gupta

Thank you very much, everybody, for attending this call and being very patient on the call. Thank you once again.

Wish you a very good weekend.

Operator

On behalf of ICICI Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining, and now you may disconnect your lines.

Thank you.