Good morning, ladies and gentlemen? I am Akash, moderator for the conference call. Welcome to Advanced Enzyme Technologies Limited Q4 and FY 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participants will be in listen only mode, there'll 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 telephone. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand over the floor to Mr. Ronak Saraf. Thank you, over to you, sir.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Advanced Enzyme Technologies, Q4 and FY 2026 earnings conference call. We hope you all have gone through our financials, press release and our PPT, which has been posted in the investor relations section of our website. We have with us Mr. Vasant Rathi, Chairperson, Mr. Mukund Kabra, Whole-time Director, and Mr. Beni Prasad Rauka, Group Chief Financial Officer. Today, the management will discuss the performance and business highlights, updates on strategies, and respond to any questions that you may have. As usual, for ease of discussion, we will look at the consolidated financials. Now I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that some of the information shared during this call, particularly regarding our plans, strategies and future outlook, may contain forward-looking statements. These statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions.
Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements influenced by a range of factors, including but not limited to, economic conditions, changes in government policies, regulatory developments and other unforeseen circumstances. Participants are cautioned not to place reliance on these forward-looking statements as they are not guarantees for future performance and should not be viewed as substitute for independent judgment. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Now, without any further ado, we shall commence this call. Over to you, Rathi sir.
Thank you, Ronak. Good morning, everyone. I know this is the first time we are changing a call time from 4:00 P.M. To 9:00 A.M., so thank you for taking your time early in the morning during the working day. I sincerely appreciate you all taking your valuable time. I extend my heartiest welcome to everyone joining us today on the conference call to discuss the financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended March 31 2026. The global economy has faced severe disruption, as you all know, in recent years due to a compounding mix of conflicts, geopolitical tensions and inherently fragile supply chain. Conflicts between nations have interrupted the steady flow of energy, food, and crucial raw materials, thereby injecting substantial uncertainty across international market.
Concurrently, supply chain disruption worsened the transportation bottleneck, and stringent trade restrictions have slowed down production cycles and delayed the delivery of essential goods worldwide. These escalating challenges have significantly contributed to rising inflation as businesses face higher manufacturing and shipping costs that are ultimately passed on to the consumers. Consequently, the prices of everything necessities have soared globally, placing heavy financial pressure on households and weakening purchase power in this uncertain global environment. Despite these daunting global supply chain challenges, we have maintained a highly consistent supply track record. However, we remain vigilant as increasing geopolitical disruption will escalate the prices of input essentials such as fuel, salt, solvent, packaging, vis-a-vis also logistics, potentially creating near-term margin pressures across the industry.
Turning in our financial performance, I'm delighted to announce that Advanced Enzyme has reported its highest ever quarterly and annual revenue for the fiscal year ended March 2026. For the fourth quarter, we reported revenue from operation at INR 2,034 million, reflecting a robust year-on-year growth of 22% and sequential growth of 18%. For the full year, our annual revenues stood at INR 7,458 million, representing a solid growth of 17%. Our operating profitability also demonstrated excellent momentum. EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 632 million, registering a 39% year-on-year growth and 28% sequential growth. On a full year basis, EBITDA grew by 18%. EBITDA margin for both the quarter and the year remains strong at 31%.
Profit after tax stood at INR 453 million for the quarter, showcasing a staggering growth of 69% on year-on-year basis and 5% subsequently. On the annual basis, PAT grew by 30%. Consequently, our PAT margin stood at 22% for the quarter and 23% for the full fiscal year as compared to 20 odd percent in FY 2025. Our overall financial performance is firmly in line with the earlier guidance. All of our business divisions delivered healthy growth, and we are confident that this steady momentum will continue into the coming year. Looking at the broader industry landscape, global pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and biotechnology sectors are increasingly shifting towards wider adoption of enzyme across various region. This macro trend is driving substantial market demand for players like us, who can offer integrated end-to-end capabilities and customized solutions across these platforms.
Over the course of the year, we have taken several strategic steps to fortify our mid-to-long-term market positioning. We have continued to invest in enhancing our R&D capabilities, which will accelerate our innovation pipeline, while parallelly exploring expansion into newer high potential geographics. On the regulatory and compliance front during this year, we filed two food enzyme dossiers with the European Food Safety Authority, EFSA, and three GRAS dossiers with the U.S. FDA. As mentioned in our previous interaction, our new R&D center in Nashik is expected to become fully operational in the latter half of this fiscal year, significantly boosting our product development bandwidth. Additionally, we are anticipating approval of our anti-inflammatory products that we filed two years back in European region during this year.
