Century Enka Limited (CENTENKA) Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Century and Curl Limited Q1 and FI27 earning conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please email an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Purvangi Jan from Valerium Advisor. Thank you, and over to you.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and a very warm welcome to you all. My name is Parvangi Jan from Valorum Advisor. We represent the investor relations of Century Entra Limited. On behalf of the company, I would like to thank you all for participating in today's earnings call for the first quarter of the financial year, 2027. Before we begin, let me mention a quick cautionary statement. Some of the statements made in today's earnings call may be forward-looking in nature. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risk and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated. Such statements are based on management's belief as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the management. Audiences are cautioned not to place any undue reliance on these forward-looking statements in making any investment decision. The purpose of today's earnings call is purely to educate and bring awareness about the company's fundamental business and financial period under review. Now, let me introduce you to the management participating with us in today's earnings call and hand it over to them for their opening remarks. We have with us Mr. Suresh Sudhani, Managing Director, and Mr. Yogesh Shah, Chief Financial Officer. Without any further delay, I request Mr. Suresh Sudhani to start with his opening remarks. Thank you and over to you, sir.

Thank you, Purwangi. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our earnings conference call for first quarter of financial year 2027. I would like to thank our host, Valorum Advisors, for hosting this call. Now, let me first brief you on the operational highlights of the quarter under review. We are pleased to report an exceptional quarter with company delivering record revenue growth, profitability growth, and margin performance. The strong performance was driven by healthy volume growth across all business verticals, supported by productivity improvements and higher operating rates, which contributed to a meaningful expansion in operating margins. We were also able to effectively pass on increase in romantic cost through calibrated pricing actions. In addition, profitability during the quarter benefited from one-time inventory gains arising from low-cost opening stock, while higher availability of renewable power helped partially offset increase in petro-based energy costs. While we expect margins to normalize as higher-cost inventory gets consumed, the underlying operational performance and demand environment remains encouraging. In our tire-caught business, Demand remained robust during the quarter following GST cuts on tires and automobiles, with healthy growth across all automotive segments, driving strong demand for tires from OEMs. While demand fundamentals remain healthy, evolving geopolitical developments, volatile crude oil prices, and persistent inflation continue to remain areas to monitor and could impact demand growth in the coming quarters. Meanwhile, the PTCF approval process is moving in the desired direction, with commercial sales expected to commence in H2FI20 terms. Turning to our filament yarn business, we continue to witness healthy demand during the quarter, with robust sales volumes and improving products mix, led by higher share of value-added and better margin products. Our new mother yarn and other valued products continue to support margin expansion and strengthen the overall profitability of the segment. At the same time, import of commodity filament yarn from China continued at very low prices, while the finance ministry did not notify the anti-dumping duty despite favorable findings by DGTR. Looking ahead, we remain focused on enhancing our value added.

Thank you. And good afternoon, everyone. Let me now brief you on the financial results for the first quarter of financial year 2027. For the quarter under review, operating revenue stood at Rs.554 crores, registering a strong growth of 38% year-on-year and 15% quarter-on-quarter. EBITDA for the quarter come in at Rs.86 crores, delivering an exceptional growth of 331% year-on-year and robust increase of 55% sequentially. Consequently, EBITDA margin improved significantly to 15.46%. Representing an expansion of 1050 basis points year-on-year and 400 basis points over the previous quarter. Profit after tax for the quarter stood at around Rs. 62 crores, reflecting a substantial growth of 301% year-on-year and 57% quarter-on-quarter. Spat margin is strengthened to 11.13%, translating into an expansion of 7.29 basis points year-on-year and 2.98 basis points sequentially. Total volume for the quarter grew strongly by 12% year-on-year to 19,199 metric tons. Within this, tire-court fabric sales increased significantly by 69% to Rs.306 crores. While Flamedian sales reported a growth of 20% to Rs. 230 crores. With this, we open the floor for questions and answers.

Thank you, Somosu. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with 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 handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while question queue assembles.

