Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Navin Fluorine International Limited Q3 FY25 earnings conference call. 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. Bhavya Shah from Orient Capital. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Welcome to the Q3 and nine month FY25 earnings conference call. Today on the call, we have with us Mr. Vishad Mafatlal, Chairman, Mr. Nitin Kulkarni, Managing Director, and Mr. Anish Ganatra, Chief Financial Officer of Navin Fluorine International Limited. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on beliefs, opinions, and expectations as of today. Actual results may differ materially. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Our detailed safe harbor statement is given on page two of the investor presentation of the company, which has been uploaded on the stock exchange and company website. With this, I now hand over the call to Mr. Vishad Mafatlal for his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you all to Q3 and 9-month FY25 earnings call. I am joined by our Managing Director, Mr. Nitin Kulkarni, our CFO, Mr. Anish Ganatra, and Ms. Payal from Orient Capital, our Investor Relations Advisor. I trust that everyone has had a chance to review our financial results and investor presentations, which have been made available on both the stock exchange and our company's website. The environment in which we operate continues to be uncertain, driven by factors such as geopolitics and global macros. Despite these uncertainties, I am pleased to share that we have remained resilient and have committed to demonstrate adaptability in our operations. Our focused efforts, combined with the strength of our relationship with our customers, have allowed us to drive sustainable performance. I would like to highlight two key milestones we achieved in the last quarter.
Firstly, we successfully commissioned our agro-specialty plant at Dahej with an investment of INR 540 crores. Secondly, in Q3 FY25, we surpassed revenue run rate of INR 600 crores. In HPP vertical, we secured better realizations by optimizing the product mix with improved capacity utilization. In specialty chemicals and CDMO vertical, we have continued to drive higher capacity utilization with a strong order book outlook. Our operating EBITDA for the last quarter has seen an increase of 95% Y-on-Y, achieving a sustainable EBITDA margin of 24.3%.
We continue to drive discipline in cost management, maximizing operational efficiency, generating robust cash flows, and effectively managing risks to secure short-term performance and long-term strategic goals. Our priorities remain: one, manufacturing excellence with the highest level of HSE practices; two, deepening the relationship with existing customers while pursuing new customer acquisitions; three, disciplined project execution; four, pursuing growth opportunities within a tight financial framework.
All these will result in long-term value creation for all our stakeholders. I'm pleased to share that our Dewas site has earned the gold medal in the EcoVadis assessment, recognizing our commitment to sustainability and responsible business practices. Thank you once again for your continued support. With that, I would like to now hand over to Nitin to provide a detailed overview of our operating and business performance during the quarter.
Thank you, Vishad sir, and good evening to everyone. I would like to start by expressing my sincere appreciation.
Yes, sir, please go ahead.
Yeah. So I would like to start by expressing my sincere appreciation for your time and ongoing support. As always, it is a pleasure to connect with all of you during our earnings call. I would like to share some updates regarding our operational progress and performance across our business verticals. We are pleased to announce the successful commissioning of our agro-specialty plant at Dahej with an investment of INR 540 crores. This project is a significant step forward, and I'm happy to report that the commercial dispatches have been started. Our focus remains on maximizing capacity utilization, enhancing productivity, and driving efficiencies across all our business lines while deepening relationships with all customers. These priorities will guide us as we bring new projects online and continue to explore growth opportunities for the future. Now, let me take you through the performance of our business verticals.
HPP business has shown growth in the third quarter of FY25. The revenue from this segment rose from INR 251 crore in Q3 FY24 to INR 306 crore in Q3 FY25, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 22%. During the quarter, HPP business benefited from volume growth in HFO, R22, R32, and inorganic salts, along with improved price realization across our products. The additional R32 capacity of 4,500 metric tons is progressing as planned and will be commissioned by February 2025. We remain constructive on the demand outlook for R32 in India and globally. We are engaged with a few global measures for evaluating and enhancement of R32 capacity. Furthermore, we are making progress on our AHF project with an investment of INR 450 crore, and the project is on track for commissioning by early FY26.
On the spectrum front, the specialty chemical business has shown revenue increase from INR 175 crore in Q3 FY24 to INR 221 crore in Q3 FY25, reflecting 26% growth year-on-year. A key driver of this growth has been the increased capacity utilization at both our Dahej and Surat plants. Looking ahead, we have strong order visibility for Q4 FY25 and beyond, particularly with the ongoing ramp-up at Surat and Dahej facilities. We are also introducing one new molecule in Q4 FY25 and second in Q1 FY26. On CDMO business, the CDMO business revenue from this segment increased from INR 73 crore in Q3 FY24 to INR 79 crore in Q3 FY25, reflecting an 8% year-on-year growth. We remain optimistic about this segment, supported by strong order books for Q4 FY25.
