Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ronak Saraf. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Advanced Enzyme Technologies Q3 and nine-month FY 2024 Earnings Conference Call. I am Ronak Saraf, the Manager, Investor Relations here at Advanced Enzyme Technologies. We hope you all have gone through our financials, press release, and our presentation, which has been posted in the investor relations section of our website. We have with us Mr. Vasant Rathi, Chairperson and Non-Executive Director, and Mr. Beni Prasad Rauka, Group CFO. Today, the management will discuss the performance and business highlights, update on strategies, and respond to any questions that you may have.
As usual, for the ease of discussion, we will look at the consolidated financials. Before we proceed, I would like to draw your attention to the forward-looking statement contained in the PPT. During our call, we may make forward-looking statements regarding our expectation or prediction about the future. Because these statements are based on current assumptions and factors that involve risk and uncertainty, our actual performance and results may differ materially from our forward-looking statements. So without any further ado, we shall commence this call. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Ronak. Good evening, everyone. I really appreciate you all for taking your very valuable time, and I welcome you all to the conference call for the Q3 and nine months ended 31 December 2023. I'd like to start by giving a brief summary of macroeconomic conditions that could affect the company. In U.S., things have started to improve. Geopolitically, tensions are increasing the flow, which might affect commodities, interest rates, and consumer spending. As we all know, yesterday, U.K., Japan, both of them, those countries, are going into recession. The domestic economy is also doing well, so we see an adequate demand overall. The trade due to ongoing Red Sea issues could have an effect, mostly on freight, which could lead to longer supply chains. And we all know what happens with the longer supply chain during the COVID.
During the quarter, we have recorded a growth, in last, in last nine months, we have witnessed top line growth of 16%, and our profitability has also improved on sequential basis for nine months by 49%. Now, this quarterly performance. We have achieved top line of INR 1,609 million, the growth of 13% on year-on-year basis and 2% on sequential basis in quarter three. Our EBITDA stood at INR 538 million, grew by 29% on a year-on-year basis and 5% on sequential basis. We have witnessed a good growth of 52% in bottom line on year-on-year basis, while sequential basis, it grew by 21%. There is an improvement on the margin side as well.
EBITDA margin stood at 33% and PAT margin stood at 26% during quarter three, as compared to 29% and 20% respectively for quarter three of the last year. Double-digit growth in the bottom line is because of our improved top line, change in product mix, and a higher other income. The overall trend across our business has remained upbeat. Talking about some segments, segment-wide performance. Human Nutrition, which is our main engine of the growth, is Human Nutrition segment, as usual, remains the highest contributor in the revenue pie of 69%. It grew by 19% on year-on-year basis and 5% on sequential basis. International market, primarily in USA, supported the numbers in Human Nutrition. Animal Nutrition. Our Animal Nutrition business contributed 10% to the revenue in quarter three.
This segment is little lacking, and we grew by 8% on year-on-year basis and 6% on sequential basis. Bioprocessing segment grew by around 5% on year-on-year basis, while we have witnessed a slight decline in 2% on sequential basis. This segment contributed 15% to the revenue. The food business grew by 21%, while non-food business reported a decline of 36% on year-on-year basis. The Specialized Manufacturing segment contributed 6% and grew by 20% on year-on-year basis and 1% on sequential basis. As you can see, overall, our confidence in the business remains very high, and we are moving ahead with a clear focus on our target segments. During the quarter, we have also acquired an additional stake of 5.89% in JC Biotech for the total cash consideration of INR 56.07 million. Post completion of this acquisition, the shareholding of the Advanced Enzymes will increase to 95.72%. With this, let me conclude my remarks and now hand over the call to Mr. Rauka. He will walk you through the financials and key subsidiary numbers. Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. Good evening, everyone. I hope you all are in good health. Let me brief you about the financials of the company during the quarter gone by. On the company's consolidated financials for the Q3 and nine months of the fiscal year 2024. On year-on-year basis, our top line has grew to INR 1,609 million, as compared to INR 1,421 million of last year Q3, increase of 13%. EBITDA is increased from INR 417 million to INR 538 million. This is 33% of our revenue, as compared to 29% last year. Profit before tax increased to INR 589 million, from INR 404 million last year quarter three, a 37% of our revenue.
Profit after tax increased to INR 425 million, and the increase is from INR 279 million, so this works out to be 26% of our revenue. Quarter-on-quarter basis, sequential revenue increased by INR 31 million from INR 1,578 million to INR 1,609 million, an increase of 2%, and EBITDA increase is 5% from INR 513 million to INR 538 million. Profit before tax increased from INR 479 million to INR 589 million. This works out to be 37% of our revenue. Profit after tax has increased to INR 425 million, 26% of our revenue, as compared to 22% in the last year, Q3.
Nine months performance, the revenue is increased by 16%, as Vasant has already mentioned, from INR 4,019 million to INR 4,660 million, and the profit before tax is increased by 51%. Profit after tax is increased by 49% from INR 718 million to INR 1,071 million. This is 23% of our top line, as compared to 18% in nine months of previous year. So EBITDA increase is about from INR 1,123 million to INR 1,491 million, which works out to be 32% of our top line as compared to 28% last year. Let me give you some number of our subsidiaries. JC Biotech continues to be positive.
