Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Captify Consulting Investor Relations Team, I welcome you all to the Q2 and H1 FY2026 Post-Earnings Conference Call of Control Print Limited. Today, on the call from the management team, we have with us Mr. Shiva Kabra, Joint Managing Director, and Mr. Jaideep Barve, Chief Financial Officer. As a disclaimer, I would like to inform all of you that this call may contain forward-looking statements which may involve risk and uncertainties. Also, a reminder that this call is being recorded. I would now request the management to brief us about the business and performance highlights for the period ended September 2025, the growth plan and vision for the coming year, post which we will open the floor for Q&A. Over to the management team.
Yeah, hi. Good afternoon, everybody. I am Jaideep Barve, the Chief Financial Officer of Control Print Limited. Welcome you all to the earnings conference call for the second quarter or the first half of the financial year 2025-2026. We appreciate that you have taken out your time from your busy schedule to attend to this. Thanks for being in this call. Mr. Shiva Kabra, the Joint Managing Director of Control Print Limited, also joins me on this call. For the first time, join us on the earnings call. More information about our company can be obtained by visiting our website. For your information, the detailed presentation has already been put up on the website, as well as in the investor presentation notification on the exchanges for this call. Let me provide you some highlights of the performance of CPL for the H1 of FY2025-2026.
On a standalone basis, the total revenue for H1 is approximately INR 210 crores. This represents a good growth from approximately INR 185 crores this year. Just for information, the total revenue for financial year 2024-2025, 2023-2024, and 2022-2023 is INR 395 crores, INR 347 crores, and INR 295 crores, respectively. Regarding the operating revenue, the H1 shows a revenue, operating revenue of INR 202 crores in FY 2025-2026. The corresponding revenue for the previous period was INR 181 crores. Coding and marking continue to be the dominant share in the revenue. Almost 89% of the revenue comes from coding and marking. This particular segment has seen a steady growth. Pipes, food, healthcare, dairy, steel, and metal, cable and wire are our top performing business verticals. We continue to be one of the market leaders in cement, plywood, sugar, and dairy. The T&T business outlook remains good for the division in FY 2025-2026.
In the first half, H1 year, we have already implemented two new solutions. We've started sales of packaging machines in the first quarter. Pipelines are being generated for new machines, laminates, and the co-packing activities. In the second quarter, we've undertaken several co-packing activities. For the mask lab, along with the masks, we are also engaging in the trading of hard hats, helmets, gloves, blankets, etc. The outlook remains good and positive for the remaining part of the year. Exceptional income in Q1 was approximately INR 4 crore. This is related to the capital subsidy for the 30% investment in parallel machinery. On the costs, the cost of goods sold is around 42% and 43% for Q2 and Q1, respectively. On an annual basis, for the last year, it was around 42%.
That said, we remain committed to optimize the procurement costs and also look closely into the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of operations. This, we feel, should definitely lead to a reduction in the operating costs. Manufacturing costs remain approximately at 3% of the operating revenue. This is similar to the earlier periods. Employee costs are 16% and 18% of the operating revenue in Q2 and Q1. Depreciation remains consistent at 4% of the operating revenue. EBITDA, the PAT, and the PBT, exceptional items, have grown at 14.1%, 18.5%, and 11.7% on a YOY basis. Regarding the consolidated revenue, in H1, the operating revenue is INR 223 crores. The corresponding figures for the last year were INR 200 crores. The way forward is we want to consolidate the existing coding and marking business. We would like to increase the install base and provide robust solutions.
There is also a price increase which has been announced by management recently. We would like to capitalize opportunities in the track and trace segment. We expect an increase in the revenue in the packaging business, both in India and overseas, through machine sales, co-packing, and laminate sales. Our overseas subsidiaries will continue to be monitored with focused good targets. Business plans have already been made and signed off for execution. The floor is now open for questions. We'll be happy to address them.
Thank you, sir. We'll start the question and answer sessions. Anybody who wishes to ask a question, please use the option of raise hand. Alternatively, you can also post your questions in the chat box. We'll take the question from Neelu Singh. Please go ahead.
We'll take the first question from Vineet Thakur. Vineet, you can go ahead, please.
Hello. I just wanted to know what would be the revenue breakup that you estimate going forward for this year and for the future years?
Sure. I'd like to address this question. Hey, Shiva, hi.
No, no. I think whether you answered, I'm not sure what revenue breakup exactly is the question, but I think you can answer it.
Okay. I will give you INR 224 crores in the operating revenue for the H1.
Jaideep, I think your voice is not clear.
It's a little bit disturbance there, sir.
Is it okay now?
No, the voice is breaking.
Jaideep, your volume is very low. If you can increase the volume on your mic, that would be the best.
It's fine. Yeah, let me be closer. Hi, Vineet. To answer your question, we've already done INR 210 crore of operating revenue in the H1 on a standalone basis. The revenue outlook remains good. The previous year, the revenue was about INR 395 crore, and we definitely expect to cross that and show a good performance by 2025-2026 year.
Actually, sir, I wanted to know more about the breakup. For example, how much % of revenue do you expect consumables, printers, and spares?
