Uflex Limited (BOM:500148)
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Q2 25/26

Nov 14, 2025

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the UFlex Limited Q2 and H1FY26 earnings conference call hosted by Arianne Capital Markets Limited. 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 signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchstone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ashwath Rajan from Arianne Capital Markets Limited. Thank you and over.

Ashwath Rajan
Head of Investor Relations, Arianne Capital Markets Limited

Thank you. On behalf of Arianne Capital Markets Limited, I welcome you all to Q2 and H1FY26 earnings conference call of UFlex Limited. Hope you all are safe and healthy. From UFlex's management team, we have with us Mr. Rajesh Bhatia, Group President and CFO, Mr. Surajit Pal, Vice President and Head of IR. I now hand over the floor to the management for their opening remarks, and then we will have the Q&A session. Without further ado, over to you, sir.

Surajit Pal
VP and Head of Investor Relations, UFlex Limited

Thank you, Ashwath. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us today for Q2 FY2026 earnings conference call of UFlex Limited. Let me draw your attention to the fact that on this call, our discussion will include certain forward-looking statements which are predictions, projections, or other estimates about future events. These estimates reflect management's current expectations about the future performance of the company. Please note that these estimates involve several risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied. I would now request Mr. Rajesh Bhatia, Group President and CFO, for his opening remarks, following which we will open the forum for question and answer session. Over to you, sir.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Okay. Thank you, Surajit, and welcome to all the participants for the Q2 earnings call of UFlex. At the outset, I'd like to say that it's been a decent quarter considering that, and H1 considering that there are many headwinds in the H1 during the H1 period, which are like tariff, GST transition, extended monsoon. Overall, if I say, while the quarter has been flat in terms of revenue and EBITDA, we have, on an H1 basis, the sales are up by 3%, the EBITDA is up 4%, and obviously, the PAT is up much higher by about 150%, H1 PAT, largely because of the impact of the currency translation losses we had in the YOY period. We have achieved, in terms of the performance, again, the highest-ever volumes at our aseptic packaging units during the H1 period, and we have a 5.5% growth on a YOY basis.

As we said earlier, there's a limitation currently which got over in October, whereby we commissioned our extended capacity to 12 billion packs a year, which will start sort of yielding results as the season sets in from January onwards. We will definitely have better volumes in the last quarter of FY 2026 and going forward in FY 2027 in the aseptic packaging business. We have also announced a new packaging film line at Dharwad, which was as part of our commitment when we had gone and set up the first line in Dharwad. Our agreement with the state government, whereby we were entitled to certain tax concessions, was that for a certain level of investment, which we have to sort of fulfill. We are adding another line over there. This time, this is a BOPP facility with a capacity of 54,000 tons a year.

We are also quite advanced in terms of commissioning of our three other projects. One is that PET recycling in Noida. While I'm on the subject, I'd like to state that as per the latest guidelines now, because not much capacity has come up, the government has said that whatever is the deficiency in this year, the industry will have to make it up in the next three years. They'll have to maintain the prescribed levels in those respective years. FY 2026, they've been given an exemption that whatever was your liability in FY 2026 with respect to using the recycled content, that has been deferred for the next three years, and subsequent years, you still have to maintain.

I think this was necessitated because the capacity addition, what the industry actually requires to comply with the guidelines, is still not on the ground, and that's why the government took that view and sort of extended the timelines for such compliance. They've not moved by a year. They've only said that the compliance remains, but okay, you can do it in the next year. The next year, apart from that year's requirements, you'll also have to comply with the past deficiency. In FY2027 and FY2028, I think everybody will have to comply with the deficiency, what they couldn't do in FY2026. Egypt aseptic packaging will probably happen towards the end of FY2026 or Q1 of FY2027, and so is the WPP at Mexico.

As we said, the top-line addition with the new investments at an optimum capacity utilization levels for the four new projects, which include two aseptic and one WPP and another PET recycling, is expected to be around INR 3,000-odd crore with an EBITDA of about INR 500 crore at decent capacity utilization levels. Another notable thing that has happened in India in H1 and Q2, the trend goes that India is witnessing much higher level of both BOPET and BOPP imports. Just to give you a perspective, in H1 FY2026, the BOPET imports in India are up about 120% year over year, and BOPP imports are up about 100% over the FY2025 H1. Even the exports from India have come down in Q2.

