Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q3 FY25 earnings conference call of Nava Limited, hosted by ICICI Securities. 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 touch-tone 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, Larry. On behalf of ICICI Securities, we welcome you all to the Q3 FY25 earnings call of Nava Limited. Today, we have with us Mr. Ashwin Devineni, CEO, Mr. G. R. K. Prasad, Executive Director, Mr. Nikhil Devineni, Executive Director, Mr. Sultan A. Baig, CFO, and Mr. V. S. Raju, Company Secretary. Without much delay, I'll now hand over the call to the management for opening remarks, which will be followed by Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining Nava Limited's earnings call for the third quarter and nine months ended December 31st, 2024. We appreciate your continued interest and support. Despite market challenges, Nava has demonstrated strong financial and operational resilience, reporting steady profitability and operational efficiency. Our consolidated profits grew sequentially, and we maintained strong margins across our business division. Our expansion efforts in metals, energy, and agriculture continue as planned, positioning Nava Limited for sustained long-term growth. In the energy sector, we have successfully maintained high plant availability at our Maamba Energy operations, while our phase two expansion is progressing steadily. Our metals division remains resilient despite sectoral pressures, with strategic shifts helping us mitigate challenges. Additionally, our commercial agriculture initiatives continue to gain traction, reinforcing our commitment to diversification and long-term value creation.
We remain committed to optimizing costs, improving efficiencies, and driving strategic investments to create value for all stakeholders. With that, let's dive into specifics of our financial performance as I open the floor for any questions you may have. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. We will now begin with the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their 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. Participants, please restrict yourself to two questions. If you have any more questions, I would request you to rejoin the queue. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of A. M. Lodha from Sanmati Consultants. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir. Are you audible, sir?
Yes, please.
Yes. Yes, Mr. Lodha
Sir, I have two questions. First, relating to payments from Maamba Energy to Nava Bharat, Singapore. As indicated in the press release, that some INR 1.39 million has been repaid by Maamba Energy. So can we assume that the entire old due interest as well as the principal has been repaid?
You can go ahead with your second question, Mr. Lodha. We'll answer both together.
My second question is relating to, again, sir, arbitration award. In last phone call, we have indicated that we are receiving $5 million a month besides the regular payment of the electricity bill. Sir, just I wanted to know, in last phone call, just I was going through the last phone call, it was that the amount will be receivable, which will be received in a few months. Now, almost three, four months have elapsed since last phone call. No material amount has been received. So still, we have $160.56 million outstanding from the arbitration award. Please put some light on it when we can expect this payment to be received by the company.
Mr. Lodha, regarding the outstanding interest and loan, the outstanding interest, I think, 31st March 2024 has been fully repaid as was disclosed in the September earnings call. As regards to loan, it was repaid to the extent of $24 million on 31st December.
I could not follow.
Okay, sir, could you request the management, if you all could come a little closer to the microphone?
Voice is not clear.
Thank you.
As regards the overdue interest as of 31st March 2024, it has been fully repaid. Okay. As regards the principal amount, it's in the process of repayment. As of 31st December 2024, the outstanding amount is $38 million.
It was $64 million, if I recall, in the last phone call.
Correct.
Which has reduced to $38 million. Okay?
Correct.
Okay. Now, second question, sir. Arbitration available.
Yeah. So, Mr. Lodha, basically, in terms of the arbitration award, ZESCO has been paying us. In fact, last quarter, they paid us more than $5 million per month. They paid us a total of $43 million in the last quarter towards the arrears. So I think the total outstanding is about $160 million from ZESCO, which they have indicated that they plan on clearing before the end of the year.
Okay. Look, I will join the queue. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Govind Gelada, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello. Good evening to Nava team, sir. I got only one question. This dollar has appreciated almost 4% from our last quarter, 83 average. So how it will impact our profitability, sir? I hope this electricity payments we receive in dollars, I am right, sir?
Yeah. The PPA that we have in Zambia is dollar-denominated. In fact, even the coal sales that we report in Zambia, we charge in dollars.
So this 4% appreciation in the dollar, shall I presume that the benefit will flow to our bottom line in this quarter?
