Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ronak Saraf, Investor Relations. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Advanced Enzymes Q1 FY25 earnings conference call. I'm Ronak Saraf, the Manager, Investor Relations here at Advanced Enzymes. We hope you all have gone through our financials, press release, and the presentation, which has been posted in our investor relations section on our website. We have with us Mr. Mukund Kabra, Full-Time Director, Mr. Beni Rauka, Group CFO. Today, the management will discuss the performance and business highlights, update on strategy, and respond to any questions that you may have. As usual, for 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 presentation. During our call, we may make forward-looking statements regarding our expectation or predictions about the future.
Because these statements are based on current assumptions and factors that may involve this uncertainty, our actual performance and results may differ materially from our forward-looking statements. 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 out your valuable time, and I extend a heartiest welcome to everyone joining us today on the conference call for the quarter ended 30th June 2024. Coming on to the performance, the company's overall performance improved on a year-on-year basis. Now, as far as the quarterly performance, our top line stood at INR 1,445 million, grew 5% on a year-on-year basis, and it is decreased by 2% on a sequential basis in quarter one. Our EBITDA stood at INR 512 million, grew by 16% on a year-on-year basis, while it is declined by 8% on sequential basis. We have witnessed growth of 19% in the bottom line on year-on-year basis and 17% on sequential basis.
On the margin front, EBITDA margin stood at 33% and PAT margin stood at 23% during quarter one. Now, talking about the segment-wide performance, I will first go through human nutrition. The Human Nutrition segment more or less remained unchanged during the quarter, contributing 65% in the revenue. It grew by 2% on year-over-year basis, while a slight decline of 1% is registered on sequential basis. Nutrition business primarily supported the numbers in human nutrition, in human business. Overall, the demand in the pharma business remains subdued. On animal nutrition, our animal nutrition business contributed 11% to the revenue in quarter one. It grew by 9% on year-over-year basis, while it is declined by 7% on sequential basis. Bioprocessing. During the quarter, Bioprocessing segment contributed 16% to the revenue.
It grew by 12% on year-over-year basis and decreased by 3% on sequential basis. The food business grew by 6% on year-over-year basis and decreased by 1% on quarter-over-quarter basis. The non-food business grew by 43% on year-over-year basis and decreased by 9% on quarter-over-quarter basis. The Specialized Manufacturing segment contributed 7% and grew by 13% on year-over-year basis, while it remained unchanged on sequential basis. Our principal focus is on improving our product offering, keep introducing newer and commercially viable products, and consistently meet the ever-changing demands of our clients. We anticipate a robust growth trajectory in all our segments in the second half of this year. We'll bring more resilience in our business to enhance customer value, proportion, and deliver long-term sustainable growth going forward.
With this, I will hand over the call to Beni Rauka, and he will walk you through the financials and key subsidiary numbers. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mukund. Good evening, everyone. I hope you all are in good health. On the company's consolidated financials for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, on year-on-year basis, Q1 2025 versus Q1 2024, our revenue increased by INR 72 million, 5% increase from INR 1,473 million to INR 1,545 million. EBITDA is increased by INR 72 million, 16% from INR 440 million to INR 512 million. This is about 33% EBITDA in Q1 of FY 2024.... 2025, I'm sorry. Profit before tax increased by INR 73 million, 18% increase from INR 414 million, which is 28% of our revenue, to INR 487 million, 31% of our revenue for Q1 of FY 2025.
Profit after tax has increased by INR 56 million, a 19% increase from INR 294 million to INR 350 million. That is about 23% of our revenue. On sequential basis, the revenue is decreased by about 2% from INR 1,578 million to INR 1,545 million. EBITDA decreased by INR 42 million from INR 544 million to INR 512 million. Profit before tax increased by INR 90 million, from INR 397 million to INR 487 million. Profit after tax on sequential basis increased by INR 51 million from INR 299 million to INR 350 million.
On our financial performance of some of the subsidiaries, JC Biotech for Q1 FY 2025 stood at, revenue stood at INR 159 million, EBITDA of INR 24 million, and PAT of INR 7 million, as compared to INR 134 million of revenue and INR 9 million of EBITDA, and negative profit of INR 1 million in FY 2024, quarter one. Evoxx revenues stood at INR 47 million, as compared to INR 54 million in Q1 2024. EBITDA is negative INR 7 million, and INR 7 million was in Q1 of FY 2024, so no change. Profit after tax, Evoxx continues to be in loss. It's about INR 15 million of loss during this quarter, as compared to INR 13 million in last year, Q1. The sales of SciTech stood at INR 111 million, as compared to INR 97 million, and EBITDA of INR 22 million, as compared to INR 4 million.