On the European CDMO front, I'm pleased to share that the registration formalities are in the advanced stage, and direct dispatches commence during this quarter. Looking ahead, projections for FY26 and beyond continue to remain strong, with an order book for CY25 already secured. We also anticipate an additional molecule supply in FY26. We have received an order from a major European customer with a supply schedule for FY26. Furthermore, for our U.S.-based major customer, we have received a scale-up order with supplies planned in Q4 FY25. Regarding the CGMP4 project, the first phase of INR 160 crore investment is progressing as planned and is expected to be commissioned by the end of Q3 FY26. In summary, we are pleased with the progress we have made across all our business verticals in Q3 FY25.
On this note, I would like to hand over to Anish to brief you on financial performance.performance. Over to you, Anish.
Thank you, Nitin. Good evening all, and I welcome you all once again on the earnings call. Let me discuss the financial performance of the company in Q3 and nine month FY25. Quarterly performance: We reported revenues of INR 606 crores in Q3 FY25, an increase of 21% year-on-year and 17% quarter-on-quarter, led by an increase in revenue across all the segments. Operating EBITDA for Q3 FY25 was INR 147 crores, a growth of 95% year-on-year and 37% quarter-on-quarter. Operating EBITDA margins stood at 24.3%, as against 15.13% in Q3 FY24, and improving sequentially from 20.7% in Q2 FY25, reflecting higher realizations in HPP, higher capacity utilization at Dahej and Surat, and efficiencies secured within businesses. Operating PBT for Q3 FY25 was INR 98 crores, as against INR 33 crores in Q3 FY24 and INR 66 crores in Q2 FY25, an increase of 195% year-on-year and 49% quarter-on-quarter.
Profit after tax in Q3 FY25 stood at INR 84 crores. Nine-month performance: For nine months FY25, on a consolidated basis, the company reported net operating revenue of INR 1,648 crores, as against INR 1,463 crores in nine months FY24, reflecting a growth of 13%. Operating EBITDA stood at INR 355 crores, as against INR 288 crores in nine months FY24, up by 23%. Operating EBITDA margin for nine months stood at 21.5%, as against 19.7% in the same period last year. Profit after tax in nine months FY25 stood at INR 194 crores. As of 31st December 2024, our net debt to equity stood at 0.41, and net working capital days stood at 99 days of sales, well within the financial frame that we had indicated earlier. That's all from my side. We now open the lines for Q&A.
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. Ladies and gentlemen, let's wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Sanjesh Jain from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. Thanks for taking my question. A couple of them. First, on the Project Nectar, we have started dispatches, but is the performance of the plant on the expected line in terms of yield, operation, and all, and has it been running on the expected line there?
Do you want me to respond one by one, or do you want to put your questions?
No, I will put my questions first in that case.
Yes.
Question is on the CDMO, particularly on the Fermion product on the European MSA what we have signed. It appears to be one of your competition has been reporting a very strong number, while for us, CDMO has been more like a flattish. Is that a lot of it will get captured from Q4? And from the registration perspective, now you said that you have started dispatching directly. Is it fair to assume that now, with the registration probably completed soon, we should be scaling up? And when you say we have secured the order for CY25, what is the quantum of order that we are talking about? And the third question is on a specialty. Domestic continues to do quite well, and export is dull. Is that classification difference, or there is a delivery difference? How should one read about it? And the last question is on the HF.
Once the HF plants start, what is the saving that we could do as we are buying HF now from the outside market? These are my questions. Thank you.
All right. Thanks a lot, Sanjesh. And firstly, again, thank you to you. I'm kind of remembering the time in Dewas when you highlighted the EcoVadis.
Yeah, I wanted to congratulate you.
So I'm sure you picked that up. So thank you again for the feedback.
And congratulations.
All right, so on the Nectar project, Sanjay, as you are aware, there are three phases or three stages involved in that particular project. It's a very complex chemistry involving a high degree of chlorination at high temperatures, as well as then freezing at a very high temperature. So because it's a complex chemistry, we are very, very clear that we want to ramp this project progressively, but in a safe and reliable manner, and this will ramp up, but it will take its time. We're not going to rush. We're not going to take any shortcuts. It will take some time to progress. Okay? So that's on the Nectar project. On CDMO, Fermion on MSA, you talked about one of our competitors reporting a very strong number. See, frankly, our registration process is in a very advanced stage.
The customer is very confident of getting a favorable registration sometime in the time frame of April or May. Meantime, they have started to take direct dispatches from us already, and orders are in place for calendar year 2025. Now, these are initial orders. I will not give a value to them at this stage, but rest assured it will be at or equal or higher than where we are today for this calendar year. Okay? The other thing to remember is that for us, from where we are on ramp-up will also be progressive, and we continue to hold the view that we had indicated that for FY27, the $100 million target that we put for CDMO, 30% of that will come from this contract, roughly. Yeah?
Specialty.
Specialty. The division of export versus domestic is again a supply chain factor. We basically get orders which are directed to supply domestically. So that's how they get reported. But rest assured, the profile of the customers remains to be international, and orders are prepared on contracts with them. So that's again the nature of how the business is, rather than being exports or domestic.
Okay.
HF, your question was on.
Cost saving.
HF, how much saving it is going to? Oh, so you're talking about the quantum, right?
Yeah, yeah. Because we are now buying from the outside market, right? Once we produce that.
