Alicon Castalloy Limited (ALICON) Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Aliquan Castelloy Ltd. Q1F527 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will remain in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the management's opening remarks. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal the operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now hand the conference over to Mr. Mayank Basmani from CDI India. Thank you, and over to you.

Thank you, Ryan. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on Alicom Castelloy Limited's Q1 FY27 Earnings Conference Call. We have with us on the call today Mr. Sumit Bhattnagar, Group CEO, and Mr. Vimal Gupta, Group CFO. Mr. Sumit Bhatnagar will begin by sharing his perspectives on the industry environment and overall business performance. Mr. Vimal Gupta will then take you through the financial and operational performance for the quarter. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. The relevant disclaimer is included in the earnings materials that have been circulated earlier. I would now like to hand over the floor to Mr. Sumit Pagnadar. Sumit, over to you. Thank you, Mayank, and good morning, everyone. Let me begin by thanking all our investors, analysts, shareholders for joining us today. This is my first investor interaction with you after taking charge as a CEO of Pelicon effective first April 26. So before I speak about the quarter, I would like to take a moment to share with you how is Pelicon, where are we today, and more importantly, where are we going? When I took charge, I articulated three words to the organization, which is reset, refocus, and rebuild. And I clearly remember that I did share this with you during my last call in the last quarter. These three words are not about changing the fundamentals of Telecon. In fact, it is quite the opposite. We believe Telecon has a strong foundation over the years, strong customer relationship, deep casting and manufacturing capabilities. A credible technology platform, global exposure, and most importantly, a talented and a committed organization. Our objective is to take these strengths and sharpen them. We want to make Elecon more agile, more efficient, more customer-focused, and more scalable. And therefore, reset, refocus, and rebuild is not a short-term program. As the operating philosophy with which we intended to build the next phase of ELECON, let me start with the market environment. The Indian automotive industry, it continues to remain structurally very strong. The underlying demand environment has been positive, and we have seen healthy growth across the major automotive segments. More importantly, the latest industry data continues to support this positive trend in Q1 F527. The passenger vehicles recorded their highest level first quarter sales was approximately 1.57 million units, going to around 11.3%. Two wheeler grew 21%, and commercial vehicles grew 19.5%. So the overall environment is quite supportive. But what is particularly encouraging for us is that Alicom has grown significantly faster than the underlying market. During the quarter, Ellicone registered. Year-on-year growth of approximately 37.7% on a consolidated basis and 43.6% on a standalone basis. If we adjust the impact of material inflation, our underlying volume or growth is approximately 17.5% on consolidated basis and 22% on standalone basis. For me, this is an important number because it demonstrates that our growth is not simply a function of higher commodity prices being passed through to the customers. There is real underlying growth happening within the business. Our commercial vehicle business is particularly a good example. We have registered approximately 26% growth in commercial vehicle segments, supported by the conversion of some of the businesses we acquired recently into mass production. This is precisely the kind of growth we want to build. Growth that comes from new customers, new programs, increased pallet share, and successful industrialization. At the same time, Q1 was definitely not an easy quarter on a profitability perspective. The quarter witnessed a significant volatility in the input cost, particularly because of the geopolitical developments in the Middle East. Metal prices, gas prices, tooling costs, and several other input costs moved sharply. This created pressure across the entire automotive supply chain, and Elecon was definitely not an exception. Therefore, while the top-line performance was strong, the inflationary environment created a huge pressure on the margins and profitability. This is something we are addressing very aggressively through our operational efficiency initiatives, which I will come to you shortly. Now, if I look at the automotive technology transition, it's very clear that There are most important structural changes which are taking place in the industry, the transition towards the new powertrain technologies. We believe the future automotive landscape will not be defined by a single technology. It will be a combination of ice, vehicles, hybrid and electric, and other emerging technologies, depending on the application, geography, infrastructure, and the customer requirements. We see particularly a strong potential in hybrid vehicles. Our current assessment is that the hybrid segment could grow an approximate 25% to 30% CAGR over the next several years, while EVs could grow at approximately 20% to 22% CAGR over 4 to 5 years of time. This is strategically important for Elecon because we are already well positioned. We have a strong presence in hybrid vehicles, including supplying the largest hybrid vehicle manufacturing company in India as a single source supplier. This is a significant strategic advantage. At the same time, our EV portfolio is also expanding. We are supplying products such as electric motor housings, e-excel housings, battery housings, inverter housings, to the leading Indian and global companies in the EV ecosystem. So we are not betting on one technology, and we are positioning Relicon to participate in the entire evolution of vehicle architecture. And this is where our technology and engineering capabilities become extremely important. Now, the three words reset, refocus, and rebuild. Let me first talk about what we are trying to reset. This is the first pillar. When I say reset, I do not mean starting from zero. We are not changing the basic fundamentals of the company. We are sharpening our strategic intent. The first objective under reset is to create what I call as an island of excellence. We want Alicom to become an organization where excellence is not dependent on an individual or a particular plant. It becomes a culture, it becomes a system, and it becomes the way we operate every day. One of the most important areas for me personally is people. We are redefining our people policies with the objective of making Alicom one of the most desired workplaces in the industry. Over the past few months, we have significantly strengthened the organization. We have brought in experienced and highly quality talent across technology, quality, process engineering, human resource, maintenance, safety, and manufacturing and supply chain. We have hired some of the best talent from across the industry and the country, and I am particularly pleased with the quality and depth of leadership team that is now coming together. The organization has been rebuilt to prepare Elicon for multiple growth. Now, talking about the refocus strategy, this is the second pillar. Refocus means being very clear about what we want to play, which customers we want to serve, what capabilities we want to build, and importantly, where can we create the highest value? We are looking very closely at our customer portfolio. We are asking ourselves a very simple question. Are we getting enough value from every relationship, every program, and every capability that we have built? And our objective is to increase value addition. During the quarter, which has just gone by, we registered an approximate 17.6% growth in our value region. But we believe there is a considerable headroom ahead. We are therefore working extensively on improving our operational efficiency. Every factory, every process, and every function is being examined through the lens of productivity, cost, and quality. We are looking at our conversion costs. We are looking at energy consumptions, tooling, rejection, rework, health of the machines, logistics, inventory, and every single form of waste in the system. Because in an inflationary environment, we cannot simply rely on the price increases to protect the margins. We have to become structurally most efficient. This is the philosophy behind refocus. And I believe this will become one of the most important drivers of margin expansion for Elicon over the medium term. Now, talking about rebuild, which is the third pillar, rebuild is fundamentally about building the future growth engine of Alicon. This includes rebuilding our customer base, strengthening our order book, adding capacities ahead of demand, and creating the manufacturing infrastructure required to support the next days of growth. Recently, we announced an investment of approximately 125 crores over a period of next two years at our lease facility at Shikrapur. The facility is approximately 1.36 lakhs square feet. We deliberately chose to lease the facility because we want to significantly reduce our time to market. At this facility, we are investing in GDC, LPDC, and machining capabilities to support the recently acquired businesses. Based on our current programs, we expect this facility to generate approximately 500 crores of annual revenue over a period of four to five years of time. But I want to emphasize one thing. This is just the beginning. We are already evaluating additional opportunities to increase our capacity, and we expect to announce further investments as these opportunities mature. Our philosophy is now very clear. We will invest behind visible demand, but we will also build capacity ahead of the growth curve where we have strong customer visibility. Now let me quickly also talk about the recent order books. The other important part of rebuild strategy is our customer and order book strategy, and I'm happy to say that we had a very successful quarter on this front. During the last quarter, we acquired businesses across both automotive and non-automotive segments, which together have the potential to generate more than 450 crores of revenue over the past next five years. This is strategically important because these are not just incremental orders. They expand our customer base.