Profit after tax, INR 10 million, as compared to INR 1 million. The sale of our largest product, which is anti-inflammatory enzyme, stood at INR 280 million for the first quarter of FY 2025, as compared to INR 352 million in Q1 of FY 2024. So there's a decline of about 20%. And it constitute about 18% of our total revenue. Total, I'm sorry. The top ten customers contributed 23% in the total revenue in Q1 FY 2025, in comparison with 26% in Q1 of FY 2024. The B2C segment contributed about $950,000, as compared to $1.28 million during the same period in the previous year. The Health, Human Healthcare segment, where we provide generally, more granular numbers, so I'm giving you those numbers now. Pharma India, INR 375 million, as compared to INR 447 million.
INR 39 million, as compared to INR 5 million. Biocatalysis, INR 74 million, as compared to INR 86 million. So India sale is about INR 488 million in Q1, as compared to INR 538 million in the corresponding first quarter of FY 2024. International sales, human nutrition is about INR 523 million, as compared to INR 456 million in Q1 of FY 2024. The major contribution has come from the USA, INR 494 million, as compared to INR 422 million last year, Q1. R&D spending, during this first quarter, we have spent about INR 76 million on R&D, as compared to INR 62 million in quarter one of FY 2024. If we see in terms of the percentage, on standalone basis, it is about 9% as compared to 7%, and the consolidated basis, R&D spend is about 3% in Q1 as compared to 3% in Q1 of last year.
This is after intercompany elimination. If we do not remove this elimination, then on consolidated basis, R&D spending is about 4% in both the quarters. That was from my side. Now we shall open the floor for question and answer session.
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 touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset 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 Shubham Sehgal from Simpl. Please go ahead.
Hello? Hello, am I audible?
Yes.
Yeah. So my first question is, so, like, in the previous calls, we have been hearing that you are working on the sugar management and the weight, weight loss products, but could you actually, like, provide a concrete essence as to which stage of development have we reached, when we'll be able to be able to launch these products? And, you know, what kind of revenues can we expect, like, any ball park figure would work. And will they only be restricted over the US market or we would expand to other regions as well?
Shubham, like, as you see, some of the nutraceutical business in the U.S is growing. In the first quarter, on the quarter-over-quarter basis as well as on this basis, so some of the sale is started, but it is still under the, under the trial stages. I won't be able to give you the exact revenue numbers for that. And as of now, like, we are targeting the US market for this kind of products.
Okay. When do we expect to launch? Because we have been hearing, like, since 3, 4 quarters, right, like, earlier.
We already launched, but it's like on a pilot basis as of now.
Okay, got it. All right, so my next question is that, like, over the next 2-3 years, what will be our key priorities and key gaps in the business which we want to cover up or, you know, like, come to terms with the competitors? So what are the key gaps you want to fill in the next upcoming 2-3 years?
So the priorities are going to be all the three segments. As we always mentions, like, our growth is going to be driven by the nutraceutical as well as, like, on the food side of the business, biocatalyst of the business and the animal feed. These are going to be our key focus areas. Those are going to drive the growth. We will be introducing new products as we move on into all of these areas, and we are working on all of those areas. So that's going to be our-
Okay, got it. Okay, okay, so got it, yeah. Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Shubham.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harini Dedhia from Tamohara Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. I had a couple of questions around growth. So if you can help us understand what in the Indian geography where we saw a flat quarter, because even in biocatalysis, we've seen a degrowth, which is supposed to be one of our growth engine. We're just trying to understand, you know, is it just a quarter phenomena or what is going on over here?
Generally, the first quarter is always little bit subdued, but we shouldn't really look into it as a quarter-on-quarter basis.
No, but even year-on-year, it's been flat, the India business. So which piece in the India business has sort of not worked out for us?
India business is, like, supposed to be under pressure this year, particularly on the human side. Most of the growth is supposed to come into the second half of this year.