Okay. So I can tell you the numbers for the Q1 and Q2. So between printers, consumables, spares, and services, which are the four verticals under the coding and marking business, for the Q2, we did a business of 14%, 60%, 9%, 16%, respectively.
Okay.
Yeah, Vineet, was I audible?
Yes.
Was I audible?
You did cut out a bit, but could you just repeat again?
Yeah. So between printers, consumables, spares, and services, the proportion is for the Q2, it is 14%, 60%, 9%, and 16%. The comparable for Q1 of current year was 11%, 62%, 12%, and 14%.
Do you expect any changes in that, or are you expecting this year now?
It all depends upon the mix of the sales, honestly. Because what happens is that the sale of consumables is depending on the momentum in the production in the market. Too early to predict about the Q3 and Q4. Given this continuing stand, I mean, you could calculate what kind of revenue we will be generating by 2025-2026.
Okay, sir. Are we looking to sort of explore any other business opportunities other than coding, marking, and V-shapes?
No, we are not doing that. Our focus right now is growing the coding and marking. We are also in the track and trace business side, and we are also in the digital printing business, more like an advancement of the current coding and marking business. Not like in digital printing presses, but more for inline type of a solution. We are in the coding and marking space. The coding and marking space slash digital printing at a certain level, which is more in the inline packaging solutions. We are in the track and trace business. We are, of course, in the packaging business through V-shapes. Those are the only four verticals that we are going to be focusing on. There has been some expansion geographically in one or two sectors, and maybe we will be looking especially at the V-shapes business more on that aspect.
Okay, sir. Perfect. When do you expect a turnaround in your Europe operations? When do you expect the margin expansion to sort of start?
Okay. So I had, in our last phone call, I said we'd lost about EUR 2.5 million last year, INR 250 million or something. This year, we had predicted somewhere between EUR 1 million-EUR 1.2 million. Now, in the second quarter, we lost about EUR 670,000, something like that. I can't remember approximately. Like I said, all other businesses besides the V-shapes business are profitable. That is, coding and markers are already profitable. Only V-shapes is making a loss. It's partly because we have come out with a more modern model, but some slight issues in the performance being just some fine-tuning needs to be done. We couldn't deliver some of the machines that we were supposed to in Q2. Hopefully, it'll happen in Q3. If not, then we'll catch up with the backlog in Q4.
We're still sticking to that EUR 1 million-EUR 1.2 million loss in the Italian operations overall. Like I said, Mark Print and coding are already profitable, so that's not a big operational issue for us. Although we're expanding both. Yeah, I think this is one change that's also partly because we've also been developing a lot of new products and been increasing certain other types of expenses, not in terms of manpower so much, but in terms of R&D and certain other costs in Italy, some stuff that was ignored the last few years. I think hopefully next year, next financial year, that is, we should be at least break even, if not profitable. We should hopefully at least be break even.
Like I said, two and a half to more between 1.1 to 1.2 this year, and hopefully break even next year, if not more.
The decrease in EBITDA and gross margin in H1 over H1 consolidated and standalone, is it because of the Italian operations, or is there any other reason for that?
Can you repeat that again, please?
The decrease in EBITDA and gross margins over last year in H1, is the decrease because of the Italian operations?
I'm not sure if it's a decrease compared to last year because is it compared to last year? I think there is no decrease compared to last year.
Yeah, there's no decrease compared to last year. It's similar. Last year was 60.2% console. This time it's 59.9%.
Okay. Right.
I think what happened is, yeah, depending on the situation, fundamentally, I do not think there is any gap between the two in the consolidated. What has happened is, of course, if you look at the loss in the last year versus this year, it is somewhat similar. In fact, I think it is slightly higher. There are some other fluctuations in forex and certain other things. I cannot, like Jaideep will have all the numbers on his fingers. Fundamentally, our standalone business is increasing. Our profitability is increasing. We should comfortably cross INR 100 crore standalone P&L, in my opinion. I am talking about profit before exceptional items and tax, the profit before tax, rather. We should cross INR 100 quite comfortably, in our opinion, this year in standalone business in India. Of course, depending on how the consolidation works out, there will be some plus minus.
There are also some issues in terms of foreign exchange type things up and down, which Jaideep can explain. Fundamentally, our standalone coding and marking on the Indian business is doing fine. Even the track and trace business has picked up. I think I'm not sure exactly where the consolidated versus this margin is. Jaideep, maybe you can just take a look at this about the consolidated results versus the standalone results and the margins and that sort of thing. What I'm seeing is that we did INR 39.56 crore in the consolidated in the first half. If everyone can see 0.5.
Yeah, you're right, Shiva.
Oh, and we did INR 33.04. But okay, if I go one step up, what is this INR 4.06 exceptional items? So INR 35.49 versus INR 33.04. It would be one of those two. Either way, we're up, but I think part of it is certain expenses that have occurred, which, like I said, I think our standalone business is doing well. If you can maybe get this back, Jaideep, I think this is the way the question is from everyone.
