Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Navin Fluorine International Limited Q3 and 9-month FY 2026 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 call is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Pooja Swami from MUFG In-Time IR. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.
Thank you, Shruti. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Q3 and 9-month FY 2026 earnings conference call of Navin Fluorine International Limited. Today on the call we have with us Mr. Vishad Mafatlal, Chairman, Mr. Nitin Kulkarni, Managing Director, and Mr. Anish Ganatra, Chief Financial Officer. This call will contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are completely based on beliefs, opinions, and expectations as of today. Actual results may differ materially. These statements are not the guarantee of our future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. A detailed safe-harbor statement is given on page 2 of the investor presentation of the company, which is uploaded on the stock exchanges and on the company's website. With this, I hand over the call to Mr. Vishad Mafatlal for his opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Navin Fluorine's Q3 and 9-month FY 2026 earnings call. I am joined today by our Managing Director, Mr. Nitin Kulkarni, our CFO, Mr. Anish Ganatra, and Ms. Payal Dave from MUFG In-Time, our Investment Relations Advisor. The environment in which we operate continues to evolve, shaped by global developments and macroeconomic trends. While these dynamics bring their share of challenges, they also create new opportunities. I am pleased to share that we have remained resilient and agile, consistently adapting our operations to sustain growth and deliver strong outcomes. Our growth has been made possible by the relentless dedication and tireless efforts of our teams. Through focused teamwork, strong R&D initiatives, and the adoption of right technologies, we have been able to navigate diverse global scenarios.
Equally important are the deep relationships we have built with our partners, which continue to strengthen our foundation. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to every member of our team and all other stakeholders as their commitment has been the driving force behind the performance we are witnessing today. I am pleased to highlight that our cGMP-4 Phase 1 facility has commissioned based on our timelines. Post-successful validation of batches, we started commercial supplies during the quarter. Our AHF project was also successfully commissioned recently, and commercial supplies have started. We are pleased to inform you that all our ongoing CapExes are progressing well. With continued positive pricing trends and ongoing capacity expansions, we are confident that the HPP business will continue to deliver sustainable growth. Our Specialty Chemicals division has achieved its highest-ever quarterly revenue, underscoring both strong execution and deeper partnerships.
Meanwhile, the CDMO business continues to build momentum with strong order visibility. Across all our verticals, momentum remains strong, supported by clear order visibility reinforcing confidence in our growth trajectory. We are also progressing well on the advanced materials space and with initial evaluations for projects in the electronic chemical value chain. Before I hand it over to Nitin for a detailed update on the business, I'd like to briefly talk about the current global developments and the impact of the Union Budget 2026. Both the EU Free Trade Agreement and the U.S. trade deals are good news for our industry. We expect these to support our bilateral trade. The government's focus on strengthening domestic manufacturing is also very encouraging for the chemical sector.
Further, we are encouraged by the launch of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, which focuses on semiconductor manufacturing in India along with the associated ecosystem of critical supplies, including chemicals and gases. This is a positive for our advanced material businesses. With these policy supports, we believe the Indian chemical industry is well placed to grow globally, adopt advanced technologies, and contribute to higher quality exports under the Make in India and Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. Thank you once again for joining us today, and now I would like to hand over to Nitin to provide an update of our operating and business performance.
Thanks, Vishad. Good evening. Thank you for joining us on the call today. We are happy to report a strong performance across all our business verticals for the quarter as well as for the 9 months of FY 2026. For 9 months FY 2026, our revenue grew by 44% to INR 2,376 crores, while quarterly revenue increased by 47% year-on-year to INR 892 crores. Our margins for the 9 months stand at 32% compared to 21.5% in the previous year, reflecting an expansion of 1,047 basis points. This improvement has been driven by our focus to diversify our portfolio, expand our market presence, deepen strategic partnerships, and enhance customer relationships. This approach has solidified our presence as a globally trusted provider of diverse fluorochemical solutions while fueling growth in a competitive landscape.
While focusing on this growth journey, we have also kept ourselves nimble and disciplined by relentlessly focusing on maximizing operational efficiencies, strengthening R&D, enhancing technology platforms, and optimizing supply chain. Talking about our business verticals, our HPP business delivered a strong and consistent performance during the quarter. Revenue for quarter 3 FY 2026 stood at INR 412 crores, registering a 35% year-on-year growth compared to INR 306 crores in quarter 3 FY 2025. The growth was driven by a combination of higher realizations and improved volumes supported by a constructive price environment. We are pleased to inform you that the AHF project has been successfully commissioned during quarter 4 FY 2026. Additionally, the CapEx for incremental HFC capacity equivalent up to 15,000 metric tons per annum of R-32 is progressing as planned and is expected to be commissioned in quarter 3 FY 2027.