Now I will take you through our segment-wise revenue performance for the fourth quarter of FY 2026 as well as full fiscal year 2026. Let's begin with the Human Healthcare. Our largest and most critical segment, revenue for quarter four 2026 stood at INR 1,281 million, making a 24% year-on-year growth and 33% sequential increase. For the full year-to-date basis, we observe a solid growth of 15%. This growth was primarily driven by higher sale volumes in pharma API, Biocatalysis and nutritional business. Human Healthcare continues to be our flagship division, contributing 63% of our total revenue. Annual Healthcare revenue in this segment rose to INR 250 million, delivering a 19% increase year-on-year, 2% sequential and 25% on year-to-date basis.
Animal healthcare accounts for 13% of our total revenue. The growth is mainly driven by increased sales in Asia. Turning to bioprocessing, this segment recorded 17% year-on-year growth during the quarter, despite a 10% sequential contraction, finishing the year with 16% year-to-date growth. The annual growth was predominantly fueled by healthy performance of our food business, which grew by 20% year-on-year and 19% on the year-to-date basis. Conversely, the non-food business contracted by 1% year-on-year and 7% sequentially, remaining flat on the year-to-date basis. Lastly, the specialized manufacturing segment registered a 17% growth year-on-year and a 16% sequential growth. On year-to-date basis, it grows by impressive 23%. This segment currently represent 9% of our overall revenue.
Our strategy, strategic product mix within each business division and operating leverage has continued to perform exceedingly well, supporting our healthy overall margins. We anticipate that our entire portfolio spanning human nutrition, animal nutrition and bioprocessing will perform even better and grow stronger as we move right into the new fiscal year. That said, our business outlook remains extremely steady. We'll continue to focus on optimized capacity allocation, improving supply chain efficiencies, ramping up new product launches, and expanding our operational footprints across both developed and emerging market. With this, I will now hand over this call to Rauka ji. He will walk you through the financials and key subsidiary numbers. Beni?
Thank you very much, sir. Good morning everyone? I hope you all are in good health and doing well. On the company's consolidated financial for the fourth quarter and year-end of fiscal year 2026, year-on-year basis, our revenue is increased by INR 362 million, 22% from INR 1,672 million to INR 2,034 million. Our EBITDA increased by INR 176 million, a 39% of increase from INR 456 million to INR 632 million, and it stood at 31%. Profit before tax after exceptional item increased by INR 163 million, a 38% increase from INR 430 million to INR 598 million. PAT increased by INR 186 million from INR 260 million to INR 453 million. PAT is 22% of our revenue in this particular quarter.
Quarter-on-quarter basis, this is sequential. Revenue increased by INR 315 million, 18% increase from INR 1,719 million to INR 2,034 million. EBITDA increased by INR 138 million, 28% increase from INR 494 million to INR 632 million. Profit before tax after exceptional item increased by INR 15 million, from INR 583 million to INR 598 million. Profit after tax increased by INR 21 million, from INR 432 million to INR 532 million. Financial year performance, YTD FY 2026 with FY 2025. Annual basis, our revenue increased by INR 1,089 million, 17% increase from INR 6,369 million to INR 7,458 million.
Our EBITDA increased by INR 347 million, which is an 18% increase from INR 1,944 million to INR 2,291 million. It is 31% of our revenue. Even FY 2025, it was 31%. Profit before tax increased by INR 451 million, a 24% of increase from INR 1,874 million to INR 2,325 million. This is 31% as compared to 29%. Profit after tax increased by INR 396 million, a 30% increase from INR 1,340 million to INR 1,736 million. Our PAT stood at 23% of our revenue as compared to 21% in FY 2025.
JC Biotech revenue for last quarter Q4 was INR 172 million, EBITDA INR 15 million, PAT of INR 3 million, as compared to INR 112 million of revenue, INR 4 million of EBITDA, and PAT was negative in that particular quarter, INR 7 million. JC Biotech on annual basis sale is increased from INR 600 million to INR 728 million. EBITDA increased from INR 70 million to INR 92 million, and PAT increased from INR 12 million to INR 29 million, evoxx for the quarter stood at revenue stood at INR 88 million, EBITDA of INR 19 million and PAT of INR 14 million, as compared to revenue of INR 43 million and a negative EBITDA of INR 4 million and PAT of negative PAT of INR 9 million in the quarter four of FY 2025.