Okay, and that will also come from the human side itself?
Yes, onto some of the biocatalyst areas.
Got it. And, on, today's, we've, you know, this has been another quarter of degrowth, so what is exactly happening in this market? Why are we seeing degrowth over here?
Last quarter in FY24, probably pharma companies have picked up more stocks.
Okay.
Some impact in the Q1, you know?
Got it. And, in the Asia market, again, we were expecting growth driven by animal nutrition. That was the conversation in the Q4 call. So should, you know, so should we read something into this quarter's number, or that will resume again in Q2, Q3 onwards?
... We shouldn't really look into it quarter-on-quarter basis as of now. I would say that, the quarter-on-quarter numbers on animal feed or any area cannot give you the story.
Okay. Got it. So when I look at the overall growth of the business, you know, we've seen a lot of growth come from the U.S., which is typically a high-margin business, especially in Q1. So, should margins—do margins still have a room to expand from here on? Or if, you know, with the U.S. growth also we're doing, these margins should be pretty much similar, 33%-34% margins going forward.
I think 33, 34% is what probably, you know, one should look at it now, as of now.
Got it. So, only when we see, you know, rest of the geography is contributing a little more, will we see some, expansion here, but-
Right. So international sales, as international sales grows, probably you will see some better margins. And for that, I think, we will have to wait couple of more quarters.
Okay. So but for the whole year, we would still expect that, you know, 12%-14% kind of growth on the whole year basis to come through?
Yeah. Right.
Okay, got it. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhishek Navalgund from Nirmal Bang Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for taking my question. So, some of the questions related to growth have been already answered, but, just wanted to understand, sir, why you talked about some sort of, you know, destocking maybe in this quarter in Sera. What sort of underlying growth we should assume going forward, considering you are already a domestic leader here?
So, if you talk about Sera business, we don't expect a lot of growth to come. It should be more or less a flat business or maybe like 5% here and there, the growth. The growth has to come from the other segments, what we are working on.
Right. Right. So since Sera still is the largest product in terms of overall size, so if Sera is expected to grow at, let's say, 5%-6%, I mean, the large part of the heavy lifting has to be done by the International Human Nutrition. So on that side, in terms of quarterly run rate... Hello?
The biocatalyst areas in the Indian side. Yes.
Biocatalyst on the Indian side. But honestly, the run rate on the biocatalyst hasn't picked up on a consistent basis. So what sort of growth do you expect from the biocatalyst? Are we in a position to launch some new molecules on the biocatalyst side in India?
Yes. So we are really working on those, and we expect, like, some of the thing has to come up in the second half of this year.
The margins on the biocatalyst and maybe the International Nutrition business are more or similar, or international are much higher, as compared to the biocatalyst?
Margin.
Even the gross margin, just an indication there.
I think as far as comparing the margin is concerned, it all depends. Even in international market now, like, you know, couple of new products are being introduced. So initially, the margin, like, you know, there is different. But yes, I mean, international business, we get better margins.
Sure, sure. And on the cost side, while on the other expenses, if I see on a sequential basis, there is no increase as such, but any comments on freight cost or it gets netted off against revenue? Just more clarity considering the Red Sea issue, ongoing Red Sea issue.
Freight cost is slightly elevated.
So possible to give the number? I mean, is there any major increase or not, not major increase that you're seeing?
It's not essential, I mean, you know, because freight, like, you know, what happens once you realize that the issue is now with the logistics, so you always insist that, you know, freight is something the customer has to bear.
Right. So, the reason I'm asking is, during COVID year also, we have seen, supply disruptions, so both in terms of RM pricing as well as freight. So some part of it, we could not pass it on entirely. So from that angle, I'm asking whether it is a complete pass-through with a lag or there could be some burden on us, in coming quarters.
Some burden is there. If I compare on year-on-year basis, probably the freight cost is up by about INR 5 million.
Okay.
Yeah.
Sure, sir. And last question, just to refresh my memory, I mean that R&D facility, which is going to come up, any commissioning or timeline we have shared earlier? I'm not aware of that.
No, we haven't shared, but as of now, like we feel in the, after the June of next year, it should be, it should be in a working condition.
June of next year, right? So, no major CapEx, so, like INR 25 crore-INR 30 crore CapEx this year and next year is what we, we should be doing, right? Roughly, on a more-
Roughly same amount.