During the quarter, top line of INR 176 million, EBITDA of INR 33 million, and PAT of INR 14 million. So for nine months, we have seen a 22% of growth in top line of JC Biotech, and EBITDA is increased from INR 16 million to INR 59 million, and last year it had a loss of about INR 8 million. It is now in profit of INR 16 million. Evoxx continues to be EBITDA negative for the nine months, and overall, the top line is also decreased by 9%. The company is in loss of about INR 26 million for nine months, as compared to INR 10 million of profit during last year, nine months. SciTech has performed well. Overall, this quarter, top line of INR 104 million, EBITDA of INR 17 million, and PAT of INR 4 million.
For nine months, it has recorded a sale of INR 304 million, as compared to 236. So top line growth of 29% and EBITDA of INR 38 million, as compared to negative EBITDA of INR 30 million last year. PAT during nine months is about INR 12 million, as compared to 50 million loss last year, nine months. Our R&D spend is about INR 202 million, as compared to INR 290 million last year. That works out to be 7% of our top line on standalone basis. On consolidated basis, we continue to spend about 3%-4% of our revenue on research and development activities. This year, this is slightly down because of the CapEx is lower, that, that will be capitalized over a period of time. The capital cost in progress of our R&D lab is still going on. The largest selling product continues to be in the range of, what? 22%-23%. Top 10 customer sale is about 26%-27%. B2C segment has contributed a growth of about 4.4%. So this year it is INR 3.79 million, as compared to INR 3.63 million last year. So this is all from my side. Now we open the floor for question answer sessions.
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 withdraw 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 Abhishek Nawalgund from Nirmal Bang Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, so thanks for the opportunity and good set of numbers. So my first question is on the nutrition segment in the international Human Nutrition pie. So after, I think, the multiple quarters of, you know, so, you know, similar kind of growth rate that you are maintaining on quarterly basis, I think, we have seen some good growth coming in, and you have mentioned in the opening remarks also that it's largely led by U.S. So could you please give some more color on this segment and how do you see coming quarters, as far as this particular segment is concerned?
Thank you, Abhishek. You can see that our major segment is the Human Nutrition, and U.S. market plays a very vital role in this area. We see that market is doing well right now, and we forecast that it will continue to do so.
Okay. I mean, my only question is, till last quarter, we were mentioning that, you know, there have been some competitive challenges also in the market, and suddenly, I mean, so do you see this is like there is some one-off order which has led to this kind of growth, or you see this kind of run rate maintaining or even improving from the current level?
Yes, there are challenges remains. Challenges don't go away because the market is now changing, and it is becoming, as you know, more of a global nature, right? And lot of regulatory challenges are there in this industry. However, we have already for last couple of years, we are working on it to address those issues systematically, and we have introduced some new products. We have introduced, brought some new customers, and it is a continuous ongoing process. So we feel that there will be little up and down, here and there, but the growth will continue.
Sure, sir. And my second question is on the Probiotic segment. So while, you know, the international Probiotics, I think, could be in the flattish trajectory, but domestic, I think from last quarter onwards, I mean, from Q2 also, we have seen shown some improvement, and this time around also, I think that is also a big driver as well as domestic Human Nutrition is concerned. So again, I mean, this is related to some channel restocking happening, or how do you see this growth actually going forward?
No, I think what happens is that certain brands are developing. We have so many studies related to Probiotics applications. So, people now are warming up very nicely with our Probiotics segment, and that even though the market is little bit flattish for us, we see that it will continue to grow for us.
Sure, sir. And my last question is on the two doses for which we have got the approval last quarter. Any update on that? I mean, will you, will you be in a position to tell us what could be the total addressable market, and when should we start seeing, you know, revenue from those products, if at all, you're trying to sell in developed markets?
Abhishek, which one you are asking for? I mean,
I think in the last quarter, we had mentioned that we have got two approvals from two food dossiers got approved from, I think, from Europe, if I'm not mistaken.
Okay. Yeah. See, the approvals are there. There are always some queries comes out from the, from the EFSA and other kind of agencies, and you have to spend a lot of time to answer them, and we are doing so. So, then the final approval comes in. So it is a process, ongoing, continuous process. And, because we patiently are working so hard on these things, I'm sure that within, you know, you see that whatever we have filed will approve, get approved, finally, and then, we are always going after new, new approvals.
That's it from my side. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you, Abhishek.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nikhil from SIMPL. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. One is, you mentioned on the U.S. side, but, specifically on the Probiotic and nutrition, which we had seen a big drop post-COVID, are you seeing that market returning for us in U.S.? And secondly, connected question was that in our previous calls, we had mentioned that if U.S. grows, then we should be able to come back to that 40% kind of EBITDA margin, which was our historical range. Is it? So at what level do you believe the U.S. business has to come for us to improve on our margin profile?
