Storia Foods Achieves 51% Growth Despite Widening Losses in FY24

Mumbai-based Storia Foods saw its revenue jump 51% in FY24, but the beverage maker's losses continued to widen as expenses climbed across the board. According to RoC filings, the company earned Rs 169 crore from operations last fiscal year, up from Rs 112 crore in FY23. Interest from deposits added another Rs 2 crore.

Founded by Vishal Shah, Storia sells sugar-free shakes, lattes, smoothies, coconut water, juices, and booster drinks, which account for all of the firm's revenue. Costs shot up 44% to Rs 203 crore in FY24. Materials remained the most significant expense, growing 40% to Rs 98 crore. Staff costs rose 17% to Rs 27 crore. Other expenses jumped the most, climbing 63% to Rs 78 crore.

These rising costs pushed losses to Rs 33 crore from Rs 27 crore a year earlier. The company's EBITDA margin did improve slightly to -19.18%, better than the previous year's -24.69%. Storia spent Rs 1.20 for every rupee it earned. The company holds Rs 24 crore in current assets, with Rs 5 crore in cash and bank balances.

Storia has raised $6 million so far, with Sixth Sense Ventures holding a 23.86% stake and founder Shah owning 20.30%. The company faces formidable challenges in India's juice market, where price-sensitive buyers rarely pay premium prices for pure juice. Storia has tried to tackle this by selling six-packs while promising quality.

While Storia has shown good growth and some cost control, it faces two significant hurdles: expanding distribution and avoiding market stagnation that has forced competitors to cheapen their products to keep growing.