Coming to our specialty chemical business, quarter 3 FY 2026 reflects a strong quarter for this segment. Revenues increased to INR 354 crores, reflecting a 60% year-on-year growth over INR 221 crores in the quarter 3 FY 2025, making this the highest-ever quarterly revenue for this specialty chemical vertical. The outlook remains strong and encouraging, supported by strong order visibility for Q4 and beyond. Our product pipeline continues to gain strength with scale-up in existing molecules and several new molecule launches are lined up. On the project front, the Chemours project is progressing well and is on track for completion in quarter 1 FY 2027. Further, the debottlenecking of MPP capacity at our Dahej facility is expected to commission in quarter 3 FY 2027, which will further enhance our capabilities. Moving to our CDMO business, this segment continues to demonstrate strong momentum with improved visibility.
Revenue for quarter 3 FY 2026 stood at INR 127 crore, growing 61% year-on-year from INR 79 crore in quarter 3 FY 2025, driven by strong execution and customer traction. During the quarter, we achieved a significant milestone with our European CDMO partner as we have successfully completed validation and commercial supplies commencing from our cGMP-4 facility. This engagement provides strong revenue visibility over the next three years. We have also concluded supplies for material orders from a major EU customer, with discussions also underway for future supplies. Additionally, another scale-up order from a large European customer is scheduled for quarter 4 FY 2026 deliveries. On the advanced material space, we continue to progress on multiple projects to become part of the overall semiconductor and electronic value chain. We are evaluating all these opportunities and will update you in the near future.
With that, I will hand it over to Anish for financial update.
Thank you, Nitin. Good evening, everyone, and welcome once again to our earnings call. I will now walk you through the company's financial performance for Q3 and 9 months of FY 2026. Looking at our quarterly performance on a consolidated basis, our revenue for Q3 FY 2026 came in at INR 892 crores, reflecting a growth of 47% year-on-year and 18% sequentially driven by strong contribution from all verticals. Operating EBITDA stood at INR 308 crores, up 109% year-on-year and 25% quarter-on-quarter. EBITDA margins improved to 34.5% compared to 24.3% in Q3 FY2025 and 32.5% in Q2 FY 2026, driven by improved realization and operating efficiencies. Operating PBT increased to INR 243 crores versus INR 98 crores in Q3 FY25 and INR 179 crores in Q2 FY 2026, marking a growth of 149% year-on-year growth and 36% sequential growth.
Profit after tax for the quarter stood at INR 185 crores, recording a growth of 122% year-on-year and 25% quarter-on-quarter. On a 9-month basis, our revenue was INR 2,376 crores compared to INR 1,648 crores in the same period last year, a growth of 44%. Notably, I would like to highlight that we have surpassed our full-year revenue number of FY 2025 within the first 9 months of FY 2026. Operating EBITDA reached INR 761 crores, up 114% from INR 355 crores in the 9-month period ending for FY 2025. EBITDA margins improved to 32% versus 21.5% in the prior year same period. Profit after tax for 9 months stood at INR 451 crores, 56% higher to full-year FY 2025 PAT of INR 289 crores. As of December 31, 2025, our net debt-to-equity ratio stood at 0.03x, and net working capital was below 80 days of sales.
This reflects a disciplined approach to access growth. Before I conclude my remarks, I would like to summarize the key takeaways. One, our earnings growth rate surpasses the growth rate in revenue, resulting in operating leverage coming to play. Growth reflects the performance across all verticals. Execution of Wave 1 projects, AHF, cGMP-4, concluded and commissioned during the quarter, with this Wave 1 of CapEx projects concludes and Wave 2 projects, namely the MPP debottlenecking, the R-32 expansion, HFC expansion, and the Chemours project, are on track for completion as indicated. Strong project pipeline across the verticals, again, continues to fuel opportunities for future growth. Financial framework remains conducive to growth. With that, I conclude my remark and open the floor for questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on 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, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Sanjay Jain from ICICI Securities. Please proceed.