Well, margin profiles, it's a very competitive market, Nikhil. All right?
Yeah.
So there are always challenges to improve the margins, to, after a certain tick mark, you know? So, I don't want to tell you that it will never come to 40 and 50% margins, as we used to see it before, but we are constantly working on improving our margins. And as you can see, the effects are already showing in this quarter. All three quarters, it is improving gradually, and you will see the improvement continuously.
Okay. And the first question on the growth on the U.S., because if you look at last three, four quarters, our average run rate in U.S. was around INR 45-50 crores, which has jumped to INR 60-62 crores this quarter. So is it like... So are we seeing a trend on the Probiotic side, which was a big impact for us in last two years on the U.S. market, or what has helped this?
There are too many different factors. It is always a product mix, as you know, and I know it. Okay? That's the first thing. Second part is some new product developments happening, and that also gives us some advantages in the marketplace. Third is as we progress this and develop further and further, we see that improvement, because as you go into higher revenue and more sales, your cost structure goes down relatively in percentage-wise.
Hmm. Okay, just two more questions. Sir, on the Serratiopeptidase, we have been increasing our share in JC Biotech every quarter. And if you look at the molecule size, it has moved. So when we acquired, it was around 110 crore. Today, on a run rate basis, it is something in the range of INR 150 crore-INR 160 crore. How do you see the opportunity in this molecule? I know we have not filed in the U.S. and Europe, but are you planning to file there? And if we file, do you see there is a big opportunity side in this molecule? Because on one hand, we are also increasing our share continuously in this company. So what is the overall idea and thought process behind this?
Unique molecule, you know, and we have a big advantage on it. So we will place our advantages wherever and everywhere we can, we can, we can do so. It requires a lot of research work, and on our part, and we are doing. So our R&D is really helping us, in so many different ways to utilize this molecule in a different, different way.
Okay, and last question. If you look at our position, see, in 2016, 2017, when we had come post the IPO, we had talked about going into industrial and on the palm oil side and the biofuel side and all. But what I understand is that there were existing large players like Novozymes and Chr. Hansen on the dairy and on the industrial side, where they've been present for like 50, 60 years. If you look at today on the Human Nutrition segment, which we've also talked about as a core area, how is our positioning versus our competitors? Is it because when we talk, read through their capital markets, they are also talking about that we have to become big, and they are also working to build molecule base here. So would we say we are on an even position versus competition in this segment? How do you see our competitive positioning here?
I mean, Nikhil, it's a good question. All right. Obviously, when you see a very lucrative market or expanding markets, competition is going to come from the big and small. But it is a industrial market is a very different market segment versus nutritional market. More and more people try to go with a healthy lifestyle, nutritional market will keep on expanding, and there is room for everybody. But we have a, we have a good advantage vis-a-vis our presence in the market for a very long time. And we don't see that it will affect us tremendously.
Sure, I'll come back in the queue. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohan from Turtle Capital. Please go ahead.
Good evening, participants. I have a couple of questions. We haven't seen any growth in Americas sales since FY19, but in the couple of quarters we have registered higher growth. So will this trend continue, and can we expect going forward as Americas share increase in our revenue, we can get back to around 40%-ish margin? And what has led to this growth? Is it the product mix has changed?
I told you that it is always a very difficult proposition to go over 40% margins. Competition is always there, like Nikhil asked few minutes ago, there are a lot of other small and major players coming into the marketplace. So we have to create our own niche, niches in the marketplace, which we did, which we do, we are continuously doing. We see that it's a continuous growth for us, and margin is always going to be competition, but we'll do nicely. Like, as you see it, this quarter, we have improved our margins considerably.
Another question is: What are the challenges you are facing in Animal Nutrition as well as Specialized Manufacturing? Because your quarterly numbers have not scaled up lately.
Yeah, Animal Nutrition is a different animal altogether. It's very competitive, and you can see that it is logistics, deliveries, the wars doesn't help, cost keeps on increasing, and you have to really compete, cost-wise and price-wise in various different markets. Okay?
Okay. How are the margins between the segments, like, margins of product profiles of Human Nutrition, Animal Nutrition, as well as, Bioprocessing and Specialized Manufacturing? If you can just give a rough idea how the margins are?
So, Rohan, Rohan, let me respond to you. As far as you know, the segment-wise gross margin, we cannot track like that, you know, gross margins for Human Nutrition and Animal Nutrition, industrial Bioprocessing. I mean, that's not the way like, you know, we just classify it for the sake of, you know, better understanding of our business.
Okay.
As told, you know, our customers and the product. So for every product, you know, you will not have that kind of a margin as such.
Okay. Okay. Yeah, that was from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Aditya Padhi from Girik Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. Yeah, can you hear me?
Yes, Aditya.
Yeah. Hi. Hi, good afternoon. I just have two questions. Just wanted to understand. The first question is on, like, you know, you've mentioned about improvement of margins when your U.S. business would pick up, like, you know, in the previous quarter. So U.S. has seen decent growth after some time. So how do you see the visibility, like, in the near term to mid-term? Like, how do you see the margin growth in this business?