The gap between the consolidated and the standalone numbers is basically some losses what we've incurred in the Italian operations. Barring that, both the coding logic, even that is doing well. Mark Print has also turned out to be profitable. And the smaller Indian companies, even they are into profits now. The gap is purely as a result of the Italian losses.
Okay.
Taxation to be lesser?
Hello, Vineet?
Hello, yes?
Yes. You are asking something?
Yeah, I asked, since there's no MAT anymore, do you expect the taxation to be lesser?
Yeah, Vineet, I could not get your question.
Hi, am I audible?
Yeah, you're audible now, yeah.
Since there's no MAT anymore, do you expect the taxation to be lesser?
No, it would be at a rate what is about 17.5% what we've been carrying on. So the MAT benefit we had till 26 May 2025, and now we'll go back to the normal regime.
Okay. That would be also minus. Thank you very much.
Yeah.
Thank you, Vineet. Anybody who wishes to ask a question, please use the option of raise hand. We'll take the next question from Priti Kadam. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hello. I'm audible.
Yes, Priti.
Yeah. So sir, we have seen your revenue crossing INR 100 crore in India this time, which is a new threshold. Can you explain the percentage breakup between printers and spares since your margin excluding forex has improved?
Priti, to answer your question, see, we've got four different types of revenues under the coding and marking. One is printers, consumables, spares, and services. For the Q2, it is 14%, 60%, 9%, and 16%, 16%, yeah.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Yeah, Priti. You could get what I meant?
Yes, sir.
It is, yeah, 14, 60, 9, and 16 for printers, consumables, spares, and services.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll take the next question from Tushar Talwar. Please go ahead.
Hi, am I audible?
Yeah, Tushar, you are.
Thank you. My question was mainly around the Italian operations, V-shapes. The question is that in terms of how we see this business planning out in the future, are we following a similar model as we have in India where we are going to sell the machine and then also have consumable sales on top of that?
Yeah, absolutely. If you, I don't know how much you guys have read about the machine, but it's a patented technology of ours. The machine, okay, previously, they were selling machines, and you were required to buy materials from them, but it was not enforced. We have locked the machine with certain sort of electronic countermeasures so that the roll, when you buy the packaging material, it is connected to our machine. You cannot use anyone else's packaging material in our machine. The lock is enforced. Anyways, we have the patent, but just in case, we also have the electronic lock. Once you buy a machine, you have to use our packaging materials. Does that answer your question?
Yeah, it does. Yeah. We'll be following a similar blueprint as we have done in India over the past few years, right?
I mean, there are two different models, of course. One is a coding and marking business, and this is more like a Tetra Pak type of business, which is, of course. Yeah, I mean, you can say both of them have an aftermarket business, which is significant. Yeah, I mean, of course, one is a packing industry business and one.
Yeah. That's primarily what I wanted to understand. Second and last question, you mentioned that there were some deliveries and all that were a little delayed. Are we following a strategy? Are we making a margin on these initial machines that we are selling, or are we just trying to drive adoption at this point in time?
No, no, no. We make a margin on the machines similar to other packaging-only machinery companies also.
All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. That's all from my side.
Thank you, Tushar. Sir, we'll take a question from the chat. It's from Aniket Sapre. He's saying, "Congratulations on great set of numbers. Wanted to understand from the management on impact on sale and revenue of revised packaging that may be required to reflect post-GST reduction price tags on FMCG goods. If this will increase revenue, since when is the impact likely to reflect?
I don't think anyone has recoded the pricing or anything from at least my knowledge. It would be too cumbersome to take material that you've already manufactured and reprint the price, the MRP on it. I'm not sure how exactly it was managed. If you've taken your, what I would say, your biscuits, you pack it in a bag, you pack that in a carton, you've taped it, you put it in your warehouse, it's going to cost you more to get that material back to reduce the price by, whatever, INR 1 or something than to trade the GST. I think I don't know how the government has handled it, but I don't think it's of any, at least to my knowledge, I cannot see any impact or customer request for this specific thing.
I don't know how it's been handled by the customers, but I don't see it being an impactful issue. What I do see is that the reduction in GST has somewhat definitely given a boost to the packaging segment. I feel there's a bit of bullishness in that space, in the FMCG or the pharma space, whichever guys who've gone from 12% or 5% or however they were positively affected in terms of GST rates.
Thank you, sir. We'll take the next question from Desha Sheth. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Sir, when you talk about V-shapes turning around, so clearly when you're saying a INR 12 crore loss for the full year, so for second half, we expect the V-shapes to be in profit because in H1 only it has done a INR 12 crore loss.
I mean, CP Italy has done a loss of less than INR 12 crores, about INR 9.5-10 crores. And what I said is we should, so about $950,000 approximately. Jaideep, is that correct? I think it's about $950,000 approximately. According to us, it'll do between $1 million-$1.2 million. That's what we predicted. Like I said, we expected this quarter to be a lower loss, but it's also because we're not able to execute some machine orders because we need to have some technical issues which are about to be resolved, if not already resolved. We should be doing the FATs, the factory acceptance tests, pretty soon, if not already begun.