Mr. Govind, the balance sheet and revenue and everything is dollar denominated, so it will not really impact the revenue going up or down in terms of the subsidiary companies. But when it comes to the reporting structure, of course, the dollar gets converted into INR and gets reported.
No, I don't follow, sir. See, payments we receive in dollars, then what is outgoing in dollars? You mean to tell that what the appreciation will get in dollars? Somewhere it will be offset by other items? You mean to tell me?
The dollar appreciation against the rupee has no impact on the subsidiary financials because subsidiary financials are dollar-denominated numbers, sir.
As a woman, I want to understand, this 4% appreciation from rupee capital, will it impact our profitability or not?
It will impact our profitability in terms of reporting in India, sir. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Gargi Singh, Value Investment. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Hi. Am I audible?
Yes.
Yes, sir. So my first question is with regards to the agriculture business. So sir, in last quarter phone call, you had said that there will be plantations of total 1.92 lakh trees in the 1,100 hectares of land by November 2024. But in today's update, we have seen that only 130,000 trees have been planted as of now. So some highlights on why there is a delay?
Ma'am, there is no delay on that. So division A, we have about 95,000 trees already planted. Division B, another 100,000 trees, plantation is ongoing. We said the plantation will commence from December. It will go on till March. So as of today, we have reached, of course, 35,000-40,000 trees, and balance 60,000 trees will be planted by March. There is no delay. The plantation follows the rainy season. So currently, plantation is going on.
Okay. Sir, second question is with regards to the same. So on a per ton basis, if you take realizations of INR 180,000 per metric ton, so is it a fair understanding that the revenue potential from the entire 1.92 lakh trees is INR 400 crores after the plant matures? And of course, the PAT from the revenue of INR 400 crores is INR 150 crores?
Ma'am, you remember that you're premature to calculate. Basically, it's not possible at this juncture to calculate revenue per tree, and tree revenue comes when the plant matures, so it's too early to put these numbers in crores, and it also depends upon the avocado market globally.
Yes, but you have announced an investment of $45 million. So while making an investment, I'm sure you must have done some rough estimates with regards to what kind of return you're expecting from this investment. So I understand that the pricing scenario and everything will vary because the maturity will take two to three years. But some sense from your investment of $45 million, what is your calculation as to what kind of returns you're expecting from this?
To clarify, the $45 million investment is based upon the business plans that have been developed, and the peak revenue will commence sooner than the total revenue will commence, but all the four divisions will wait until peak maturity period, which is about four, three years down the line, so at this point of time, to put a fixed number is not proper.
Okay. So the four divisions. So then we'll have how much trees, sir?
About 400,000 trees, ma'am.
Okay. Yes, sir. So second question is with regards to your announcement today regarding the solar power setup in Zambia. So this is.
I think you exhausted your two questions for now. Maybe you can join the queue at the end and we'll answer the other questions.
Okay, sir. Thanks. All the best.
The next question comes from the line of Sri Gopal Kankani from S G Kankani & Associates. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir, to all of you. I just wanted to know this 100-megawatt solar power plant, which you have proposed to install. What is the expected date of commissioning of this plant? And what will be the tariff, whether PPA has been executed with Zambia ZESCO?
As we mentioned in our release, it's in a very premature stage. I think Nava Limited has formed a subsidiary called Maamba Solar Energy Limited, which plans on executing this 100-megawatt solar plant. Currently, all the studies are being done in terms of what technology to use, the techno-feasibility study, the grid stability study, and also discussions and negotiations with ZESCO on the commercial. Once something materializes in the next few months, we will report it to the wider community.
Okay. My second question regarding existing 300-megawatt power plant expansion phase two. So I think the expected date of commissioning of this expansion is August 26 or December 26?
It's August 26.
August 26. Sir, what is the present tariff for existing power plant?
Sorry to interrupt. Sri Gopal, I would request you to rejoin the queue as you're done with your two questions.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of A. M. Lodha from Sanmati Consultants. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for follow-up, Mr. Ash . Sir, my first question relating to the 300-megawatt new project which is being put up in Zambia. Is the financial closure over, and the promoters have contributed $100 million to the new project?
Second question.
Second question is also relating to monetization of the Nacharam land.