We'll continue on that path.
Okay. So similarly, like this quarter?
Well, every quarter is different. It is not quarter to quarter we care. We, we look at really because sometimes you know how the inventories go.
Okay.
Somebody's order, by the end of the month, may not require it right away till one quarter, so what can we do? You see what I'm saying?
Got it. Got it, sir. And my next question is on the margins. If I see, like, versus the long-term margins, there have been major increases in, like, employee spend in the last 4, 5 years. So where do you see, like, margin improvement coming from? Like, what, would it be gross margins or employee expenses going down or other expenses, like, you know, which have gone post-COVID, have gone up post-COVID?
Employee expense, expenses are going to continuously grow up because there is a lot of pressure on the salaries, as you know very well. Logistic cost is, kind of came down after COVID, but now it is again under pressure. So inventories, carrying inventory will be, with a higher cost. So there are a lot of challenges as we, as I explained before also, ahead of time. In spite of that, we are constantly trying to improve the margins, keeping our costs down as much as possible on the other various other areas. And also, other income is increasing for us, because of the higher costs, higher interest rates.
Okay.
We have a lot of investments, as Vikram had mentioned.
Yes.
So from that, we are getting good returns. So our income is increased substantially. If we compare, you know, our nine months of this year number versus the nine months of, sorry, last year. So that has also contributed in overall increase in our profitability. But yes, the margin has improved, you rightly said, I mean, as Vikram also mentioned. So U.S. business, as it grows, we have a better margin, better good profitability. That's what, you know, you can see from this last quarter numbers.
Yes. Oh, okay. Thank, thank you so much. Those are my two questions.
Thank you, Anuj.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Umang Shah from Banyan Tree Advisors. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Am I audible?
Yes.
Absolutely.
Okay. Yeah. So sir, first question was, could you tell us the number for Evoxx for nine months, last number for nine months?
Yes. So Evoxx, nine months number is top line INR 116 million.
Yeah.
As compared to 182 of last year.
Okay.
EBITDA is negative INR 12 million for this nine months, as compared to INR 39 million positive.
Okay.
During this nine months, we have a loss of about INR 26 million, as compared to INR 10 million of profit in nine months of last year.
Right, sir. So sir, what we understand is that this company was acquired to as a research for better research and marketing function in Europe. So going forward, will it have its own profitability, or will it continue supporting the consolidated entity and report losses?
Umang, this is an R&D company, okay? We have to look at that way, because, it's not like, regular commercial operation.
Right.
And.
Sure.
European conditions, as you know, in Germany and various, in European conditions, are a lot of pressure on the salaries and other costs, cost increases versus slowdown in the businesses.
Right. Right, sir. And sir, the second question was, we have launched two new products in JC Biotech, Pharma products, which have come after a long time. So how do you—how, how does the market that you see, would they be India focused or would they be outside India also? If you could give some clarity there. The products I'm referring to is Invertase and Alpha Galactosidase.
Yes. They are, they are very interestingly, new products are added to the production side of it, and we see a very good opportunities in the industrial sector.
Any rough number on what the market size is like and how much are we targeting of that market?
It's a huge size. Industrial area is, you know, it's a very big market, and these products takes a little bit time to just introduce and get approvals, but we see a good prospect.
Okay. Okay. Right, sir. And sir, for last two quarters, you've been giving out numbers for Human Nutrition revenues from India. If you can just give that number for this quarter, it would be very useful.
Let me see if Mr. Rauka can figure out this.
Yes. Okay. So, it's INR 519 million.
Okay. And what was this for last quarter, Q3 for last year?
Three ninety-three.
Okay. Got it. Got it. Right, sir.
India.
And.
Human Nutrition.
Go ahead.
You asked for the India Human Nutrition, right?
Yes. Yes, yes. It's 52, INR 519 million, 30, INR 390 million for last year.
Yeah.
Correct.
Okay. Sir, last question was, for nine months, could you speak out about Wellfa's performance and how are we looking at our B2C foray?
No, I think Wellfa number is still negligible, as we mentioned to you. It's like, you know, we, we are still working on it. It will take-
Okay
You know, a lot of time to-
B2C is a very different animal, as you all-
Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Are we changing anything on the product front or on the management front?
Working good. Right now, we are satisfied with the progress with the, what's happening with it, and there will be a constant addition of the product, and we are very mindful of how we want to take this forward, you know?
Sure, sir. Sure, sir. Thank you so much for your time.
Our pleasure. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Gaurav Nigam from Tunga Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you, sir, for taking my question. Sir, I joined a little late. I just wanted to understand, have you given the revenue for this quarter from our top product?
It's about 23, 22%.
22%. 22% of consolidated revenue?
Yeah.
Sir, can you
Excuse me, Gaurav.
Yeah.
Let me repeat the number. So I am giving you for nine months, it is 22% of our top line, and last year it was 24%. Quarterly, I think 20%.
