Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Styrenix Performance Materials Limited conference call. We have with us today from the management of Styrenix Performance Materials Limited, Mr. Rahul Agrawal, Managing Director, Mr. Bhupesh Porwal, Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Chintan Doshi, Manager, Legal and Company Secretary, and SGA team. As a reminder, all participants' lines will be in listen-only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. Further, on behalf of the management of the company, we would also like to remind the participants that this call is being conducted subject to and in line with the disclaimer mentioned in the investor's presentation, as is available on the stock exchanges.
I now hand over the conference to Mr. Bhupesh Porwal. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you very much. Namaste everyone, and a warm welcome to our Q3 and 9-month FY 2026 earnings call. Before turning to the financial performance, I would like to highlight for the quarter gone by that pursuant to the implementation of new labor code and based on information currently available, the group has estimated and accounted for incremental impact on consolidated financial results amounting to INR 2.24 crores of gratuity liability and INR 0.86 crores of compensation towards leave encashment, arising primarily due to change in wage definition. Coming to our standard quarterly financial highlights, total income of Q3 FY 2026 stood at INR 648.8 crores versus INR 692.2 crores in Q3 FY 2025, showing a dip of 6.2% on year-on-year basis. EBITDA for quarter 3 FY 2026 stood at INR 75.7 crores versus INR 75.4 crores in Q3 FY 2025, showing a marginal growth of 0.4% on YoY basis.
EBITDA margins for Q3 FY 2026 improved to 11.7% versus 10.9% in Q3 FY 2025, showing an increase in 800 basis points. Profit after tax for Q3 FY 2026 stood at INR 44.3 crores versus INR 47.3 crores, showing a dip of 7.51% on year-over-year basis. Profit after tax margins for Q3 FY 2026 stood at 6.8% versus 6.9% in Q3 FY 2025, a dip of 100 basis points. Sales volume for Q3 FY 2026 stood at 51.1 KT versus 47.5 KT in Q3 FY 2025, thereby showing a growth of 7.6% on year-over-year basis. Coming to our consolidated quarterly financial highlights, total income for Q3 FY 2026 stood at INR 871.3 crores. EBITDA for Q3 FY 2026 stood at INR 43.5 crores, and EBITDA margins stood at 5%. Profit after tax stood at INR 16.3 crores, and profit after tax margins stood at 1.9%.
Consolidated sales volume, which includes both India and Thailand, for Q3 FY 2026 stood at 66 KT. On Thailand business, we built inventory during the first half of the year in face of transition to our Absolac and Absolan brand for ABS and SAN, respectively. However, as prices for both final products and raw materials have been considerably lower during the last few months, we witnessed some inventory losses on account of the same. I would like to reiterate that the group had acquired Styrenix Performance Materials Thailand Limited in January 2025, and the consolidated results for the year ended 31st March 2025 and the period ended 31st December 2025 include financial results of the subsidiaries. Therefore, the financial results of Q3 FY 2025 and 9-month FY 2025 are not comparable with the corresponding consolidated figures.
Now, coming to the 9-month performance highlights, on a standalone basis, total income stood at INR 1,988 crores versus INR 2,052 crores. EBITDA in 9 months stood at INR 243.6 crores with 12.3% margin versus INR 272.8 crores with 13.3% margins. PAT in 9 months stood at INR 150 crores with 7.5% margin versus INR 179 crores with 8.7% margins. Sales volume for 9-month FY 2026 stood at 147.5 KT versus 137.4 KT, therefore showing a growth of 7.4% on year-on-year basis. On a consolidated basis, total income stood at INR 2,619 crores. EBITDA for 9 months was INR 231.8 crores, and EBITDA was 8.8%. Profit after tax for the 9 months on a consolidated basis stood at INR 109.4 crores, and profit after tax margins for 9 months FY 2026 stood at 4.2%. Consolidated sales volume, which includes both India and Thailand, for 9 months FY 2026 stood at 190.7 KT.
With this, I conclude the financial highlights, and we will.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question -and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on your touch-tone 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, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant and, for a follow-up question, please rejoin the queue. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Aditya Khetan from SMIFS Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you, sir, for the opportunity. So just a couple of questions. Sir, in your presentation, sir, you had mentioned in Thailand we had built up some inventory during the first half of the year. So considering the last year, first half, so when we talk about Q1 and Q2, we were building up inventories, and that has been recorded in Q3. Is this the correct understanding? And second, you have also mentioned in the face of changeover from ABS and SAN of the previous organization, so whatever grade INEOS was making, you have changed it to your Absolac and Absolan grade. So what is the difference? Have you changed the product itself only from ABS, what INEOS was making? Now you're making a newer ABS, or only the name has changed? Earlier, whatever name was there in INEOS, now you have changed it to your Absolac and Absolan.
In view of this, how this stock buildup has happened? If only name has changed or what has changed, actually? If you can give a bit detail on the same, sir.
Yeah, Aditya, thank you for your question, Rahul. So with regards to inventory buildup, we took over management control in January of 2024 or 2025. We started producing in the plant for two reasons. One, we had the possibility to produce under the existing brand, which was the earlier company's brand name of Novodur and Lustran, where they used to sell ABS and SAN under those brands in their target markets. And we had an understanding whereby we could produce under those brands for a specific period of time, and then we had to then potentially sell that brand after that time expired. Now, most of the sales from Thailand take place all over Asia.