They're down marginally by about 18%, and BOPP is also down 22%, largely because of the fact that BOPP capacity, which got impacted by the fire at a major player's facility in the western part of the country. That's the industry sort of scenario in India. In Europe also, we have seen that the exports, which were earlier happening into the U.S., because of the U.S. tariffs and all that, some of the exports have been diverted from China and other Southeast Asia countries to Europe. That's why our performance in the European territory in terms of the production and sales have been affected in Q2.

In India also, because of the tariff, because of that 25% additional oil-related tariff, we've been impacted because from India, we export packaging material to the USA, and we have had an impact of that, which we are partially we have been able to pass on to the customer, but still, passing on the full 50% was not possible. We currently have to bear the burden till the time this duty of 25% on account of oil gets waived, which is likely to happen within this month. That is what our information is. I think with the tariff being in place rightfully, rightful tariffs being in place, the GST transition has happened. In the GST transition, what has happened is because we are a B2B player, our customers would not order fresh print.

They themselves are busy sort of ensuring that their existing stocks are sold, and they were not ordering new prints because you have to print the MRPs on the packs. There was a lag impact there, but all those things are now in place. With the direct and indirect tax cuts, I think the consumption will get definitely a boost in the quarters to come by. This temporary transition impact which hit us in Q2, I think, is not going to be there in H2 or subsequent years.

On the guidance for the rest of the FY2026, I think because we had earlier guidance of a 10% revenue increase, we'll have to relook at that, and it all probability looks like that there'll be a 5% revenue increase for the year as a whole with an EBITDA of about INR 1,800-1,850 crore kind of a range this year. I think this is fairly achievable even based on a proportionate H1 sales and EBITDA numbers. Hopefully, with the new capacities coming on stream, because the debt has already been more or less been added, with the new capacities coming on stream and incremental revenue will also give us much higher EBITDA. We will be having that impact in FY2027 and beyond. That in a nutshell is the performance for the quarter and the outlook for the H2 and the FY2027.

I think we can, anybody having any questions, I think we're happy to address them.

Operator

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question is from the line of Aman Sonthalia from AK Securities. Please go ahead.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Good evening, sir.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Good evening, Amanji.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Sir, my question regarding this liquid packaging, I think this quarter, compared to previous quarter, the utilization level was quite low. Because in the last quarter, I think our plant had run around 136%, and this time it is around 99%. Again, we have increased the capacity by 50%. Whether you are confident that we will run our plant at 100% utilization with the increased capacity?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Sonthalia ji, [Foreign language] , but still I'll be able to answer this question. You know, I've always said that the season for this is from January to, you can say, at best, middle of August. Okay? The seasonality does set in, and even in the previous years, we have seen Q1 versus Q2, the volumes were always down because the seasonality sets in. When I say that for the H1 period, we have done 5.4% higher sales volume, and we produce that much more also. It should be taken in that respect. If you compare Q1 versus Q2, yes, you'll see a dip, but that dip is historic, is always there, and it's because of the seasonality aspect.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

No. Just I want to know, actually, in the off-season, whether we can plan something that period we can export more and get that extra business instead of running it at lower capacity utilization.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

That we do always, but seasonality also sets in those territories as well. When it is winter time for us, some of the territories we have in mind, we are not there today yet, like Europe and all, and North America. Today, we have to take care of their seasonalities as well as our seasonalities. This is the best that we can achieve under the current dispensation.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Sir, how is the margin in the BOPET and BOPP at the moment? Because I think because of the import, there is a significant drop in the margin. So that imported quantity has already extinguished, or it is still there, and the margins are still very down?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Think BOPET [Foreign language] margins [Foreign language] BOPET [Foreign language] gross level [Foreign language] 20% margin [Foreign language] India [Foreign language]. In this, I'm talking about the base film, not the value added and all that. Plain vanilla. BOPET [Foreign language] 30%, BOPP [Foreign language] 30% margin [Foreign language] .