Okay. Let me answer the first question. Maamba phase two is expected to cost $400 million. $300 million is the debt portion, and $100 million is the equity portion. Currently, the debt has been disbursed, and the EPC implementation is going on. The equity infusion will happen in phases in the current calendar year.
Okay. What about the Nacharam land monetization plan?
Yeah. With regards to Nacharam, I think our answer is the same as what it was before. We have been seeing an upward trend in terms of real estate appreciation in Hyderabad and its surrounding areas. So I think we are planning on not, I mean, actively selling it at this point of time unless we get a very good offer, but sitting on it and enjoying the real estate appreciation. But when opportunities do arise in terms of developing that land, we will definitely investigate and move on.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Viraj Mahadevia from MoneyGrow India. Please go ahead.
Hi. Congratulations for the stable results. I had a question regarding the revenue dip in this quarter. Was it largely driven by the operational maintenance at the India level power plant?
Yes, that's correct. Power plant also and something else. Small impact as well.
Okay. And is that operational as of Q4 now? Is the maintenance complete?
Yes, it's complete and operational.
Okay. My second question, Ashwin, is to you regarding the shareholder-friendly actions that you've mentioned in the past, as now the company has become debt-free and the payments from the Maamba subsidiary have begun. Do you expect to see some of this happening in this year, either through dividends, special dividends, etc.?
Yes, sir. I mean, definitely, I think we're always happy that, number one, that now Singapore is getting repaid its entire shareholder loan and plus more in the next few months, hopefully. Definitely, I think as a company, we are evaluating certain actions that we may take and intimate to the wider group soon.
Okay. Thank you. All the best. I'll come back with any more.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Vignesh Iyer from Sequent Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you for the opportunity. Regarding this expansion of 300-megawatt project, the debt has been sanctioned. So could you share what is the cost of debt for the $300 million that has been sanctioned?
It's 9%.
Sorry?
9% in dollar terms.
9% in dollar terms?
Yes.
Okay. And also wanted to know as to regarding the equity inclusion that you're planning to do. I mean, would that equity inclusion happen in this current year, I mean, in this fiscal year 2025, or would it be delayed to fiscal year 2026?
It would be spread over FY 26.
So this rate regarding the new 300-megawatt plant, what would be the rate per unit that we have agreed, and will that be our old 300-megawatt plant?
The rate that we agreed is $0.095. Currently, the current tariff goes at about $0.105.
Okay. Got it. Got it. Yeah. Thank you. That's all from me. All the best.
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press star one to ask a question. The next question comes from the line of Gargi Singh from Value Investment. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Just a bit of clarity on my previous question. So for the entire four lakh trees, what is the total investment that will be required, sir? Is $45 million the amount for entire four lakh trees?
The $45 million investment is for the plantation as well as developing the pack house and the related infrastructure.
Sorry, sir. I couldn't understand. Is it for the entire four lakh trees?
It's for the entire project, the Avocado project, which includes the plantation of the trees, the development of a pack house, the sorting and packing of fruit, and also the supporting infrastructure. So it's the entire project cost.
Okay. Understood, sir. Your second question is to Mr. Nikhil on the ferroalloys business. Sir, I wanted to understand how is the profitability of the ferroalloys business in India now. In this quarter, we have reported around INR seven crores of EBITDA loss in third quarter. But now, I believe the spreads are improving. With the current trend, how do you see the profitability in the coming quarter, and what are the steps that we are taking to reduce the volatility in terms of right customer mix or the right product mix?
No, as you rightly pointed out, things are looking on the up and up. Quarter three was particularly subdued for silicon manganese, wherein the fixed cost recovery was becoming a huge challenge. Whereas in quarter four, we are finding that the export market in particular is faring much better than the domestic market, wherein prices have increased by about 10%-15% if you look at QoQ. This definitely has given us some visibility because most of our stocks are booked until the end of the financial year. The other point is we also diversified into ferro-silicon, which is a different product line. That has helped greatly to insulate us from the volatility in the silicon manganese market. We find that there is good potential for exports to the U.S., particularly for ferro-silicon, which is being continuing for quite some time.