Hi, thanks for the opportunity, sir, and congratulations for a very good set of numbers. Can you quantify the inventory gain in this quarter?

Quantify means you are asking in terms of volume?

No, no, means how much it added to the bottom line.

I think it's already mentioned in the results which have been published, which has inventory impact is 46.24 crores, which is already mentioned in our quarterly results submission to the shop exchanges.

46.2 crores. At EBITDA level, right?

Thanks to the given in terms of the way it will be reported in the financial statements to the stock exchange. So that's the only information we can share.

We cannot give anything further Safe to assume that due to increased capital income prices, performance may be impacted in coming quarters?

I mentioned in our highlights that it may get normalized with changes in the raw material prices. One of the changes that had happened post the Iran war was a very significant and substantial rise in a very short period, particularly in the capital equity and the chips prices. And they have a bit tapered down in this quarter.

And you mentioned that profitability has also increased due to A higher share of renewable power. So, what was the share of renewable power in our overall power consumption, and what was its impact at the EBITDA level or PAT level, sir?

Renewable power is over 40% for the quarter. We will not be able to give any value terms of the impact. And we expect that since we have already announced that our expansion of renewable power at Bharuj is expected to commission in H2 or most likely in Q3 of FY27, that percentage should also go up and the value addition in terms of bottom line should also help.

So, it will move from 40% to...

50% expected by, once the plant commissions and starts generating at normal levels.

So that improvement will be structural, no, sustainable.

Yes, so once it commissions, I mean, it is definitely weather dependent. It's not... It's constant, as we know, but on an yearly basis, we have seen that it normally operates in a range which is forecasted at the time of the project is implemented. So, it should definitely add to the overall reduced production in power rates.

Okay, sir. Thanks. I'll rejoin the queue.

Our next question comes from the line of Rohan Shah from Eternal Capital. Please go ahead. Yes, hi.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, sir. So, just wanted to ask you about the... So, you've noted the GST cuts on tires and autos. So, this has driven a robust NTCF demand this quarter. So how much of this 38% year-on-year revenue growth is led by the GST cut-led price buying versus the genuine underlying demand growth as such? And do you see any risk of demand pocketing in the Q2 or Q3 when this GST effect fails?

I don't think we'll be able to quantify the increase in volumes of auto sales or tires per se due to the GST cut because that had happened in around September last year and that has been a continuing phenomenon. I think the numbers of auto sales across various segments, whether it is two-wheelers, three-wheelers, tractors. Personal vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles, all have been going quarter on quarter at a good pace. So, how much is to be, I mean, attributed to the GST cuts is a guess of anybody. But it definitely had an impact on demand and the buying of, I mean, more importantly that That it made the... Automobiles affordable to the customers, and how much would it continue is again guesswork because it depends on so many situations, financing, general economic environment. But it didn't definitely have an impact because we could see a stark improvement from Q3 onwards. Both in terms of performances of auto companies, of the tire companies, and all value chain partners related to the tire companies.

Sure, sir. That is actually really helpful, and I understand that the quantification might be difficult. And one more thing, I think you flagged the evolving geopolitical developments, if I'm not wrong, and the volatile crude prices and inflation as a risk to demand in the coming quarters. So could you elaborate on which specific end markets you're most watching for a slowdown? So just to tell you two-wheelers or the vehicles, what exports, what are you looking at, the demand will slow down, yes.

Usually it's a combination of multiple factors. Most important is the price increases in raw material due to the underlying crude variability and most likely increase. So that could lead to either deferment of purchases or other kinds of economic challenges. This could relate to either reduction in demand for the new vehicles, new automobiles or also the demand cuts in terms of various value chain partners related to the automobiles. And then there is also an import threat which because of multiple countries having different geopolitical situations in their domestic markets which could lead to Surge in imports to the domestic market. So when we, our markets are primarily domestic markets, our export exposure is very little. So these comments are more in relation to the impact in the demand in the domestic market and impact on supplies to that demand which could also get impacted by very cheap imports in certain segments that we operate in.