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Yeah, [Foreign language] q uarter [Foreign language] ?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language] quarter [Foreign language] because imports were happening, so the domestic players had no option but to also reduce their prices. That has checked in the imports. This quarter, from that perspective, will be better.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Sir, yeah, U.S., yeah, China is dumping their capacity in the international market, in the European market, and other markets. Since our lot of capacity is overseas, [Foreign language] ?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

I think that impact we have seen only in the last quarter. Earlier, we were not seeing that huge impact of China or other Southeast Asian countries exporting to Europe. Thoda sa because of the US tariff things also, that thing would have got changed a bit. [Foreign language] as to what is the clear position that will ultimately emerge out of this as this has been a very, very recent phenomenon only. Our volumes have definitely suffered in Egypt and because the Egypt's export to Europe have been impacted. Beyond a point, we know that this is temporary. We do not want to sort of get into a price war with matching with imports. I think there is no point doing that.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Sir, the margins are getting better, or it is less than the previous quarter at the moment?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

At the moment, Europe continues to suffer because of the higher imports.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

What about U.S. and that Mexico market?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

U.S.?

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

U.S. [Foreign language] because the. Your locals, you have local plant?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language] , I think their volumes are not impacted. Rather, Mexico this quarter has seen better volumes in this quarter.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Okay. So that is making reasonable profit?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Yeah, yeah. They are okay. Those businesses are okay.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Or sir, yeah, you know, [Foreign language] project [Foreign language] WPP [Foreign language] plant [Foreign language], Egypt [Foreign language] Sipto [Foreign language], and that recycling. So do you think that by March all these three plants will be operational?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language]

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Okay.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

I think.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

[Foreign language] ?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language] .

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Okay. Even the recycling plant [Foreign language] , right?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Ha, recycling plant ho jayega March tak, but aap, mene butaya na, jaise ki usme jo government ki nine guidelines aai hai, uske anusar abhi jo brand owners hai, unko boh jyada chinta karne ki zaroorat nahi hai kyunki agar issue mein kush deficiency hai unki, woh agle 3 saal mein woh usko make up kar sakte hai. Usse koi impact nahi aara hai current year me.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

[Foreign language] ?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Obviously, recycling because [Foreign language] .

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Okay. So this recycling business will suffer for the next 2-3 years?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language] ?

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

[Foreign language]?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language] .

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Okay. That is why [Foreign language] .

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Fl} to FY 2027. FY 2027 [Foreign language] .

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

[Foreign language].

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

FY27 [Foreign language] FY27 [Foreign language] FY26 [Foreign language] FY27 [Foreign language] one third, one third, one third deficiency [Foreign language] deficiency.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Sir, [Foreign language] ?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Sorry, [Foreign language] .

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

[Foreign language] ?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Hundred percent hai ji. Hundred percent [Foreign language] .

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

[Foreign language] U.S. FDA [Foreign language] ?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Aman ji, aaj na evolution stage hai. Isme chize settle hone mein thoda sa time lagega, sab ko mil jayenge.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Okay.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Koi usme se bohot personal, kisi ko pehle mil jayega, kisi ko baad mein mil jayega, but government has to ensure that if they are putting a stipulation ki aap ko itne % recycle karna hai, so they will ensure that otherwise brand owners kahan se karenge usko recycling agar material ye available nahi hai food grade, FSSAI approved. Ho ga sab ka kisi ka pehle ho ga, kisi ka baad mein ho ga.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Sir, last question [Foreign language] ?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language] FY2027 [Foreign language] to complete these projects.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Right.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Okay?

Operator

Lekin sir, if you have any questions, sir, Aman Santhalia, may we request you to please rejoin the queue? We have participants waiting for the turn.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Chalo, [Foreign language] ma'am, so that he doesn't have to fall in queue. [Foreign language] , let's answer this.

Operator

Sure.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Karib INR 1,000 crore rupiah, Aman ji, aur additional debt aayega FY 2027 tak, aur INR 1,500 crore ka existing debt repay ho ka till March 2027.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

[Foreign language] loan?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language] balance sheet mein kam ho ga.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Okay, sir. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prashant Rishi from Cascade Capital. Please go ahead.

Prashant Rishi
Founder and Investment Principal, Cascade Capital

Good evening, sir. Sir, what is the situation in terms of upcoming capacity in India for both BOPET and BOPP films?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

BOPP [Foreign language] though [Foreign language] capacity FY2027 [Foreign language] I think two plants are coming. BOPET [Foreign language] FY2028 [Foreign language] I think there is one plant which is coming. [Foreign language] because of industry, you know that one of the largest player in industry was impacted by a very unfortunate incident. I think with that capacity now going off the table and being met through higher imports. Eventually, I think there will be more announcements in that space from the other industry players also who will like to fill up that capacity.