The product, the way it works is there is a validation process, specifically in the specialty ABS business, which I mentioned earlier, as well, whereby the brand, the product, the specifications, all of it is validated and registered with the end customer. So this is kind of what has been happening in this business for many years and will continue to do so. So accordingly, the earlier brand was registered and approved, and we had the possibility to produce and stock up on it while knowing that we would have to shift from that brand to our own brand, which is Absolac and Absolan. So we used that interim period to build up that stock because, as you know, in some cases, the validations or approvals take a little bit longer. We still were able to get the approvals and validations in a relatively quick period of time.
All the inventory that we generated or additional inventory that we built up was recorded in the corresponding quarter itself. So whether it was Q4 of last financial year or Q1 and Q2 of this financial year, all those production numbers and their corresponding inventory buildups would have kind of correlated with that itself. So there is no effect on a I mean, there is no as such recording of that inventory in the following quarter. It would have been in the respective quarter where the production would have taken place. Also, we wanted to test the productivity of the plant and to ensure that the plant is able to give the desired output whenever we are able to ramp up the sales, which also is something which was required to be done.
While there was a comprehensive study and understanding of the equipment, it was still very much important to test it. I think that is also something that we successfully were able to do. Essentially, there is no difference in the two products other than the brand, as you already correctly asked. When we go from a specific product grade for a specific application, which was running under the earlier brand name to our brand name, everything would be the same except for the brand name itself. The product, the specification, the formulations, the machines used to produce it, the raw materials, all of it was essentially the same. In any qualification process, the brand itself also has to be approved. In some cases, we were able to move very quickly. In some cases, it took a little bit of time, which we were anticipating.
So that fortunately has been done. I would say 90% of the customers have been retained, which were there in Thailand, and we are now selling under our new brand name or our global brand name, if you will, which is Absolac and Absolan. So I hope that answers your question.
Got it, sir. Thank you for that. Sir, my second question, so as you mentioned, it was a one-time adjustment, and now most of the customers have retained. So what would be the inventory adjustment figure first? Second, sir, you have also mentioned there have been some inventory losses. Considering, sir, INR 75 crore standalone EBITDA, adjusting for the inventory losses, how much EBITDA would have we could have seen in that business? Third, sir, when we look at the footnotes of your financial results, in Thailand figures, sir, when we look at the revenue, it is stated at INR 256 crore and some INR 39 crore loss in your footnotes. But when we do a simple consolidated minus standalone, that figure looks lower with a INR 221 crore revenue and some INR 25 crore loss.
Ideally, sir, what we are basing over here, if we should directly do consolidated minus standalone, that is the correct or what you mentioned in your footnotes, that is the correct one?
Right. So Aditya, answering your second part, there are some intercompany transactions also which has to be eliminated for the consolidation. So we buy some rubber from Thailand, or Thailand buys ABS and SAN from us. So those all sales and purchases have to be corrected when we do the consolidation part, and that's the reason what you are saying the difference is. Second, we were mentioning about inventory adjustments and inventory loss. So they are not two separate things. There is only one thing, which is inventory loss which occurred because of the inventory which we were carrying from the last maybe quarter one, which the MD just explained we built it because of the brands' inventory which we have to build in for the selling during the last 12 months. And by chance, the prices of the basic raw material, finished goods, fell down in the last 9 months.
That's the reason there was some inventory loss. There is no adjustment as a one-time. These are all pricing matters which happened for these nine months. There is only one thing, not the two things.
So, sir, we should take the inventory. So, can you share any figure? What would be the inventory adjustment and inventory loss combined, whatever figure you have? Because this quarter number obviously shows there is an adjustment. As you rightly said, there has been changeover. So that is not operational EBITDA, right, our current quarter which we have reported. So that's what, sir, just wanted to get a fair picture on the number side.
So there is no adjustment, which I will say again, there is no adjustment. The inventories are always valued based on the accounting standards. And as for in layman terms, I will say the cost or the realization value, whichever is less. So it has been valued accordingly in each and every one of the quarters. Because the prices of the FG and corresponding raw materials have fell down in 8, 9 months, so in the last quarter, because I'll just give you an example. For example, we bought some raw material at INR 100 per kilogram. Now it is coming at INR 92 per kg. So corresponding FG has also reduced by, for example, INR 8 per kilogram. So that INR 8 definitely will be loss.
That's true, sir. Sir, this is not explaining the consolidated EBITDA of INR 23 crore versus our annual some INR 30 crore-INR 40 crore versus INR 80 crore EBITDA last quarter. That's why sir, this INR 40 crore difference is some inventory adjustment. We can take that as the number.
Which inventory adjustments you are talking about? Can you clarify your question again?
Sir, when we look at your annual EBITDA figure of Thailand, okay, that says some sort of INR 80 crore- INR 85 crore.
Hello?
Yeah, essentially, Aditya, I think what Chintan is trying to say is that there is no adjustment per se. As the prices fell, we have obviously realized a lower revenue on those sales as opposed to what it was valued in the preceding quarters because the prices themselves have fallen. And the rationale for keeping that high level of inventory has been already explained in my previous answer, right? So obviously, this would not continue, to your point of how it has occurred, because we are not intending to build up any more inventory than is required from the purpose of the sale in the same quarter. So this is not something which would recur, to your question.
Got it, sir. I'll join back in a bit.
Sure.
Thank you. A request to all participants to please limit your question to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we would request you to please rejoin the queue. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nirav Jimudia from Anvil Wealth. Please go ahead.
Yeah, sir. Good afternoon, and thanks for the opportunity. Sir, first question is on the polystyrene part. So we recently expanded our capacity from 65,000 to 1 ,000,000 tons with more of the expansion towards GPPS. So just wanted to understand how are we in terms of the approvals from the OEMs, specifically from the plant side, and generally, how much time it takes for each of our OEMs to approve our products. That is part A. Part B, since we are in the beginning of a season of higher sales, possibly from the appliances side, and consequently, our HIPS sales would also be forming part of that peak season for the appliances. How we are geared up in terms of improving our volumes from the polystyrene part?
Yeah. Thanks, Nirav. So see, essentially, when we increased our polystyrene capacity from 65,000 to 100,000 tons, the expansion has come primarily from increasing the general-purpose polystyrene volumes. What we have done is, in general-purpose polystyrene, historically, almost all of it used to be a lot of it rather used to be into non-OEM segment. So today, of course, the OEM segment is significantly higher, even for GPPS. And I would say more than 50% of the sales are coming from GPPS. I think overall sales in GPPS are not to the tune of the capacities that we have available. And that has also been a count of if I look at the nine-month period so far, the first two quarters, of course, were very muted from polystyrene demand itself. And there was also a lot of kind of additional volumes coming in.
So overall, demand being low, we didn't get the advantage of that. Of course, that has partially recovered last quarter and is looking good now. But in terms of approvals, yes, it depends on which grade we are approving. But for GPPS, the approvals or for HIPS also, the approvals, depending on the grade, can range anywhere from three months to nine months. Some of the HI approvals, we have already got now, which were earlier in place. HIPS, we are running pretty much 100% capacity utilization. The OEM percentage also is quite high now over there. It's in excess of 50%-60%. So we believe with the kind of season coming in, we are well geared. On HIPS, like I mentioned, we are completely sold out.
On GPPS, yes, we have additional capacity, but I'm not sure whether we will be able to completely sell that capacity for general-purpose polystyrene.
Got it. So just a bit to add here, sir, whatever the volume growth we have seen in third quarter over the second quarter on a standalone basis, is it right to presume that most of it has come from the polystyrene and not from the ABS?
Actually, there has been a volume growth. If you look at year-on-year, for instance, there is a growth coming in from ABS as well. But if you look at it from the preceding year, from the preceding quarter, yes, polystyrene would comprise a significant portion because Q2 in polystyrene is extremely muted. In the third quarter, polystyrene sales definitely did pick up.
Got it. Sir, on the polystyrene part, you mentioned that we have been already sold for HI. But for GP, most of the grades, the approval cycle is three to nine months. And we would have done close to around 50%-60% of the customers on board from the OEM part. So just wanted to understand, from the import perspective, those grades which are imported into India, is more of the GP side or more around the HI side? Why I ask this question is just wanted to understand, are we able to replace those imports of GP into India through our improvement in the volumes? And that could be substantial, right, because we have expanded. Whatever we have expanded is expanded on the GP side. So if you can just share your perspective here.
Yeah. So a lot of the product, as you rightly pointed out, which comes in, actually does a lot more comes in on the GP side than the HI side. And on GP side, again, a lot of the sales are not necessarily going to OEM. They come even into the unorganized market. Their pricing is a big driver of that market. And sometimes we consciously decide not to participate in that market as well because the pricing can be extremely low. So while it is an opportunity, I think it depends, again, specifically which time in the year it makes sense for us to participate in that opportunity. Right now, of course, is a better opportunity or a better time to do so. But in some quarters, the prices are extremely depressed. And the imports can be too competitive for us to really participate meaningfully over there.
Got it. The second question is on the SAN part. So if you can share at what rate of utilization we are currently running for the SAN business, A? And B, just wanted to understand your perspective, slightly a theoretical question. Whenever we will expand our capacity of ABS from 100 KT to, let's say, 150 KT, is Thailand plant be a good option for sourcing our SAN requirement, which would also help in improving the capacity utilization for the Thailand plant as well, giving them an operating leverage benefit and hence the profitability? So if you can share your thoughts here, first, A, for the India business, and B, whenever we will do the expansion, is SAN import from Thailand a feasible option? Thank you so much.
Yeah. So with regards to SAN capacity utilization, right now, as you know, we produce SAN for merchant as well as for captive consumption. The merchant SAN market, we have majority share, more than 50% of the share for the merchant SAN is produced by Styrenix. With regards to SAN availability, we still have some additional SAN available, though not a lot. So even if we come in with additional 50 KT ABS, I believe we'll have some SAN. But we are also expanding SAN capacity. So I think in terms of alignment on when those additional capacities of SAN will come into India, it will be aligned with the additional capacity of rubber also coming in. SAN from Thailand, I think, would work out to be a little bit more expensive for us in India.
And again, SAN in Thailand is kind of a premium product for which the realizations in India would be lower than what we can potentially realize in other areas. Operating leverage is something that we have looked at and we will look at also. But considering the freight component, the import duty component, and other costs involved, the realizations then in Thailand become extremely low or not very competitive at all.
Got it, sir. Thank you so much. I'll join back in the queue.
Sure.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahul Agarwal from Ikigai Asset. Please go ahead.
Hi. Very good evening. Thank you for the opportunity. Just firstly, in your perspective on the demand and supply for ABS, both in India and globally, share some thoughts on how do you look at supply and demand building up? What's really happening across the globe? Indian imports, some outlook on pricing will really help. That's the first question.
Okay. Thanks, Rahul. So as far as demand and supply in ABS in India is concerned, there is no significant change. I mean, yes, we have had another company also adding in capacity into India. But I believe that is yet to stabilize. So we haven't seen any major impact in the demand-supply scenario, competitively speaking, in India. Competitive intensity, as far as imports is concerned, remains at par with what it has been, I would say, last year. There is no significant change. Yes, as you might be aware, BIS was withdrawn a few months ago. But we haven't really seen any impact on account of that withdrawal from players, say, who were earlier not registered with BIS and would have had the possibility now to supply material into India. So we haven't seen any movement in that regard yet.
So the demand-supply scenario for ABS in India, I think, is still fairly status quo, what it was. India still is a net importer. There is still a strong preference for and the requirement for Indian capacities incumbents to increase their market share. And that opportunity does exist, which we are working towards trying to gather. With regards to global scenario, again, there is no major shift or major change. We have the same overcapacity in China, which has existed now for several years, and also significantly high capacities in Korea and in Taiwan and some of the other regions relative to the market. And there remains that pressure, competitive pressure, on the pricing as well. So the demand-supply globally, again, if I look at in the last one year, there is no significant change in what was the scenario earlier and what is the scenario today.
So in terms of your own outlook on pricing and volume growth, right, I mean, every six months, at least in India, I'm expecting new capacity on ABS. Maybe or Supreme's plant restarts, and then we have some capacity from there. I think the other player, Bhansali, also talking about September-October 2026 of 25,000 tons. If I just total this up, 25,000 of Bhansali's capacity, I think, lined up for December. Every six months, we're going to see almost like 140,000 tons of new ABS, right? So how would you think about pricing here and your own volume growth?
Yeah. And also, essentially, I think I am not 100% sure of the timelines on when Supreme's plant will start or, for that matter, when the other competitors' additional 25 KT will come on stream. Again, our volume additional capacity, I think, will come sometime this year. But would be, I think, a little bit closer towards post-December rather than December. We haven't given any official timeline yet. And we are not looking to do that because there could be one or two months' kind of delay or advancement either, which way is possible. We'll see. But if you look at the overall market scenario, there is still 50% of the product is still imported into India.
By our own estimates, ABS demand is higher than about 350,000 tons or even probably closer to 360,000-370,000 tons this year, as against which the domestic production, if I exclude Supreme so far, is still less than 50%. I think there is sufficient market opportunity, even with additional capacities coming in, to sell. I think we'll still remain a net importer even post all of that, in spite of all these capacities coming in. I think, again, depending on where one chooses to position their product, there is an opportunity. I don't necessarily think that there is going to be a significant pressure on pricing other than what is already there in the market today. That's what we have seen in the last two years as well.
Whatever pressures we have seen earlier are going to be similar to the sort of pressures we're going to see in the near future, at least.
The second question was on the expansion of ABS. Just the same thing in terms of status update for the construction machine orders and start of trials, both for phase I and phase II. If you could just update what's the current thought process in terms of how do you want to go about the two phases of 50,000 tons, please?
So like we said, in this current financial or the coming financial year, which is FY 2027, we do intend to start phase one of our expansion of ABS. We are on track. So like I said, I'm going to restrict from giving an exact date and month. But as I mentioned, it is going to be in the second half of the coming financial year. We are very much on track to achieve that in terms of equipment ordering, in terms of whatever goes for that construction part. Everything is on stream and online. So as of now, we don't have any significant update to give because there is no deviation from that. If there is any deviation, we shall definitely inform our investor community. So that remains to be exactly where it is.
A second phase, again, will be post that, which potentially will be in the next financial year. I think, again, it is tied into when the first phase gets completed. I think in the coming few quarters, we'll be able to shed more light on exactly when that will happen.
Okay. And first year of operations for phase I, does it mean that can we do like 60%-70% of utilization into fiscal 2028? Is it possible, or it takes more time?
I believe that would be possible. I think once the capacity comes on stream, we should be able to achieve fairly high capacity utilization numbers.
Got it. Thank you so much. I'll get back and wish you all the best.
Sure.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Meet Parikh from Meher Asia Family Office. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. With regard to the Thailand plant, when we consider the cross-cyclical spreads, what would the break-even sale for the Thailand plant be considering across cycles? And also, is there a possibility of you incurring cash losses over there in the near future? I mean, we understand that the inventory thing that happened was a one-time thing. So beyond that, is there still a possibility of one-time cash losses there? And also, what is the quantum of the inventory loss that you have incurred in Thailand? Yeah, that's it.
Okay. Thanks, Meet. So with regards to Thailand, again, it's a fairly complex product mix that we have over there. We produce some fairly interesting and proprietary grades like the liner ABS that we make. We also make food-grade SAN. And we make high-heat ABS, which goes into the automotive industry in China and elsewhere. Now, a lot of these grades are not commonly produced by other companies. However, there is a lead time involved in getting these approvals in place with additional customers, for which we have sales teams already on the ground in Thailand, in China, in Vietnam, in Japan. Also, by the way, we have got representation in Japan as of last few months. So we are moving aggressively to get these validations done.
Now, the break-even or the EBITDA positive scenario will depend a lot on the product mix that we are able to achieve in Thailand. So that number can range anywhere from 65%-80%. If the product mix is not very favorable, it can be a higher capacity utilization, which is needed. And if the product mix is favorable, it can be at a lower capacity utilization. So we have to balance these things and see what works best for the organization. Because with many companies, we are also a new brand trying to settle in. Once we make commitments to our customers of being able to develop products and supply to them, we have to stick to those commitments because this would impact us also in India and with other customers eventually because these are very large kind of OEMs which have global presence.
And we have global aspirations, as you can tell, where we would like to be validated and working with them everywhere. So keeping that in mind, we have to be very mindful of which product mix we position, what we promise to customers, and exactly what we deliver there. So this requires a little bit of patience. And this may also mean that it takes a little bit longer time for us to achieve the break-even numbers that we're looking at. And hence, as far as inventory-related cash losses that we have had, of course, we have no strategic reason or interest to build up inventory going forward that we can think of right now. And hence, we do believe that whatever we sell and we produce will be fairly comparable in terms of valuations for specific quarters going forward.
We do not account that to be an issue in the future. Otherwise, I think we have to wait and watch how the situation in Thailand unfolds. We have always mentioned there is a kind of huge advantage in terms of technology, market positioning, and available capacities in Thailand, which will benefit us as a group in the medium to long term. That remains to be true regardless of what has happened in the last few months.
Right, right, right, sir. So as we stabilize our operation and as we explore our sales mix, is there a possibility? You did tell me that break-even would vary the capacity. But is there a possibility of cash losses still occurring in the next couple of years?
So again, hard to predict. But I don't think there would be necessarily very significant numbers unless something changes, which we do not anticipate. So whatever would happen would be fairly manageable in line with the size of operation over there.
Right, sir. Thank you. All the best with Thailand and in Jambusar too. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pritesh from Lucky Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Sir, with respect to this Thailand operations, so if I am just seeing the numbers, and I'm unable to comprehend the commentary that you're giving, quarter one is where I think you took up the larger or full utilization of the plant. And then we have the inventory figures of March 2025 and September 2025. Those are the two figures of inventory which are available with us on consolidation. So I'm actually unable to comprehend the fact that the whole inventory change came in quarter three. So if you could just elaborate a bit because between the quarter four and September quarter, I don't see any major change in the inventory.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks, Pritesh. So if we look at the inventories which had built up in kind of March 2025 versus the inventory which was the end of December, right, there is a reduction in inventory, which is quite significant. And it's also, again, what we sell, right? So if there are specific products which would have been valued very highly at the end of that at the end of that quarter, and we would have sold it down at a lower price because the prices of the finished goods have fallen, as the raw materials have fallen as well. For a lot of raw materials, the price reduction has been as high as 30%. So if we take that into account, then that's what has happened, essentially. So the inventories are still a little bit higher than eventually where we want it to be.
But definitely, there is a significant reduction in the inventory levels from what it was, say, when we built it up, not even March 2025 but probably June 2025. Up to December. So there was a gradual buildup of inventory. It started in January when we took over the business. And like I mentioned, until end of June or for six months is when we had the possibility to build up the inventory because then we could only potentially liquidate that inventory to ensure that we do not lose any business as far as customers are concerned from a long-term perspective. It's just that the timing coincided with significant fall in prices on raw materials as well as finished goods.
Entire INR 40 crore difference between the standalone, the consolidated, on a Q-on-Q basis, how much of that is associated with inventory?
More than 75%.
Okay. And the entire change in price has slowed down between quarter two and quarter three because until quarter two, we don't see any of it?
Yeah. So like I said, there was still inventory buildup happening, right, to some extent, which then, of course, we stopped midway in the quarter. And then in the last quarter, there is a significant inventory reduction. And there'll be further reduction in this quarter as well.
So you are running plant at a higher utilization in September also and in some way between the quarter three also?
Yeah. Towards the beginning of it, and then we have reduced after that.
Towards the beginning of it. Yeah. Okay.
Correct, correct, correct.
Then just can you give us the price between, let's say, from January to December or let's say at the beginning of the year and towards the end of the year, what is the price changes that you have seen in your finished goods and the KTs at the start of the year towards the end of the year? Just two data points.
Yeah. So I think when the inventories were at the peak to when they came down, I think the gap could have been as high as about 20%-25%.
This is for RM, or this is for finished goods?
Both. Normally, it moves in tandem.
Okay. The other thing is, on a nine-month-to-nine-month basis in the standalone business, is there any product mix change on a nine-month-to-nine-month? Because we are trying to assess the operating profit per ton. So is there any product mix change, or this is just to do with the realization of the spread difference?
So there are two things to keep in mind here, Pritesh. So if we look at the previous year on a nine-month basis, the September quarter was unusual, which we had pointed out. There was a gain that we had got on account of ocean freight. So the July, August, September quarter of FY 2025, there was a significant higher realization, which we had had, which normalized also after that in the following quarters. So if you eliminate that and consider it at a normalized basis, I think on a nine-month-to-nine-month basis, we have only grown in terms of volumes. And realizations largely have remained similar. There is no change. Quarter-on-quarter, yes, there could be some changes in product mix, for sure.
That's what I asked. 9-month-to-9-month.
So 9-month-to-9-month, like I said, if you remove the July to September unusual gain that we had, there is not any significant change in terms of realizations. Only our volumes have increased to some extent here.
Volumes increase, realizations similar, spread reduction because of RM increase?
Well, spread reduction really has not happened, is what I'm trying to tell you. There is a product mix change as well to some degree. But okay, the spread reduction, you can say, from July, September of last year to this year, yes. And that July, September to any quarter would be a spread reduction because that spread itself was unusual because of a kind of gain we got on account of some supply chain disruption as far as ocean freights are concerned, right? And we took that gain in that quarter, but that normalized. So yeah. So if you eliminate that gain.
So Rahul, can you?
Yeah. If you eliminate that gain and you consider all the other spreads where they have been for the last two years, there is no change.
My last question is, based on your experience and not that you can forecast, but based on your experience for all these years that you're doing this business, and when you see this drawdown on pricing by about 20%, usually, what have you seen after that? What are your experiences?
We have seen the prices remaining low, going further down, remaining the same, or going up. So I don't know how to answer your question because there can be a lot of volatility, right? And I mean, you can see the current prices as well in the market. Prices have tended to move upwards, again, because of some disruptions in some raw material supplies. So there is a spike right now currently. But this is not something which is representative of what happens every time. There are times when these kind of spikes happen. There are times when the prices remain where they are. So very hard to predict based on the past in which direction prices would normally go. But currently, prices are tending to move upwards.
Okay. Lastly, in your last calls, if you recall, in your FY 2025 calls, you had this cost reduction to flow into your EBITDA via operating utilization, via power cost reduction. You had called out that the EBITDA per kg or the per ton has a higher number to come in. When I was asking you from a nine-month-to-nine-month perspective, and you said that the one was inflated because of the one-offs that you got on international. I didn't understand that because my question was actually nine-month this year to nine-month last year. This year, nine-month had to get all those benefits on your OpEx and your power cost, which you had done last year. Maybe you want to elaborate a bit only on nine-month-to-nine-month.
I can understand every quarter, there is a product mix change, and there is movement on margin numbers because of Polystyrene to ABS. But on a nine-month-to-nine-month, what is the assessment?
So in terms of the benefits that we are expecting on power so this is an agreement which, again, we have publicly mentioned. We are done with a third party where we will be taking in some kind of hybrid power, and that will help us in reducing our power cost. That agreement will come into effect only in this month or the next month, so February or March. So we will see those benefits only accruing now in the coming few quarters. So since that agreement was put in place, it typically takes about a year or 14 months for all these agreements to materialize into actual power supply or kind of feed into the grid as a supplier builds up that capacity of that hybrid power. So we'll see that advantage coming in in the next few quarters.
Okay. And from this year to next year during the volume.
Sorry to interrupt, sir. Sorry to interrupt, sir. Should you have a follow-up question, we would request you to please rejoin the queue as there are more participants waiting in the queue. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Krunal Shah from ENAM Investments. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. So two questions from my side. One is the CapEx number for FY 2026, if you could share that. And the second is on this Thailand plant. So if I see the difference between the volumes in the presentation, it's around 15,000 tons. But you mentioned that there are some interparty transactions. So if you could give me the exact number of or the volume for Thailand this quarter.
Yeah, Krunal. So in the presentation, the numbers are after eliminating the intercompany transactions. So they are net of that. So nothing to be netted off, again, from them. Regarding the CapEx numbers, so maybe as mentioned last time, the CapEx, it depends upon a lot of things like purchase orders, how many are raised, and all those things. So I think, as MD had mentioned in earlier questions, we are in line as what we have announced for those CapEx completion projects in FY 2022, FY 2027, and we'll be completing that. I will just say the number again, which I have mentioned earlier. Overall CapEx for phase one is approximately INR 350 crore, which we will spill over with this year and next year, most of them. And we will finance them with internal accruals as well as maybe a CapEx loan, which we have yet not taken.
We have not yet taken and funded it through internal accruals only. Yeah?
Okay. Just one last question on the spreads part. Sir, Rahul, you mentioned that spreads have been similar over the last two years. Can you just help me elaborate how much of our business is on a formula-based pricing and how much is on a spot pricing?
So Krunal, most of the business, like I said, in ABS, a lot of it works on formula basis. I would say more than 70% of the business works on a formula basis. Essentially, again, a lot of these businesses are even governed by volume contracts and price contracts for the whole year. And even when we don't necessarily have volume contracts, the pricing formula still holds true for even those customers. So the formulas, in fact, play a part in more than 70% of the overall business.
Got it. And that would apply for PS also?
For PS, that number is lesser. I think it's restricted to, again, where we have OEM business in place. So like I said, about 50% odd. Balance would not be as far as a formula.
Got it. And how would the similar number be for Thailand?
Thailand, again, a lot of the business, I would say, practically all of the business is on formula. Very little business is on spot.
Got it. Got it. Great. Thank you so much.
Sure.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Manjeet from Solidarity Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. The first question is continuation of the last response where you mentioned most of our business is annually contracted, 70%. I was just curious if the spreads on import become more favorable for customers. Do they switch to them once the annual contracts expire? Or what I'm trying to understand is how easy it is for customers to switch to them on the import side, was question one. The second question was to your comment that oversupply in China has been there for quite some time now. We have seen Chinese suppliers dump products at cost or even below cost in some cases in the past, right? In that context, how do we get confidence that the spreads in India will largely hold, and why won't Chinese suppliers play errant over there? These were the two questions. Thank you.
Thanks, Manjeet. So see, with regards to our contracts or with customers, typically, this is decided based on the value and the customization that we provide to each of the customers. Now, imports have been putting pressure on us since many, many years. And typically, OEMs find value in what we offer, or customers, rather, find value in what we offer to them. And hence, those spreads are wherever they are settled, right? And year-on-year, they remain similar because, again, of the value which they see. Typically, to switch, there is a, like I mentioned in my earlier responses, there is a validation process which is required to be undertaken. And some of the customers do do that from a risk mitigation perspective. We are not able to satisfy all the customers in India. As you know, we are import-dependent for ABS, at least.
Keeping that in mind, we have most of our customers who may be relying largely on us or in significant part on us but would be having some share of imports as well. What we have seen is when we have increased our volumes, say, when we took over management control in 2022 to now, we have almost doubled our ABS business. That has not come at the expense of any spreads. In fact, the spreads have largely remained similar, which just goes to say that while there might be pressure from imports, there might be pressure from these different sources, the customer still has a strong preference for locally produced product because of the customization, because of the delivery, because of multiple factors.
So keeping all of that in mind, we have not had a challenge in essentially doubling our volumes in India in the last few years. And the oversupply in China has been around for a while now. It's not a new phenomenon. But other than China, I think the larger volumes still in India come from Korea and from Taiwan and somewhat from Thailand as well. And these countries, again, there is an oversupply situation. So for specialty ABS or customized ABS, the production in these countries is more suited to the demand in India versus currently from China. Well, that may change. We'll see. So how the oversupply situation in China and their consequent ability to develop those capabilities, how that will play out, we will keep an eye out on that. But currently, that's not really a significant threat in India.
Even after, like we discussed, after removal of BIS, we haven't seen any movement of product from China into India, almost negligible or zero, I would say. The spreads haven't really come under pressure. The spreads remain where they are, and they have been dealing with the import pressure for quite some time.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Sure.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Tanish Jhaveri from Boring AMC. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. I'd like to ask what demand scenario for Q4? We had guided for a 12.5% volume growth. Do we think we'll be able to achieve it for the year?
Yeah. Hi, Tanish. So I don't think we will do 12.5% growth. In fact, so we had a lot of pressure on Polystyrene in the first six months. So while some of that has rebounded and we are seeing good volumes in Polystyrene, while the growth in ABS is very robust, in terms of growth in Polystyrene, it remains on an annualized basis a bit sluggish. And hence, we have seen growth in the last quarter. And in this quarter also, we will see good demand as we normally do. This is the seasonal effect that we have in that business. But on an overall basis, the growth will be a little bit lower on account of that growth in Polystyrene being lower, essentially.
Okay. The next question is we were talking about overcapacity in the global scenario. How does it give us confidence in the Thailand business? How confident are we that we'll be able to scale it up on a long-term basis, medium to long-term?
So Tanish, essentially, the product profile that we have in Thailand is a little bit different from the products being currently produced in China, for instance. There is, of course, supplies from other regions which are also targeting the same markets. We do have some advantages as far as products from Thailand are concerned. And we are actively marketing those products with the help of sales force, which we have now engaged in all these geographies. We have been able to successfully retain a lot of the customers in spite of a new brand. Typically, the qualification process for any new product, whether even if it's a brand name change, is a long process. We've been able to do that in a relatively quick period, which only tells us that there is a strong demand preference for the product from Thailand.
We believe that going forward as well, to the extent we need to do in terms of demand utilization in Thailand, there is a market opportunity. It's just that there is a process which we need to follow. As long as we do that and we keep making those efforts, we do believe that we will be able to achieve higher sales volume from Thailand in those regions because of the products that we produce there, which are not commonly produced everywhere else.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Last question would be on the Middle East. Last quarter, we had spoken about possible exports to the Middle East, and we had set up a subsidiary over there. Could you give us any update on that?