We are also

working very closely with several Indian and global customers and expect to book additional high-value orders during the current quarter. Another important milestone is that we have recently gained entry into two large Indian passenger vehicles and commercial vehicle OEMs, and together we currently have visibility of approximately 850 crore of business. Over the past next five years with these two customers. And these are the orders which are already booked with them. For Elecon, this is much more than a number. These customers addition certain of a position in the Indian automotive ecosystem and create a platform for multiple future programs. At the same time, Our relationship with some of the largest global commercial vehicle OEMs continue to grow consistently. We are acquiring multiple programs from these customers on a regular basis, and what is particularly encouraging is that we are now receiving inquiries from global OEMs with whom Elecon has never worked before. That tells us our capabilities, quality standards, and technology are increasingly getting recognized globally. We will, of course, update you as these opportunities mature and become firm. Business means for us in future. Now, let me quickly also briefly talk about our Europe operations. Our European facility reported a lower sales during the quarter, primarily because the production ended for certain parts that had reached the end of production cycle, which is quite normal of an automotive business. What is important that we have already acquired new businesses, and we expect the European operation to make a strong comeback as this program ramps up. Our objective remains to build a sustainable and profitable European business with a healthy pipeline of new programs. Now, let me also quickly touch upon profitability while the numbers will be taken up by our CFO, Vimal Gupta. Coming to profitability, despite the challenging input cost environment, our performance was better both year-on-year and sequentially on the relevant consolidated and standalone comparisons. I would like to put this in context. The quarter was characterized by strong revenue growth, but also by significant volatility in input costs. Therefore, our immediate focus is on ensuring that the strong top-line momentum increasingly translates into profitability. This is where the three pillars come together. Looking ahead, as I look at Alicon today, I see a company at an important inflection point. We have a strong market behind us. We have technology transitions creating new opportunities. We have a strong leadership team. We have new customers. We have new programs. We have capacity investments underway, and we have a growing pipeline of opportunities across India and global markets. But I also want to clarify that we are not going to chase growth at any cost. Our ambition is profitable, sustainable, and capital-efficient growth. The quality of growth matters to us as much as the quantum of growth. We want to improve our customer mix. We want to increase value additions. We want to improve asset utilization, reduce waste, and also we want to strengthen our margins. And we want to generate superior returns of capital we deploy. Our ambition is therefore not simply to become a larger aluminum casting company. Our ambition is to become a technology-led, globally relevant, high-value manufacturing partner to automotive and selected non-automotive customers. And I believe that we have the right ingredients to achieve that. With that, I would like to hand over to our CFO, Mr. Vimal Gupta, who will take you through the financial performance for the quarter. Thank you.

Thank you, Sumit, and good morning, everyone. We have commenced FY27 with a strong performance and importantly cost 500 crore. of quarterly sales for the first time in ill-econ history. During the quarter, total income stood at 579 crores, growing by 37% year-on-year and 17% on a sequential basis. The EBITDA was 55 crores with EBITDA margin of 9.5%. We are pleased to report strong growth in profitability with profit before tax of 18 crores, growing 45% year-on-year and profit after tax 12 crores, higher by 23% year-on-year basis. From a revenue perspective, the quarter was supported by high volumes and programs ramp up across our domestic business together with steady execution of existing customers' programs. Our international business, however, had a relatively softer quarter. This was largely in line with our expectations at certain mature programs in our European operations. As a result, we are currently in transition phase where the decline in legacy business has not yet been fully offset by new program launches. Given that our standalone operations continue to deliver stronger profitability, this temporary gap in the international business has also had an impact on our consolidated margin profile. We remain confident that as these new programs move into production over the coming quarters, the performance of our international business will improve progressively. It is important to highlight that the growth during the quarter reflects a combination of volume growth, program ramp-ups, new business execution and impact of price movement in aluminum-based and other alloys. On the margin side, profitability during the quarter continues to be affected by higher input costs, including aluminum and other alloys, as well as increase in employees, energy, logistics, and other operating costs. There are three distinct factors to consider when looking at our margin trajectory. The first is raw material inflation, primarily aluminum and related alloys. These costs are contractually passed through in nature and are fully recoverable from customers, albeit with the timing lag. The second relates to manufacturing costs such as labor and other operating overheads. We are actively engaging with customers to recover a part of these costs increases through price divisions. We have already secured approvals from some customers. While discussions with others are progressing well and we expect further closure during the current quarter. The third and perhaps the most important from a long-term perspective is improving the underlying cost structure of the business. This is entirely within our control and includes initiatives around productivity, automation, process optimization, manpower efficiency, and better absorption of fixed cost and as volume grows. At the same time, we are consciously improving our business mix by increasing the share of higher-value-added products involving machining, engineering, and more complex manufacturing. Our objective is, therefore, not merely to recover inflationary costs. It is to improve the structural profitability of the business and build a more resilient margin profile over time. We are confident that these initiatives will become increasingly visible in the margin profile as the benefits accumulate and the newer capacities move towards higher utilization. Now coming to the capital allocation. The new manufacturing facility announced during the quarter represents an investment of approximately 125 crores. It would be important to highlight that we are paging the investment over 2-3 years rather than deploying the entire amount up front. The project will be funded primarily through internal accruals, supplemented by borrowings as required. The pace of investment will be aligned with the progress of customer programs and the requirements of the facility. This is consistent with how we intend to approach capital allocation more broadly. Investment should be supported by customer demand, have a clear path towards utilization and generate appropriate return over time. For quarter 1 FY27 capital expenditure was approximately 40 crores and for the full year it is planned approximately 150 crores. This includes around 70 crores. So, now coming to the outlook, including the recent order gains, the Quartar Alicons executable order book stands at approximately 8,450 crores as on 30th June, which represents executable orders over a period of 6 years from 25-26 to 30-31. This doesn't include programs that are currently ongoing and had already formed part of revenue prior to FY26. So FY27, financial priorities. From the financial perspective, therefore, I would summarize our priorities for FY27 in four areas. First, to support 8-10% underlying top-line growth that we have guided for while maintaining the quality of the growth. Second, the progressively improved margins through a combination of customer recovery and internal productivity measures. Third, to deploy capital in line with customer demand and maintain discipline around leverage and cash flow. And fourth, to improve working capital efficiency and to ensure that a greater proportion of our operating performance converts into cash. We recognize that these improvements will not necessarily happen in straight line each quarter, but the focus is very clear and the initiatives are already underway. With that, we would now be happy to take your questions.

Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use their handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We take the first question from the line of Blogulandan NL from Luama Research. Please go ahead.

Congratulations, Sumit, sir, for the strong first quarter with your leadership. Wishing many more milestones ahead. Thank you very much for sharing the order book execution timeline in the presentation. This is very helpful. Two questions. On the domestic market, good to see strong growth and customer additions. Can you talk about the overseas business? Considering maturity of some programs, there was some softness in Q1. How do you see the performance in remaining part of the year and also for next year? Also, if you can provide, how do you see the total revenue outlook for FI27? And over a two, three-year basis, a three-year outlook, how would you see the revenue expanding? Thank you.

Thank you, Raghu, for your question. I think you have asked three questions. The first question you have asked is on the performance of our global operations. I think you are talking about the European operations. Okay, so yes, you are right, Raghu, and I have also said that we saw a little downfall in the business volumes at the European operations because some of the critical products reached their end of life. But the good news is we had acquired an e-excel business from one of the biggest, one of the largest automotive giant in the world. And this business is already under development. We have already invested in very latest technologies in this plant, which will be the starting point for this plant to be seen as a high technology plant by the European OEMs. So this is one. Secondly, there are some more businesses which are right now under development from some of the bigger, again, big automotive giants in Europe, which will come into SOB towards the later part of the year. So, the slow growth or I would say the reduced growth what we have seen in the European operations may continue for one or more quarters, which will not be significantly lower than what it has already been. But we see a reversal trend from the last quarter of this financial year and next year definitely we want this plant to be coming back to the normal state. So, this is how it is happening there, but I can only tell you that we have already hired, again, a lot of experts in this factory to bring new businesses, work on the technologies, and uplift the company manufacturing part of Europe. And those investments, when they happen, will definitely come back to you and tell when it is happening. But the new investments on the technology for the new businesses one has already been committed in the last year, and it will show results from the third quarter of this financial year. So this is one. Secondly, your question is on how do we see this financial year by 27. If you remember in the last quarter, when we were actually meeting you for the first time, we were talking about a modest growth of 10%. And I clearly remember that investors also had asked me at that time that this looks to be very modest and does not have an aggression. Good that we have a great start and we want to continue this journey. I can see a growth of approximately 12 to 15% coming in this financial year, which is neutralized to the material effect. So this is not because of the inflations, but the true growth is approximately 12 to 15%, which I can see in this financial year at 527. And I think your third question is that how do we see the coming two to three years of time? This is going to be a journey of growth for us. We will make some strategic decisions which we will be letting you know when they are happening. But this financial year is the year of setting up the capacities. We have invested in one factory. We have plans which we will only announce you soon, but we may soon come with more investments. Very early, I would say, in a different part of the country, but before it happens, they will definitely announce our plans about it, but we are working on our strategies and we will be announcing it soon. Organically, we see major investments coming in next two years of time. On inorganic growth, there are some plans which I cannot share with you with the investors right now, but I promise you that by the fourth quarter of this financial year, I will also show how inorganically Alicon grows and the growth rate what we are indicating for this financial year. Definitely, we are looking for a similar growth rate for the next few years as well. I hope that answers Raghu the questions you have asked. Wonderful, sir.

Thank you. Thank you so much for the detailed answer. And just a clarification. So, in Q1, the actual growth was around 17.5%. So, that is the growth you are referring to when you are taking a one-year and a three-year outlook. Is that right, sir?

Yeah, that is right. That's the right assumption.

That's the right.

Yeah, that's the right.

Wonderful, sir. Thank you so much. Second question to Vimal, sir, on the margin side. Sir, good to see 18 crore PBT in Q1, which is a 20% crore YOY, a strong performance. On the margin side, how do you see the receipt of the price increases from customers for the various cost inflations in coming quarter? How do you see the margin outlook for coming quarters? And taking a two-year view, where do you want the margin to go back? If I talk FI28, FI29, how is the aspiration? Where do you want to take the margin levels back? Thank you.

First, if you go for the margins for the last year, it was approximately 11.4%, I remember. And in this quarter also, we have reached up to that same level that we had in the last year, even after having the lot of impact of the cost increases, the inflation we have seen. And against that, we got some corrections from the customers, but not full. So those are under discussion, and maybe some part we will get in quarter two, and maybe quarter three also, because you know that OEM, they immediately, they don't give all corrections immediately. So they take time, and all these things are happening. So, for this year, what like of the growth that Smith has already explained 12 to 15% growth we are expecting. By neutralizing the impact of the aluminium. But on the other side, we are also expecting at least 1% improvement in the EBITDA margins. So this is our expectation for this year. And hopefully that may be in the coming, for what we are talking about, the next two to three years. So progressively like what we are investing on that basis and further it will improve only, I can say, but it is difficult to give the guidance for the future for that. Because a lot of initiatives we are taking on the cost side and our business restructuring as well as giving the more focus on the high

VA and the high margin parts. So we can only tell, Raghu, that we will be progressively looking for improving the margins as well in the coming years.