Okay. Sir, in terms of order book for V-shapes, how are we getting the orders and how is that placed?
How are we getting the orders?
As in which sector is giving order and how is the order book? How much orders have we received and how much is there for the near future?
I can't tell you about the order book specifically. Where we are seeing more traction is in the nutraceutical segment, in honey specifically, stuff like honey, shilajit, some pharmaceuticals like Viagra, Kamagra type things. It's a bit broad-based. A lot of people are co-packaging. We were not doing co-packaging much; now we've started that in the last few months. I think there's a lot of orders coming in that space now. There are smaller orders because a lot of customers are not comfortable buying a machine. Even the small machine is INR 1.8 crore, and the big machine is close to INR 5 crore. A lot of people are not comfortable plonking down INR 2 crore without testing the market first. By opening the option for co-packaging small volumes for them, we're opening the market. In our Nalagad factory, we started a food packaging.
It's like a unit two, so to say, Nalagarh unit two, which is basically for food co-packaging. If some people come to us for small orders for packaging food and, I don't know, honey and mayonnaise or whatever it is, then we can execute that order from there and also one tie-up for the cosmetic space. We're doing some of those packagings here. A lot of orders are coming where people want 50,000 pieces, 100,000, 200,000 pieces. It's more about seeding the market. For us, it's more of a marketing strategy, but it's to grow the business.
Sure.
In terms of the first part of the question, I can't give you the order book, of course, but in terms of the orders, of course, we've got a sales team, and we meet customers and different marketing, digital marketing strategies and LinkedIn ads, and there's some different tools that are being used to create the demand for this.
Okay. Sir, in terms of Codeology and Mark Print, the QR tracing, which pharma company has done mandatory, in that, how are we gaining traction? Can you brief us on that, please? How much would be the revenue from that in the standalone business?
Yeah. So we do not actually give any breakup as yet of our revenues. Jaideep, is this correct?
Yeah, correct. The divisional revenue, we don't give.
Okay. But yeah, I mean, still fundamentally, the coding and marking business is by far the largest business. I can say that. This has picked up. I think it's hit a break-even point if not profitable. We are working on two very large projects, so that's occupying all our mind space. Hopefully, if this is successful, then automatically, we will be on a different trajectory. Both these cases are more on a technology platform, the big two types of projects that we're trying to prove. If it's something we're not trying to just meet the essential track and trace requirements from a compliance perspective, but doing something additional. If that happens, then I think it could have a positive impact for us throughout the industry.
Good to hear that. Sir, last question. We grew around 12% for H1. For the coming three years, how much growth do we see? Because we have already solar printers, we can easily calculate the consumable sales. At what rate do you plan to grow the company in FY2026 and going forward three years? 12% we have grown H1, that's right.
Yeah. I'm going to go with the consolidated results on the standalone segment. I don't know. I think we were like INR 202 crores in the standalone operations, and IeNR 3.48 crores was the other income and just INR 181 crores and INR 3 crores. About similar, like INR 185 crores and INR 206 crores, if I'm correct. In the consolidated, it was about INR 20 crores additional, if I'm very approximately. On a standalone basis, we still expect, like I said, if the market is growing 10-11%, we expect to grow faster than that in the coding and marking business. Depending on how the pickup of the track and trace business happens, these are the two primary businesses housed under Control Print. The digital printing part is sort of integrated into the track and trace, and especially into the coding and marking. It's not really separate.
Yeah, we definitely would be expecting we would like to grow faster than the market. We would expect that if the market is growing at that 10-11% range, we should be at about, I think in the past, we said our target is 15%. At least at the market growth rate. We would expect to be about that rate on an annual basis. On a consolidated basis, like I said, it's a different type of a situation because that's more of the, of course, because the track and trace, rather, we got the Mark Print business and the Codology business, which is more similar to the Indian business in terms of coding and marking and digital printing. The packaging business, which is the bigger part of the business, is a very different business.
It is very difficult for us to predict how that is going to happen because even yeah, it is moving along. It has not exploded as yet, but we are making progress. That is the situation. I will not lie and say that we would expect to have done better than what we are doing. There is a lot of interest, but converting that interest into sales has been a bit more difficult than what we had researched. Yeah, there are sales. There is progress.
Sure. Sir, just a last question. Last, last question. Sir, the Codeology and Mark Print is in a subsidiary and track and trace is in standalone. Am I right?
No. See, track and trace is a division of Control Print Limited. There's no standalone entity for track and trace.
That is a part of standalone results?
Yeah. It's a part of standalone results. Correct. Codeology is a subsidiary as well as Mark Print is a subsidiary.
Great. Great, sir. Plus V-shapes. Thank you, sir.
Correct.
Thank you. That's it from me.
Thank you. Thank you, Desha. Sir, we'll take the next question from Avanindra Singh. Avanindra, please go ahead. Avanindra Singh. Sir, we'll move on to Madhur Rathi. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I wanted to understand regarding the GST benefits. It seems that we were earlier a dominant player in the industrial segment. Can we expect to grow further just because the FMCG segment can provide us a good opportunity and we have less presence versus the industrial segment? How should we expect about our growth going forward?