See, for HF, with the R32 capacity coming in, etc., etc., we are going to be a big consumer ourselves on the captive front. Plus, you must remember that years ago, we actually exited or reduced our footprint in the merchant sales. So there is a huge opportunity that needs to be tapped over there, and that's exactly what we will do as the project comes into play and ramps up.
And how much external sale are we targeting, or what the quantum we were doing earlier?
So I think, again, Nitin had, at one of the earlier sessions, already talked about that our own demand would be good enough to contain about 25,000-27,000 metric tons. And we're looking to operate the external sort of will be in the range of 6,000-7,000 metric tons.
Got it. One last question before I come back in the queue. Anish, do you want to upgrade the margin guidance for next year now that we are already hitting 25%?
I'm not going to upgrade. I had mentioned, if you remember, when we were at 15%, Vishalbhai and myself had put a journey out there 15%-20%, 20%-25%. We are on that path, and we had indicated that we would exit FY25 near 25% or at 25%. That's exactly what we are working. Our aim here is to make this very sustainable, grounded in the kind of foundation of the company. Then as we move on and leverage comes in, both with CDMO and HPP and specialty, we will see what we will see. We will not guide anything beyond the 25% at this stage.
Fair enough, fair enough. Thanks, thanks, everyone, answering all those questions patiently, and best of luck for the coming quarters.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Madhav Marda from Fidelity International. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening. Thank you so much for your time once again. My first question was on the specialty chemical business, especially the agro CDMO business, which we do. Could you just give us some qualitative thoughts in terms of I think you all did sound confident about a good ramp-up in FY26 for the spec chem business. So are we seeing the cycle kind of turning finally after almost six, seven quarters of weakness? That's my first question.
Okay. Again, you want me to take them one by one, or you want to put your questions out?
Sure. So my second question was just on the R32. There have been, obviously, some pricing positives which have been playing out in recent times, probably led by better pricing from China. So just wanted to get a sense from your side in terms of calendar year 2025, how do you all look at R32 pricing for us, domestic and export market? Thank you.
Okay. So on specialty, see, again, with the ag chem sector, if you take a long-term fundamental view, that remains very, very constructive. Okay? The demand for agri products is not going down. Additionally, if you look at some global statistics, there is a number out there which says that 40% of the produce actually gets lost to pests. So crop protection is quite significant and big. And thirdly, you must remember that agri also now plays a big role in energy transition for biofuels. So all these growth factors from a long-term point of view, there is solid sort of fundamentals remain, right? Now, in the near term, in the near term, we are going to see pricing pressure. There's no doubt about it. Like we said last time, we were early to recognize this.
We've played our sort of navigated that space, ensuring that our relationship with customers brings us the orders, gives us the higher volumes, and we work with them on newer molecules that they are bringing to the market in an accelerated fashion. Third thing, your point about R32 timing and China and pricing about calendar year 2025, see, again, it's a factor of demand supply, right? It's market conditions. R32, we are very, very constructive about the market. And we believe that the pricing market should see upside from where we are now. Difficult to quantify what that would look like, but certainly, the market remains very constructive for securing the upside.
Got it. Just on the agro part, I think when we said that we've readjusted pricing to kind of ensure that we get our volume and plus come in with the new launches. So is it fair to say that in Q3 , this pricing adjustment which you've taken is kind of already in the base or upper? I mean, each quarter to reflect, but Q3 has that reflected for our base business already, or there's still some adjustment pending?
No, so large amount of pricing on the existing products is already building. Okay? Now, I think I had also indicated earlier that at best, from a cost point of view, this would be a 0.51% impact max between that range. Okay? Now, against that, how are we sort of responding to it? So this is not a transactional conversation with the customer, okay, foremost. It's not just a pricing conversation. It's a conversation to be part of their supply chain network, giving them the value they are looking from, from a flexibility perspective, adaptability perspective, driving process improvements in their existing process, driving cost down, and in return, securing the higher volumes, and also a play in the future roadmap of our innovator customers. Yeah? So it's a strategy that is being played out here, and that's the result of what you see in the numbers today.
We're seeing solid capacity utilization at the Dahej and Dewas. I mean, the Dahej is an example. This quarter, we've done on an average about 85% capacity utilization versus something like 40%-50% in the last quarter.
Got it. Got it. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to participants, please restrict yourselves to two questions. If you have any further questions, you may rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Sudarshan Padmanabhan from JM Financial PMS. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for taking my question. My first question is on the CDMO side. I mean, if I'm looking at you talked about the Fermion contract, but also the visibility over the two years with other products. A lot of these products are under patent, and there's a huge runway of growth. I mean, today, when I'm talking about Fermion contract itself, I mean, they are trying to expand the product for other applications in oncology as well. So from that side, I mean, beyond the $100 million, are we today in a spot where we have probably hit a kind of a sweet spot with a few products hitting commercials at the late stage, which gives you visibility not necessarily just for two years, but say three, four, five years with the growth engine that you see? Just wanted your thought process on the cycle on that side.