No, sir. Perfect. That answers my question. Thank you so much.

Question come from the line of Madhur Rati with counter-cyclical investments. Please, go ahead.

Sir, thank you for the opportunity. Also, if I look at our gross margin, they have been similar for the past three quarters. So, is it fair to assume that whenever there is a raw material increase, we capture the upside in terms of what, because the gross margin base is similar, but whatever the realization improvement, that should flow, and that is the reason for the margin increase this quarter?

So, it does impact the gross margin because we always have inventories in hand which are both in terms of in transit as well as inventories that we have to purchase since a lot of our materials are also imported. So, that does impact because the consumption against the current prices get In terms of profit and loss are charged at different rates, and it works the other ways also. But I think the more important part is that it happens only when there is a very sharp increase either way. Because volatility is a normal phenomenon in this business, which is linked to crude price variability and other value chain related volatility. So any small or more gradual volatility, whether going upwards or downwards, does not have a significant impact on margin, but a sharp increase or a sharp decrease. In a very short period of a month or two months, that definitely has an impact on the gross

Right, sir, but the gross margins were 58-59% range for the past three quarters. So, I'm not able to understand if there was a sharp price increase towards the world. Was it that due to some time lag, because of the time lag between the price increase and we passing on the pricing to our consumer, because of that it might look like there is no meaningful improvement in our gross margins?

Actually, there is another factor which has been instrumental in the last three quarters is also a volume growth. And as I said, the GST cuts had a positive impact on the volume growth on the demand side, which translated into better volumes in the last three quarters. And if you see the volumes compared to Q1 and Q2, from Q3 onwards, the volumes have gone up. So, that also has an impact on gross margin. As I said, it's a combination of multiple factors, but the volume part also plays a very important part in the overall gross margin.

Got it. Sir, so going forward, do we expect to maintain these levels of margins going forward, or because the prices of our raw materials are reduced, so how should we look at it going forward?

We do not give any forward-looking statement, but I think we already mentioned in our presentation that we do expect the margins to normalize over the next few quarters. And not, these kind of sharp increases are not a regular phenomenon. I mean, this was more a market reaction on the entire commodities on the Iran war. So, any kind of that kind of event could have impacts on either way. But as mentioned, we do expect normalized margins going forward.

Sir, normalize would be 10 to 12 percent EBITDA margins. Is that a fair assumption?

We have been mentioning that because of the volatility, operating margins of between 7 to 10 percent is more normalized. Anything above that is more a factor which could be not necessarily a permanent feature as of now. I mean, it doesn't mean that margins would not... We have a change in going forward because a lot of initiatives on cost reduction and on enhancing our value-added products and improving our basic model to improve the margins would be there. But as of now, we do maintain our last conversation on margins, which is that it would be between 7% to 10% on a normalized basis.

Got it. And so just a final question from Manchur. How is the PTCF plan scaling up? If you could give a colour on that.

As mentioned, the approval process has moved forward, and it is going on well with a few customers. We do expect commercial sales to start in second half, so we will make some more progress in this quarter, and hopefully some commercial sales will start from Q3 or Q4, but H2 we definitely expect commercial sales to start.

Got it. And so for the volume, considering all these factors, what kind of volume improvement can you expect for FI27?

As mentioned, we cannot give a...

No, I'm not asking you the magnitude, but do we expect the margin? Because in the last four years, based on our investor presentation, volumes have been kind of iffy. They've been on a flattish trend. So can we expect it to improve going forward? That's what I'm asking.

Our focus has been more on improving the margins on the products that we are selling. So we are not adding any significant volumes in the current financial year in terms of capacity addition. So volume will be a function of definitely market conditions and the overall competition, intensity, including imports. But, as mentioned, the focus is more on the value addition and improving margins on the volumes that we sell in the market.

Got it. Sir, that was from Man. Thank you so much and all the rest.

Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question, may press star and one on the touchstone telephone. Our next question comes from the line of Amruta Saneh, an individual investor. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you for this opportunity. Am I audible?