Okay, and anything on... Last question, sorry, anything on the potential M&A that you're looking at? Any development there?
No, I mean, as of now, I don't think, like, you know, development, but yes-
Good.
We will keep on working on that.
Sure, sir. Thank you so much, and all the best.
Concrete as of now, which we can-
Okay. Sure. Definitely. Thank you so much.
... The next question is from the line of Sanjay Mittal from RatnaTraya Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for the opportunity. I have two questions. One is on the product side. So like you mentioned, that our biggest product is the anti-inflammatory product, so that is de-growing, and that's expected to be like that. So can you just help me understand that, is it the nature of the business, that once we introduce a molecule, after a certain period, either there are many other players which come in because of which the sales become flattish, and then we try to add more products to cover up for the growth? Or, like, what is it...
The second part of the question is: so currently, from our product basket point of view, which are the – how many new products do we have in line? What is the stage, in terms of application approvals and everything? So just some color on that. Thank you.
So, like, we always has to work on the two areas. One is always, like, improve the productivity. That is a constant feature in our business, and the second one is the new product. There are a lot of different new products which are under the pipeline, and that is, that is where you grow. Now, if we talk about anti-inflammatory product, that is a very old product in terms of product cycle. We started it somewhere around 1999, 2000, and it is still there. So it will not die as such. But yeah, like, at some point of time, there is, like, always, like, when you are always, like, leading 90%-95% of the share, when you come down into that, there, there is going to be some problems.
Understood. And, when you talk about the new products which are into pipeline, what would be the, duration of that pipeline, like, in terms of, in terms of the application approval, and then finally commercialization? And how many such products would be there in the pipeline?
There are about, if you ask me, there are about 50 products which are there in different areas, into different molecules as of now into the pipeline. But generally, the cycle is at least 1.5 year to three years, right? So some of them are, like, in getting into the final stages now.
Understood. Thank you. And just one more question on the employee cost. So is this quarter supposed to be the annual increment cycle for us? Because the employee cost has sequentially increased a bit, and it seems like that's generally the case. Is that the reason?
So I think first quarter, the incremental cost has come, but yes, for couple of subsidies, probably that will happen in the second quarter. That happens from 1st of September or so. But major, I can say 80% incremental cost has already been absorbed. So you, you can go, you know, considering this particular quarter as the basis.
Understood.
For annualization of your, you know, overall payroll cost.
Understood. Thank you. Thank you for taking my questions, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Nitish from ChrysCapital. Please go ahead.
Hello, thank you for the opportunity. My question is actually a follow-up to a question asked by an earlier participant. We said that we will be—we are confident of doing 12%-14% revenue growth in this year. So that can, that means we'll have to d o around INR 185 crores-INR 190 crores of quarter in Q2 to Q3. So just wanted to ask, do we have any visibility on, you know, Q2, since we are halfway there already? Hello?
Sorry, can you hear me?
Yeah, I can hear you.
Yeah. So in the beginning of the year, we do the exercise of the sales and from which part it will come up, and we map the sales with all the customer-wise, and the growth area-wise. And even though we don't have a very long-term visibility with the customers, but we can always see for the, how it is going to span out in a year. Based on that, as of now, we feel that we should be able to do it, because most of the sales has to come into the second half of this year.
Okay. And, you know, on the margin outlook, considering we are already at 33% in our first quarter, which is typically our a low margin quarter for us. So should we expect Q2, Q3 to be having a better margin?
Okay. So, I mean, you know, as the numbers will improve going forward, there will be certainly some kind of, you know, incremental margin, but as of now, I think 33%-34% is what we are saying is something, you know, one should look at it.
Okay. But like, it's right to assume that we could be closer to the 34% of this band?
Yeah.
Okay, thank you.
The next question is from the line of Kiran from Abakkus. Please go ahead.
Thank you so much for taking my question. A couple of questions from my side. So apart from the anti-inflammatory enzyme product that we have, it's about INR 100 crore sales year-over-year, do we have like a start to the next two, three products which have a potential to go to INR 100 crore revenue, or is it more like a segment, like a biocatalysis or animal bioprocessing or something, a segment as such goes to INR 100 crore? So how do you look at it? Are there any the next Sera kind of products or one or three products which can go to INR 100 crore by themselves, or is it a segment?