Yeah, I get where you're coming from, Sudarshan. So good question. Thank you for that. I mean, on the contract, see, again, at any given point in time, we are working with close to about 35-50 molecules, okay.
And in any year, right? And roughly, if I look at it, about 8-10 odd would be the commercial space. So we are not sort of just banking on one. Commercial or late stage, right? And then the others are your early stage molecules, which eventually provide the long-term pipeline as they move into commercial. So it's a combination of things. Are we in a sweet spot or not? Difficult to tell, but we are certainly well diversified in terms of our footprint across the portfolio.
Sure. And with respect to the CapEx, I mean, now that we have CapEx for, say, the phase one, typically you're coming with 160-odd growth that will come in the third quarter. I mean, do you think that probably with the scale-up that you're seeing with the Fermion contract and others, I mean, do we have enough land probably to go in for a brownfield, or what is our thought process in terms of developing the capacity?
Yeah. Again, Sudarshan, I can't remember if you visited Dewas, but there is enough and more land available for two or more equivalent size of cGMP4 at the same site with common infrastructure, common utilities, common sort of administrative support, R&D blocks, etc. So there is enough scalability in the infrastructure. There's no doubt about it. Obviously, we will be very, very disciplined in the way we look at any project and execute CapEx. Today, we've approved the INR 160 crore phase one part of the CapEx that's expected to come on stream in November, and as that ramps up and as some of the other molecules that we are working on move to a higher volume or a scale, and there is visibility to that, we will quickly expand that.
So as we are doing the phase one of CGMP4, we are making sure that to do the phase two of CGMP4 is an accelerated journey because the common infrastructure elements of one are actually being addressed as part of phase one itself.
Sure. And one final question before I join back the queue is on the specialty chemical side, the two molecules. I mean, would there be these two molecules, are they in the agri space, the pharma space? What is the kind of scale-up that we see in the near term as well as from a longer-term perspective?
Yeah. These are in the innovator ag chem space. Again, it's part of the strategy, as we said. We are playing into with our innovator customers to be part of the future pipeline. And more than the near-term value, what this does indicate is the pipeline of new projects, new molecules coming in, which, again, at some point, can support a further expansion and growth again.
Sure. Thanks a lot. I'll join back.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohit Nagraj from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity and congrats on good set of numbers. First question is on the AHF capacity. Based on our understanding, how many years will we be able to fulfill the capacity at optimal level, barring the external sales? So how much time will it take, maybe four years, five years to completely utilize the capacity for captive consumption?
Yeah. Yeah. So see, the AHF capacity that has been put on, I mean, like I've always said, that's a license to dream project. It's a project if you don't have AHF, you have no license to grow in this business, right? So the idea here is to keep that capacity, make sure we expand it, but we expand it in a meaningful manner. Our eventual goal is to keep increasing the realization for a KG of HF. And that's what we will strive to. So with the AHF capacity coming in, you should be looking to Navin in the coming years to look for entry into higher and higher value chain elements.
Sure. The second question is in terms of the CapEx that we have planned. Now, more or less, all the projects are actually on track. And if you were to move for the next leg of project, I mean, there is CGMP phase two CapEx. But beyond that, on the HPP front, are we looking to de-bottleneck the Honeywell project, or is there aspiration to go in for a brownfield expansion for the HPP, which we had anticipated some time ago? Thank you.
Sorry, that's still Rohit. No, I missed the name maybe. That's Rohit, right?
Sorry?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Rohit. So in terms of the CapEx going forward, etc., I mean, like we've said, the CapExes which are currently on stream start to look at giving us line of sight to FY27 growth. I think Nitin's commentary has also referred to some conversations and engagements going on with global majors regarding a potential R32 expansion. We are also simultaneously, and like we've said before, again, that we always have a hopper of projects. And these hopper of projects compete with each other in terms of driving value for Navin and the shareholders, right? So we will progress these hoppers and bring them to a stage of maturity. We continue to hold the fact that within this coming financial year, FY26, hopefully in the H1 , you should see some announcements coming in.
That's all from my side. Thank you and all the best.
The next question is from the line of Ankur Periwal from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity and congratulations on a good set of numbers. First question on the specialty chemical side. You did mention that the INR 540 crore CapEx, we will be ramping up this project, the sales on this project gradually. Any timelines you can share? When should we expect this business, this product to reach its optimum revenue run rate?
Yeah. So we had, when we sanctioned the CapEx, we indicated a peak annual revenue of about INR 550 crores, if I remember correctly. And we said that would be done in two years from commissioning. I think we still hold that view. So we are in FY25. FY27, you should start to see it getting closer to its peak, if not the peak.
Sure. And similar run rate and timeline for the other CapExes that we had commissioned? The INR 235 crores one and the INR 125 crores?
235 and one.
MPP for specialty, and I think first year.
So, see, and again, all these peak annual revenue conversations are like a snapshot, right? I mean, they're true at the time when you may shift prices, change supply chains, etc. But as we look at this, and I'll probably give you a flavor beyond what you're asking for, but say if you're looking at R32 CapExes, the INR 84 crore CapEx in HPP, we are well beyond the peak annual revenue. We've indicated 2x. We think we'll be at 2.5x in one year. And so will be the new capacity coming in for R32. CGMP4, we've indicated 2x, and we still hold that. And again, like I've said before, that will be FY27 as part of contributing to our aspiration of CDMO segment in that year.