Wonderful. The direction is positive and the outlook is bright. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir. I will come back in the queue for more questions.

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Avinash Nahata from Parami Financial Services. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Am I audible?

Yes, you're audible. Yes, please go ahead.

Yeah. So the first question is, when we are talking about 8,000 crores order book, can you talk about how much is non-automotive built into this? The six years visibility what we have provided. Yeah, the idea is to understand how is non-automotive shaping up in terms of order book and future revenue booking.

Yeah, out of this order book of 8,450 crores, we see at this moment the non-auto visibility is 2%. So, this is roughly around 1,200 crores.

So, also to add to this, this number of 2% is as per the order book, but this is definitely a pie which we want to expand in the next few years from town.

Okay. So, incrementally, so since we talked about refocus, so non-automotive casting business, so is there a new set of teams, team hired for this business? Can you just spend one minute on this?

So, okay. So, it's a very, very good question. So, we are creating a completely different vertical for our non-automotive sales. The sales and marketing team, which we have just created, is completely independent from the marketing team, which is handling the automotive business. And as we have to grow this business, we will also strategically put more resources to this team so that they are taking complete account of this vertical separately. And but the marketing people are already included separately.

So, when can we see, based on whatever team we are building, so there's obviously a lead time when they go to market and position our facility, our capability. So, when do you incrementally start seeing order booking, I mean, which quarters we can hear, three quarters from now, four quarters from now, that inquiries and order bookings have started?

All right.

So, just to tell you, it has already started.

And just to tell you that we had recently won a business in non-auto segment, and which is for HPEC facility for data servers. Now, this is a business which is going to be starting from India, but it will be soon going globally to all parts of the world. We have not announced the potential of this business because there are some formalities which are still due with the customers to be signed up, but this has already started. That's number one. Number two, we are already doing some businesses in the defense segment, which is a non-automotive segment, and this business RFQs we are continuously handling and attending to. And very recently, and I think I should have included in my speech, very recently, we have also got into the tractor segment. And we have got the first ever business in the tractor segment for a cylinder head, which will be going to the largest tractor manufacturer of the world. And there is a change, just to also maybe tell you, generally in tractors, this product is traditionally a cast iron product. But customers are now exploring the aluminum options, and we are the first one in the world to be able to give them this solution, and we have already won a business. This business currently looks small, but it has a huge potential because eventually this is the future, and it will be replacing cast iron cylinder heads and tractors in time to come. So, these are some of the things which I did not explain in the meet, but I can tell you that these are add-ons which will be adding up to the order books in time to come. So, yes, right now it's 2% which looks slow, but these numbers will begin to change by end of this year to give a precise answer to you.

Sorry, just to clarify, the first thing you spoke about is HVAC, is it?

No, see, what happens is in the global data centers, what happens nowadays, big companies like Amazon or Danfoss, they have huge global data centers where they use HVAC to completely cool the facilities. When HVACs are used to cool the facilities, then there are a lot of consumptions of compressors and the related housing systems from aluminum. Now, this is a segment which was never untapped or untouched, and this is where we have got a business from a global company to begin with for India, and then the same part will be used in various locations in North America as well as in Europe. So, this is housing part of it? See, because we are basically the aluminum experts and technology in aluminum, so we will be doing the aluminum housings for these compressors which are going to be using huge volumes. It will be a non-automotive segment for us. Industry. Okay.

I have two small questions more. The second is, is it possible to share tonnage for domestic and European business, which we did last year and on this particular quarter? And third is, for our European businesses, what are our fixed costs? Thank you.

See, I think if you are talking about tonnage, just allow me a few seconds. We had done approximately 9,000 tons in the last quarter.

Let me just tell you precisely.

This is standalone? Yeah, no, no, this is on the consolidated basis.

Let me just have a look.

So, the tonnage in our European facility is very less. So, it is, if I say we have done 9,124 tons, only 150 to 210 is what we do in Europe. So, it is very minuscule at this point of time. Right. So, that means everything is basically the standalone basis. And if you ask me how much tonnage we did last quarter or last year, I don't know, but if you talk about last quarter. So, we have done close to 1% higher tonnage as compared to the last quarter. While our sales growth, you can see, is much more than that, we have shifted to some high value addition parts and high revenue parts, which this is why even on a quite similar tonnage, our revenues are looking much better.

Understood. And similarly, F526, what tonnage we did for our standalone?

FY26 standard, see that's what I'm saying, the tonnage was around 9000 tons in the quarter one, which we have done 9124 tons in quarter one of this financial year. So this is 124 tons higher as compared to the last year. But last year the tonnage was higher in the European operations. But 100 tons is only a differential which is coming because of the European operations. So, Tanesh, it is a little ahead of the last financial year. Last quarter, sorry, not last financial year, last quarter.

Yeah, I understood that. I was asking about the entire FY26.

All right, just give me a moment.

I'll just come back to you in a minute. My team is just looking at the last year's data. No problem.

You can take next question. While you are answering other participants' questions, you can answer this. Sure. I'll do that. For sure. Don't need to help. Thanks a lot and all the very best.

Thank you. Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Bhavya Doshi from Sushil Finance. Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you for this opportunity. So, my first question is the first quarter had 17% volume growth and your comment said you guided about 10 to 12% growth. So, are we going to see volume growth slow down in the further quarters?

I'll just correct. I think I didn't say 10 to 12%. I said 12 to 15%.

Okay.

So, yeah, 17% is what we have achieved, and overall 12% to 15%, so the thing is, right, still we are not out of the complete volatility. We have to watch quarter by quarter. We will be very happy to do more, but this is something which I can tell is clearly visible to us at this point of time. But there is no clear reason why there should be a slowdown as of now.

Okay. My next question is how is the standard order procedure shaping up for new projects and what are the expected order wins for the rest of the year?

So, I think all the businesses which we have acquired, they are well on course on development. There is a complete process they follow till the time they reach the market. You are already aware that our new capacities are coming up, and we expect our SOP in those facilities to come by March 2027, which would be within six months of acquiring the plant. And most of the order books which we have already booked with the customers, they are all going to be going from the new facility, so they are all on track. And if you talk about the order book for the rest of the year, I think it is quite similar to the acquisitions which we have done in the previous quarter. I have already let you know how much did we acquire in the last quarter, and we see absolutely a similar growth pattern in the rest of the quarters as well.