In terms of your second question, how are we insulating ourselves? Well, fortunately, Nava has good working capital limits. As a result of that, we were able to purchase raw materials, manganese ore and other raw materials for ferro-silicon, when prices had hit rock bottom. So we are essentially now covered until about September to November in terms of the raw material at a fixed price. So this gives us a lot of visibility in terms of our costing, and any further appreciation in the market should only improve the margins.
Sir, you spoke about the ferro-silicon, but with regards to the silicon manganese, so I understand that the manganese ore prices are in a downward trend. And if you have booked the raw material for this year at historical prices, so would that be favorable for us, considering that now the manganese ore prices are falling and the silicon manganese prices are increasing?
I was talking about manganese ore only. The manganese ore prices hit a low in the quarter sometime in November, December. So we picked up large quantities at that point, which covers us until February. But now, if you look at from January onwards, in fact, the prices have been increasing. They've increased about 10% since the price in December. So they haven't been on a downward trend. They've been on an increasing trend.
Okay. So second question is on the.
Just yet, sorry. I think you're done with your two questions.
Okay. Thanks, Gopal.
Thank you.
Yeah.
The next question comes from the line of Nidhi Sha h from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you so much for taking up my question. So on the Zambia expansion that we are undertaking at the moment, I have a couple of questions on the commissioning and the timeline. So when do we expect this plant to start, and do we have any PPAs tied up, any bilateral agreements, anything like that, and have we come up with a tariff discovery?
Sorry. Yeah. I mean, we've answered this question multiple times on this call. In terms of the commissioning of phase two, both units asked for the schedule to be commissioned by August 2026. And yes, we have a PPA that's already been signed with ZESCO at a rate of a tariff of $0.095 for the expansion.
Okay. And I also heard of a PPA, that the orders for the equipment have been placed. Have they been placed with the same Chinese player that we had done last time, or are we going to some other player for equipment this time?
No. So we have a 300 MW EPC contract that we have signed with the different parties than what it was last time. And all major equipment, some of them are similar, but some are not in terms of the manufacturer, but orders have been placed.
Lastly, on the ferro-silicon manganese, so we've seen that the sales are nearly 75% of the production. Are we expecting to keep our production at the same level in Q4 as well? And as you mentioned on the call that we're seeing strong export numbers for Q4, but would you like to comment on, say, FY 26, and how is that looking there?
I think in terms of the production volumes, we should actually see an update because we've had one of our annual shutdowns in Odisha in the month of December, where essentially for 15 days, we were out of production. Those numbers are slated to go up from Q4 onwards. In terms of the outlook, like I said, we are more or less booked until 31st March with very limited quantity left over. I think based on the most recent bookings, we are looking at a full recovery of cost as well as a margin.
Okay. And for FY 26, do you have any outlook for like, would you be able to provide some colors on what we can expect in FY 26?
So if you followed the ferro alloy market, it's been so extremely volatile that any assumption made today may not be holding true. But I think based on the fact that your raw material prices are going up, we hope that prices should either stabilize or not improve going forward.
All right. Okay. Thank you so much for answering my question.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of A. M. Lodha from Sanmati Consultants. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you again for the follow-up questions. I have two questions. One related to silicon manganese. I understand that the prices in the last 10, 15 days have gone by 6,000, 7,000 tons per ton, and the freight rates have also been normalized because we were hovering very high. Now, every freight rate has normalized. So can we expect that turnaround in ferro alloys in coming quarters?
Yeah, exactly, Mr. Lodha. Prices are looking better than they were in Q3. Given that we have more or less a fixed cost structure for the next six months, any appreciation in finished product prices should help us in terms of profitability.
Sir, my second question is related to domestic power rates. Domestic power rates are normalized. How they are presently, and what is the expectation for the management in the coming summer? Can the domestic power rates go up? So our domestic power business can earn something for the company?
The power sector, particularly in the domestic operations, are also having long-term visibility in the sense that for most of the capacity that we have, we have tied up until about September, October, right? We only have a minimal quantity that has been left over, and the primary idea behind doing that is to see if there is a spurt in exchange prices. We would be in a position to take advantage of that. But having said that, the tariffs what we are witnessing this year around, even during the summer months, are lower compared to last year. That's mainly on account of the election that took place last year.