On annual basis, revenue of Evoxx stood at INR 319 million as compared to INR 213 million, a 50% increase. EBITDA is increased INR -12 million to INR 72 million. PAT is increased to INR 50 million as compared to INR -39 million in FY 2025. SciTech has performed excellent. Q4 numbers stood at revenue INR 179 million, EBITDA of INR 38 million, and PAT of INR 29 million, as compared to revenue of INR 156 million and EBITDA of INR 10 million and PAT of INR 5 million respectively. Annual basis, SciTech top line stood at INR 668 million as compared to INR 542 million, a 23% increase. EBITDA stood at INR 104 million as compared to INR 76 million, a 37% increase. PAT is INR 45 million as compared to INR 37 million, 22% of increase.
On annual basis, our top product, which is anti-inflammatory enzyme, sales stood at 23%. Top 10 customer contributed 23% as compared to 22% in FY 2025. B2C segment is about INR 0.9 million as compared to INR 1.19 million in FY 2020. I'm sorry, Complete total number is INR 4.37 million for FY 2026 as compared to INR 4.46 million in FY 2025. Our R&D expenditure total on standalone basis is INR 356 million in FY 2026 as compared to INR 328 million in FY 2025. On consolidated basis, our R&D spend is about 5.6% during quarter four and 5.3% in the corresponding quarter of FY 2025. This is all from my side. We shall open the floor for question answer.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question- and- answer session. If you have a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Wait for your turn to ask question. If you would like to withdraw your request, you may do so by pressing star one again. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have any questions, please press star one on your telephone keypad. The first question comes from the line of Mr. Abhishek Navalgund from Centrum Broking, p lease go ahead, sir.
Hi, sir. Good morning? And thank. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. My first question is on, I mean, you just explained the segment-wise details also. This clearly reflects that the quarter is all about growth that we have witnessed in, you know, Serratiopeptidase, the anti-inflammatory enzyme. I'm just curious that while our sequential margin is also kind of inched up, it is mainly because of the operating leverage maybe, but why the gross margin has kind of moderated on a sequential basis, especially when we see the Europe, U.S. share is also more or less similar. Our human nutrition, which is like the highest margin segment, is also maintained or rather gained some share in terms of revenue. This first question on the gross margin.
Can you repeat, Abhishek?
Can you repeat w hat is exactly what you want to know about the gross margin, Abhishek?
I just wanted to know the movement that we have seen on sequential basis, the gross margin. While our human nutrition portfolio has done well, we have not lost share in terms of our U.S. exposure also. What could be the reason why our gross margin has moderated on Q-o-Q basis this quarter?
This is mainly what happens is because of the, you know, the variable cost and fixed cost issue, right? If you have incremental sale, definitely your gross margins are going to go up because your fixed expenses remain fixed and you have that operating leverage.
At the same time, Abhishek, we try to improve the productivity and there are certain products which we could increase the productivity as well in this quarter. That's a continuous process with the R&D which comes up. It's a combination of both which helps us. Even though the costs are little on the higher side because of all of this inflations and other thing which is happening with the war, still we could do it because of all the other factors because there is a constant improvement on the output side as well.
Sorry, sir. Actually, what I was trying to ask you is, while our EBITDA margin has increased, I think if you see our gross margin number, it has kind of dropped as compared to 3Q.
If you ask that then.
You are talking about margin or gross contribution, right?
That, Rauka ji. Last quarter there was some, Rauka ji, you can take. Last quarter we had some extraordinary items on the price side.
No, no. I think, Abhishek, can you again, come back with your question, please. You are talking about gross margin.
No, no. We can take this offline. That's fine. My question was on gross margin. I'll connect with you later on this.
Yes, sir.
Yeah. I'm saying, on the Serratiopeptidase side, the increase that we have seen, this could be a function of, you know, some market share gain in the domestic market. Is it fair to assume that, you know, this quarterly run rate will continue going ahead?
I think Mukund will give you the answer on that.