Okay, and so the margin for Q1 was 9% while for FI 26 was 11%, you said there will be a margin improvement, so will it be compared to FI 26 or this quarter?

No, this quarter we have the margin of 9.5% against 11.4% for the last year, but I have also explained that if we adjust, the adjusted margin is 11.4% for this quarter when we remove the impact of the algonium.

Okay, so the margin improvement will be in general, right? Yes. It will be 12%. You said 1% improved.

Yeah, in this year we are expecting to improve by 1%.

Okay. And my last question is, so you said new plant where you are doing 125 crores of PAPEX will generate 500 crore annual revenue. Did I hear that right?

Yeah, you got that right. 4 years, 5 years of time. That's right.

Okay. Thank you so much.

All right. So, before we go to the next question, just to answer to the question which was asked before this on the total tonnage of the last financial year, it was 34,000 kgs. Sorry, 34,000 tons. Sorry.

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Ridesh Ram Gandhi from Discover Capital. Please go ahead.

Hi, sir. Just had a few questions. Firstly was, you know, if you can update us on the JLREV expectations on when we see the orders hitting our revenues.

All right. So, I think it's an interesting question, and I can clearly understand why. See, the JLR EV dispatches and consumptions have already started.

So, this

vehicle, I think, is already due to be launched very, very soon, and the consumption, the productions have already started in JLR, and currently, we are expected to supply them at a rate of 600 sets per week, and we already have an indication from JLR that these numbers could further increase from Jan 2027, and I cannot reveal those numbers because of our confidentiality with the JLR, but I can only tell you that these consumptions have started, and next year onwards, these numbers are going to further increase.

Well, and this is started and it's already reflecting in the first quarter or it will reflect from Q2 on?

It is very marginally, very marginally reflecting in the first quarter. They have not completely peaked, but we expect them to peak by quarter three of this current area.

Got it. So the other question was, obviously, in our revenue growth, there is an element of aluminum price increases. So while the revenue is higher, obviously, margins would be lower, but absolute EBITDA, hopefully, should be higher. So if we adjust for effectively the aluminum price increases, what is actual growth in T1 bins?

So, I think I did explain while I was talking, the actual growth neutralizing the impact of aluminum was around 17%. And if you really, and on the standalone basis, if you see, then this growth was actually 22%, which is adjusting the aluminum impact.

And then is there any lag impact of the price increases in terms of that we expect the increases? To be able to pass on, is there a higher profitability as the lag effect catches up, or is it immediate pass on or pricing?

See, just to tell you, during the inflations and the prices when they went up, some of the largest companies and volumes of the country, they made it online. So, while there used to be a lag of a quarter, but they made it to be back-to-back from 1st April. So, as they are sitting at the end of the quarter, there is nothing which is going to be impacting us in future as compared to what we have already shown. How can you just pass through aluminum? Aluminum, that's right.

Got it. And there's obviously been a reasonable increase in freight prices as well, you know, so is that also impacting us? Are we able to pass that on as well?

So, generally, there are two models in which we operate. In some of the models, where the freight prices are substantially high, some of the OEMs pick up the material from our place and then take it, so it does not affect us. But it does affect in rest of the cases, and these are the cases which are already in discussion with the customer. As a part of all the inflationary increases, and as we've already said, some increases are already accounted for, which we have already got a confirmation, but some are in discussion, which we should be able to conclude in this quarter.

Got it. Got it. Sir, and you know, you were indicated that this product followed the data. And does which we are in early stages of evaluating, you know, how large could potentially this overall market be? Is it reasonably large in terms of size and can sort of have a material impact on the business or is it a sort of small industry?

See, we started with India and they have already confirmed in the next quarter they are going to open up the Europe market and thereafter the Mexico. So this is just to start with one customer. But we have done our survey and we see a great potential. I mean, there are near about seven to eight such aluminum parts which we can name and also we have listed down various other customers which we can tap. So we have considered this as a special project, seeing the futuristic growth expansion, and that we are going to watch. Got it. Got it.

And in terms of capacity utilization, what levels are we at right now?

So, okay. See, currently, in this last quarter, we have reached close to 100%. It's more than 90% for sure. And that's exactly the reason that we are now quickly setting up a new facility. Maybe we have some more by the end of this year, which we will let you know soon.

No, but just to understand, you know, if we are already close to full capacity utilization, you know, our revenue and profitability is not... Sort of reflecting an extremely attractive ROC, you know, so is it that as this capacity gets pulled, we moved into higher end products? So how do you, how do you like? I look at that because if we are already the full and yet our return ratios are not particularly attractive, you know, I mean, then have we just sort of invested in a capex which has not been particularly actually fruitful from a return perspective?

So I think it's a very, very fair question. See, if you would have already observed that in the last quarter, even though our turnages have not substantially increased over the previous time, our value has substantially changed. There is clearly a change in the way we are acquiring the new businesses. Traditionally, for the past many, many years, we have been mostly known as two-wheeler products only, but we were not into a high-value game. But I think this is very clear that all the acquisitions which we are doing since last year are only into high-value propositions only, and that is why it is changing very fast. I've already said that we are re-looking at all our customer portfolios. We are freeing the capacities. We will free up some more capacities in next two quarters, and we will allocate it to the higher value product. And all those things are in plan to really make sure that ROC improves from there onwards.

Good. So, if I understand is because utilization levels were low, you took orders which may not have been particularly good. Now, as utilization has increased, you're looking to reallocate capacity to products which will give us higher profitability and margins as well.

See, this is not true. Say, if you look at automotive industry. And if you really look at two-wheeler as CV and TV segments, any company, any automotive company who is operating in these three segments have different margins expectations from these segments. While two-wheeler is a high-volume market, which is mostly commoditized, you generally don't find very high margins in this product. As I said that, Alicon began with two-wheeler. For many, many years, we were there. But also to tell you that we have intentionally reduced our market share in two-wheeler segment by 1 to 2%. And this is basically because we want to allocate the capacities now for higher-value products. Yes, we have some very, very critical and very valuable customers with us. We will stick with them forever. But definitely, this is not a segment where we are planning to grow. And this is not the segment we are really going aggressively to acquire new businesses. So, so that's the reason I think we have to again relook or we are actually relooking at our existing capacities, freeing up the capacities which really we want to get rid of and then finally adding higher value businesses. But it's a business process. We started with two-wheeler, then we went to passenger cars, then we went to blue exports, and now we are also going to industrial and defense. Now, this is completely the way Elecon has worked so far, and it will be completely changing the way of working in future as well.