I'm a bit confused because there was something about GST in there.
Okay. So I wanted to ask that question. Yeah. When actually the change in the GST rates, would that impact our sales, and would we be going for another?
We're still 18% in both cases. I don't think it makes an impact to us. What has happened is recently, because of the cut of GST rates, a few of the segments where it's been a price cut as a result because the GST has reduced from 12% to 5% or so on. I think that those sectors are a bit bullish is what we feel. The customer is a little bit bullish, and we feel that there's a bit of a demand pickup. The second, how that translates into our sales of course, it's like we're down the line. If their product sales increases, then hopefully the number of prints increases, and that would result in some revenue growth for us. The second part is that, yeah, the industrial sales segment is still definitely the bigger segment for us.
We're still working on the packaging segment, and we're still growing our sales in the packaging segment. We're growing in both segments. Yeah, we see growth in both segments. Like I said, if the market is growing at 10-11%, we expect it to grow at 15% or so. That's what our target is in the standalone business, 15% plus. Fifteen percent for the coding and marking and then something extra because of the track and trace and whatever it is. Yeah, that's sort of where we hope to be.
Sir, are we able to acquire more customers on the FMCG side where we were earlier? That was a lower portion of our machine portfolio. Have we been able to acquire customers because they're growing at a faster rate than market would require us to at least gain market share in some segments? I'm trying to understand on that front.
I think we're gaining customers. Yeah, I mean, obviously, if we're growing faster than the market, then we're gaining customers. On the packaging side, I think in specific areas of the packaging side, definitely we are gaining faster, not across the board, but it's very specific applications or some industries, yes.
Sir, so when we say packaging customers, we mean FMCG packaging customers for the coding and marking segment, right?
For packaging is defined as food, which would include everything under food, dairy, biscuits, ready-to-eat, staples, and so on and so forth. It would be beverages, which again would be aerated beverages, alcohol, beer, and then so on and so forth. The third segment would be personal care and home care, which would be what the traditional FMCG companies are like, Unilever and the like. The fourth segment would be pharmaceutical. For us, these are the four broad industries which comprise the packaging sector.
Got it. Sir, I wanted to understand.
Both of you please rejoin the queue.
I'll do that. I'll do that.
Thank you. Sir, we'll take a question from chat from Rahul Koti. He says, "I see that we have done a record EBITDA margin in standalone business. Is this due to increased share of consumables? And if so, does this indicate the new normal in terms of sales of consumables?
Actually, the.
I think it's overall, I don't think it's any specific thing, but it's maybe because of the operational leverage that we're getting in terms of the SG&E growing at a slower rate than the business. Jaideep, I think maybe you can explain this better.
Yeah. So quite frankly, what happens is that the mix of the sales that actually is a determining factor for because the quality of the revenue improves. Consumables obviously give us continuous sales, but an increase in the printer business also leads to a better product in printers. If you sell more of laser printers, obviously, the margins are going to be higher. Yes, we are definitely keeping a track on not just the procurement costs, but we are also keeping a track on the selling and general administration costs. That is the reason why we have an increase in the margin. That said, we definitely want to outdo ourselves and do a better show and make sure that we are very lean in our operations going forward.
Thank you, sir. His second question is on Capex. Do we have to incur any Capex with respect to consumables or printers?
Yeah. To answer your call, see, for the current existing coding and marking business, we are well within the capacity utilization. So another one or two years, we do not foresee any major capital expenditure plans for the coding and marking business.
Okay, sir. We'll take the next question from Anuj J. Please go ahead. Yes, Anuj.
I think.
Anuj, your voice is not clear.
Is it better now?
Yes, yes.
Yeah. So it seems that your market share and your competitor market share is consistent, constant from a long period of time. I've seen that usually when each competitor has some kind of moat or monopoly or a niche. If that's the case, what's your moat and niche that none of the competitors are able to make a major dent in each other's market share?
You're not hearing anything clearly.
Anuj, you are not clear.
Anuj, while you sort out your mic issues, let us first take a few questions from the chat. First, Neelu Singh would like to ask some questions. Neelu, you can unmute and ask.
Thank you. Am I audible?
Yes.
I had two questions. One, Shiva just informed that we are seeding the market in small lots of INR 50 lakh to INR 100 lakh for the VMAX pouches, right? I just wanted to understand if that is a good revenue stream until we actually scale up the machinery business of VMAX. This was the first question.
Yeah. I think, of course, it's a big revenue stream potentially. The main issue we were reluctant to do it is just because mentally we were not geared towards servicing a lot of small orders and taking the responsibility of all that stuff rather than the customer buying the machine, taking the responsibility. Yeah, it is a good revenue stream, to be honest. It's not bad at all. There are customers who want to make even lakhs a month and stuff like that. It's not a simple thing. It's just that for us, taking the licenses, doing the other stuff, doing things, of course, we did not want the distractions, but we have no choice. We have to do what we have to do.
Is that income being booked in the Indian entity or VMAX Italy? How is that being accounted for?