In terms of ORCID, we think that the peak annual revenue, it was a project that was commissioned in FY23, and we're looking. We should have been at peak at FY25, but I think we'll be at peak in the next financial year based on the order book that we have currently for ORCID. We will exceed the number, basically, in FY26. For MPP, again, very similar. FY26, we have enough order book and line of sight to be very close to the peak annual revenue we had indicated. The dedicated MPP will also be similar. We had achieved peak revenue in FY24, but like we said, we are looking to secure higher volumes and play a different sort of strategic card here.
So that also will start to see ramping up and going up to a higher number as we look into FY26 numbers. So in the ag chem space, because of the global challenges, I think there has been some delay in the peak revenue. There's no shying away from that. But our focus remains on ensuring that we secure the capacities, run the plants to full and optimal level, securing the operational efficiencies. And in FY26, we will, for the plants themselves in the specialty, most of them will be in the range of 90% plus utilization.
Great, Anish. Thanks for the elaborate and detailed answer. Just one bit on our gross margin expansion in this quarter. If I look at quarter on quarter, we are largely flattish. While in the initial comments, you did mention HPP did saw a pricing as well as volumetric growth. So is it that the full benefit of that pricing is going to slow down? Because that should have been more margin-accretive. And second part here on our overheads, whether manpower or the OPEX. So pretty impressive control over there. Should we expect this run rate to continue?
Yeah. So our view on the, so let me take when you say slow down, you're talking largely about the EBITDA number, right? Slowing it down to the EBITDA.
Correct. Correct.
Right? So again, if I look at that journey of 15%-20%, 20%-25%, right, I will say that 5%, as we had always indicated, is coming from operating leverage. And that leverage now is a sustainable leverage given the line of sight we've got to the order books. Okay? The other big chunk of that, which is a 4.9 odd % of the journey from 15%-25%, is largely an effort of the team. The team's kind of working very hard to drive procurement efficiencies, margin improvements, both product mixes, placing the products, getting better realizations than what the market is getting, and also simultaneously working towards securing fixed cost savings. So that, we believe, is something that we had in our control, and we've driven a lot of effort around that to bring the numbers in.
And obviously, 0.4x, 0.4% is roughly the 4x impact in this quarter. So if you see the journey from 15.1% to 24.3%, this is what would sort of make it up. So that should give you a good sense of the fact that the margins are sustainable from where we are today.
Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Sure, Anish. Thanks a lot for the elaborate answer. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jignesh Kamani from Nippon India Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Good evening, Anish. Congratulations for a good set of numbers. Just from the specialty chemical side, so if you take EBIT first up, we reported close to around 20% kind of decline, and third quarter, we witnessed close to 26% of the revenue growth. And at the same time, we commissioned the Project Nectar also in November. So safe to assume, even except Project Nectar, our specialty chemical grew in double digit, you can say?
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, the Nectar project only started dispatches on 9th of December. So its contribution to this quarter is not really that material.
So from where the growth is coming? Because suddenly, growth has picked up drastically compared to H1 .
I think, again, see over here, Jignesh, as we've always said before, we had started to work on this strategy. Nitin and the team had sort of picked this up and made sure that we connected with the customers, driving the value proposition with them, bringing the orders as also participating in the future growth of the innovators. So that strategy is in play, and that's what you're seeing for us. Now, if you sort of again, if you look at our operations that in the business itself, the driver for this, when the customer comes and gives you higher volume, they're always looking for your team and their capability to drive efficiencies and process improvements. And we have been successful in demonstrating that. It then starts giving us a view of the order book in the coming years.
Sure. Second thing on the Project Nectar. So Incot Client was supposed to pick up annually close to around INR 300 crore kind of order from us. And since this year, it will be operating for close to around four months, safe to assume that it will be doing around INR 80 crore from the Incot Client this year, and maybe it will ramp up to close to INR 300 crore kind of level next year. And adding to that, we extended our product basket in the Project Nectar, and we were in discussion with three to four more prospective clients. Any update on whether we are able to supply the commercial molecule to them and whether the approval process is established there?
I think, again, see, with Project Nectar, like you said, the ramp-up will be progressive. We are prioritizing safety and reliability there. It will be slow. We do not, and we've learned from our earlier sort of lessons all over. Like all organizations evolve and learn from that, right? FY25, you will see a ramp-up. It will not be a full 100% ramp-up. It will be a gradual ramp-up from where we are today. FY27, as I said, you should see the PAT that we've indicated, which necessarily means that next year, you should roughly see about 40%-45% of the PAT coming in.
Okay, and update on the potential two or three customers, apart from the incumbent customers, which we are planning to help on the approval cycle?