Got it. So then, because, you know, if we, like, if we, like, look at it, right, in terms of even if we annualize Q1, you know, your ROCs are still sort of, you know, in very, very low, like, double, you know, digits, right? Right, um, or, or, So, you would expect that to sort of inch towards, I mean, in terms of like CapEx, what is your internal threshold in terms of payback period or steady state ROC? How do you look at it?

See, there are a few things. See, once I said that we are in the process of freeing up some capacities, I think we need to also understand that we don't tell a customer that we don't supply them tomorrow. There is always a process of handover and changeover, which takes some time. It takes from six to eight months of time, but we have already initiated that as number one. When you talk about the paybacks on the capexes, generally in our kind of setup, the paybacks are generally typically three to four years, which is quite impressive. And I can only tell you that ROC, which yes, today does not look so impressive, but this definitely is on an increasing trend and it will soon come into a very desirable number.

Importantly, in the ROC, one more issue we have to understand that some businesses where we are bleeding, like when we are talking about the JLR, so we have put up the investments. And those are not being, we are not able, the orders, that there is a delay in the SOP, so those areas where investments are there, but there is no return, even we are in the losses. So those are going to be turned around in this year, that's what we are talking about.

And I think if you only look at numbers, the last financial year our ROC was as low as 10.7%. Which already is looking at 15% by only minor tweaks which we have done in the business process. So, this is definitely very rewarding, and I think it should fall in place soon.

Good for you, sir. Extremely promising. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. Participants, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and VAR. We take the next question from the line of Ardharwar Deshmukh from MM Capital. Please go ahead.

Hello, thank you for the opportunity. My question was on the new plant which you are building in Pune. Can you give some idea on the timeline and the capacity of the new project that you are doing, 125 pros project?

So, the timelines, we are taking the position of the factory on 1st of September this year. It's already a built-up factory, which is 135,000 square feet. Location from our existing factory in Shikrapur, it is 5 kilometers away on the main road. So, it's a very, very nicely located place. In terms of timelines, we are looking for going in SOP into this factory by March 2027, or just towards the end of the financial year. And in terms of capacity, as I said, we are looking for generating a revenue of around 500 crores in this factory. But this is something which can also go up a little bit more, but the investors what we are making today can generate a revenue of 500 quarts on this facility.

Okay, so are you planning to ramp it? Okay.

Sure, so please go ahead.

Yeah, are you planning to ramp it up as slowly as the orders come up, or you already have the orders and you are planning to directly start it?

So, as of now, every single business which we will do in this factory, we have an already committed order. So, we are not going to be looking for new orders to come into this factory. But the question is, for the future growth, we will be making further investments, which we will inform you soon.

Okay. So, as you said, your tonnage capacity, tonnage for FI26 was 34,000. So, can you give a tonnage capacity similar for your new plant? How much tonnage?

So, usually whenever we put up a new factory, we make sure that we at least have a tonnage capacity of 3,000 tons. So, and if you are talking about this factory in which we are in discussion, this could be having a much higher tonnage capacities. And we are looking for at least it to gradually go up. But to begin with, we will start with 3,000 tons, which will go up 7,000 tons in time to go.

Okay, 3,000 to 7,000 max.

That's right.

Yes. And one more question. On your one-time expenses which you occurred last time, are you expecting any such one-time expenses going away?

At this moment, we don't see anything, but it can happen in the business.

As of now, there is no such visibility of this kind of actions to be required.

Okay, sir. Thank you.

Bye.

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Ramesh from SJ Investments. Please go ahead. Hi, sir.

I'm an audible. Thank you for the opportunity.

There you are.

No. Yes, sir. There you are. Yes, sir. It's impressive that what the company is going on, realizing that some things might are not working out. Could you explain, you mentioned that order book execution this time is a lot more concrete than last time, because over the last few years also, you mentioned a concrete order book, which has not materialized. Could you explain what's exactly changing from then versus now? Because this order book discussion has been happening for many quarters, but it has not materialized meaningfully over the last few years, either in margins or anything. Could you just tell what is exactly changing from then to now?

Yes, if I take you back maybe seven, eight years ago, because I think it was 1819. The second half of 1819 when we noted the automotive numbers were declining and that time we noted that we need to aggressively work on the numbers and we came up with strategies to increase the penetration in other segments also. And even EV was a bus. So we have done extensively, I mean, we extensively started adding business in EV. Unfortunately, EV, the way it was to be grown, it didn't happen. And that's the reason we got ahead. If you see projects like JILAR or few other customers also, the volumes have gone down or the SOP has extended. So there we got ahead. Also, and also we try to look for critical complex parts just to give more value additions. So then we had a challenge, but now we have made a very clear strategy on which parts we can aim. For example, we are high with cylinder heads. We are making cylinders since long, over the years, B2 wheeler, 3 wheeler, passenger or commercial. Today, I supply 1 million cylinders for the passenger vehicle and we also notice the ICE or the hybrid engines. The volumes are going to increase. So with that focus, we are aiming such customers. And that's the reason now we are quite confident. The realization what we are talking on such components because these regular ICE components and even the validation period of such components is on a lesser time compared to the critical complex EV. Because if we talk about EV, for example, I am supplying to a tier 1 company, they have a validation period. Then even the end customer has a validation period. So on such scenarios, I see a quick realization with the current order books.

So basically, so you're mentioning that EV, because EV bet has not worked out completely, you're going back to traditional, whereas ICE vehicles itself.

Yeah, so, and the lead time for EV was much higher. See, it's not only the vehicle itself, but even as a component. I think you, I think since you are already following us, you would know that EXL, which we have developed for a largest OEM in UK, it went through a development time itself for two to three years time, which is not generally a lead time for a product what we conventionally do. So, these are high new technology products, not only for us, also for the OEMs. And most of the high technology businesses, which we have won in last two to three years of time, they had much, much larger development period as compared to the traditional products. But what the way we are showing the growth now, they are most of the traditional products and the customers where we have not been there, they have contributed very quickly to our sales growth, which is a very positive thing. But we will continue our work on EV and hybrid so that this is future. So we want to be ready. At the moment, the demand picks up. And that's the reason maybe we are not able to show a lot of order commitments being fulfilled in the past as compared to what you are imagining or you can witness it now.