Understood, sir. Sir, can you provide bifurcation of the Human Nutrition revenue between India, international, and sub-segments, sir?
I think I have just given that. India Human Nutrition is about INR 519 million, and international it is INR 588 million. Total is about INR 1,107 million, Q3 of this year.
Understood, sir. And would you be able to give the Pharma, Probiotics, and Biocatalyst numbers within these? These are three segments, segments we operate in.
Okay. So Pharma is about INR 386, Probiotic is about INR 100, and biocatalysis is about INR 33. This is India, I am talking about. International, Human Nutrition is $552, Probiotics $20, and biocatalysis about $5 million.
Understood, sir. Thank you. Sir, and just wanted to get your outlook on the end customers in the U.S. Nutra segments, because I think the last quarter we were not very sure about the end market performance. So how is it now, and how are the customers looking at the growth going forward? Any sense of the U.S. Nutra market would be helpful, sir.
Yeah. Right now we can see a stable market, and a lot of new customer additions.
Understood. And sir, the inventory issues which were there in the last few quarters, is that over?
We have taken care of most of it. It's a gradual process.
Understood, sir. So just I think continuing on the previous participant on the Animal Nutrition segment, so we have seen almost a stagnation in the last three quarters. Just wondering whether this is because of the India business or international business, and what is the reasons behind it?
It's very competitive business, Gaurav, and, lot of pressures on the logistics, inventories, and costs. Okay.
Okay. Okay. But is this majority in the India business, this, these competitive pressures are coming, or is it in international?
International. India is also not an exception to the rule in this matter.
Okay. Understood, sir. Thank you for your detailed answers. Thank you. Appreciate that.
My pleasure. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harini Dedhia from Tamohara Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you so much. Good evening, sir. My first question was on B2B sales. You know, a couple of years back, we had appointed a distributor on the India side, Anshul, and then Azelis on South Asia. How has that experience been with these distributors? What has the traction been like? And are we also appointing more on-the-ground sales people to do direct sales? If you can just help us understand how is our sales team shaping up for B2B sales.
B2B sales shaping up fairly, fairly decent, you know? We are satisfied with it. Always the acquisition of the new market is always a challenge and takes some time. But, requirement is you have to be present and keep on knocking on the doors, explaining our better side of the products and services.
Okay. And do we have a preference on whether we go via a distributor in a particular market for a particular product or the direct route, or do we try to do both? How do we approach it?
We try to do both.
Okay. Got you. And on the B2C front, for Wellfa, and like you yourself mentioned, that it's a whole other beast, and, I mean, there is no limit to how much money you can spend on it. Do we have a call on, capital allocation, both capital and time allocation? How much money are we okay burning on this? How much time are we okay spending on this to get it to breakeven?
We are not burning a lot of money, let's put it this way.
Okay.
That is not a full focus on it. However, there are people who are given the full attention, and they are continuously working. I think looking at various different challenges in B2C, we are doing fairly decent.
Okay, sir. Those are the questions I had. Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohit Ohri from Progressive Shares. Please go ahead.
Just a couple of questions. First, related to the Probiotics, knowing there's an immense potential over there, untapped, which is to the tune of $48 billion-$50 billion. Sir, what would AETL be interested in? Whether you'd be interested in the animal feed segment, dietary supplements or the functional F&B?
Rohit, right?
Yes, sir.
Obviously, we're interested in all these three markets. Surely. That's why we are there.
In the initial phase, what sort of market do you intend to capture? Maybe next two years or maybe three years' time.
Continuous growth in this area. Now, there are always some areas will perform better than others as the condition changes, you know? We see good opportunities in all the, all these areas where we are.
Okay. In terms of biocatalysis, if there are any new products in pipeline which you think are nearing their launch dates, if you'd like to share that?
We will see next year, it will start paying off.
Okay. So how many, if you would like to just put a number to that?
I don't know, but I think, 3, 2-3 products to begin with.
Okay. Okay. So there's a lot of emphasis being put on bioenergy, clean, green energy, by the Honorable Prime Minister and his entire team. So what sort of efforts have been taken forward for the domain of biomass processing, certification and the bioethanol production?
Honorable Prime Minister and country is looking into bio-green area. It's a very challenging area. I hear Honorable Gadkari always speaking about various different fuel produced and all that. The issue is always what are the processes you develop and what government is willing to do. We are capable of working on it, but- Government requires a lot of support, and here we don't hear much of it, to be honest.
Okay. So, I really think that you'll be able to add the fifth division to the basket of the entire portfolio, maybe grain and tech processing. By when do you think you can add the fifth element or the fifth segment to the system?
As you said, you know, there is a lot of push. If that push comes through with the proper government support, we are capable of doing that.
Okay. Are there any molecules or molecules you're already working on, if you'd like to share some details on that?
No, I cannot share because that is not ours at this point in time.
Okay. Okay. So my last question is related to the overall pie. If you see the pie of the revenue, it is gradually moving more towards the animal healthcare and the Bioprocessing. So do you think that from the current 10%-14% or maybe 13%-15% of animal HC and Bioprocessing pie for these two segments will improve or increase going forward?
