Hikal Q3 2022 Concall Highlights

  • Revenues for the quarter stood at ₹515 Cr (11% growth YoY). EBITDA for the quarter was ₹93 Cr (2% growth YoY). EBITDA margins were 18.1% for the quarter. PAT stood at ₹45 Cr (12% growth YoY).
  • Revenue from the Pharmaceuticals segment was ₹268 Cr which is flat YoY. Operating profit from the Pharmaceuticals segment was ₹36 Cr (25% decline YoY). 
  • Revenue from the Crop Protection segment was ₹246 Cr (27% growth YoY) and the operating profit for this segment was ₹38 Cr (22% growth YoY).
  • The company denies any culpability in the Surat gas leak case and said they are cooperating with the authorities. 3 of their employees are currently in judicial custody.
  • The pharma business is flat on account of lower uptake from customers. They expect recovery in demand post 2 quarters. The input costs have increased sharply and they are in talks with customers about taking a price increase. 
  • They have received several new enquiries for CDMO during the quarter. They started process development for several active ingredients for the multi-year Animal health project with a global innovator. They also received a contract for manufacturing KSMs for an innovator.
  • The Crop protection business posted strong growth on the back of high demand from CDMO customers. They also received lots of enquiries for CDMO. Their own products however, faced RM availability issues.
  • The Crop protection business will be affected negatively due to the MPCB closure notice. The Taloja plant contributed to about ₹260 Cr of revenues. They will be taking this time to do maintenance at the Taloja plant which should take 3-4 weeks.
  • Most of their capacities are fungible, but capacity utilization is high right now. So it will be difficult to accommodate the volumes from Taloja. They are putting in new capex.
  • Management says they have been transparent with customers about the issues they have been facing and the customers have been supportive so far. There has been no loss of business.
  • Their Pharma plants in Jigani are zero liquid discharge but not all the Crop Protection plants are zero liquid discharge. The Taloja plant is in an MIDC and they are allowed to dispose of their effluent in the common plant post pre-treatment.
  • They are launching a new fungicide whose market size is approximately ₹400-500 Cr. The capex for it is ongoing.
  • They are taking debt funding through IFC because not only do they give longer term loans with lower interest rates, they also invest in sustainability which gives the company ESG credibility.
  • Currently, about 50% of the pharma revenue and 65-70% of the crop protection revenue comes from long term contracts. About 30-35% of their raw material comes from China. They have plans to reduce it to 5-10% in 2-3 years.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *