Q4 24/25

May 14, 2025

Summary

Q4 FY25 saw 10% revenue growth and strong margins, with FY25 profit after tax up 30% year-over-year. The order book stands at INR 18,300 crore, and FY26 guidance targets 25% revenue growth and INR 15,000–16,000 crore in new orders.

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Cemindia Projects Limited Q4 and FY 2025 earnings conference call hosted by ICICI Securities 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 the star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Yeah. Thank you, Steve. Good afternoon. On behalf of ICICI Securities, I welcome you all to the Q4 FY 2025 earnings call for Cemindia Projects Limited. Today, we have with us from the management, Mr. Jayanta Basu, the Managing Director, Mr. Prasad Patwardhan, the CFO, Mr. Rahul Agarwal, Head of Investor Relations. We will begin with the opening remarks from the management, followed by the Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on this Q4 FY 2025 earnings con call. Before we go further, I would like to caution everyone that there may be some forward-looking statements made during the course of this call, which will be subject to various risks and uncertainties, and the actual results may vary materially from those in such statements. We have declared our results for the quarter and year ended March 2025 yesterday, and I am sure all of you have gone through the results. I will present a brief synopsis of the results and then hand over to Mr. Basu for his initial comments, and then we will take your calls. For the quarter ending March 2025, we have reported a total income of INR 2,480 crores, which is a 10% growth on a year-on-year basis, EBITDA of INR 268 crores. EBITDA margin has come in at 10.8% for the quarter, and profit after tax is INR 111 crores in the quarter. For the whole year ending March 2025, we have reported a top line of INR 9,097 crores, which represents a growth of 18% on a year-on-year basis. EBITDA of INR 923 crores. EBITDA margins have come in for the whole year at 10.1%, and profit after tax has grown by about 30% from INR 274 crores last year to INR 373 crores. Our balance sheet continues to be significantly deleveraged with net debt to equity ratio of only 0.31 times. During the year, we have secured new orders worth about INR 7,100 crores and our order book as of March 2025 is about INR 18,300 crores. We are L1 on orders worth about INR 600 crores, and just yesterday, we have secured another order from Jaipur Airport worth about INR 600 crores. That is all from my side. I will hand over to Mr. Basu for his initial comments now. Yeah, thank you, Prasad, and I welcome all of you for this Q4 con call 2024-25. The numbers are in front of you, so I don't have to repeat those things. A few points I like to highlight that what is our strategy going forward and what we have achieved during last three to five years' time. If you see that there has been phenomenal growth in both top and bottom line during last five years. Almost revenue has increased from six to seven times from 2021 to 2025. Profit margin has increased. EBITDA, yes, we have a double-digit EBITDA today. Last year also, we had double-digit EBITDA. We generally did not have any problem of cash. With the growth, we could manage the finance also adequately, cash and bank guarantee, LC facilities. This was possible due to good planning and robust execution and supported by the corporate team for various supporting segments like plant and commercial and others. Now we have achieved around INR 9,100 crore, and even I see the future is the growth path will continue to in this rate, say around 20%-25% year-on-year basis because there are huge opportunity available in front of us today. I was just going through the jobs which are in pipeline. Some we have already tendered, some we are going to be tendered coming few months' time. It's close to INR 90,000 crore jobs we'll be able to handle through tenders now. They are largely for marine and underground metros and airports and underground railway tunnel, road tunnels, some bridge, and some buildings and industrial structures. With that, I don't have to say much because numbers are in front of you. The project wise, I'll touch little bit on the project, what we have done recently. I'm happy to say that Mumbai Metro Line 3 where we had a major contribution of 60% on the JV. We have contributed 60%, balanced by Tata. That Line 3 has been inaugurated very recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15th October. It's a remarkable achievement. We have three underground stations, that is Siddhivinayak, Dadar, and Shitladevi, and having around 11 kilometers of tunnel. Probably the first underground full-fledged metro completed in Mumbai by us. Yes. Similarly, you must be knowing that Vizhinjam Port, one of the most difficult areas to work in marine segment, has been completed, phase 1, and Mr. Narendra Modi has inaugurated that. The entire breakwater and jetty work has been done by our company. These are the two remarkable jobs we have recently completed, which is in the newspaper. Otherwise, also some important job like Bangladesh. We had some problems because of the political issues, but today I must say that it is going very well. We have done around 30% progress and work is going very smoothly. It is a difficult kind of job, normally not done in normal marine business. Those who understand, they will know that the pile, 300-tonne pile, 400-tonne hammers, is a big job, big game. But we are able to do successfully. Similarly, Dahej we are doing for Petronet LNG. It is going very smoothly. A few jobs which was going on before, like Chennai Metro, is done around 50%. Bangalore Metro almost completed. Seabird and the buildings, those are all under control. So things are okay, but at the same time, we have to enhance our capability in terms of labor resources, which is a challenge always. Otherwise, I think that the momentum what we have taken will be sustained, will grow in both top and bottom line. That is all from my side now. We will be happy to answer any questions going forward. Thank you. Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is on the line of Jainam Jain from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Good afternoon, management, and congratulations on great set of numbers. Sir, my first question is, how are we seeing things going in Bangladesh in terms of execution, and what sort of number do we expect from that in this year? Bangladesh, I think around 2 to 3 months we couldn't do anything because of political issues. But once they resumed the work in the month of November, thereafter it is going quite okay. We have no problem. Whatever the supply chain resumed. So we are supplying the pipe from India. Installation side also, our barges and cranes are working. Our people are all safe. So as a whole that Bangladesh, the crisis is not there. We'll be doing bulk of the work this year. Our say INR 1,500 crore out of that, we might have done around INR 400 crore so far. And remaining part, almost 80% will be completed this year. So it's going okay. We don't have any issues now. Payments are also coming. We receive the payments. Sir, what's the mobilization advances as of March 25? Outstanding mobilizations advances as of March are about INR 950 crore. Okay, sir. And sir, was it turnaround which we are seeing right now within all the segments? Sorry, can you repeat the question? What sort of order pipeline we are seeing in this year? Yeah, as I said that there is a visibility of around INR 90,000 crores of project in pipeline. Some of them are in tender state, some of them will come for tender. So that is the number whole year I think we have to deal with in terms of tenders coming. All right, sir. That answers my question. Thank you and all the best. Thank you. Thank you. The next question is on the line of Vaibhav Shah from JM Financial. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, you mentioned that we have done close to INR 400 crore of work in the Bangladesh project. So how have been the payments so far? Yeah, we have received payment as well because we have received the advance and payment around Last bill how much, Prasad, we have received? No, we have been getting. Whatever payment is due to us has already been received, so there is no problem on the payments part. The payments are coming. Okay. What was the mobilization advance in the project? We were eligible to get about 10% advance on the project, and we have got it. Okay. Is it interest-bearing? No. No, no. No, it is not interest-bearing. It is interest free. Sir, out of this number of INR 950 crores of advances of March 2025, what proportion would be interest-bearing, ballpark? About 75% is interest free. Okay. Sir, secondly, on the guidance front, what top line and margins are we targeting for FY 2026 and order inflows? Well, I think this year we have grown around 18%-20%. But coming year, we are expecting a little bit more because of other factors. We expect that top line will grow by 25%, and in the same manner, bottom line as well. And the margins? Yeah, I mean, EBITDA. We have seen a gradual improvement in our EBITDA margins, and we hope to continue with that trend in the next year as well. Can we expect closer to double digits for the entire year for FY 2026? We are already at double digits now. As I said, we hope to improve on the margins, but it will be difficult to quantify the numbers. Okay. And sir, lastly, on the order inflow side, what are we targeting for FY 2026? FY 2026, our target is based on the visibility, and we have applied our factor also. We should be able to get around INR 15,000 crore to INR 16,000 crore of new work in this year on account of. Okay. And sir, this bid pipeline of INR 90,000 crore, it includes Adani projects as well and non-Adani projects as well, right? Yeah. Both. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, sir. Those were my questions. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhinav from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Last year, the tendering was subdued. Given the guidance that you're giving this year, strong guidance, what is the thesis behind it? From which sectors are we seeing the opportunities? Last year, we missed a few big jobs because of certain issues, and that I don't want to discuss here. Otherwise, we would have achieved the target, what we have said last year. This year we have got new segments, or not new segments, existing segments in a bigger way coming from Adani Group, airports and the roads and data center. Otherwise, beyond Adani, whatever we do, like metros and hydel projects, PSP, and of course marine. So these are the segments we work and opportunities are there in all the segments. Understood. Sir, can you quantify the opportunity size for the Vadhavan port that we're expecting, and overall for marine EPC as well? Vadhavan, we are already there in the first package. The value will be around INR 1,800 crores