It will improve. It, it will improve.
Any ambitious target that you have to kind of have on?
You pointed the right finger at it, you know. As our pie increases, that means we have to, keeping that percentage improves the sales numbers also, no?
Sir, any thoughts on entering, pyrethroid or insecticide business or any anti-parasitic or insect repellents?
No, we are not looking at that right now.
Not looking at that. Okay.
Applications, end application there is b ut we are not working on research on that.
And the R&D team intends to work on those going forward, maybe two years down the line?
Maybe.
Okay. And sir, if anything, on the improvement or the mitigation of the issues that we have with ROCE, which was raised in the last quarter as well, which was related to the delay that is lying in the balance sheet, if any concrete steps have been taken on that?
The mitigations, right?
No, no. Are you talking about return on capital, right?
Yes, sir.
Correct. So I mean, you know, return on capital, I think, we have already mentioned that, you know, we are taking care to the extent. You know, it is good for all the stakeholders.
Okay.
I mean, that's what you might have observed that last time, we have declared a very handsome dividend as well. So, you know, you improve that way, your Return on Capital Employed, because you distribute some money to the shareholders. Other than that, whatever money is with us, we have I mean, you know, we have been using that money for our investments, where we are getting a good return. In addition to that, you know, there is again, you see the benefit of the money being invested in USD. You get at least 4 to 4.5% every year, and because of the Rupee depreciation. In addition to that, there will be, of course, some return from the investment which had been made in the government bonds and, you know, other investments.
Capital employed per se in percentage may be, you know, lower due to a lot of, you know, money that we have with us. But yes, overall, if you see the company is growing, so we keep that money because, you know, Vikram is also with us, and we have discussed in past also. We are counting for some opportunities as well, so we are keeping that cash. So as and when there are opportunities, good opportunities, where there is a lot of synergy in the business. Probably that money will be used for that purpose, and otherwise, you know, the management will take care of that, you know, how to deploy that funds.
Okay, sir. Thank you for answering my question. Thanks a lot.
Sure, Ravi.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ravi Purohit from Securities Investment Management Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Just wanted to, you know, touch base upon on the work that Evoxx, you know, has been doing. Evoxx is essentially an industrial enzyme research company. So if you could share, you know, some of the areas that they have been working. They were also kind of... They had done a strategic partnership with Symrise cosmetic company, you know, about a year and a half, two years back. So anything, anything on that, or anything on generally, you know, on industrial side? Because there should still be a lot of opportunities on the industrial side from our our perspective. So if you could just share some insights or some, you know, path or the work that we've been kind of, you know, looking at on industrial enzyme side.
Ravi, as you rightly pointed out, it is a R&D company.
Yeah.
It is working with various different companies, as you know, some names you probably gave. They are all confidential documents with them, so we cannot reveal all the names as they're working on their R&D projects. But I can only tell you that various different products are not only R&D. They work on the research projects and also various different molecules in industrials, as well as in other segments, human and Animal Nutrition. So they - you don't see those in the balance sheets directly, but they are very big contributors. Market is a changing market. It is very information and research-driven market now.
Right.
Evoxx has a lot of role to play in that.
Yeah. And so in 2022, I think we had announced a, you know, strategic partnership with Symrise, right? Symrise is a very large company, highly profitable company, very, very strong in cosmetics, right? So we're just wondering if something happened, you know, it's been about a year and a half, does it throw open opportunities for us from business side, or it's more like a co-development of products or, you know, co-research? So what kind of, you know, if you could just share some insights into that.
Unfortunately, I cannot speak as I have confidential agreements with them.
Okay. Okay. And sir, if you could just close, share if, if there are any, you know, on the industrial side again, because we read a lot of articles and a lot of material which says that, you know, for hydrogen production and all, enzymes are like the pre-catalyst agents, right? So there is, there is a lot of, you know, activity going on on that side. So is this, is this something that we, we have the capabilities to participate? Is this something that, that throws open opportunities for us on the industrial side? If you could share anything on that side.
Hydrogen peroxide?
Sir, he's talking about biocatalysis, catalysis.
Oh, okay. Honestly, I don't know what to tell you about it, but we have, we are working on those enzymes very diligently at this point in time.
Okay.
Progress is considerable progress is made, but it takes little time to get through all these regulatory, development and regulatory, and becomes a competitive marketplace. Okay.
Okay. Okay, sir, I'll leave it at that. Thank you so much. Yeah, sure.
We cannot never compete with the hydrogen peroxide. Enzymes are not that cheap.
Yeah. Okay, sir. Thank you.
You're welcome.
Yeah.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohan from Turtle Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. One question. I just wanted to get an idea of what is driving the domestic sales as well as rest of the world sales. What segment is playing a role in this growth?
Human Nutrition and food.
What was this, sir?
Human Nutrition and food.
Okay. And in food side, is it, is baking playing any key role?
I missed it. What was.
Yeah, so baking is part of, you know, our food segment.