We're doing co-packaging here now. We've just started. Even in Italy, we have started. Before, they didn't have the permission to do beyond sampling. Obviously, we couldn't even do it in India because we didn't have the licenses. We can also even right now only do specific products which don't require very high compliance in terms of the definitely in India, we've got taken something for the food. We say we don't do pharmaceutical or nutraceutical-type products out here or there. It would be booked inside the companies. I think that the major whatever we've done is now going to come more in the revenue in probably Q3, Q4 because something that we were not entertaining, now we've gone back to customers and said that, "Okay, we can try to do it once for you.
There's an amount of work in progress of INR 764 lakhs. What is this amount for in the standalone numbers, capital work in progress?
Hello? Yeah. Can you hear me?
Yeah. Can you hear me?
Yeah, yeah. I can hear you.
Yeah, yeah.
That actually relates to some of the software development things what we are doing in the company, some enhancements to the SAP and the BIBO projects. It also includes some portions of money which we have paid as lease, advance lease for some facility. We are taking a close stock of that. Yeah, by the next quarter, we'll update you on the developments.
Thank you. Best of luck.
Thank you.
We'll take the next question in the chat from Avanindra Singh. The first question is, what is the status of developing domestically manufactured consumables for V-shapes machines?
Yeah. That project is very much on. Like I said in the earlier meetings, one of the big issues for us, especially in the European sales, has been the lack of recyclability of our current packaging materials. We've been working on developing a recyclable material. I think we've got something that's working at a certain level. Like I said, of course, it's all a pilot, so nobody can predict what's going to happen. I just want to be very clear about that. It looks promising. It's looking initially that it's working, but till everything is not proven, nothing is proven. Yeah, we wanted to go in India straight for the manufacturing, straight for the recyclable material rather than really invest in the current packaging material which is not recyclable.
If our trials are successful over the next, I don't know, this quarter maybe, then if everything is through, we'll be moving ahead on or we'll lock into the current. We're doing a variety of structures around a base structure which we think is working to fine-tune exactly the exact final formulation and product. Once we do that and we put that in, we'll be starting to manufacture the same in India. That should hopefully get the cost of the material down significantly.
His second question is, where are you going to?
Also, we are patenting the formulation that we are developing for our recyclable pack. It will also be another lock on top of the system. Our existing patent, which is expiring in 2036, is for the machine, but the recyclable material patent will also go from 2024 to 2044. That will be another part.
Okay. His second question is, where are we with track and trace adoption since last time you were talking about some pharma companies working on the implementation? Are we offering the service to other pharma companies as well?
No, we are offering it across the board, but we're doing two intense cases with two of the largest of, I think, two of the top five pharmaceutical companies in India. Those are two high-potential cases because they're not conventional implementations, but this is more of a system solution. I think if it works, it will be not necessarily a game changer, but it will definitely be something significant which will give us traction across the pharmaceutical industry. Right now, all our resources are focused on ensuring that these pilot projects are implemented perfectly. Of course, we've been going back and forth with some technical ups and downs in that area. I think hopefully we should have adoption. If everything goes well, again, there's always a risk.
If everything goes well, hopefully we should have adoption, and that'd be the best marketing tool for the rest of the industry and, in fact, globally also.
Sure. We'll take the next question from Sakit. Sakit, you're requested to keep your questions down to two in the first round. Thank you.
Yeah. Namaskar, sir, I joined at the FAG and only just to put a very small question or perspective, sir. With the type of investment that we have made, and as Shiva sir has always communicated to us, that we are in the midst of creating a very different organization from the traditional and the conventional coding business. How satisfied, firstly, you are with the progress that we have achieved? How soon, sir, we will be reaching this critical mass post which the aspect or the recognition will come into play? This is my question for Shiva, sir. For Jaideep, sir, we have some.
Just one question. Let's just take one question.
Okay. Yeah.
That one question, then you can hold on to the next question. As we discussed, we are an Indian-focused coding and marking business. Obviously, there is a ceiling in terms of what we can do. For example, our estimation of the market is about INR 2,200 crore or something. If you are already doing a certain business, last year, I think we did INR 375 or INR 385 crore or INR 370-375 crore of turnover was coding and marking for a INR 2,100-2,200 crore market. There is a ceiling in terms of how big we can just grow because, A, the customers are sticky. We are gaining market share, and we are growing faster than the market. Yeah, I mean, there is a market size limitation, and there is a stickiness limitation. You cannot grow fast enough. Therefore, we entered more into the digital printing area for innovation.
Of course, also in terms of the track and trace and the packaging business. Also, we had a couple of foreign acquisitions and subsidiaries for the same. What's happening is that in terms of coding and marking, we're quite happy. We had a first the second half of the previous year and the first two, three months of this year were a bit slow. We've given everyone a kick up their ass, frankly speaking. I think some of the bigger cases and the other things are now really coming through. We're expecting, hopefully, an accelerated run rate in the second half. As you can see from our standalone results, it's also showing in terms of the financials. I think we should comfortably, it seems that on a standalone basis, we should comfortably cross INR 100 crore plus this year.