Understood, sir. So, you mentioned the inter-order book, sir. Could you give a bifurcation of between electric vehicles versus, let's say, ICE and hybrid? Like, how is the overall split?

In the SPY, the electric vehicle is around 16%. And hybrid is around 12%.

And the remaining is ICE plus two-wheelers, is it, sir?

Yes, the remaining is and also we are aiming in a segment called structural. So this is the area which is common to be ICE, EV or a hybrid engine. So that also is contributing to nearly about 10%.

Understood, sir. Sir, and one more thing, just to understand the developmental cost process. So over the last few years, we spent hundreds of crores. Most of our internal crores went into development. So could you explain what exactly went into development? Because our capacity hasn't increased meaningfully, but there's been a huge expense that has happened over the last few years. Could you explain where did that money exactly go to just get an understanding of because last few years we spent meaningfully? Just trying to understand where has that went.

When we bring the new parts, so for that, till when we go for the P-PAP, we have to spend a lot of testings and kind of...

Also, the new parts, whatever we are adding now, there is a highly critical, fully, full machine solution part which we are aiming, which calls for a specific investment with respect to the... Product of that part. Unlike previously, if you see, we are more into two-wheelers where the opportunity or the scope for us was only for ASKAS or a very limited machining. But here we are talking about going to end-to-end solution where customers can use such parts in the assembly directly.

Those are the critical parts where we have to allocate our capacities. As well as they spend a lot of money on that.

Additionally, these are bigger parts, bigger in weight, bigger in sizes, which calls for a specific bigger size of machines. Because, yes, we were doing traditionally, say, components near about, say, I mean, the maximum what we are covering, taking care initially was, say, 12 to 15 kg, which we have now increased to even 28 to 30 kg. So, this is highest. All the weight or the bed size of such parts, which calls for a new investment. So that's the reason such development cost has increased.

So basically, all the money that we spent last year, we had to change overall all the machines. Even though the capacity hasn't changed, because the size of each product you're changing, you had to almost change all the machinery, is it?

Yes. Yeah, we have to allocate those capacities as well as the complete dedicated team is working there.

So, all these costs you have to incur. Sir, sir, during these development costs, how much is, let's say, tangible versus intangible assets that we'll be spending? And then I mean, different to intangible is if the employee cost plus testing versus, let's say, the missionary?

So in the intangible, I think maybe in the last year, I don't know the exact figure, maybe 18-20 crores or like that. So quarterly, 3-4, 2-5 crores we are spending on this because all new critical parts and dedicated team is there. So like special alloys, and then those alloys generally we are not able to reuse. So such type of expenses are there.

Got it, sir. So, now on, we mentioned that a clear trajectory towards going towards passenger vehicles, but we had a lot of plans in non-auto also, and I understand the data center plan is coming process, but it won't contribute meaningfully. So, are we actively digressing from non-auto diversification, or how is it right now? How are we looking at it?

So, we had just started this process only seven to eight months back. I said that we have a headway in this direction. We have now a T. This will begin to show some positive results by end of this differential year, and definitely this will grow from next year onward. So I won't say that we want to digress from automotive, but I would say that we want to increase automotive to change the pie. Because automotive is something which is, which is still a very, very dominant and prominent part of Alicom growth and it will always be in the same, but, but yes, we want to increase our industrial presence so that pie changes.

The only reason I ask is because in the past we had as high as a quarter of the revenue expected to come from non-auto, but now as it's low single digit, so do we expect it to be in this range for the next few years, or do we want it to get back to our old guidance of getting it to that high percentage of contribution?

So that's clearly still an aspiration. There is no change to that. But yes, I think as of now, I am not saying that we are reaching our aspiration in immediate one year of time or one and a half years of time. But I can at least tell you that yes, by end of next financial year, definitely this pie will positively change towards the aspiration numbers, but not actually reaching there completely.

Got it, sir. So, just trying to understand the competitive intensity because at least the aluminum die-casting capacity has increased substantially in the country. And I understand Alicona special expertise that other people don't have. But are we pressing any competitive pressure because automotive industry is notorious for beating down on prices, especially with its suppliers? So, how was that in two-wheeler versus four-wheeler right now? And how do we expect it to change?

So, I think this situation has been there for the last 20-30 years. It has not changed. I can only tell you without naming any of the customers or the suppliers that a lot of new acquisitions which we have recently done in some of the Indian OEMs were mainly not completely new development, but they were immediate transfer of tooling from them to us because of our special ability to do these products who nobody else can do. So, once you have some differentiation on your technology or know-how, generally you don't fight into the same league as anybody else. As of now, I can only tell you that in Alicon, we are not fighting on the prizes. And even the customers know that this technology is so critical that you may own similar machines, but not everybody will do the products in the same way. So, but yeah, and this session has been there always. It is not now. It has been there. Yes, the competition is increasing. We cannot sit idle. We cannot be competent 100%. But at the same time, we are continuously working to also upgrade our process technology, our R&D, our tool know-how, so that we continue to stay above the competition when it comes to the technology. So, and this is how it's going to be.

I understood, sir. Sir, I think in the past, I think it's a specific customer also. Just trying to understand in terms of margins, we had prior to 2020, we had margins of 11 to 12%. But since we are doing these critical components and moving to four-wheeler vehicles and passenger vehicles, do we expect it to go to that 14%, 15% mark, sir? Especially because we're doing machining and remaining tooling also. Do we think that's a possibility?

See, there is no reason. I would say that there is no such possibility. Yes, there is a possibility. And I can only tell you that these are some of the aspiration numbers the team is working hard towards.

But, sir, is it going to be in the next few years or would it take longer than that?

See, it's difficult to answer this question immediately to you, but I can tell you that… We are working aggressively in that direction, and we would love to do newer things to make sure that this number does not only remain in our aspirations.

Understood, sir. Sir, can you just give a brass, just trying to understand how different is the two-wheeler versus non-two-passenger vehicles thing? So, in terms of margins, how will it be very different compared to the two-wheelers versus four-wheelers?