Yeah, thanks. Good evening, and thanks for taking my question, and congratulations for a very good set of numbers. I got a few questions here. First, from the Navin Fluorine Advanced Sciences, it appears to be doing significantly better sequentially. The revenue consolidated and standalone stands at INR 322 crores versus INR 196 crores. So there is a growth of INR 126 crores sequentially. Can you help us understand what segment is driving such a sharp improvement? And we had three large projects within it: HFO, dedicated plant, and MPP3. Where are we in the utilization cycle for all these projects? Thank you.
Okay. You want me to take this, or you want to just put your questions first?
No, let me finish this, and then probably I'll go for the others.
Okay. So Navin Fluorine Advanced Sciences is, again, you're absolutely right. Sequentially, the growth is solid, but it's also something that one would expect to see because, as we've indicated in the past, there has been a pipeline of projects in the specialty vertical, including the Nectar Ramp-Up. So those two are playing out very well in Navin Fluorine Advanced Sciences, which is what you see in the numbers. I would like to also put this thing in, which is specialty vertical for this quarter is reported a number of INR 350 crore, which in some sense sets up a solid run rate of what we should expect the specialty business to deliver going forward. And of course, there will be further drivers of growth with the Wave 2 CapExes that we've announced, yeah?
Got it. And utilization for all the three projects?
Utilization for the MPP1 is solid. For the full year, we expect to almost hit the par. Utilization for MPP2 is about 80%-70%, around in that range, but we expect that to pick up in the coming year. Utilization for Nectar is, again, as we'd always said, this year we would hit roughly 50% of the par, so we are on track for that.
Dedicated plant?
Dedicated plant, I told you, about 70%, yeah?
Okay, 70%. Also, there is still headroom to grow from here for Navin Advanced Sciences, that implies?
No, indeed, indeed. I mean, for Navin Advanced Sciences, with the AHF commissioning, you will further see growth coming in from there in the vertical as well. And also, what we've announced on MPP debottlenecking, that will also give further growth coming into the future. So in a sense, last quarter when we announced the debottlenecking project, we had very clearly said that we are coming to a point in the specialty business where our strategy of working closely with the global innovators is paying off, which is why we announced the debottlenecking project because we were seeing that the capacity addition would be value-accretive.
Got it, got it. But if I look at the commentary from other chemical companies, everybody is struggling for AgChem cycle, not picking up probably as everybody thought. That's not really hurting us. Are we doing anything different in AgChem, or is it just a base effect, or there is a mix between AgChem and non-AgChem within the MPP?
No, so I think. Sanjay, you've got to go back to a commentary a couple of quarters ago where we said that we had started working proactively with the global majors to be their technology partners in their supply chain and not just a pure relationship which is transactional, right? And I think that, along with the combined effort of our R&D manufacturing teams and the business teams, is actually playing out in what you see in the numbers, yeah?
Got it. But it is largely AgChem-driven, right, as of now, within the specialty?
Yes, indeed, indeed, indeed, indeed.
Got it. The second question on the margin and AHF, both put together. Now that AHF plant has commissioned, we will sell more, we will buy less, which should be margin-accretive, and we are already at 34.5%. How should we think about this?
So I think you're right on the first part of the statement, sell more and buy less. There is absolutely no doubt. And as you know, we always see AHF as a mother plant, right? So the HFC capacity that we've announced, obviously, will sort of come into play in utilizing some of that added capacity. And we will be out also in the trade market. There's no doubt about that. But I think the bigger game here is how do we use the new AHF capacity to advance the vertical that we are incubating, the advanced materials vertical. And there, as Nitin mentioned, there are several projects that we are working actively on, and hopefully, some of them should kind of move into traction in the near future, yeah? We'll keep you guys updated.
And on the margin, Anish?
On the margin, I think we have always said 25. I think it's now safe to think of Navin as a 30% annual number, but let's not kind of hold that on a quarterly sort of treadmill run rate, yeah? So it will be an annualized number that we are looking at, 30%, give or take ±200 basis points, but that's where we would be. This year, clearly, as you will see the numbers and the math will be in front of you, that we would be hitting or crossing the 30% number, yeah?
Correct, correct. Anish, one last question from my side. I know there are others in the queue. On the AHF, we rightly said there is an electronic and semiconductor opportunity there, but why not solar? I think we have been downplaying solar while solar production in India is picking up so strongly, and there are larger players who are entering, and that requires a good amount of HF. I know not at the purity of semiconductor, but not even that normal HF works there. Somewhere in between. But why are we not playing that?