Okay. Okay, okay, got it. Okay, thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Lakshmi Narayan from Tunga Investments. Please go ahead.
Thank you. It's a pleasure to hear you, Mr. Rathi and Mr. Rauka. Couple of questions. First is, you know, when you set out this year, with the start of the year, your appetite that you would do few things. And just wanted to understand, as we draw the year to the close, which are the areas which has actually exceeded your expectations? It could be people, products, sales or margins or whatever. And which are the areas which disappointed you?
Yeah, very, very nice and general question, Lakshmi Narayan Ji. By the way, that is my father's name, too. There is, we are very excited with our people. The research group is doing phenomenally well for us, okay? It's also that, lot of papers and lot of publications are happening, which are giving us, lot of advantage in the marketplace. And we are finding market is responding also very nicely because of our long association, long presence in the market, our reputation, et cetera. So that is all positive. Negative is, somewhat disappointing with this, macroeconomics of what's going on, and that is putting the pressure, unnecessary pressure on us, and also more of a, we can see a challenge. I will not say pressure, a lot of challenges of further expansion and growth.
Sorry, sorry. Can you just drill a bit deeper on the second thing? You know, when you say macro, what is it leading to as a company for us?
The macroeconomics, like, you know, the wars doesn't help anybody in the economics, as you know. So delivery challenges are pretty disappointing. Cost always keeps on going on that. And challenges are also acquiring good talent when you are expanding the company and start pricing wages and other things on it.
Any segment or geography which had or a product that have actually did very well beyond your expectations in the last, you know, this financial year?
I cannot give you any specific numbers, or specific product names, but overall, we are doing very well in the entire segment.
And if you just, roll back and look at the last three years, I mean, the reason I'm asking you is that you always mentioned that, "Don't look at my company on a quarterly basis, look at it in a slightly longer." So if you look at it for the last three years, which are the areas which has, which actually surprised you positively, and where, which are the ones which have disappointed you, and what are you doing to address those areas which have disappointed you?
Our R&D, there is only one solution in our marketplace. Expanding the R&D and making sure that our products are really addressing the issues. So it's a lot of change happens in last 3-4 years.
And how do you, you know, quantify that if the R&D has actually improved? Is it by the number of scientists who work with you or the kind of output on a near term or a long term? How do you parameterize it?
You know, output.
Did you say you are happy?
Output is always very important, and the talent is always part of the entire game. So we have excellent talents, and we are very proud of our people. Wonderful, wonderful group of people. They are willing to.
Thank you.
Take any challenges. Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants, you may press star and one if you wish to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Manoj N. Muthan, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. I just want to know how many new molecules are being developed in the R&D, and what is the timeline of the commercialization? I'm asking this because business growth is expected to come only from the existing molecules and then from the new molecules. There is always limitation to the existing molecule, and the new molecule will only play a major role in the business development and business growth.
Very true, Manoj, and it's a very good question. Thank you. We have developed several new molecules, but you know, these molecules, when you develop, go through very thorough testing. Like, it has to go through with the toxicology, with the various different approvals, and it takes really long time, okay? And there are a lot of challenges on those. So, as I said, our R&D is doing very phenomenal job, along with our, you know, documentation department and other supporting areas. We have filed some patents also. So there is excellent momentum in the next... We will only say that these molecule developments are useful when we complete those, all these requirements. Does that make sense?
So, yeah, I definitely know about that. I just wanted to know how many number of products being developed and what is the calendar for their commercialization?
As I said, commercialization takes some time. Products are quite a few developed, quite a few. I cannot give you exact numbers, but quite a few.
Okay, then second question is, since our R&D development cost in European countries is too high, then do you have any plan to shift development to Indian sites?
That is also a very good question. You know, we just invested, I think about INR 50 crore?
In our.
In our new R&D facility, which is happening on 15 acres of land, and there is a huge park development is going on. We will be one of the topmost R&D company in this area. So we have a huge, very big plans for the research and development.
My third question is, there are 7 molecules filed with the U.S. FDA, according to the annual report, and for 5, there is no questions from the FDA, and for remaining 2, there were some questions. Has it whether those questions have been addressed and molecules have been commercialized in U.S. market? Hello?
Yeah, just a moment.
Yeah, Manoj.
Yeah.
FDA doesn't question them. They ask a lot of questions, okay? And we filed many of those already, and approvals, the approvals, some of them approved, some of them are in the process.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nikhil from SIMPL. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Just two questions. So this question point, which the earlier participant raised, just wanted to understand. See, in traditional Pharma, what we see is that companies have a tie-up with a customer, and then they file the DMF or whatever, and once the approval is received, their commercialization starts. But if I go through our calls, even in Europe and U.S., where we said that there are products where there are no questions, and in a way there are approvals which are being achieved, how does the sales process happen? So is it like first we file, then we scout for partners? How does the overall process happen? I know it will take some time, but if you can just educate us how this process works versus traditional Pharma.