Which will be part of the plan, as we said, given that we've just started now, which will be the plan in the coming years, so coming year, we'll be meeting the customer's requirement both for this molecule as well as for the additional molecule that the customer has funded, which we talked about before, if you remember, and also, we will be doing some qualification batches for securing the FY27 order book.
Understood. And my last question on AHF, since now our capacity will be commissioned shortly, and we will be aiming to have a 6%-7% kind of, as you said, gradually. On the purity level to supply to EV, do we have a technology and capability, or are we thinking in that line, maybe not now, maybe down the line, or we need to have a technology tie-up if you want to venture into high-purity HF grade, which can be used for?
So like I said, one of our focus areas on HF is to improve the HF realizations, yeah, for KBN. And in that sense, we are already working on, at our end, to develop high-purity kind of HF in technological collaboration with partners, yeah. But at this stage, unfortunately, I'm unable to disclose any of that beyond what I've just said because of commercial sensitivities, yeah.
Okay. Thank you, Lord. And all the best.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhijit Akella from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, and thank you so much. Anish, by the R32 expansion project that Nitin and you alluded to earlier on the call, for which your discussions are ongoing, could you please give us some color around that? How large could the further expansion be? What timelines? How much CapEx, etc.?
Abhijit, thanks for the question. Can I request some patience on that? See, the thing is, for us, the new R32 capacity is anyway coming up, okay? So our sort of these conversations develop because effectively, what happens is when your new capacity comes in and you start seeing inquiries and you start seeing stronger inquiries, then obviously, the conversation starts moving towards saying that can we do something more meaningful that's more strategic than transactional, right? And that's exactly the conversation happening. So just bear with us. When we can disclose, we will disclose.
Okay.
Yeah.
Got it. The second one was just on the specialty chemicals disclosure about these two molecules being introduced in Q4 and Q1, the third bullet point on that slide. So are these part of the multipurpose plant or something separate?
No, no, multipurpose plant. This is securing the pipeline for future, yeah, and securing a growth opportunity that can be taken in the future if appropriate.
Got it. So this is part of the INR 270 crore revenue potential of that plant?
Yes. Indeed. Indeed.
Understood. Understood, and final thing on the.
Sorry to interrupt, Abhijit. I would request you to rejoin the queue so that the management can address as many participants as possible. The next question is from the line of Krishan Parwani from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Congrats on very strong set of numbers. Just two questions from my side. Firstly, on this INR 30 crore Surat CapEx, so just wanted to understand, would the sales be gradual in FY26 and peak in FY27? How would that be?
So INR 30 crore CapEx has got an asset turn of about 1.2-ish. And yes, you should expect that in the FY26 numbers to come in, that three-year case.
Started.
Yeah. It's already started. The project was commissioned, and the work is planned. Work is underway as we speak.
Understood. And on the CDMO side, in this presentation, you mentioned that U.S. major, the scale-up order received. So is it a new contract that you are in the midst of signing, or how is it? Can you please share some details?
So this is still at a stage where we received the scale-up order. Last time, I think it is probably the one that you're referring where we had got a pre-processed sort of order that we had received last quarter, which we delivered. We've now got a scale-up order for the same particular molecule. And yes, eventually, this may be one of those that will translate into an MSA. Like we've always said before, that we are working on certain commercial molecules, and the idea is to bring in more Fermion-type activity there, which can then sort of support the growth of CDMO beyond even the 100 million number that we said.
Okay. So you do have the capacity in order to, let's say, if you get the contracts, you have the capacity to execute it?
Yes, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay. Perfect.
I mean, Krishan, you very well know that in this business, it takes time, right? So by the time you start doing work with the customer, it's not a one-year relationship. It's a multi-year relationship. So there is enough opportunity to bond and grow together.
Understood, sir. Thank you very much for answering my questions, sir. Wish you all the best.
Thanks.
The next question is from the line of Pranita from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. My question is on the CDMO outlook, especially for FY26. Can you give us some color on that?
CDMO outlook for FY26, again, we are looking at a strong sort of growth from where we are today. But this is something that is an active area of attention by the leadership team in terms of driving the sales and the relationships, okay? Some of the molecules that we are working on and have worked in the past, we are looking to get orders back again. And that's an ongoing journey. But we remain very constructive of the business in CDMO, driven by the inquiries we are receiving and just the slate of product portfolios that we are working on.
Okay. Thank you, sir. Just one more question on the domestic refrigerant gas. I was wondering if you could give us some color on the domestic dynamics in terms of supply and demand. So what I see is that there's a lot of new supply coming in from you guys. But the current tightness, what is driving that? Is it the seasonality, or is it something more fundamental?
I think there is, so to answer your question there, the demand-supply on refrigerant gases, and in particular on R32, is a global phenomenon. It's not just India. Okay? India does play a role. I mean, OEMs, and I'm sure you track those numbers and forecast by OEMs when they talk of what they expect on the R32 market in the next couple of years. At the same time, the global demand is quite strong. We are seeing a lot of inquiries from global majors. Hence, again, I'm going to refer back to what Nitin brought up in his commentary. It's simply at the level of inquiry is such that level and the scale of the inquiry is such that you move from a transaction to a strategic conversation.