So Sanjay, as you said, we never said we are not playing into it. I think what we are saying, and this is really important to understand, that solar is a part of the journey to get to electronics grade, and that's what we will do. We will get to electronics grade, but it does not exclude solar. There will be solar, and there will be electronic grade. But we want to bake this CapEx in a manner that we are able to access electronic grade, yeah? So that's why it's taking some time, but hopefully, not too long, yeah?
Got it, got it. And this plant is supposed to come in when, the Buss Technology-related plant?
Like I said before, Bush or no Bush, we will move, and that's what we are doing. We're actively working on this, and you should see something, hopefully, in the coming quarters.
Anything on the BF3 for a semiconductor application?
It's part of the equation. So as we get into electronic grade, you have high purity of all the chemical gases. We are going to play on our strengths of fluorination and get into downstream higher purity gases, of which, of course, BF3 is one of them as well.
Very clear, Anish. Thanks, thanks for taking all those questions so patiently, and best of luck for the coming quarters.
Thank you, Sanjay.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nitesh. From Anand Rathi, please proceed.
Yeah, hi team. Thank you. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. Again, on the consolidated minus standalone, there is a subsidiary EBITDA margin in the last couple of quarters ever since the specialty molecule started ramping up. There is a surge to 45% from around 28% there. Gross margin in this period has increased by about 400 basis points only. Seems there is hardly any OpEx increase in the last couple of quarters. I mean, the EBITDA on the incremental revenue seems to be north of 65% there. So could you kindly give us some color here? I mean, if this is a sustainable margin profile of the specialty molecules here, or there is something more to this surge in the margin?
So Nitesh, thanks, but I don't think the EBITDA is 65% north. I think there is some you're looking at some numbers, but in principle, you're directionally, the comment is correct that the margins in the subsidiary are looking better, and so is NFIL also. What one has to remember, see, we've always communicated this very strongly in the investor community and to you guys, is that our priority has always remained on manufacturing excellence as number one priority. We are consistently driving economies and removing inefficiencies in the system. And that's why you see a solid control on cost. That's why you see a solid control on innovation in terms of trying to bring in better processes, improved processes, higher yields, and lower losses. So some of this you will naturally see. One has to remember also that NFASL is not a listed entity.
It doesn't have the same overhead structure as NFIL, which is a listed entity. But there is a proper transfer pricing arm's length association between these two companies to transfer the costs between the two sort of entities. There isn't anything that you're seeing unusual there. Perhaps it was something that one would expect. In a scenario where we are, you will always, and like we said, even last quarter, you will see operating leverage play out very nicely in Navin, yeah?
Sure, sure, sir. So okay. So the second one is on the refrigerants a bit. So has there been a change in the exports to domestic mix on the R-32 side, and the reasons maybe that you can attribute there? And how much has been our R-32 utilization in Q3? And any significant increase sequentially that you might be seeing?
So R-32 utilization has been 100%. Of course, in this quarter, we've taken a shutdown for Agro One, which is a usual shutdown, plant shutdown for catalyst changeover. But the mix between export-domestics is actually not materially different from what it used to be. Of course, as we are preparing for the new capacity to come on stream, we are also looking at expanding our market reach, which also is happening simultaneously. So a lot of this you will see moving past because we've got to make sure that we are able to place the new upcoming portfolio as well. And there are certain sort of accesses that we are looking to get globally on R-32 as well.
Sure. Just one last maybe before I get back into the queue. With the Chemours project on track for completion in Q1, could you give us a sense of the revenue ramp-up over there? I mean, over FY 2027 to 2029. FY 2027 is a partial year. And I mean, how the margins should be thought about relative to the overall business without getting into specific numbers there?
So like I said, the Chemours initiates the project, is an initial capacity to drive an accelerated adoption of the product in the market. As we've said previously, we are under a confidential agreement to not talk about the quantities or the revenue associated with that, but the size of the CapEx should give you a decent feel. This CapEx, as it sort of progresses to access the overall market of liquid cooling, will sort of come into fruition two years once it starts off. That's when we will start to talk of how and what sort of a bigger CapEx looks like. And at that stage, we can possibly talk a little bit more on the future outlook of the revenues, etc. But just to give you a sense, the liquid cooling market, I believe, is close to about $3 billion potential.
