FMCG player Emami Ltd is set to revive its troubled international businesses that span countries in the CIS, The Middle East, Saarc and Africa.Following an ongoing restructuring effort, Emami’s overseas business, which de-grew by about 4.5% in the last fiscal, is set to post a growth of 15-20% in the current fiscal, officials said.“Emami has been making some corrections in its international business as we wanted to reduce our inventory at the distributor level in all the geographies. We think it will take another two quarters to come on with real positive results.”Emami expects Bangladesh operations to recover within the next month.Troubles remain though in CIS region where relationship with distributors has been poor for over past one year.For the rest, in the Middle East, Saarc and Africa, Emami sees improvement.CIS markets have been accounting for 75% of Emami’s overseas sales, which together contributes a little over 10% to Emami’s total revenue.“International business was marginally low due to lower off-take in CIS, Russia and African markets coupled with correction of inventory at distributors’ level as also for discontinuance of low margin products in Africa,” Emami had earlier said in its earnings release.Overall, Emami is likely to post a 17-19% sales growth this year, driven by 16-18% growth of key brands, excluding Fair and Handsome, and a strong 20-25% expansion of the Zandu portfolio, a UBS research report said.Interestingly, Fair and Handsome, country’s first fairness cream for men, which had a sluggish first half of fiscal 2013, has revived in the fourth quarter and is expected to continue the growth momentum during the current year.Emami plans to go aggressive during the current year for some of its key brands and launch some brand extensions.“A strong product portfolio in health-based categories with low penetration, market leadership in top brands, and high potential for Zandu OTC products are key positive,” UBS said. UBS has, however, downgraded the stock as it believes Emami is no more available at a discount to its FMCG peers like Dabur, Godrej Consumer, Marico and Zydus Wellness. “Post the significant rally in the share price, we downgrade the stock from Buy to Neutral, given the limited upside. Key risks are a weak season and a sharp rise in menthol costs,” it said.

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