Thank you so much, sir. All the best. Yeah.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jason Soans from IDBI Capital. Please go ahead.
Sir, thanks so much for taking my question. Just wanted to know, I mean, after some subdued quarters, we are again seeing some good recovery margins also recovering to healthy 24% levels. I just wanted to know, are we looking at this EBITDA recovery? Is it sustainable? I mean, what is underneath it? Is it some demand improving, some channel restocking? Just wanted to know, could it be an inflection point for the chemical sector to recover from year-on with CapEx intensity, etc., picking up from these levels, or does the situation still remain quite difficult?
So again, see, this is not something that is by accident, right? I mean, we had said in Q3 of last year that we would drive the margins from 15% to 20% to 25%, and the focus and the priorities were set by the chairman at the time. And those priorities continue, right? So our focus is to make this very, very sustainable, and what has happened here is that while we have continued to work and work on things that we can control and make a meaningful difference internally, we have also adapted and navigated the market space by recognizing what the customer wants, what our strategic partners are looking for, and working with them closely to secure the order book. Like I said, we were okay to compromise on the EBITDA margin per unit of ACCEM product, but in the bigger benefit of a higher EBITDA number.
Some of the results that you see today are a reflection of that strategy, along with, of course, the positive tailwinds that you've seen on the HPP vertical.
Sure. And sir, just wanted to also know that, I mean, you did give quite a detailed outlook for the CDMO business. Sometime back, we were getting some good demand traction from biotech pharma as well. So just wanted to know, in terms of demand from biotech, how's the outlook from that side, from that vertical? And also, just to add with that, with this ambiguity on the BioSecure Act, does that impact us? Or regardless of that, we are on a good enough home footing in terms of the CDMO business?
No. So BioSecure obviously turned out to be a lot more muted than anybody expected it to be. But I think what it did do is raise a question with every large customer. And we are seeing the benefits of that. We're also seeing higher inquiries coming in as a result of this. Our focus in CDMO is to work with innovators in therapeutic areas where we know there is potential in the future. So things like oncology, things like neurology, those are the areas we are sort of focused on and driving. And of course, at the end of the day, matching that to our core capability on the chemistry side.
Sure. Thanks. Thanks for answering my question, sir. Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Nirav Jimudia from Anvil Research. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Good evening, and thanks for the opportunity. I have two questions. First, on the AHF side, we are on the verge of commissioning the plant. If you can share your thoughts on the availability of fluoride, which is being controlled by a few countries, Mexico, China, and Africa mostly. Some of the reports also suggest that Chinese are hastily depleting their reserves for fluoride given the kind of six, seven million tons of production they are seeing currently, given the kind of ecosystem they are building on. From a sustainability point of view, how the company plays in terms of the long-term availability and the contracts for fluoride? This is question number one, sir.
So in the same way that we have strategic relationship on our customer side, we have strategic relationship with our vendors on the fluoride part. And we don't see any supply risk on that. Certainly not even in the conversation, frankly. And I'm looking at Nitin if he has ever heard anything on supply risk or other things.
Definitely, we have not heard. We have some multiple suppliers on a long-term contract basis. But this point is very, very taken. And we also know that we need to go beyond these contracts also to secure our fluoride supply. So if you look at our expansion or the new INR 450 crore project of HF, so this particular plant can use any fluoride of any origin, right from Mexico to China to South Africa to Vietnam to Thailand. And particularly, we have spent some money on the table just to ensure that this single infrastructure can help us to play with the multiple fluoride sources to secure our supplies of fluoride.
Definitely, though we have a very strong relationship with our existing fluoride partners, we have also kept a cushion to ensure in case of any crisis, in case of any supply disruptions, we have other sources from where we can easily use the fluoride.
Yeah. No, I think that's great. I mean, so as Nitin mentioned, there is a lot of flexibility built up in the new plant to take diverse sources of fluoride.
So second question is on the inorganic fluoride business. So your FY24 annual report says that we had a decent amount of volume growth in FY24, but the pricing was under pressure. And given the kind of market leadership in aluminum, potassium, and the sodium fluoride, which we have been holding for quite a number of years, if you can share your thoughts here in terms of how this business is shaping up, whether this incremental AHF is dedicated for some of the newer products on the inorganic fluoride side, some thoughts here. Thank you so much.
Yeah. I'm going to look at Nitin to take that one.
We are basically, of course, aluminum fluoride. Definitely, we are not into that play since, I think, the last two or three decades. Our entire focus is into the salts which you spoke right now. If you see, compared to last year, our shift is towards the high-purity material. I'm not talking about these buzzwords like the electronic chemical-related salts or the EV battery-related salts. But there is a niche segment where the high-purity KF, as well as the sodium fluoride and the other inorganic salts, are playing a role. We have carved out that particular area as our focus area. That is the reason, of course, there is a price pressure, but not in the way we are looking at the normal KF price in the market.
So we have a blend of this product mix, which is, as we said, we have worked on a certain product mix, which is giving us this opportunity to help to increase our contribution line, of course, by bringing in the operational efficiencies. And of course, that is going to be our focus area. Plus, there are certain inorganic salts which are finding application in pharmaceutical industry. And fortunately, that particular demand has seen some uptick in the last two quarters. So that is also helping us.