Of course, it seems is my point. We should continue that growth rate. Even looking at the pipeline, hopefully, that should continue over the next year also. That is the positive part. In terms of the track and trace, like I said, we have got two big things going on. They are very exciting. Now, what is the final outcome? Like I said, we have got some key patents out here. Whether those customers are valuing those patents, obviously, they are doing this project at the very highest level. Till everything does not happen, nothing has happened. Again, like I am saying, we will see. I think maybe in six months, everyone will have a much better idea of what is happening out here. We are very positive about what we have done.
The third thing, which is in the packaging business, definitely, like I said, there's a lot of interest still, whether for different reasons in Europe, maybe some of the older V-shapes machines which were sold, they did not get the service support, especially in the breakup. People are not, like when they went under liquidation, so people are not happy with them. Definitely, the lack of a recyclable option in a lot of cases in Asian countries, and especially India, the cost per pack. Different issues that different people are facing. There is interest. Like I said, a lot of customers just are not that keen to go straight into the machine because they have got an existing investment, either thermoform or sachet machines, rather than going for a mono dose or something else.
We're trying to now be pivoted towards like, "Okay, we will do some co-packaging for those customers so we can get more visibility in the market, put the product in the market, and then prove the concept." That will be a sort of self-sufficing growth. The customer, if he's getting a success in the market, he's getting a better traction with our mono dose compared to whatever the conventional packaging is, then automatically, he would be more inclined to purchase machinery from us and do the packing in his own factory, which is the best thing for everybody. I think that's still a challenge. It's still got a bunch of work to do.
I think in terms of the fact that we've gone from a coding and marking company which was licensing the technology mainly for their staff to the fact that we've got a whole bunch of developed technology we've developed, acquired, and we own. Most of our stuff is what we're looking forward as patented and has significant IP barrier. I think in terms of that journey, I'm very happy. Yeah, personally, I'm very relaxed. Whether we get the rewards sooner or later, I know as a shareholder, it's a very different thing. We definitely feel that if we have high-quality innovative solutions combined with the reliability and the service that Control Print provides, we're going to be successful.
Right, sir. Sir, I will ask my next question afterwards. Let the other person.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from Hardik Bora.
Binneji, you have—
Hi.
Yeah, Hardik.
Yeah.
Am I audible?
Yes, Hardik.
Hi. Hi, Shiva, Jaideep. Congratulations on a good result. This is just a small clarification from a discussion we had last quarter on the GST benefit at the Gowarti facility. You mentioned there was some INR 10 crore per annum benefit which has gotten over, and it's already reflecting in the current financials. I just wanted to confirm which line item in the P&L was that GST benefit coming.
Jaideep, did you get the question? This was relating to the Guwahati GST benefit.
I think Jaideep got disconnected.
Okay. Hardik, can you come back to that question later, please? Should we move on further? Is he back, by the way?
Not yet. We'll answer the question once he's back.
No issues, Shiva. If he's on call, I'll take it from him. Otherwise, I'll take it offline.
Yeah, no worries.
Thank you.
Thank you. Sakit ji, you can ask your question.
It was also again to Jaideep sir only. I will also wait till he comes up. Shiva sir, just to conclude to what the very elaborate answer you gave, that for our core business of coding domestically, we are now on a very, very strong footing with the type of sale of printers and now also the consumable sales and the gross margin inching up for the balance part of the year. In terms of the other ventures, if I may use the word quote unquote, there also, we are on the verge of gaining good business to reach the critical mass in times to come. This should be the good understanding of what you narrated to us currently.
Yeah. I think that, like I said, the current coding and marking India business is doing well. It is definitely generating a certain amount of profitability, which is paying for everything else and still delivering shareholder results and the rest of it. Obviously, we've been investing that money and our time and bandwidth in the last two to three, in fact, in the last many years in R&D and other types of things. That was to, like I said, to grow the other businesses. Now, my point, which I made earlier, is when you're doing something that's different. We expect that the India coding and marking/digital printing, which is almost like an add-on for our coding and marking business. We know that well. That's not a problem. We have the technology for that. We've been developing it for years. We're happy with that part.
Specifically regarding the track and trace business and the packaging business, and obviously, the international subsidiary, it's a longer-term play, and it's an innovation-based business. We hope that it will be successful. Like I said, there's always a risk because in terms of execution, in terms of competition, and stuff like that. Right now, it's looking positive. I see nearer-term results in the QGS codes division. In the packaging business, of course, it's got even much bigger potential. It may take a bit more time because if you're going step by step, it's seeming that, yeah, that's what it is. I think Jaideep is back on. Now everyone can put their questions to Jaideep.
Jaideep sir, for this quarter, we have done this reclassification for foreign income exchange fluctuation. Then again, in the cash flow, there is one mention of about transfer from exchange fluctuation translation reserve. Could you explain these two line items? Where would we see this reserve line item in the balance sheet, sir?
