Merino Industries Limited
Company Background: Established in 1965, Merino has become the largest player in the organized sector in laminates. The company possesses India’s largest laminates manufacturing capacity at 171 lakh sheets per annum. Merino operates across 70+ countries. The Group’s network of more than 4000 dealers helps provide products across 2,000 pan-India outlets. Merino has 16 branches in India and two offices overseas.
Merino has over 10,000 SKUs (across designs, textures, colors and finishes). Merino’s facilities have been certified for ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18001. Merino initiated the first-ever Digital Product Display Unit in the industry, launching a display unit comprising more than 200 designs. Merino created a Retail Digital Application, which helped the consumer visualize the outcome of a laminate design by showcasing real interior scenarios, for which more than 3500 interior designs were shown in the application.
Financial performance:
Merino enhanced its global footprint and penetrated deeper in existing markets. Thus export revenues increased 20% to Rs. 375.76 crore during the year under review. Aggregate sales increased 20% to Rs. 1492 crore during FY19 backed by a solid volume growth of 11% (From 143.70 lakh sheets to 159.39 lakh sheets) following increased market penetration and a wider consumer base. The Group’s EBITDA grew 13%, muted by increase in cost of raw materials which grew by nearly 29%. The Group’s PAT improved 12% despite increase in costs over the previous year on the back of stronger performance and a larger contribution from value-added products.
Brief snapshot of financial performance is as given below: (Rs. In Lakhs)
| Particulars | 2018 | 2019 |
| Revenue from operations | 121,879 | 147,213 |
| Other income | 2,030 | 1,963 |
| Total Income | 123,909 | 149,176 |
| Cost of materials consumed | 56,679 | 73,083 |
| Purchases of stock-in-trade | 4,582 | 6,047 |
| Changes in inventories of finished goods, stock-in-trade and work-in-progress | (1,471) | (1,992) |
| Employee benefits expense | 13,605 | 15,981 |
| Finance costs | 1,421 | 1,731 |
| Depreciation and amortization expense | 3,757 | 4,235 |
| Other expenses | 27,423 | 29,981 |
| Total expenses | 105,996 | 129,066 |
| Profit before tax | 17,913 | 20,110 |
| Total tax expenses | 5,859 | 6,027 |
| Profit After Tax | 12,053 | 14,083 |
| EPS | 103 | 122 |
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Future Outlook:
Merino is expected to continue its growth owing to increasing population, boost from demand for affordable homes, GST rationalization benefitting organized players, increasing office spaces and rising personal disposable incomes.