Two-phase cooling is one part of the solution, critical and necessary part of the solution to support the data center growth in the world driven by AI, yeah?
Sure, sir. Thanks a lot for answering my questions. Wish you all the best for the future. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jason from IDBI Capital. Please proceed.
Yes, sir. Thanks for taking my question. The first question just pertains to—I mean, you've been saying that for the HF plant, we'll basically look at increasing or basically keeping our realization highest, increasing our realization per kg? Now, I just wanted to just confirm how much of the 40,000 will be used captively, and how much will be sold externally?
I think the answer there is sort of implicit in your question in a sense, Jason. If I have to get more realization, I have to keep consuming captively more and more. The trick and the business strategy is to consume it into more and more niche chemistries and advanced plays.
Okay. But do we have any, sir, any ballpark target in mind for a proportion?
So like I've said before, this is a license to grow capacity or license to dream capacity. And in a sense, by putting this capacity, we are signaling that we will continue to develop chemistry and capability in downstream applications to grow this. Now, how and what, frankly, we've talked about in all the verticals, including the play that I've talked about in advanced materials where we said we will go on the back of fluorinated chemistries. So it's very easy for you guys to figure out what that market size is and what the potential is, particularly given the trust that the Indian government has now put in on semiconductor manufacturing and data centers in India along with the right sort of incentive structures, yeah? So I think over there, again, at this stage, all I would say, license to operate. I mean, think of it this way, Jason.
We wouldn't have been able to do or access R-32 opportunity if we didn't have the HF.
Right, sir. Right, sir. Sure, sure. Yeah. And sir, just about this cooling liquid market you said, it's a total market of $3 billion. Is that right?
Yeah. I think the $3 billion is the potential market size, yeah, of total liquids. Talking from memory, but that's what it is, yeah?
Yeah. But it's on a global scale. That's what you're saying, right?
Yeah, yeah. Global scale. Correct.
Yeah. Global scale. Sure. Sir, just wanted to know in the HPP segment.
Mr. Jason, may we request you to join the question queue as there are other several participants waiting for their turn?
Okay. Sure, sure.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. The next question is from the line of Rohit from 360 ONE Asset Management. Please proceed.
Thanks for the opportunity, and congrats on a very strong set of numbers. First question on the Nectar project. So you alluded that for this year, we are on track of utilizing the capacity, half of the capacity. Are we also on track to utilize the other half in FY 2027, just for a broader perspective on this year? Thank you.
So we are working to secure the other half. If not other half, we should be pretty close. That's what our aim is, yeah?
That's helpful. And second question, in terms of the nine-month staff cost has been largely flattish. I understand that we have been optimizing across the board. What is the sense in terms of from here on, will there be a natural inflation-adjusted growth in the staff cost?
So I think there will be two things playing out. As you look into the forward, you will see that the bar numbers we've indicated for various projects will give you a certain growth rate that is implicit in Navin's performance as we've reported today. And you will see that that will also entail that we will be taking certain calls on capability enhancement across the organization. So you will see a combination. But I think a safe bet is to look at what we are saying, 7%-8% of revenue as our employee cost. See, we were historically at a two-digit number, but I think we've now contained it to where we should be in terms of comparison to peers or where we think it's appropriate. And that's what I would do if I was to model in your place.
Sure. Just one last clarification. On a sequential basis, where we stand today in this quarter, are we also expecting on all the three segments, we are fairly confident of growth?
So absolutely. I mean, like we've said before, all three verticals have performed, and all three verticals continue to demonstrate the capability to access the opportunity. Some of that is clearly visible in the CapExes we've already announced, and which we will continue to do as we progress our projects in a disciplined manner. With CDMO, obviously, with every month going by, we are getting closer, and we are inching closer to our aspirational number of $100 million.
Perfect. That's helpful, and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Surya from PhillipCapital. Please proceed.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity, and congrats on the great set of numbers, sir. So my first question is on the cGMP-4 plant, phase one that we have commercialized. So since that is a dedicated unit for the known partner, when do you expect the optimum utilization of the plant, sir?
Within the year. In FY 2027, you will see full optimum utilization.
Okay. That is one.
You heard me, sorry, I was a bit soft.
No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So within a year that you mentioned. Is that right, sir?
Yeah. Yeah, correct.
Okay. Second was that the kind of a positive surprise, obviously, because of the kind of subsidiaries contributing incrementally as well as the E-Chem contributing, the specialty contributing, all that. But any element of quarter-specific contribution that whether we are seeing either in terms of revenue or in terms of margin?