I won't comment on that, Abhishek. There are always quarter-on-quarter variability, particularly, but I would say that we'll retain most of it. It's not only like inflammatory products, but we are working on many other products as well, and those are also contributing.
Sure, sure. You mentioned about the EU approval for the same product. Possible to share, I mean, how big would be the EU market for this product?
It's a novel food which we submitted two years back. We expect this year it should be approved. If it gets approved, then we will be the only person who can supply that product for next five years or 10 years. I need to see exactly what is the timeframe which we get. That should be really interesting for us. I won't be able to give you the numbers, but the interest can be very big.
Sure. Sure. I'm not asking for any specific guidance, but any aspiration number that you can talk about, let's say five year down the line, how do you see this product growing? Whenever we'll get the approval, I mean, post that.
We cannot.
Sure. Sure.
I can't comment on the particular product. Overall, what we expect to grow is in the double-digit and maybe mid-double-digit, and that's like what we are aiming for, and that is where all the efforts are there. We won't be able to say about a single product or two products. There are multiple things which we work.
Absolutely. Absolutely. My next question is on the current environment wherein we are seeing inflation and everything. I think you talked about fuel, salt, solvents, packaging and logistics. Just would like to know into [finances], in terms of raw material increase, I guess we are relatively sorted because we procure largely from India. When it comes to these items like fuel, salt, solvents, packaging, logistics, How is the passthrough structure like in this quarter? Do you expect some margin pressure because of the full effect getting flowed through in 1Q?
There is always going to be pressure because if you really look into the You want to take, Mama? Go ahead.
Hello?
Rathi, sir, you want to take?
Yeah. No. Abhishek, there's always going to be margin pressure, no? These are all uncertain times with what is going to happen tomorrow with your energy, you know?
Sure.
This industry is very much based upon lot of energy and labor cost.
Yeah, that's my only point was basically, there will be a one-quarter, two-quarter lag. Is it possible to, you know, comment on that, whether we are passing it on or partly passing it on to the customers?
No. Abhishek, it is difficult to pass on very competitive world global climate. You know, you try to increase the productivity, increase the efficiencies reduce the cost. There are a lot of mitigating, lot of things which you have to work. Management is very aware of it. Trying to compete in the global marketplace, we have to be very efficient.
Right. My last question, sir. In terms of guidance, what do you expect in revenue and margins in FY 2027, and a specific color on U.S. business in particular?
Well, margin and things as I mentioned before, is going to be steady. Same area what we are talking about. We wanted to keep this momentum and hopefully build upon it. Okay. As far as the U.S. market is concerned, your second part of the question, there is enormous pressure of the inflationary pressures here in the U.S. economy due to energy. Nobody knows what's going to happen in 15 days from now or 2 months from now. Overall, cost is dramatically increasing. As I mentioned before in my comments before, the spending or what you call it, people's discretionary expenses, there's going to be a lot of pressure on that. We'll see how that plays out. Okay.
This is going to be a very challenging year no matter what. Okay?
Awesome. This is very helpful. Thank you and all the best.
You are welcome. Thank you.
Thank you so much, sir. The next question comes on the line of Mr. Kunal Thanvi from Banyan Tree Advisors, p lease go ahead, sir.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. I had two questions. One was, you know, if you can throw some light on, you know, India business growth in terms of pricing and volume. Like, was there an element of price increases? Because like three, four quarters back, we saw significant price erosion in our largest product. Second question was to Mr. Rathi about, you know, your thoughts on buyback of shares. We've seen, you know, been buying from open markets and there's a change in the taxation law in India, post which buy becomes, you know, good for the retail investors. Any thoughts you can share about, you know, capital allocation? Because like we've also not, you know, announced interim dividend this time around. Was curious to know how we are thinking about the cash that we have on the balance sheet.
Well, I will try to answer your second question first. You guys are more professionals knowing about the market and prices. But we'll be looking at all the necessary options of what is in the best interest of our shareholders and how we increase the value of our shareholders. Okay. Regarding the question on the enzyme...
Sir, is it fair to assume that buyback is also something that the board is considering?
Yeah. It's the board's prerogative to look into various different areas. I'm sure that in right time board will take a decision. Okay.
Okay.
To see whatever they feel is best interest of the company shareholders. Regarding the, your first part, Mukund can probably answer this.