Prashant Rishi
Founder and Investment Principal, Cascade Capital

Okay. Okay. So sir, BOPP [Foreign language] the two plants that are coming, any idea how much would be the total capacity which is coming in?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

1 lakh ton.

Prashant Rishi
Founder and Investment Principal, Cascade Capital

Sorry?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

1 lakh ton.

Prashant Rishi
Founder and Investment Principal, Cascade Capital

1 lakh ton. Okay. Okay.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

1 lakh ton per annum.

Prashant Rishi
Founder and Investment Principal, Cascade Capital

Understood, sir. Last question, sir. Any visibility on when this China heavy import from China, both in India as well as Europe, by when that situation can ease? [Foreign language] ? I mean, or to all players for that matter?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Deekhiye, BOPP [Foreign language] . But PET mein because the imports and the domestic prices currently what they are, everybody who was importing has burnt his hands. So I don't think so that there will be further tendency for the people to import because they know that if they import and by the time the import comes, the domestic players would have adjusted their prices. So today also, whatever they imported in the last quarter, they have been sitting on losses on that because the domestic producers had to cut their prices to mitigate that threat. So BOPET [Foreign language] . BOPP [Foreign language] . Till the time the new capacity is come in India.

Prashant Rishi
Founder and Investment Principal, Cascade Capital

Okay. Okay. Understood. Okay. Thank you so much, sir.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Thank you so much, sir.

Operator

Thank you. Before we take the next participant, reminder to everyone to ask a question, please press star and one. The next question is from the line of Kaushik Poddar from KB Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Yeah. You talked to the challenges last quarter, but if we look at the results of two comparable companies, one from the film side and one from the packaging side, Huhtamaki from the packaging and Cosmo First in the film side, both have shown much better result than what you have done. Can you explain the difference? Why is it so?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Okay. Let's first compare with Cosmo. Cosmo has one line of BOPET, and rest their entire capacity is the BOPP films.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Okay.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

They were the largest beneficiary of this unfortunate incident.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

On the BOPP side.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

On the BOPP, they were the largest beneficiary. As I said, BOPP currently, the margins are around 30% while the PET margins are about 20%. Obviously, because of the short supply which is being met by way of imports, they continue to get the maximum benefit because they have a much higher capacity. One of the new facilities came on stream around that period when there was a fire. They actually had an existing capacity, and their new capacity also came on stream. They have been the clear beneficiaries of this shortfall position today. We have more of a BOPET capacity than the BOPP capacity. Our BOPP capacity in India is 31,200 tons in India versus our PET capacity of 110,000 tons in India.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Okay.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Okay?

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Okay. The mix is adverse for you.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Sorry?

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

The mix is adverse for you compared to Cosmo.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

This adversity can at times depend on the situation also. [Foreign language] PET lines destroy [Foreign language] , too we would have been the major beneficiary of this. Vis-à-vis Huhtamaki, I think with the new management in the last one year, they restructured their whole business. They have sort of stopped some of the loss-making units. They had a very wide spread out. They closed some of those facilities and all. I think there is a one-off impact which was due to come in this. If you ask us that, have they gained on volumes or have they gained on price parameters better than us? No. They have only done restructuring in terms of closing the unviable unit and compressing their production facilities into a few core manufacturing units only.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Okay. Okay. Fine. The next question is, this year you are projecting 5% growth for the whole year, 5% revenue growth. Can we expect around 10% growth the next year at least?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Next year, I think we can expect 10% growth. Depends on the projects which come on stream, and the timing of that is quite key. I think we still have time to get to that. The closer we are to commissioning of those facilities, I think we'll be able to give you more precise guidance.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Okay. Can we expect that the margin low we had seen last quarter, from that level, is better this quarter onwards?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