So, our business has to be seen with the different way. One of them is like API, where like Sera is there, which is more than INR 100 crore as a product as of now. But there are a lot of like formulations which we are launching, and we are focusing on them, and probably those should be more than INR 100 crore going forward.
Got it. Got it. Most of the formulations are primarily in the U.S., if I'm not wrong.
That is true. We are working a lot on those, those formulations and, improving those formulations going forward.
Got it. Got it, got it, got it. Second question, sir, our B2C segment, the Wellpha brand. I just want a clarification and then a follow-up question, which is, Wellpha brand is under SciTech, which is our 50% subsidiary, and then how is it growing and can it become a potential INR 100 crores-INR 150 crores in the next one to three years as you see it right now? Of course, it can be changed, but as you see it right now.
So Wellpha brand is under the Advanced Enzymes, right now, not under the SciTech.
Okay.
But as of now, I don't want to comment how it is going to be pan out into two to three years down the line, but we feel that this year we should be having about INR 2 crore-INR 3 crore sales from, coming from the Wellpha brand.
Two to three crores. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Okay. Okay. So then the commentary from some of the U.S. and European, you know, players in the segment that we are in, they have had a lot of commentary that U.S. and Europe consumer slowdown is significant and, you know, even our Nutraceutical segment or the Human Nutrition segment, they're talking about other segments as well, where we are not there. We are seeing a severe slowdown in terms of consumption and buying patterns in the U.S. and European markets. So from where you are sitting as a vantage point, are you, have you seen the slowdown or are you seeing the slowdown in terms of buying and purchasing patterns in the U.S. and European markets?
Europe is little bit slowed down as of now. That is what we can see. In terms of like U.S., probably like, we are growing into this areas because, our sale was very low on the consumption side.
Sorry, sir, I didn't understand the U.S. market comment.
So U.S. market, we have seen, you know, a growth. If I look at our number for the Q1 as compared to Q4, as well as Q1 of the last year. And as soon, like, you know, whatever understanding we have from our U.S., we see that, you know, this year we are going to have a better growth from the US business. So this is the scenario as of now. Now, when you are talking about the spending, probably what is happening is it is on different part of it, you know, on the consumer side of it. Nutraceutical segment, again, you know, there are different issues. So I mean, you know, our business, where we are catering to, primarily on, you know, B2B first and then B2C, is very small business.
So here still we see that, you know, there is a opportunity and, growth is there in this market. So unless, unless really we see the impact from those who are on the field and selling, you know, the products which are, formulated or finished goods from our formulated, formulations, so that impact so far we have not seen.
Perfect, sir. Perfect. Perfect. Understood. My last question, sir, Mr. Vasant Rathi, in the AGM mentioned that, you know, somebody asked a question in the AGM, and he said, "You know, we probably will reach INR 1,000 crore and sales very soon," and all that stuff. So is there any definite pathway that you can tell us that, you know, you know what, human nutrition will be INR 300 crore or bioprocessing will be INR 300 crore, whenever that we reach a INR 1,000 crore sales, right? Maybe three years, maybe five years.
Yeah, of course. I mean, you know, that, that has been really mapped, and we, we have done a lot of work on that area. And that is that the chairman has commented that, you know, in down the line, four to five years, we target to achieve INR 1,000 crore of our revenue.
Got it, sir. And which, which segment do you think will contribute the most to that growth from INR 600 to INR 1,000? Because there's a delta 400 in, in our area, it's quite a large number. That's the reason I'm asking.
You need to work onto the the three to four different axes, right? When you talk about thousand crores, you need to work on the INR 1,100 crore-INR 1,200 crore, and then you reach the thousand crores, because one or two will falter. As of now, like, because it's more like on a R&D side, and R&D driven. As I was telling, like, most of the inventions, when you do it, the research is for 1.5 years to three years, so it takes some time. It's very difficult in our areas, like, to exactly predict the numbers, it will come from this area or this area. Some may not work out. So it's difficult for me to say that 300 will come from this segment or, for example, from this product.
Got it. Got it. Understood. My last question is a clarifying question, bookkeeping. Last year, we had a one-off of INR 18 crore expense due to a legal settlement with one of our U.S. competitors. Is there any other legal expense or legal settlement that we are expecting in whatever, this year, next year, next two, three years? Is there any particular conflict that we have as of today?