So currently, on ABS, we don't have additional capacities. I think as we are expecting these additional capacities to come online during the course of this year, we will see how we have additional capacities to offer. We are in the process of, of course, getting validations done in other regions. And should we require to sell material to ensure our capacities, we are just doing risk mitigation from that perspective. But I don't foresee, actually, necessarily needing to do that in the near future. From a long-term future, yes, we are looking at exploiting any opportunities to develop high-value clients, whether it's in the Middle East or anywhere else. So that effort is ongoing.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Tushar from Omega Portfolio Advisors. Please go ahead.
Yes. First of all, just wanted to know, post the Thailand acquisition, you mentioned some low-grade ABS profile. Did we really get any benefit in the Indian operation in the percentage terms of volume?
Tushar ji, sorry to interrupt you. Your voice is not clearly audible. There is a lot of humming noise coming in. Yeah. If you are on speaker, maybe you can correct it. I don't know how.
Am I audible, sir? No?
Slightly better. Please just speak slowly so I'll try to catch what you're saying.
Okay. Actually, opposed to the Thailand acquisition, you mentioned about some newer-grade ABS back then. Any material benefit you reap from that know-how in India, considering the percentage of the volume which you sell in India?
Yeah. Thanks, Tushar. So obviously, like I mentioned, and I continue to believe that there is a lot of value in the technologies that we have in Thailand. We have got a good understanding now of those products. We will incorporate capabilities in order to be able to produce those grades in India in the coming time. We have taken cognizance of those capabilities to be built into our expansions that we do in India as well. Currently, we are tapped out on capacity. But as we move forward, there will be an opportunity to tap into those markets with the aid of those technologies even in India in the future.
While we don't see today or, I would say, in the last few months, directly any products from that technology perspective being a part of our revenues currently in India, in the future, definitely, that would be the case.
Of course. And so it would be a clarification question, actually. So the Polystyrene, the capacity expansion, is it planned for a phase one, or is it 100% in the phase two?
Polystyrene, we have already done initial debottlenecking where we increased our capacity on GPPS. Like I mentioned earlier, the capacity was around 65,000-70,000 tons, which is now about 100,000. But the capacity augmentation has come on GPPS. On HIPS, again, we don't have any further kind of management decision taken on any capacity augmentation as of yet.
Fair enough. The styrene monomer prices are improving. Do you see the prices are there to stay, or do you see still volatility going forward as per your experience, sir?
So I think Styrene Monomer volatility based on this organization's knowledge and history has remained volatile for a good part of the life of this organization, which is 50 years. In fact, the Styrene Monomer prices remain fairly stable, though there was a significant reduction last year. Like I mentioned, from the early part of the year towards the end of the year, the prices have moved up sharply recently. Again, many times, people link these things to crude, but that is not necessarily the case. The crude hasn't really spiked or moved in anywhere near the direction where styrene has moved. So difficult to predict basis, other petrochemical feedstock, if you will, for Styrene Monomer, at least in our experience.
Fair enough, sir. That was really helpful. Thanks.
Sure.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mitesh Shah from C.R. Kothari & Sons. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. I want to know, what is happening in the Thailand plant? What is the reason why we're not able to increase the utilization? You said that the demand for the product is strong. Then why are we not able to scale up the revenues? And also on the loss in their part, so you said it is so is it 100% attributed to inventory loss, or is there any other reason to that as well?
So hi, Mitesh Thank you for your question. Like I mentioned, in Thailand, we have launched a different brand, which is our Indian brand. And this is something which requires validation to be done in our new customer base, if you will. In India, we are a very strong recognized brand. And the product is well approved with most OEMs, molders, and the entire chain. From Thailand, while the product itself is approved and works very well, the brand has to be approved. Also, from Thailand, more effort needs to be put into all these different geographies where we have done by adding more salesforce. But there is a validation process which takes time. So for instance, in the automotive space, the validations can take up to 18 months.
And specifically, if you look at our target markets there in Asia, which would be focused on the EV segment, focused on the more premium electronics or the household appliances or the medical devices in those regions, all these industries have a long gestation period in terms of validation. The product is good. It works well with the customers that you already have. But there is that lead time that we have to work with. With regards to in India, of course, none of those issues exist. So we don't see any of those problems.
Okay. And so by when can we expect the capacity to ramp up in Thailand? And also on the loss part, is it 100% attributed to inventory loss only, or was there any other reason that has been?
So the capacity utilization in Thailand is quite low, right? While we may have run the Thailand plant at high capacity utilizations in the first few quarters where we didn't see any losses, as the capacity utilization comes down, there is a loss of operating leverage, if you will. So that continues to be the case, and that does have a negative drag. But like I mentioned, more than 75% of the losses are on account of inventory valuations, which have taken a dip in the last quarter when we have sold the product. So essentially, that does remain the case. But till we don't bring up the capacity utilization to a high enough number, there will be some drag. Now, with regards to building up the sales, again, it's an effort we are putting in.
But there is a medium to long-term view which we need to take as far as Thailand is concerned.
All right. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand over the conference to Mr. Chintan Doshi for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, everyone, for joining us on this earnings call. We appreciate your time and showing interest in our company. In case of any queries, you can get in touch with us or SGA, our investor relations advisors. We look forward to meeting all of you over the next call. Thank you.
On behalf of Styrenix Performance Materials Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.