No, I think, see, one thing I know I hear you say surprise, but frankly, all of this is in line with the CapExes and the bars we've announced. We've always said, in fact, last year, I remember Nitin and I explicitly mentioned that as we got into FY 2026, the first half of this year was going to look at the last half of last year, right? And so this is in line with what we've always been working towards. And one thing also, the only exceptional item that you talked about is the exceptional item we reported in the numbers, which is as a result of the new labor code.
Yeah, yeah. Just one more point, sir, on the HF thing. So see, that is obviously, we are targeting for the new age industries application. So if you can give some more sense about whether the product with how many customers that we have validated, whether the customers are the local Indian ones or it is even external market that we have validated our product for the new age industry application. So if you give some more sense on that, it would be really helpful.
There are several projects we are working on, and these are with a wide range of customers, largely global, spread across different geographies, and they are in different stages. But I'm sure, Surya, you will understand there's a lot of commercial sensitivity to these conversations. But I think I have indicated sufficient in terms of saying that this will be from downstream fluorinated chemistries, and they will be niche plays. We do not want to get into me-too kind of products, yeah?
Okay. And just my point that whether we are targeting the evolving semiconductor industry in India or something like that, that is a kind of opportunity for the new age industry, or it is even the global market that we are trying to tap?
It will be new age across the world, including India. No doubt about it.
Yeah. Great, sir. Congratulations. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhijit from Kotak Securities. Please proceed.
Yeah. Thank you so much. The gross margins, sir, despite a sharply higher salience of specialty chemicals this quarter, the gross margins have still remained stable or moved up a little bit sequentially. So is this coming primarily because of maybe higher realizations in HPP or a better mix, regional mix in HPP? What might the reason be there?
Yeah, Abhijit, so you're looking at consolidated minus standalone, and you're talking of NFASL? You're talking NFIL when you make that comment?
No, I was looking at the consolidated gross margins.
Yeah. So consolidated gross margin captures both. It captures the pricing and the realizations that we've had on the HFC and HPP front. It captures also the optimization and manufacturing excellence piece I spoke shortly ago about into the specialty, into HPP as well, frankly. And also, it captures the increased mix coming from CDMO. So it's all three verticals actually contributing well. And as we talk to our customers, see, even in the specialty vertical, the agrochem players are projecting a good outlook for volume growth in the coming year. Now, pricing pressure, we've always said, will remain part of this business. If you remember my early commentary, I told you how this shifts from being a lift-shift-adopt model to a lift-shift-adapt-embed model.
That's what the power of the integrated teams comes into play there, where you can bring R&D manufacturing business teams into defining how you can add value as a solution provider to your customers, yeah?
Yep. Sure. Thank you. No, just to clarify my question, maybe a little more detail. So on a sequential basis, when I look at it, 2Q versus 3Q, HPP revenues and CDMO revenues are almost stable sequentially. Specialty chemicals is the one that's driven pretty much all the growth. And one would have expected that the gross margins on specialty chemicals might have been lower compared to the rest of the portfolio. Yet, we see the gross margins are pretty much stable at the consolidated level, 58.8 versus 58.7. So I was just trying to understand whether there's been a margin improvement in any of these in any of the three verticals. And if so, what might be driving that?
Margin improvement has been in CDMO, has been in HPP. Specialty remains largely flat. But obviously, what you're seeing is the operating leverage is also playing a big role in the earnings growth. And that one has to remember.
Yeah. Yeah. I was just referring to gross margins. So I guess that wouldn't count up. Yeah. Okay. So margins have improved in both CDMO as well as HPP.
Yes, yes.
Got it. Just on the domestic sales of R-32, are the margins superior to the international sales?
No, not necessarily. I mean, we are having a good average realization across both markets, but I believe exports tend to be better than domestic.
Okay. Got it. Thank you so much. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vivek from Morgan Stanley. Please proceed.
Hi, sir. Congratulations on fantastic set of numbers. Just on the margin front, given that all your manufacturing initiatives and the excellence that you've done are sustainable, are there any factors that you're monitoring that could pose some sort of a risk to these margins beyond the price and volatility that you've previously flagged?
No, so you're right. So the only issue, and I'm sure you guys know it, the price of sulfur keeps increasing. The price of fluorspar is increasing. So there are input costs that are going higher. And therefore, obviously, that's something that we monitor very closely, and we work in to make sure that our pricing decisions reflect this accurately then.