This quarter, so that is where we've said that the total EBITDA for the whole year, we're now looking at INR 1,800-1,850 crore range only.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Which was the case last year also.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Last year was INR 1,700 odd crore. This year may be slightly better. We had earlier said that we are expecting in the range of INR 2,000-2,100 odd crore EBITDA, driven by a 10% volume increase. Looking at the things the way they are now, I think we have no option but to revise our guidance to a top line of 5% growth and a bottom line of an EBITDA of INR 1,800-1,850 crore range.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Okay. As of now, you are holding back any projection for the next year?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Yes. Yes. We'll get to that either at the end of the next quarter's earnings call. I think that will be more appropriate. We'll have more insight as to how the projects are taking shape.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Okay. As of now, all your four projects will be operational by first quarter of next year?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Yes. I think Q1 should see definitely all the projects getting commissioned. Out of four, one is already commissioned, the India aseptic facility. Now we have three remaining. For recycling, I think surely it will get commissioned by March. The other two, WPP and aseptic in Egypt, may go to Q1 FY2027.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Okay. Okay. On this thing on the recycling front, you expect good capacity utilization from next year onwards? Because your plant is coming anyway in March next year.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Yes. Definitely.

Kaushik Poddar
Director, KB Capital Markets

Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor and Company. Please.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Yeah. No, it's good, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I hope I'm audible. Yeah. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Thank you.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Thank you. Sir, first, if you could just give some color on how the utilization levels have been for the first half across all the plants across the geographies.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

have given it in the presentation. I think you can have a look.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Okay. Okay.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

If you look at India, India's last quarter and this quarter are the same. Dubai is better. Egypt is no. Just one second. Just give me a moment.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Please number [Foreign language] .

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

All right. [Foreign language] ?

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Okay.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

We have on a year-on-year basis, we have seen India is better, Dubai is better. Egypt, as I said earlier, is down on a YOY basis. Nigeria on a QNQ basis is up, but a little bit down on YOY basis. Then we have Poland down, Hungary down, and Mexico is up. On an overall basis, on a YOY basis, we are minus 6% in production volume in the packaging film business.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Right.

Sir, when we look at the employee cost also and the other cost efficiency measures which will directly flow to the bottom line, have we structured out any such project of cost efficiencies? Because we are a very large organization across several geographies, there are several costs which may be rationalized. In these times when the going is tough, any project on which we are working wherein we are looking to lower the cost or improve efficiency? We keep on doing that as an ongoing exercise. [Foreign language] doubt [Fl} . We keep on doing that. There is no specific one-off task that we take to sort of do that. We're pretty well aware of what are the manpower costs.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

At times, there are manpower, even if the project is delayed in commissioning and you've hired the people based on a particular target of commissioning, but now you have to hold on to them. You can't say, "If my project is delayed by three to six months, I'll ask the people to go and again hire them." That's not going to happen. We're pretty much aware of where we can save costs, and we keep on, and that's an ongoing exercise that we undertake.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Sir, the duty protection.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Yeah.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Yeah.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Besides that, there is always more focus on as to how to increase the top line, how to improve the margins, which are always in any business the largest needle movers as compared to cutting some of the costs here and there and demotivating the whole organization. I have seen in many organizations people try to cut costs in the travel, in this, and all that. I think if we focus on the right energies in a growing business, you will ultimately feel better off. Yes, there were headwinds which we all know during this first half of the year. I think with all of them now behind us, we will see better. If we all believe that in India with the recent what the government has done, there will be a consumption boost, so we as a packaging industry will have a major share in that growth as well.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Right. Sir, and secondly, on the duty protection part, since we are seeing a lot of dumping from various geographies into the country, you mentioned about BOPP as well, for BOPET also significant quantity in % terms. So are we looking for any duty protection of ADD or think we are moving through the association on the same, or what is the current structure?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

No, I think none of the businesses are impacted in such a way that they are bleeding. I think the government looks at such kind of a request only when the industry is down in dumps. It's not. I think there is hopefully that time should not come, but currently, I don't think so there is anything that can happen. Otherwise, recently, you would have seen last few days, the government has taken a lot of polymer items from a QCO. There is no more BIS required for import of those items into the company.