No, as of today, there is no conflict.
... but you never know. As of now, there is nothing.
As of now, there's nothing. Okay, perfect. Thank you so much.
A reminder to all participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question to the management, you may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Pawan Kothari, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Yeah. So this is Pawan Kothari. I would like to ask you if we are having any export thrust to Europe also, and what capacities are still underutilized as of now? Like, how much operating capacity are we currently working at?
So current capacity utilization is around, you know, 60%-65%. And if you really look at the numbers, so our export sales is now generally in the range of, you know, 50% it's comes from the international market, 50% comes from the domestic market. It, it keeps on changing. Sometime it is 48%-52%, or sometime it is 50%/50%. That's how it is on quarter-on-quarter basis.
Mm-hmm. Okay. And, can I have one more question?
Yeah, please.
With the incremental sales, suppose our capacity has been utilized from 50% to 75%, how much of the cost benefits are we getting with the more capacity utilization?
Yes, Pawan, that will, you know, as you speak and you might have done a proper study, if you really look at when our sale, I mean, the revenue increased by 1%-
Mm-hmm.
Generally, I have seen that the EBITDA increase is 2x-3x of, you know, increase in the top line, and that adds substantially to our PAT also.
Okay.
Definitely, you know, expenses being freed-
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
The more revenue you generate, the profitability, sorry, the profitability definitely will change. It will improve substantially. In terms of numbers, I mean, you know, when you look at 1% increase in revenue, 3% in EBITDA, 3% in PAT, so that is how generally, you know, we have observed in our case.
Right. A very small question, sir. Are we selling online also, like on Amazon and other online big portals, or, or we are just selling it like, you know, on the-
Yes, sir. So that is the Wellpha brand, basically.
Okay.
So we are expecting some kind of, you know, now, a good numbers in that sense. The last, I think one year, two years back, we have launched this. Now, this is second year in succession, so we are, we are getting good numbers in that sense.
Okay. Thank you, sir. I congratulate you once again on the good set of numbers.
Okay, thanks. Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Shubham Shekhar from Simpl. Please go ahead.
Hello, good morning.
Yes.
Yes. So, we've always been an R&D-focused company, and, like, as you mentioned, that R&D is quite important for us. So this 3%-4% which we are maintaining, that as an R&D expense, how exactly do we allocate our resources, and what are our key focus areas and priorities? So, like, if you could help me understand, like, how exactly are we, you know, spending our R&D budget and, like, maintaining that 3%-4%, and which segments do we give priority, or which are the key focus areas we are giving priority?
So it is always in on the three and four segments, where, like, you know, we have our strength and where we see that, you know, the potential is really excellent going forward. And so these are areas where we spend our money on R&D. So we continue-
No, but so I mean, in those segments, where exactly do we spend that, like, on, you know, like, discovering new products, like, where do we exactly?
So, I mean, if you really see enzyme, enzymes are like, you know, very unique. So when you are developing the enzymes, it is not for a particular application, okay? So those are kind of, you know, the development takes place, and thereafter, once you reach to a particular threshold, then you look at whether I can also develop application in, say, Human Nutrition, in Animal Nutrition, can I use for, you know, Nutraceutical segment? So that happens subsequently. So you need to really spend on core research, where you don't have that kind of understanding that, yeah, I'm going to work only on this animal nutrition area. You work on your core strength, basically.
Only the enzymes which are the ones in the area of biocatalysts are more specific?
Yeah.
Okay. Okay, got it. And, so last question being that, what exactly is our edge or advantage in the human nutrition space? As in the last four years, we have narrowed down our focus on human nutrition.
So this is the, like, you know, business which we have started long back. I think if you really look at the, you might have read the biography of our chairman also, he's in U.S. We started long back this particular, you know, journey, where human nutrition was kind of, you know, initially we begin. And over a period of time, we developed so many enzymes around that, and that, that is because of his expertise in that particular, you know, space. So we are very strong on human nutrition side, and over a period of time, of course, you know, human nutrition, when you are talking about human health, so animal health is another area which is kind of, you know, it coexist in that sense. So that is another area.