Sure, sir. And I'll close on cue, and all the very best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Arun from Avendus Spark. Please proceed.
Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. Anish, my first question is once again on these specialty chemicals. Sequentially, we have delivered roughly 120-130 gross growth. Is it safe to assume that largely this is coming from the Nectar?
Most of it, this is coming from a combination of Nectar and other products in the pipeline where we have scale-up orders. So it's a combination of the two. A good proportion, of course, is the Nectar project where we concluded a campaign, yeah?
The ex-Nectar growth is from catalog sales or from our other legacy assets?
I don't do anything that's catalog here. I'm basically doing it as a service provider for the large majors anyways.
Okay. So this is largely from the large molecules that we are doing on.
Yeah, yeah. Because you remember, we had always talked about the fact that every quarter, our intent is to do one or two new molecules in AgChem so that pipeline, which was anyway strong and being built up, is starting to sort of yield results.
Right, right. When you said that agrochemicals, the volume outlook looks very good. Given that we have a good capacity left, would we be seeking more volumes at the expense of margins because we are anyway good in margins at the console levels? Should we expect that we be picking large market share in the volume to gain volume market share?
So Arun, first, I just want to if I said it, I'll stand corrected. I said the outlook looks better because if you look at it, the AgChem sector has gone through some rough weather over the last two years, right? So the next year seems to be an outlook where people are saying there will be a volume uptick. Now, how much that is, frankly, I don't know at this stage. Is the pricing pressure always going to be in the AgChem business? It is always going to be there. I don't think that that shift we have to all make in our minds.
And like I said, as Navin, we were possibly early recognizers to that trend where we started to change the way we looked at our customers, driving a portfolio-based conversation, focusing more on driving process improvements, etc., and therefore then becoming a long-term solution provider to our customers rather than just a mere supply chain contractor. So I think that is intact, and I don't think that strategy will change, frankly.
Understood. And then when you earlier said that we should look at the margins at 30% ± 200, from current levels, at a downside risk, we are looking at the 400 dips reduction in the margins. And if at all that scenario were to play out, which products or segment would drive this down according to you?
So Arun, I am afraid it's not as linear as what you say. See, the current margins are a reflection of the product mix in the current quarter. Now, yes, if I had my wishful thinking that the product mix would be the same, the campaigns would be the same, the cost structures would be the same, I would be exactly where you are. But that's not how life is. So we have a campaign-driven mechanism where some products yield better margins, some products yield slightly lesser margins. So what I'm saying here is that on an annualized basis, we should look at Navin to hit roughly 30% as EBITDA margins, plus-minus, give or take whatever percentage points, yeah? But we should be nearer that number on an annualized basis, yeah, and in the longer term, but not sort of quarterly run rates, etc. So that's all I'm saying.
No, I understood, Anish. Perhaps I'll put it differently. Which segment do you think is at the risk of seeing margin reduction or which products that I mean, where you see probably we are seeing the best of the pricing, and probably we should be watching out for? That's where I'm coming from.
I don't think that's the right way to look at it now because, see, we've got three diversified businesses, three businesses with different market dynamics playing into it. And within those businesses, different campaigns yield different margins, yeah? So are we kind of going to say that one margin goes up or down? There's a product mix play, man. So that will continue to be, unfortunately, the reality. I mean, that's all I can, frankly, say, Arun.
Okay, okay. Understood, understood. My second question is on HR.
May we request you to join the question queue again? There are other seven questions.
Sure.
Thank you.
We'll get back to that.
Sorry, just while we are doing that, I think it was Abhijit who had asked the question on R-32 realizations. I just stand corrected. Our export realizations are better than the domestic ones, yeah? So I'll just put that on the table. Yeah.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to one per participant. The next question is from the line of Sajal Kapoor from Antifragile Thinking. Please proceed.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. I've only got one question. Sir, Navin has built a solid track record in high-value fluorochemicals over the decades and then also in CRAMS or CDMO. In your view, what separates the specialty chemical companies that kind of consistently grow and maintain leadership from those that remain subscale or lose relevance? In other words, if a well-capitalized, competent, new entrant attempts to build an INR 1,000 crore specialty stroke CDMO business over time, where might they struggle the most and why? Thank you.