That's more a relief to China being given, and that impacts large refiners and all that where POI, DSF, all of those businesses which were protected because of DS norms compliance may see a higher level of imports because that QCO order has been withdrawn across a very large gamut of the items.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Okay. So does that affect any way in the packaging industry or the film industry also?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Fl} better [Fl}, raw materials [Foreign language] , sir.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

[Foreign language] . Okay. I'm not aware of that. Okay. What is this pertaining to, sir? This is pertaining to the raw materials, but if you can explain for the benefit.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

There are a lot of polymers like POI, PSF, then even your PTA, MEG, which had you had to have BIS compliance certification, they have all been taken off the list, which means that from here on, there is no BIS certification required when you import those items. It is not being done only for China. This is done for all the countries. There will be increased competition at least in the polymer industry from the imports.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Okay. Last two points, sir, about this new plant, the BOPP plant, I think you were mentioning about that we had some obligation to set up this plant. What are the exact metrics for the same? I think it's an INR 7.5 billion project that we are undergoing. What would be the timeline for the same and how?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language] FY28 [Foreign language].

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Ajay. Okay.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language]. There are some benefits being given under the state policy for when you meet a certain investment criteria. We'll get those benefits for this facility.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Sir, the demand metrics work for us to add an existing line since we do not have a larger proportion of BOPP. That is also a correct understanding?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language], BOPP [Foreign language] South India [Foreign language] . BOPP [Foreign language] South India [Foreign language] travel [Foreign language] , [Foreign language] West [Foreign language] travel [Foreign language] South [Foreign language] . West [Foreign language] capacity because of that fire has got impacted. [Foreign language] replenish [Foreign language], and all that. With all those question marks around, I think the other industry players may, based on their sort of business prudence, may take investment decisions.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Thank you, sir, for the elaborate answer. Only point for us for investor is that debt number, which Santhalia, sir, was also mentioning, taking that also into account, any progressive way by which do we have anything in the consideration where we can lower the debt faster, or we will follow that, I think, so some 2.5 debt to EBITDA, some number you have given earlier. That is what we will follow the path we are going ahead?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

I definitely don't feel that 2.5X is an achievable number, which that will have to be predicated upon key. As I said, by FY2027, if there are no further investment proposals, the debt gets down by INR 500 crore from a current level of the debt, which is INR 7,750 crore, the net debt. If you take that in the context of the additional EBITDA that we can make from this, if we have an EBITDA of INR 2,500-2,600 crore, and the debt is INR 7,300 odd crore divided by INR 2,600 crore, then we are looking at a 2.8X. As you do the business and as the opportunities come, there may be more investment decisions in the future as well. Based on the current metrics, I think we can look at around close to three numbers when the EBITDA from these new investments also kicks in.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Okay, sir.

Okay. Just to take the industry prospect, this is the nature of doing film business that we need to carry this amount of debt along, and growth is only possible from the debt-oriented way. That is how globally also the film manufacturers do business. Because in other players, we see that the debt numbers are not exactly that high. Just to understand, sir, [Foreign language] structure [Foreign language] perpetual debt [Foreign language] grow [Foreign language] , equity [Foreign language] , [Foreign language] there may be other plans around that if that money also gets raised. [Foreign language] markets, we are regularly in touch with our bankers in US.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

अभी भी for the public markets, they are saying they are not giving us the confidence. Also because of the fact that when you were working on those numbers, your EBITDA in those years in your international business was at a highest level. Now, thereafter, the business performance has suffered because of multiple reasons in the global part of the balance sheet, [Foreign language] Nigeria का devaluation [Foreign language]. The fact of the matter is at a PAT level, those businesses are still because those businesses are only packaging film business, what we were taking to the market. That time, their profitability, their multiples, everything was different. Today, they are different. We'll do at an opportune time. [Foreign language] there'll be opportunities in the next couple of years.

That will be a good opportunity to have cash on the balance sheet and use that cash to do further investments rather than taking further debt onto the balance sheet.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

For the standalone level, sir, taking into account, although we have not seen any surprise offering from the film segment, though there are a lot of fundraising exercises happening across the country, the IPO market, we follow, and public market, all are at lifetime high. Does it warrant any merit for us to go for equity raising or at the company level here, projecting what we are projecting in terms of the profitability graph two years down the line? Does film industry command?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Yes.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Yeah. Yes, sir.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Company level pay, I don't think so that's going to happen given the current shareholding level of the promoter family. At a subsidiary level, this may be a possibility. I can only say up to this. Beyond that, there is.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Yes, sir. I can help.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Yes, sir. Even that is a distant possibility. Not that is a [Foreign language] . That you have already alluded to.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Correct, sir. Hope for better times, sir, next time when we speak.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Thanks.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Yeah. Thank you. All the best, sir. Thank you.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Thank you.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Thank you again, sir, for the detailed presentation and all the requirements for investor education. That awareness part is very well conducted. Thanks to both Surajit sir and Pandit ji and Vaadhi ji for taking care of your investor in this aspect at least.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Thank you, ji.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Saket Kapoor
Analyst, Kapoor and Company