Yes, yes.

Yeah, thank you for this opportunity and congratulations on the performance of this quarter. So, I was – I would just like to, you know, if you could help me understand the overall capacity of the company. So, we have overall capacity of 92,000 MPPA, right? So, if you could, you know, give us some color on what is the kind of breakup for reinforcement fabric and filament yarn, and, you know, with the new capacity coming up, PTCF capacity, so, like, what are the utilization levels, like, at present?

So, since we report our results in single segment, we will not be able to give the breakups of various products as part of the capacity, and as also the volume has been mentioned in our presentation, so expected our operating capacity utilization normally varies between 85 to 90 percent. And it is across, there is some variations across various products, which depends on the market conditions. And as I said, since the PTCF part is under approval, we continue to sell some yarns, but that has an impact on our capacity. But overall, that's the range that we normally operate on. So that would be a good ballpark number to... To communicate that this is the range and depending on again, as I said, various factors, it could change between the product segments, but in the overall basis, we expect that this should be the range that we will be able to operate in.

Thank you. One more question is about the Helmi cash balance, which is there on the balance sheet. So, my question is regarding, you know, if you could talk about the CapEx plans for the company, is anything big CapEx coming up for the company? Or, you know, as you said, the utilization level is around 85-90% around that level. So, what are the future plans for the next three years? What is the kind of CapEx additions or, you know, the company is looking at?

So, we will be adding some capacities which would add to the total capacity in our mother yarn, but that would get commissioned in FY28. And then there are some value-added products that would be added to our NFY, which will go in capex, but will not add to the capacity, but add to the margins. As already stated and as a consistent process that we have been doing is that we are enriching our offerings in the filament yarn segment, basically to counter the commodity imports that are coming at very cheap prices from China and also make differentiated products to the customer. So these would be the major ones. Others are related to our investments And so on. One is reducing the power rate by our investments in group captive schemes for renewable power, and then a lot of it will also be going on in reducing the power consumption, because particularly where the... Equipments have become old and inefficient, so we have been continuously improving our productivity through investments which enhance our overall efficiencies and also some amounts would be spent on improving our safety post our detailed assessments at the Baruch incident in Feb 25. So, we have significantly enhanced to ensure that we do not have any major incidents or rather incidents at all on the safety side, particularly on the fire risks.

Right. So, any ballpark number that we are looking at for the kind of capex that we are planning?

We expect to spend over 100 crores in capex in the current year, current financial year.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Amit Kumar with the determinant investment. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Thank you so much for the opportunity, sir. Can you hear me? My first question was with respect to the availability of raw materials. Pricing volatility aside, do you foresee a challenge on that side at this point in time?

Availability of raw materials, we do not see it as a challenge as of now. One is because We are already sourcing some from our domestic sources and multiple countries, including China. While China still has a very large share, but to reduce the risk of having only dependence on China, we are already having other countries that we are sourcing from. But one, I mean, China is not known to, these are very commodity markets, so are not known to create some kind of restrictions on their sale. So that's the reason we do not foresee that kind of risk. But I mean, if something happens in geopolitical related situations, that could have an impact, But, at least, whatever we can see in the... In the medium term, we do not see any challenges in material availability from China and other countries as well as from the domestic sources.

Okay. And, you know, at this point of time, you know, roughly, you know, how much, you know, how many days of, you know, specifically raw material inventory would you be holding, you know, presently?

So, about between 25 to 30 days is our inventory, which also includes some inventory in transit, because we continually buy and keep on arriving and then also gets consumed. But that is the range that we normally keep, particularly for the imported material. For the domestic sources, it is normally between around 10 to 15 days, most likely around 15 days.