I think we could run a class on this, but that's not the intent of this call. We are focused on ourselves, to be honest, and we are focused on growing in a disciplined manner. Frankly, we've put in a lot of effort over the last year and a half, two years to get this model right and get it to a level where we can plug and play it so that eventually, the growth opportunities can be secured, yeah? But maybe we can, Sajal, leave that for a separate conversation in a separate forum, maybe.
Sure, sure, sure. I'll request one then. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Meera from Anvil Wealth. Please proceed.
Yes, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Just one quick question. Sir, with respect to this EU deal where India and the EU entered into an FTA, is there any raw material which we are currently importing from the EU where the duties are probably higher and which eventually could help us in bringing down our raw material cost? Because when I see our annual report, I think last year we imported close to around INR 350 crore of imports. So that is A and B. With this deal, have we become more opportunity in terms of getting more business from those geographies where the recent appreciation of Chinese currency and this removal of trade tariffs can enable us to better strengthen our position into those markets? Your views, yes, sir. Thank you.
So I mean, in terms of RM imports from the U.S. or the E.U., very limited, if at all. I mean, the E.U., we possibly drew something from Turkey, but nothing beyond that, right? So it's not that. In regard to your second question on whether these trade deals are positive and offer an opportunity, I think they definitely do. I mean, there is an absolute leverage that it provides us in terms of making us relatively competitive versus our peers in the region. So there is no doubt about that. And I think beyond just the pricing side, one should look at these trade deals to effectively ease the doing of business between geographies. And I think that's the bigger value in the long term.
Correct. Sir, one more thing. Is it possible to share? Last year, we did something around INR 2,380 crore of sales, and in nine months, also, the amount was equivalent to that. So have our exports to the EU gone up in between these years, like FY 2025 and nine months of FY 2026? Can you share your views here?
I think you will definitely find exports going up because if you're growing at the rate that we are, every geography will supply more, and also, we will expand into newer geographies. But our growth engine, and as you know, in this industry we are, it's an infrastructure-led growth. So every time we announce a CapEx, we indicate the PAR. You guys know the customer. So it's pretty easy to figure out where the material is going and how it's going. But definitely, there would be increase because we've added the Nectar plant, as we were talking earlier on the call, and a lot of those supplies get into the EU. So you will definitely find those scenarios changing, yeah?
Got it, sir. Thank you so much.
Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Archit Joshi from Nuvama. Please proceed.
Hi. Good evening, sir, and thanks a lot for the opportunity, and congrats on a great set of numbers. Just one question on CDMO. I think the MSA that you have signed with the first EU major, the final product of which continues to access newer geographies with approvals in countries like China and was as recent as a week ago. Now, should that, sir, warrant for a market share to increase over a midterm time frame, or the projections made for the final product are something that already are baked into what we expect as cGMP-4 ramps up? One additional question to that, we have also spoken of another EU major where possibly future shipments can also ramp up and help us get closer to the $100 million mark in CDMO.
Any developments that you would like to give us qualitatively to understand this better, the path of CDMO growth in the future? Thank you.
Sure, sure, Abhijit. I mean, I think CDMO is seeing some significant and good tailwinds, yeah? I mean, the CDMO, as you talked about, the MSA with the European major where the molecule is continuously seeing product extensions and expansions, you will see that we will be in a position to fully utilize our capacity in the coming year itself, which is a dedicated plan for that. And also, as we've mentioned in our commentary in the slides, with CDMO, I think now we have a solid balance of early and late-stage or commercial molecules. If I remember correctly, it's largely 50/50 split, which is a great place to be in because every late and commercial-stage molecule that we are working on has the potential to quickly convert into revenues depending on readouts, etc.
I think with the balanced portfolio that we have and the growth in the underlying European MSA, we are inching closer and closer to that aspirational number.
Sure, sir. Got it. Sir, just the second part of my question about the readout, I think you briefly touched upon that. Would there be anything more that you would like to know about it given where are we headed to? Is there a solid expectation coming on that account as well, which will probably be another feather in our cap, second CDMO contract? So all yours on that, sir.
Yeah. So again, like I said, the balanced molecules that we are talking about, late and commercial, including the EU major you're talking about, there is more than one molecule that we are expecting a readout coming in the year. And therefore, there is a good potential to access that growth opportunity. There's no doubt about that.
Got it, sir. All the best for that and all the best for the coming quarters. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks, Archit. That was the last question. On behalf of Navin Fluorine International Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.
Thank you.