Last verification to Mr. Anish bhai. Has the increased prices of sulfuric acid fully factored in Q3, or some bit of cost increases have to be felt in Q4 also?
Sulfuric acid prices. I mean.
Sulfuric, we are the next.
My apologies, sulfur.
Sulfur.
We haven't experienced.
It's not. I mean, whatever it is, it's in the numbers. There's nothing more to factor beyond that.
Perfect. Perfect. Thank you so much, sir, and wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Keyur Pandya from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Just one bookkeeping question is on the new plant. So the full depreciation interest and OpEx has been factored in this quarter, or that would be next quarter? And any specific reason for, say, QoQ fall in employee cost? That is first question. Second on.
Second question.
Fall in.
Fall in employee cost, Q1Q.
Okay. Okay.
Second question is on CGMP3 capacity. So what is the peak revenue that we can do from CGMP3? Last I remembered was around, say, INR 450-500 crore. And if that is the case, I mean, is it fair to assume that in the first year of operation itself, CGMP4 would achieve a INR 350 crore kind of revenue in FY27? Just two questions.
Okay. So your question on depreciation and interest for Nectar, again, the asset was capitalized on 9th of December. So from 9th of December, depreciation and interest is charged into the P&L. And you will see the full quarter effect, obviously, in the coming, in the fourth quarter of this year and then going forward, right? So that's already factored in. On employee cost, we have an ESOP reversal over there of about INR 5 crore. But we think the sustainable run rate for employee cost is going to be in the range of between INR 70-INR 75 crore per quarter. Okay. It's not going to exceed that. In fact, it will probably be coming down from 75 onwards, yeah, if I was to take the reversal out. Okay.
This sort of, again, if you see our percentage of cost to sales on employee, you will see that in Q4, we'll start to sort of bring it down more closer to 11%. It's already at 11.5% in Q3.
Okay. And on CDMO?
On CDMO, CGMP4, CGMP4 again is a CGMP4, right? I think that's what you meant, that when that asset comes in, you will start to see whether the peak revenue will start immediately. Now, CGMP4 is going to be phase one is going to be dedicated clearly to the Fermion contract. There is already very close partnership between us and Fermion as the asset is being constructed. The idea is to ramp it up very, very quickly as soon as it sort of comes on stream, yeah? Hopefully, you should be able to see the peak revenue within the year. That's what we indicated that FY27, you should start to see the number that we talked about.
The peak revenue of CGMP3?
cGMP3, one, two, and three, again, simply going by the past, which I think was in FY23, there is enough bandwidth to do up to about $50-$60 million to one, two, and three.
Noted, sir. Thanks a lot and all the best. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Surya Patra from PhillipCapital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for this opportunity, sir. So my first question is on the specialty chemical export domestic mix this quarter. It looks like that mix has reversed this quarter from the earlier trend. Anything to read out of it, sir?
Nothing other than the fact that these are supplies being made at the behest of global customer to their local supply chain partners.
Okay. So going ahead, so it is a quarter-specific story, or so nothing to read out of it, or it can continue like this going ahead?
These are campaign-driven things. So they could move from one campaign to another. Very difficult to predict because, see, again, the global innovators, and I have said this before, they are looking at increasingly flexible supply chain partners, not just with us, but with all their counterparts, right? So the flexibility means that some of these things will keep varying. I think in some sense, the export versus domestic will start to become more like a misnomer, to be honest.
Okay. This last question from my side is that, so this for the Nectar project, see, obviously, you have been consistently indicating that you have clear order book for FY25. So you have started building up visibility for FY26, sir, for this project?
See, again, Project Nectar starting now, the plan, like you always said, right, there is a dedicated portion and then.
Your voice is not audible.
Yeah. Can you hear me?
Yeah. Yeah.
Can you hear me?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
See, for Project Nectar, like we always said, right, there is a capacity which is for the dedicated portion, and then there is a capacity to our own account. The way the ramp-up plan is to first fill in the dedicated capacity because the technology belongs to the dedicated partner. We are working together in both the implementation of the project as also ramping it up. And like I said, we are also working towards making another molecule with some modifications at the behest of the same customer. So the first year will always be focused on completing the dedicated part of it. And as we do that, we will also create space to complete our qualification campaign for the open part. And that will come in the following year, which is why we had kind of always indicated that it's a two-year journey to the part.
Okay. There is no demand and cost equation or cost concern for this project to be successful or to see a kind of meaningful ramp-up. There is nothing like that.
No, nothing. I mean, nothing like that. But being cost-efficient is good for all seasons, right? So that push is always there, man.
Okay. Okay. Sure, sir. Yeah. Thank you. Wish you all the best.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in the interest of time, we would take that as the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
All right. I do thank you all for participation and all your support. Yeah. Thank you, guys.
Thank you. Thank you, everyone.
Bye.
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Navin Fluorine International Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you, and you may now disconnect your lines.