Understood, sir. Now, you know, just a small follow-up on margin already, you know, fair bit of discussion on that, but see, so I remember that you have sort of given this 7 to 10% sustainable margin guidance in the past also. But, you know, the reason why we are a little bit surprised that, you know, this number, or rather this range is not moving up is one because of the fact that, as you mentioned, you know, volumes definitely in the post-GST, you know, environment have, you know, moved up. And at least, I mean, it's also a little bit technical business, we can't say for next year, but at least as far as this year is concerned. Pretty much the entire industry seems to be pretty well set on a double-digit growth trajectory this year as well. Your mix is improving, given the capexes that you are also doing on value-added products. And then finally, I think you mentioned renewable power, captive renewable power share will move up from 40% to 50% in the second half. At least, can we sort of, you know, take an assumption that, you know, with all of these, you know, drivers, you know, principally positive, you know, for margins, sustainable margins, excluding, you know, these kind of inventory, you know, gains and losses, that may well be. In the second half, should we, would be closer to 10%, you know, than 7%?

We have said we cannot give any forward-looking statements. I think...

No, no. I'm not looking for a forward-looking guidance, but I'm basically saying that, you know, with all these, you know, sort of efforts that you have, you know, made and the latter two, you know, principally, so mix is, you know, obviously, you know... I mean, those investments, the renewable power investments, you're principally making to reduce your cost of electricity, right? At the end of the day, that's the payoff there. So how should we sort of look at the longer term trajectory on margins? I mean, when, at what point? You know, given all these investments on value-added and, you know, then on renewal power that we are making, can we basically comfortably go to say that, okay, you know, now, you know, the margin trajectory has, you know, moved towards a step higher. I mean, either 10% or maybe even, you know, double-digit on a sustainable basis is what I am asking. Not looking for a guidance per se, but, you know, we are making all of these capexes.

If you look at our, yeah, sorry, have you completed? Yeah, yeah. So, actually, if you look at, compared to past, we normally used to say, or rather give that our margin ranges will be between 6 to 8 percent. We already upgraded it between 7 to 10. Based on what you were saying earlier. In future, if you were, I mean, I cannot give it now, but once we are very sure that the range has improved, we will definitely revise and give that, but that would be only when we are very comfortable that this has started working and we can give a range which is kind of most likely not be breached, at least in normal circumstances. Definitely not on the lower side. So we would, I think, change that once we get that in the later quarter. But I would leave it to you to make a good guess on whatever available information on what is the likely margins in the H2 of the financial year.

No, no. We very much appreciate the, you know, efforts. I mean, it's a difficult business. We very much appreciate the efforts that, you know, you have made to basically, you know, improve the, you know, broader dynamics of the business and of the company. And I very much appreciate, you know, your point of view as well. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question, we'll press star and 1. Our next question comes from the line of Diyajan with Sapphire Capital. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity. So can you please share the volume numbers for this quarter and also the breakup between the products? And do you expect the realizations to be stable going forward in this year at least?

So sales volume is already mentioned in our presentation. I will repeat it for you. It is 19,199. This compares to Q1 of corresponding quarter, I mean, year on year at from 17,072 to versus 19,199 for the current, this Q1 F527. And in Q4, it was 20,711. We cannot give any forward-looking numbers on the realization both as policy but also because of highly volatile pricing situations which prevail and these are actually changing on month-on-month basis, so very difficult to even give a number which is closer to what may actually come out.

Excellent. Thank you.

You can come from the line of Samayak, Jain, an individual investor, please.

Thank you sir for the opportunity. I have a question regarding the raw materials. Did the management face any raw material shortage in the current environment? And how the management is planning to tackle such issues in the future? And what is the adequate domestic supplies we have currently?

In our business, there is a main problem with Caplactam and Landon Chaps. And our long-term relationship with our suppliers and our equal share, like we also take from the domestic supplier and we also import. So we are keeping balancing and that helping us in the critical situation, uncertain situation.

Okay, and my last second question was regarding the CAPEX, which we are doing now. So, what is the payback and IR, which we are expecting for the CAPEX?

Normally, we are looking forward for 12 to 15% minimum IR when we initiate the project, and that is the IR we normally expect from the project.

Okay, thank you, thank you, sir, for the opportunity.

Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question, you may press star and 1.

Thank you for the opportunity once again, sir. With the de-bottlenecking that we are planning, how much can our capacity increase from the current 92,000 metric ton per annum?

In the current financial year, it is not likely to increase. As I said, the new project is going to commission only in FY28. So, there it can, it may increase by between three to four thousand tons per annum.

Okay, got it. And sir, when we say value-added products, sir, so what kind of realization, improvement or realization multiple on the normal yarn do we get on, normal yarn or NTCF do we get on the premium value-added product? And what kind of gross margin or how much is the gross margin or EBITDA margin higher for those products?

See, I will not be able to give any exact numbers on the value addition. I can only say, as mentioned earlier, that all our new investments are accretive on bottom line and they have to have a minimum hurdle rate that they get approved by the board. And these are much higher than the hurdle rates which were already mentioned. So, all these actually support us in getting better margins, but more importantly, these allow us to maintain a healthy volume because most of our value-added products are more customer-specific, and we reduce the import intensity or the competition by making products which are specific to the customer requirements. The products which come from China are more in bulk and are commodity products. If any value addition is to be done to that, that has to be done by any competitor in the domestic market and we maintain a better edge in terms of quality, service, new product development with respect to other domestic competition. So, the purpose of value addition is both, one is to get better realization margin, but also, secondly, more assured sales volume by targeting products to specific customers which get aligned with us and we get regular businesses from them over every quarter.

Got it. And sir, currently what percent of our volume goes to these value-added or customized solutions, if you could help us understand, and what they were maybe one year back?

We will not be able to give any break-up because it's a single segment reporting, but I can assure you that it is increasing year on year, and it will continue to increase with our support from the board. And our focus on improving, so it will continue to improve, and this will start reflecting, as I mentioned, it's already reflecting in margin guidance that we are given, and it will start reflecting in future as well.

Got it, sir. Just a final question from my end, sir. The renewables, sir, how much are we adding in terms of megawatt at the Bharuj plant currently?

So, another 10.5 megawatt will be added in addition to the current capacity. On a renewal basis. I mean, not that 10.5 would be the generation, but on the capacity basis.

Got it. And sir, what is the capex towards that? What was the capex incurred towards that 10.5 megawatt?

No, see that's a group captive team. So we just contribute to 26% of the equity. So we have spent about 8.5 crores on as a part of our equity investment in that JV for which is dedicated to century income.

Got it. Sir, so our power cost was close to 190 crores in FY26, so that should decline by closer to 10% in FY27, H2 of FY26, whenever this plant just commercializes?

That's a gross number dependent on multiple things, volume, productivity, consumption by units, product mix. Can't give that number anyway. It's a, I mean, a forward-looking, but it can't be given as, because that's an overall number, depending on number of volume. But, yes, this rate impact will definitely have a positive impact on the power cost per ton of the products going forward. Got it.

Sir, that was for me. Thank you so much on all the way.

Thank you. Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Samayak Jan, an individual investor. Please go ahead. Mayak, you may please proceed with the question.

Am I audible? Yes, yes. I just have one follow-up question. It's a group company of Aditya Builder Group. Do we have any intercompany transition with Builder Cellulose?

We do not have, because anyway, we report any related party transaction, but we do not have any transactions with them, but being in the same value chain, which is, I mean, in terms of not value chain, in the same industry, which is textile. We do work on products which can be beneficial to both the segments, or both verticals, rather. Because they are into cellulose, we are into nylon and polyester. So wherever we can work together, we do work and try to grow the market or try to develop products which are beneficial to both businesses.

Okay, sir. That's from my side. Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question, I press star and one. Another question from the participant, I would like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing remarks. Thank you, and over to you, team.

Thank you, everyone, for joining our other call. I hope we were able to give the answer to your queries, and I hope those were to your satisfaction. If you have any further questions or would like to know more about the company, please reach out to our Investor Relations Manager at Valorum Advisors. Thank you.

Thank you so much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Century and Call Limited, that concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.