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, you may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Aman Sonthalia from AK Securities. Please go ahead.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Sir, actually, there are a lot of new capacities that are coming in BOPP film. Again, we are setting up a BOPP film by 2028. As per my understanding, there are lots and lots of capacities coming. By the time our capacity comes, there are fair chances that there will be very high overcapacity in the market. Whether it is viable to set up a plant?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Aman ji, [Foreign language] capacity [Foreign language] gap [Foreign language] India [Foreign language] . Okay. Obviously, people will try to fill up that capacity. [Foreign language] , the point is, [Foreign language] efficient [Foreign language] gap [Foreign language] . Yes, I can only say that it's not only us, it is the other people also who are seeing this opportunity and will put up the capacities. Growth [Foreign language] growth [Foreign language] fulfill [Foreign language] . I know what you are saying is, but can you always time the if there is some business where you have to stay relevant, you don't have to make your market share drop.

So you have to look at, you can't time the market. [Foreign language] time [Foreign language] best time [Foreign language] industry [Foreign language] invest [Foreign language] , when the returns are high. We've seen in COVID times. BOPET [Foreign language] returns [Foreign language] invest [Foreign language] . And look where are we now. In FY 2024 where we were, [Foreign language] 2025 [Foreign language] better [Foreign language] 2026 [Foreign language] . But [Foreign language] cycles [Foreign language] industry [Foreign language] time [Foreign language] , ji. [Foreign language] stock market [Foreign language] , SIP [Foreign language] fluctuations [Foreign language] depending on [Foreign language] industry [Foreign language] capacity utilization level [Foreign language] unfortunately पिछली बार क्या हुआ BOPET [Foreign language] .

BOPET after the lows in 2015-2016, [Foreign language] capacity utilization across industry level [Foreign language] plants announce नहीं किए थे, when the capacity utilization levels across the industry had even improved to 80% above. [Foreign language] COVID [Foreign language] because the utilization levels were already high, people made extraordinary profit those couple of years. [Foreign language] with the money already earned, everybody came to install new capacities. [Foreign language] I think [Foreign language] business [Foreign language] . If you want to remain relevant and retain your market share, [Foreign language] wait [Foreign language] market [Foreign language] invest [Foreign language]. Rather, I always feel [Foreign language] invest [Foreign language] market [Foreign language] industry [Foreign language] invest [Foreign language] .

[Foreign language] cycle change [Foreign language] plant [Foreign language] , you will have the gains. Now, we had the gains. [Foreign language] plant [Foreign language] Nigeria [Foreign language] Poland [Foreign language] Hungary [Foreign language] timing [Foreign language] COVID [Foreign language] demand supply [Foreign language] gap create [Foreign language] , because of your supply chain getting disruption, [Foreign language] benefit [Foreign language] . We had a head start to this. [Foreign language] head start [Foreign language] fortunately. [Foreign language] continuously in the line of business where you are, you have to remain relevant and you have to protect your market share [Foreign language] .

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

[Foreign language] BOPET का overcapacity [Foreign language] ?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

[Foreign language] educate [Foreign language] another two years, I think.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

It will take another two years.

Sir, ye hum log loan ko restructure [Foreign language] , sir.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

I'm happy to be guided by you on this because you have more insight.

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

No, no, sir. And sir, whether we can restructure our loan to reduce our rate of interest?

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Rate of interest [Foreign language] floating rate of interest [Foreign language] .

Aman Sonthalia
Analyst, AK Securities

Okay, sir. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to management for closing comments.

Surajit Pal
VP and Head of Investor Relations, UFlex Limited

Thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your time, questions, and continued support. The transcript of this call will be made available shortly on our website at www.UFlexlimited.com. We value this platform as it enables us to engage meaningfully with our investors and stakeholders and look forward to keeping you updated on our progress in the coming quarters. Wishing you all a pleasant day. Thank you.

Rajesh Bhatia
Group President and CFO, UFlex Limited

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. On behalf of Arianne Capital Markets Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

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