Then now, when you look at the Food, the Bioprocessing another segment, because again, now everything is going around, you know, novel application of the enzymes in the food areas. So this is, you know, completely in a subject which is very close to us, and we have spent a lot of, I know, I can say last 25 years, a lot of R&D has been carried out on human nutrition, food areas, and animal nutrition. So we know we are very strong in that, and we have kind of, you know, in past, some of like, you know, clients which have been added over a period of time. So that speaks about that, you know, yes, it is a sustained, you know, growth and the client portfolio with us. I hope I clarified you.
Yeah, yeah. That's it. Thank you.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Shreyans Gathani from SG Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon, sir. So, my question is mainly on the R&D front. So we, you know, like, historically, we've mentioned we want to have R&D as a, you know, 7% of the sales as such, but, you know, like on a consolidated level, we typically, you know, have been doing around 4%. So is that something that we should be expecting to go up in the future? Or, you know, should we just look at this number, you know, as is, currently?
So, Mr. Gathani, the CapEx is not much, if you really look at in this area, because now whatever CapEx we are doing is on our research and development center at Nashik. It is in CIP, currently not added to the expenditure side of it, capital expenditure research. So it is kind of, you know, working process which is going on. So once we add that amount, probably, you know, the spending is about 5%-6% in any case. But yes, I mean, when you really prepare a sort of model, you can look at about 6%, as you know, our total R&D spend on consolidated basis.
Got it. Okay. So, what would be the expenditure already incurred on the center up to now?
I think we have roughly spent about INR 15 crores.
Okay, got it. And,
35 crores is something... Sorry, I have not added the land. Land is about INR 35 crores we have spent, and another INR 15 crores is kind of, you know, another expenses on civil construction, which is undergoing now, under progress.
Okay, so that's INR 50 crores. So I thought that was the total spend that we had envisaged earlier for the center. Like, is that?
Sorry, the land was acquired three years ago, I think.
It's somewhere around 2017, 2018.
Okay. Got it. Okay. So my next question is around Evoxx. So, like, you know, we like, we mentioned that as, you know, like, as an R&D arm of the company as such. So, like, do we consider, you know, that portion into R&D, or does that Evoxx sale come into, like, actual, consider, mention the expenditure numbers or not yet? And, second question I have is, like, we initially, you know, Evoxx had some partnerships with certain companies for some product development. Is there any update on that? Or, you know, that pretty much was on a low-key for a while. Just trying to understand if there was any movement on that side.
So Evoxx, since it's a 100% owned company, the numbers get,
Eliminated.
-eliminated on the consolidation basis, so they don't come up in terms of R&D numbers. In terms of partnerships, there will be two types of model. One model is like some of the Evoxx products sale. Some of them is like our R&D, and some of them is like CRO, kind of like customer-related R&D to sustain the-
Mm-hmm.
The expensive side of it. So, there are certain customers which we are talking, and that is what you are referring to. As of now, there is a one big order is under the discussion, negotiation, so it yet to be finalized, so can't comment on that.
Okay, got it. So there's one order under sale. So when do we expect that to close by, if it is successful?
Probably next 15 days, but-
Oh.
We'll come to know once it's done.
Okay. Could you quantify the size of... if that's possible or not, not yet?
It will be about, not very big, but it will be about EUR 1.4 million-EUR 1.5 million.
Okay. Got it. Okay. Thank you. That's, that's helped. That will be executed over a period of one year or so or-
Yeah, one year or so.
Okay, perfect. Thank you. That's very helpful. That's all from my end. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kiran from Abakkus Asset Manager LLP. Please go ahead.
Yes, so I just had to clarify. I know we, we always committed on, 15% growth, CAGR over a number of years, but just for this year, I missed the last two con calls. What was, what is the outlook or visibility that you've given?
So this year we should be somewhere around, two digits, somewhere between 12%-15%, something of that nature, probably. This year is going to be a little tougher for us, but this is what, like, we feel, we should be able to get.
Got it, got it, got it, got it, got it. Cool. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today's conference call. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Ronak Saraf for the closing comments.
Thank you, everyone, for taking your valuable time for attending our earnings con call. We will keep you posted for any further updates. I request you all to kindly send in your questions that may remain unanswered. An audio recording and a transcript of this call will be uploaded on our website in due course. Looking forward to host you in the next quarter. Till then, stay healthy, stay safe. Thank you.
Thank you.