Traditional Pharma is very different with the filing. First of all, traditional Pharma takes a lot of money and long time, but they also get patents, and they can make a lot of claims. We cannot make claims, any specific claims of, you know, anything cure or anything which can, what you can call it, cure and what other word is there?
Diagnosis, treat, cure.
Treat, cure any diseases or anything. So it has to be related to health and nutrition, and that's all we can, we can claim. So it has a lot of difficulties. Doctors may recommend or may not recommend, because in U.S., the doctors, most of the doctors will go for the Medicare, Medi-Cal. They need to have a FDA approval for drugs. So different, different ways to deal with it. And, we, we are only strictly into Human Nutrition of well-being and not in the disease or cure business.
So once we get an approval for a molecule, then the partner will... Hello? You were saying something, sir.
Sorry, your second part was whether we look for the partners before or after. Once we get the approval, then we have to find appropriate partners who have the different needs, and the molecule will fit for their application.
Okay. And last question, sir. This is from our slide 28, where we talk about the addressable market for AETL over the next five years and AETL's current share of revenue. If you have to understand, say, just taking an example of, say, baking, where we say $30 million is the addressable market. If you have to understand five years back, based on our capabilities and molecules, how would these sizes have changed, the addressable markets would have changed? So, because as you... And this is in relation to the R&D question. I know you can't say how many molecules will launch and all, but if you can just spend some time, five years back, what was this addressable market for some of these segments, which today we are talking of, say, $200 million or $30 million? As an investor externally, how should we measure how we are increasing our addressable market opportunity?
Well, the market is changed. Now, let's say for baking, the need and the food industry changing to not just food, but health, healthy food, you know, less sugary food or whatever, you know, that those are the kind of market needs are changed. Before we used to have all the Coca-Colas in the market, now the drinks are more healthier drinks. So you can see that Human Nutrition is a very dynamic subject, and they are constantly changing. As the research comes out of it, people want to have a different aspects, different things at a time. So as you know, like January first, everybody wants to have a resolution to lose the weight. Mm-hmm. And after three months, they lose that interest and go back to again, same old, same old. So, Human Nutrition is something of that nature. It is changing, and obviously some market is increasing as expenditure income changes, people start thinking about the healthy food, or spending some money on the right, right food. So it has changed in five years. It is expanded, in my opinion.
Okay. Sure. Sure. Thanks. Thanks for answering.
Sure.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jeshit Ladani, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello, thank you, everyone. Am I audible?
Yes. Mr. Ladani?
Yes, sir.
Okay.
Yeah. So, I have been an investor since quite long time in Advanced Enzyme Technologies, because I believe in the philosophy of the company about making everyone healthy.
Sorry to interrupt, but, you do sound a little muffled. I request you to please use the handset mode.
Sure. How about now?
Please go ahead, sir.
So, I've been individual investor in the Advanced Enzyme Technologies since quite some long time, because I believe in the basic philosophy of the company, making everyone healthier. So a couple of questions, which I'm noticing since sometime that earlier we used to have operating margins in 40-ish range, 40-ish%. Now it is in 30-ish%. It's slightly increasing since couple of quarters. So is it going to be in the same range for a longer period of time, or are you going back to the 40 range?
Mr. Ladani, I just want to thank you for investing in the company for a long time. We really greatly appreciate that.
Thank you.
I also answered that question some time ago, is that it's a very competitive market business, marketplace, and, keeping very high margins are not always that kind of high margins, are not always feasible because you have to compete.
Sure.
But we are trying to improve our margins all the time. It is always a combination of product mix, which really reflects how it will, how margins will shape up, at the bottom.
So this thirty.
It will be. That's all I can say.
Yeah. So this 30 range is, we as investor, that's the new normal.
It's still not very clear from you, from your line, sir.
So this 30-ish range is the new normal, right?
30-33, yeah.
Yeah. Okay. The top line growth, which you are seeing around 20-ish now, is it going to be a sustainable growth? Like, are we going to see that number quarter-on-quarter or year-over-year?
Yeah, it, we don't say every quarter, but as you can see, these last three quarters this year, they are constantly increasing. Not necessarily that that will continue the trend, necessarily. However, we see 15%-20% growth as we've guided before, also for some time.
Okay. And the geographical bifurcation, like 80% of business comes from India and America. So is this going to be the same or like, are we seeing any new growth opportunities elsewhere?
Lot of other opportunities are there, so it will change.
Okay.
Company.
Yeah, any new patents which we have filed? I think around with 13 patents we have. So any new patents filed in this year, out of those 13?
Yes, we did. Yes, we did.
Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have no further questions. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Ronak Saraf for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, everyone, for taking your valuable time for attending our earnings call. We will keep you all posted for any further updates. I request you all to kindly send in your questions that may remain unanswered. An audio recording and the transcript of this call will be uploaded on our website in due course. Looking forward to host you all in the next quarter. Till then, stay healthy, stay safe.
Thank you. On behalf of-
Sorry, go ahead, sir.
Yeah, thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, everybody.
On behalf of Advanced Enzyme Technologies Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.