or INR 1,700 crores. Immediately, there will be two tenders, one from Vizhinjam, one is breakwater. Put together will be around INR 15,000 crores. Okay. Sir, are we seeing any opportunities in Middle East, and are we keen on looking for those opportunities? Yeah, we are quite keen. We have our branch office open in Abu Dhabi. We are talking to one of the customers for a job, which we may get very soon. There are other opportunities as well. We are keen there. That was in very specific segments where we think that we will be able to do in the oil field market. Okay. Sir, you mentioned about airports as well. Can you quantify the size of the tenders that we can expect from airports in FY 2026? I think whether that will be converted to the order, I don't know, but as far as tender is concerned, it will be around INR 15,000-INR 20,000 crores, say INR 15,000 crores. Understood. Thanks a lot, sir. All the best. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Ankit Puri, an individual investor. Please go ahead. Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions and for the good set of results. If you see the last two years of the order book guidance, it has been reducing. The current order book also appears to be almost 25% lower than what was previously guided. My first question is, could you please clarify the reasons for this shortfall? Well, I think, it is very difficult to satisfy all the parameters. Sometimes we will find EBITDA is less than 10%. Sometimes we will find the cash flow is not adequate. So this time order book is less. This is how the business goes, and as I just mentioned to other guests that last year we have lost some orders, which was very definitive for us. Otherwise, it would have been more. This year, there is a visibility of job from our group company. So that is quite definite that is there. Otherwise, as well, there are jobs in marine and metros. So yeah, that is the basis. We have a definitive basis to say when I say INR 90,000 crore jobs are available for tenders. What is the approximate guidance, sir, are you giving for FY 2026 approximately? Say INR 15,000 crore. Could you say that again, please? 15,000. All right, sir. Lastly, has any new vision guidance been given with the new promoter coming in? Do you plan to continue focus more on domestic projects or keep an eye out for international projects too? There is no shift of any strategy or vision. We are continuing to do or continue to do whatever we are doing. The only addition is that there will be lot many jobs from the group companies, and probably we have to step out from the conventional business. Whatever we do, we have to step into few other segments, which our group promoter will be interested to be done by us. All right, sir. Thanks. All the best to your team. Thank you. The next question is on the line of Shreyans Mehta from Equirus. Please go ahead. Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Sir, congratulations on a great operating performance. The first question is on the orders which we are targeting from our parent. If you could quantify any large projects where we are in advanced stages, A. Second is, in terms of margins or how would the bidding happen, especially from the Adani projects. Would this be fixed margin projects? This would be open tendering or we would be given preference in certain projects? There is no special preference and neither we are also doing any favor. It will be very transparently done the way other tender has been done or the way it has been done so far. Because we are a listed entity, and we have our interest to protect. Having said that, yes, there are some intangible sort of advantage for both the party because we may know the tender in much in advance, then we can plan better. Right. So certain things, maybe they can involve us during tender bidding stage also to prepare some technical support if they require. So those are the kind of advantage they will have or we will have. Got it. Now you said that what are the big. There are few PSP jobs like pump storage, hydropower generation. So few jobs with Adani, which we believe that it will be matured very soon. Some airport job, we have received the LOI yesterday also for Jaipur Airport. So those are the big-ticket jobs in pipeline from Adani Group. Got it. And sir, any understanding on the margin from these projects? Well, it will be normal. As a civil construction, the margin, whatever in the marine, you know how much we do our airport and all. It will be in that range, nothing exceptionally high or low. It will be general margin what we get in market. Yeah. Got it. Sir, lastly, on the CapEx number for this year. CapEx would be around INR 250 crore-INR 260 crore. One more if I can squeeze in. In terms of, now the road as a sector is what we were avoiding, but now we are making a statement that we are also targeting roads. Would it be primarily the projects which the parent is looking for or individually also we are looking out for some projects? See, there are now road means they are special kind of roads, which has got Just give example of coastal road. Those kind of business will be coming more and more, which will involve tunnels, which will involve bridges, and most of them or part of them will be BOT. We will be interested for those kind of business, not the normal NHAI tender, participating with 25 bidders, no. Okay. Sir, just one clarification. You mentioned BOT, so would we be taking BOT projects on our books, is what you are trying to indicate? Right now, we don't have such idea. Going forward, it depends upon how things evolve with the new promoter, whatever is their preference. We need to see that. Got it. Sure. That is from my side. Thank you, and all the best. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one. The next question is on the line of Parikshit Kandpal from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah, sir. Hi. Congratulations on a decent quarter. My first question is on FY 2025 order inflows. How much was the group orders or the orders from the parent company? It was not much. If it is around INR 7,500 crores, group order will be one, two Parikshit, I don't have the exact number right now, but it will be around INR 1,000 crore, INR 1,200 crore, in that range. Okay. Sir, in this INR 15,000 crores worth of guidance of new order inflows, how much do you think will your rough sense on how much can come from the parent entity from this INR 15,000 crores? Around 30%. 30%-40%. 30%-40%. Okay. We are having existing segments where we are present. Do you think anything to broaden our scope further in terms of qualification or segments, given the parent is betting big on infra. Do you think some more segments can get added in this current bouquet of offerings which we have across segments? Do you think any new segments can get added like solar or transmission? Any color on that? Yeah, basically it will still remain construction. But the kind of construction will be little different, like for the data center. Data center, if you see that it contains majority of the electromechanical and HVDC part, which we do, but not very exclusively. So that will be something which we have to develop ourselves. We are trying our best. We have to enhance our capability in the airport because big airports are in the pipeline. We do airport, but that is a medium size, around INR 800 crores to INR 1,000 crores. But it will go to INR 3,000, INR 4,000 crores. Similarly, our presence in the road segment has to be geographically spread all over India, not located only in U.P. or Maharashtra. So these are the kind of changes or improvement we have taken in our strategy. Okay. Sure. Sir, any sense on this Navi Mumbai International Airport? Any airport, any phase 2, any initial discussions, what could be the size of order? Because Adani is having that airport, so what could be the opportunity for us to play in that? I think nothing is official, but whatever I understand from the friends and colleague that the phase 2 or phase 3, whatever you say, the next phase, the tender will happen this year. At least tender will happen. Okay. The size would be, I don't know, maybe it will be varying from INR 4,000 crores to INR 6,000 crores, in that range, altogether. Okay. And sir, now you have any clarity now because the parent has two entities listed and things, both do EPC. Any clarity? What will be the differentiation between what the other entity will do and what we will do? Because indirectly, we may end up competing with each other. How will the jobs be split, at least on the parent entity? No, I think there is no question of fighting with each other because there are certain segments where we are very strong and there are segments where we don't do much, like typical building. Typical buildings or urban development, elevated metros. Those are the things where if some other company, EPC company, as you mentioned, they'll be focusing on that as I know. The segments like marine and airport and the hydro projects and the road, 50-50, still will be done by us. Okay. Just last question, post the open offer now, what will be the shareholding of the promoter entity now? Post open offer, they have acquired about 20.8% in the open offer. So what will be the holding now, sir, overall, promoter holding? No, the transaction is still not completed. Once that is done, I think it will be in the range of 67%. Okay. About 67% after the confirmation of the transaction. Right. Okay. Thank you, sir. I wish you all the best. Thank you. Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question to the management may press Star and One on their touch-tone phone. The next question is from the line of Vaibhav Shah from JM Financial. Please go ahead. Guys, all of you come here. Sir, do we have any slow-moving orders in the order backlog right now? Slow-moving order. No, not really. I think there is nothing. No such orders here. Okay. Sir, in our order backlog in terms of segments, urban infra, marine, and industrial are the three key segments in terms of value share. What would be a typical book-to-bill for them? In how much time the orders will be executed? Should be around 2 years? Yeah. I mean, marine, typically 2 years. Urban infra, if it is with the metro, underground metro, 4 years. Elevated metro, nobody knows how much time, and we don't have also. If it is roads, as you see Ganga Expressway, we are completing 2 and a half years, this kind of timeline. So 2 to 3 years, some will be 4 years. Okay. Thank you, sir. Those are my questions. Thank you. Thank you. A reminder to all participants that you may press Star and 1 to ask a question. As there are no further questions from the participants, I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Thank you so much for participating in this Q4 FY 2025 earnings con call. We look forward to interacting with you again next quarter. Thank you once again. Thank you. On behalf of Cemindia Projects Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.