Correct. The reason why we have done this is we would like to make or to ensure a better presentation of the foreign exchange fluctuations. Normally, it goes and sits as part of the other income. What has happened is that the dollar has actually depreciated besides the euro in the Q2, as a result of which the fluctuations were very severe. We did not want to club it either into the other income or the other expenses figure. I should distort them. Just for the sake of a better presentation, what we've done is that we have disclosed it as a separate line item in the figures which we have disclosed. What happens is that in the next quarter, the trend might get reversed.
We do not want our operating revenue or our operating expenses to get distorted by virtue of these particular fluctuations. That is why we have inserted a separate line item over here.
Okay, sir. I'll take it offline, sir. This is a large difference, sir. Yeah.
Sure. Thank you.
I don't have the consultant.
Yeah, yeah. Sure. Thank you. Thank you, Sakit.
Hardik, you can unmute and ask a question.
Yeah. Hi, Jaideep. Actually, the question was that there was some GST benefit on our Guwahati facility, I believe, for five years probably. And that got expired, and it's not there anymore. Last quarter's call, you guys had mentioned it was about INR 10 crore per year. So my question was, which line item in the income statement was that benefit coming through? So we can understand when we do the YOY comparison that it's not there.
I told you this benefit got over on the 26th of May, 2025. The yearly benefit was about INR 8.5 crore. What we should do is that we used to include it as part of the sales. You would find that in the revenue from operations.
Okay. To that extent, the year-on-year comparisons would look a little weaker because there is no GST benefit in our revenue going forward, at least in the time that is in the base.
Yeah. Actually, it would look better because we would not have the GST benefit in this year. That would be a fair comparison. The performance in this year would be better because last year's performance did include that GST benefit.
No, I understood. Got it. That was to the tune of INR 8 crore-INR 8.5 crore.
Yeah, INR 8.5 crores, yeah.
It is fair to say that would completely be flowing down to the profit level because there is no associated cost with it. That is the.
Yeah, you are right. We do not have any associated costs. You are right.
Okay. Okay. That's it from my side. Thank you for the call and the commentaries.
Thank you, Hardik. Sir, we'll take the next question from Rahul Poti. Please go ahead.
Hello, team. Congratulations on the good set of numbers. I had earlier asked a question regarding the EBITDA margin. The answer I got was it is due to maybe operating leverage and not one sector segment is responsible for the record EBITDA. This standalone, we have done around 28% EBITDA. That is what I saw in the presentation. If going forward, if our run rate is around similar to INR 200 crore right, would our EBITDA be on the similar level going forward?
Yeah. Fundamentally, if the revenue levels are maintained, we should see a similar EBITDA. It's very difficult to completely predict. I don't think the EBITDA has risen as much as compared to last year. I think that it's just that some part of it is also the fact that we are funding losses for one or two other divisions like the QGS codes and the other stuff. Like I said, we don't give an exact breakup division by division. Yeah, unless other things fall back in play, we also invest in the Indian packaging business for the Indian part of the V-shapes and so on. If those things aren't in a loss, then fundamentally, this is, yeah, the coding. Right now, they're not making money. I can tell you that. I don't think they're losing money.
I think fundamentally, this is the, yeah, what we're seeing is the coding and marking business.
Yeah. Because if you look at our history, right, on a standalone, we are always around 23%-25% EBITDA, right? We always have done around that. I do not think we have crossed 25%. Maybe we reached 27%, but 28%, I have never seen. I have been invested in your company for almost eight years. I have been tracking your numbers from long back. I have never seen 28.5% EBITDA. That is why I was curious on knowing that. In future, right, maybe in the next 12 months, we would be crossing beyond INR 100 crore on a standalone basis quarterly. Would that operating leverage kick in and EBITDA would be even higher? Any guidance, any ballpark, what you guys are working with, any number you guys are targeting going forward?
I think that our revenue would grow, like I said, in our coding and marking business. I do not know if you were there earlier in the call, but we said that we should continue growing at about 15% in this year at least. We do not know what is going to happen in the future. The market is growing at about 10-11%. Yeah, we would hope that the operating leverage continues to improve. Like I said, part of it is an operating leverage effect, and part of it is the fact that we were funding losses for the last couple of years. Maybe the numbers were actually better last year and the year before that.
I do not know if I have put it, but I think I mentioned it quite clearly in our investor con call that some of the divisions and some of the other things were at a loss, and we were more investing in it. Now, a couple of things have, so even if the QGS codes businesses break even and we do not have to fund it, it is not negative, it would have shown up as negative. I think it is a bit of both. Obviously, fundamentally, what you are saying is it is sustainable. I think that, yeah, unless some other things slip back into some issue in terms of the packaging or the QGS codes or whatever, I think it is sustainable.
Okay. Yeah. That's what I wanted to know, whether this is sustainable because these are record numbers from your end. Yeah, great to see those numbers back. Thank you. Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you, Rahul. Sir, since that was the last question, would you like to give any closing comment?
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Thank you everyone for taking time to attend our call. I am very happy to answer these questions. My best wishes to everyone.
Yeah.
Thank you, everybody. Thanks a lot.
Thank you, sir. Thank you to all the participants for joining on this call. This brings us to the end of today's conference call. Thank you.
The recording has stopped.