The products in four-wheeler are much higher in weight, they are more critical to produce, and they are benefits to higher rejections if you don't have the right process. These are bigger machines. So, as the machine sizes go up, the criticality of the product goes up, and if the criticality of the product goes up, the value additions also go up, and that's the main difference between the two-wheeler and the four-wheeler parts. So, even though we may say that we make a cylinder head for a two-wheeler bike or we make a cylinder head for a car, there is no comparison, neither on the size of the machine nor on the kind of the process nor on the metallurgy of the material. Everything is different. And that is how the value additions on PV side is always much higher. You can imagine a 2kg product versus a 14kg product going on a machine, and if you don't do it right, then it is all rejected and goes back to melting. And that is how the value additions are higher on PV side.

Got it, sir. And rejections is our responsibility, sir? Once the dispatch happens, it's the OEM's responsibility. How does it work?

See, usually there are all types of factors. See, uh... Most of the cases, and that's an industry norm, I am not only talking about Elkhorn, if you are sending a semi-finished product, and the defects are found during the finishing of the product, which is related to the casting, it's the responsibility of the supplier. But if there is a defect which is generated by the person who is doing the finishing, it is their responsibility, and this is how it happens. But that's very common for any automotive component, there is nothing different for our products.

Of course, I understood. Sir, just trying to understand, machining-wise, in the passenger vehicles, what percentage of our tonnage that we supply to the customer, how much of it is machined versus non-machined?

At this moment, this is in tune to 65 to 70%.

Okay, sir. And this ratio will remain more or less the same, sir, as we scale. We can go to a certain extent.

No, this ratio is going to change, definitely. This number is going to increase. And now these are some of the plans which we will also share with you in the upcoming meeting. We are going to be also investing on in-house machining. As time comes, as time goes.

Got it, sir. Sir, you mentioned regarding a team, right? So you mentioned that you made a lot of strategically hires and some things. So I was just trying to understand what was it different before? Was it the fact that we were understaffed in marketing or something like that? Or it was just that the drive was not there with the previous staff?

It is not fair for me to talk about something which was there in the past. I can only tell you that The way I'm trying to structure it is basically to make sure that we are quite ready for much, much higher growth and returns in the future. So maybe this was not the way it was handled in the past, but I don't want to comment on that because that is past. But I can only tell you that the way organization is structured now, this team is really ready to break much, much more higher challenges and growth rates in the future. That's what I can tell you.

Got it, sir. And sorry, just one more spitzer regarding the 8,000 crores. How much of it exports, let's say, non-India revenue going to be versus India revenue?

New business? On the new business, exports is near about 40%.

Got it, sir. And how much of that 40% value would be with the international company versus domestically?

I think this would be around 30% for the team exports. That is the domestic one.

So, do we have any plans of expanding our international plan? Because you mentioned that it's not that high capacity. Is it worth expanding or is it worth changing? Like, how is it worth? Or is it worth completely removing? Because the gas price and everything changed the economics forecasting there, right? Just trying to understand if it would be a prudent to just remove the manufacturing capacity there.

See, if you look at our location, we are in Europe. Strategically, we are at the best place in Europe. So, if you look at the foundry situation in the entire Europe, the industry is not doing very well because of rampant change in the manpower prices and the power cost. But still strategically, where we are located in, which is in Slovakia, is still one of the best places for anybody to go and make investments. So, I have already said that our target is to grow this company. We have put again, we have already enabled a lot of the levers which will make sure that this plant grows. As the growth happens, we will definitely not shy away from making investments in Europe. But we are not looking at a second geographical location as of now.

But is there potential that we can add more capacity in existing locations, sir? 100% yes.

There is still a place. We can do automations. We can also add more machines. There is completely, that's not a challenge for us.

Got it, sir. And with regards to Indian capacity, sir, you mentioned that we'll be spending to get a capacity of 10,000 times more. That's, I think, around 20%, like 20% of our extra capacity. But with the revenue trajectory we have planned, we'll need a lot more capacity, right, sir? Will it be like adding more optimization or will it be further putting more and more plans?

See, automation is something which in any which way we are doing. See, this plant which we are bringing in will be quite different to the conventional plants of Elecon. There you will see more number of robots as you see in any of the other Elecon plants. And the flow of material is going to be completely streamlined. We will do most of the job in-house. So, yes, we don't want to really keep adding a plant unless rental is really justifiable. But this plant which we are planning is going to be a state-of-art facility where we will see the most modern way of manufacturing in terms of whether it is casting or machining. But we will be very mindful before making new investments for the new factory and we are also planning automations in our existing locations to increase the current capacities. So, the new plant will be only an option once we are thoroughly convinced that we are absolutely exhausted.

Understood. So, you mentioned in your presentation that the anticipated production schedule, you mentioned 1,600 crores by 2030 that you have planned. So, would it be on top of the existing revenues?

See, okay, now I think the number which is shared by Vimal, I think it is already included in that, which is around 8,450 crores. It is already included in that. What I only mentioned is these are the very recent developments, which are either in the last quarter or slightly before that.

So, sir, in terms of where are we going? So, what is the plan exactly? Because as far as I understand in the presentation, you mentioned 600 gross. I'm assuming it's all new orders on top of the existing orders. Is that a right assumption?

So, you're talking about my speech when I spoke?

No, sir. I'm talking about the investor presentation.

It includes the recent past additions also, including last three to four years, businesses, what we have added. It includes those also.

Okay. So by 2030, we expect to almost double our revenues.

Yes, that's the plan, yes, that's right.

Yes, I got it. So doubling our revenues, but the capacity, we only have 20% in line. So just trying to understand, are there going to be further, a lot more investments going in because Yes, I've already said that.

I think you will listen more from us very soon. Yes, there are more investments that will happen, for sure.

Got it, sir. Understood. Thank you so much for your time. It's been great talking to you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, with that, we conclude the question and answer session. I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments.

All right. Thank you, everyone, for your questions and for taking your time to join us today. We value your dialogue and appreciate your continued interest in Alicom. And as we have discussed today, we see good opportunities ahead of us, but we also recognize that there's a lot of work to do. Our priority is to build on the progress we have made this quarter, strengthening our relationship with customers, improving our operations, and continuing to invest where we see clear opportunities for growth. Some of these initiatives will take time to translate fully into financial results, but we will remain focused on executing them well on time. We will also remain disciplined in how we deploy capital, and most importantly, stay focused on improving the quality and profitability of our business. We are encouraged by the progress we are seeing, and we remain confident in the opportunities ahead. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming quarters. And best wishes, and happy independence to all of you in advance. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. On behalf of Alcon Castelloy Ltd., that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.