Thank you. Thank you. Wish you all the best. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Arian from CIM. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. I just wanted to know, could you segregate the segment revenue, the energy segment revenue? So can I have the domestic numbers and the numbers from Zambia?
So we have published standalone and consolidated separately, Mr. Arian. Standalone energy revenues do not go close. And consolidated energy revenue is INR 3,513 crores.
Okay. Okay.
Do you have another question, Arian?
No, no.
Okay.
Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Govind Gelada, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Thanks for giving again a thought, sir. So sorry, I couldn't hear properly your reply to Mr. Lodha regarding this arbitration award. So at the cost of verification, I'm asking, sir, how much we have received amount in this quarter? Now, as of today, how much is due now?
What we received this quarter is $43 million.
And what is in this quarter? Yeah. And how much is there, sir, as of today?
What is pending or what is due is $160 million.
160?
Yes, sir.
This 43 million, it means that regularly we are receiving 5 million. So 15, another 28 million we have received extra in regular award they were giving. My understanding is correct, sir?
No, as I mentioned during the last call, the payment plan is dynamic. We are in constant discussions with ZESCO. So it's not $5 million a month anymore. When they get lump sum payments, we take that. So that's exactly why we received $43 million during the last quarter, and we hope we will receive large payments in the months moving forward.
Great. Happy to know that. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Gargi Singh from Value Investment. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Thank you again. Sir, a bit of color if you can provide on the lithium and the magnetite mines where you were doing discovery, sir, when do you expect contribution from this business?
Yeah. So both lithium and magnetite, they're in their, I mean, at least in the early stages of exploration. Surveys are being carried out, followed by drilling. So this process does take time. So we will not probably have an answer for the next few months. It will take about a year for us to have a concrete plan in terms of how we're going to move forward.
So while this process of discovery is ongoing, so what is the cost that is incurred in this phase on an annual basis, and how much of that are we seeing in the books?
Yeah, so I think the cost that we have budgeted for the exploration activities is about $2 million.
Okay. Thank you. All the best to you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Viraj Mahadevia from MoneyGrow India. Please go ahead.
Hi. This is regarding your thermal power plant business. Given that coal prices have come off meaningfully in the last six, eight months, are you expecting the spreads to widen in profitability to improve going forward, both at Maamba and at the India plants?
Yeah. So in terms of the Maamba, it doesn't really make a big difference because at the end of the day, we have active mines. In terms of India, yeah, we do definitely want to take advantage of the coal prices. I don't think they've come down per se, but they've not gone up at the rate that they were going up in the past few years. But we are taking advantage of the coal prices for our India plants. You probably know fuel cost is the biggest cost factor, so that definitely would help and benefit the plants.
Okay. My second question, Ashwin, just to get this a bit straight because you have a lot of growth initiatives underway. In terms of the rough timelines, the Maamba stage two thermal power plant is August 26. The Avocado is, let's call it, end of FY 26. Solar is early, but it's probably two to three years out. Lithium and magnetite are early, but probably two to three years out. Is there any other initiative that's underway in terms of growth and expansion that I missed out on, and are the timelines correct?
Sugar is another one which we are actively pursuing in Zambia, which is adjacent to the Avocado plantation.
What is the timeline of that?
So both agri, it's not like commissioning date, but even the avocado, we should start having our first commercial fruit actually end of this year. And sugar is pretty quick. So I think the cultivation will start probably this year itself if things go as planned. And the other project I think you have missed is both the manganese exploration that's currently being carried out in Ivory Coast and also the possible processing plant that we plan on setting up at Ivory Coast.
Okay. My understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, I thought the manganese did not yield great results in Ivory Coast, or am I getting that wrong?
You are partly right. We've been allocated two mines, actually, one of which the results were not very encouraging. But the second mine, which was recently allocated, is an area of about 360 sq km, and the exploration works there are ongoing. So we should know more probably in a year's time.
Okay. Thank you very much, all the best.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
As we conclude, I would like to reiterate that Nava Limited remains focused on maintaining operational excellence and delivering value to our shareholders. We're optimistic about our future growth prospects and will continue to strengthen our position in our key business sectors. Thank you for all your time today, and we look forward to your continued support. Thanks.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of ICICI Securities Limited, that concludes this conference. You may now disconnect your lines.