Kunal, you want to know, is there is a margin pressure or what?
No, my question on Serratiopeptidase, like, is the growth that we've seen in the Indian business side, is it entirely volume driven or there was some price increase that also we saw during this quarter? Like, you know, four quarters back or three quarters back we have, you know, when there was competition in this segment, we would we had talked about, you know, pricing pressure. Is this a reversal of that pricing pressure now coming through, leading to this kind of growth, or it was purely a volume, you know, growth that we have seen?
Let's not look into the quarter- and- quarter basis. I would say some quarters you will have a higher growth on the particular products, some quarters some other products will have it. In terms of pricing, the pricing is more or less constant. It's more driven by the volume. At the same time, going forward, we are looking how do we increase the cost and pass on some of the cost, and which we are trying to do from the new year.
Sure. Fair. Got it. Last question was, you know, we talked about the U.S. market, you know, that the possible slowdown will continue for FY 2027 given the, you know, geopolitical situation. Like, at the other end you've, you know, spoken about, you know, our aspiration to do a double-digit growth in FY 2027. Like if you can, you know, break down these contours into, you know, what are the markets that you believe will kind of support the growth or, you know, to make sure that a flat or a negative U.S. market, you know, for FY 2027 and still we kind of do, you know, a double-digit growth. Like if that happens, what is the like, you know, second order impact on the margins because U.S., I would assume is a higher margin business, right?
Like if you can talk about these two aspects, it would be great, I think.
Going forward the next year we expect like little growth coming from the U.S. and not like the negative growth. We are working on many different fronts. At the same time, when we go into the Indian areas, we are working on different avenues, different markets we are opening. Last year we worked on many different areas, and probably all the growth will come from all the three segments, including like human nutraceutical food and like animal feed. We expect a healthy growth this year from Indian space as well.
Sure. Is it fair to assume that you would be able to hold on to the margins or, you know, as we have seen in FY 2026, or because of some pressures in cost pressures in U.S., there could be an impact on margins?
I wouldn't say that too much of impact. 1% or 2% is always possible, and that's the variability what we have, and I wouldn't like to get into the nitty-gritty of it. Maybe like Rauka ji can explain. If you ask me, more or less we will go with the same margins, and that's what our assumption is. Rauka ji can give more focus on the margins exactly, what are the numbers saying.
Okay. Perfect.
Rauka ji?
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Thank you so much, sir. The next question comes from the line of Mr. Rajas Joshi from ChrysCapital, p lease go ahead, sir.
Yeah. Thank you for your question, team. My first question is on our U.S. business. If I look at the revenue for this quarter, it is down some 11% in INR terms. Now, given the depreciation of the INR, in dollar terms, the decline must have been a lot more sharper, so to speak. Just wanted to get a sense on what exactly is happening there, because I think now with the tariffs behind us, well, we were expecting a, you know, a recovery in this business. That has somehow not, you know, shown up in the numbers. Just wanted to get a sense of, what exactly is going on and, is it time for us to, you know, rethink our strategy in U.S. and probably change the way we are working there?
Rajas, the market is changing in U.S. quite a bit. There is more concentration on the deliverable, registration, the studies, et cetera, on U.S. strategy changing accordingly. Market is as we said before also very challenging, but we are making very good inroads with registration in the regulatory areas as well as in the market segments. Okay? It is going to be as I said before, a very challenging year, but we are expecting to grow in U.S. market also.
Thank you for the answer. My second question would be on our India business. This quarter has seen a significant increase in sales, about 50%, and EBITDA has also been good for us in India. Serra obviously, I think, there was an earlier mention of Serra volume going up. Outside of Sera, any other products that you would like to call out, or any other segment that you would like to possibly call out that has done well for us in India both in this quarter and for the year as well? If you could, please also call out your Biocatalysis revenue for Q4 and for the full year as well, please.
The revenue, Rauka ji can tell you what exactly the revenue is, but going forward, we do expect a good growth to come from the biocatalysts as well in Indian market. I would like to mention that not only the pharma, but this year, we grew very well in the food area as well as in the animal feed area. Even our specialty business grew very well. We expect that this momentum to continue going forward as well. If you want a specific biocatalyst numbers, probably Rauka ji can give you. Yeah, going forward, we do expect a good growth coming from those areas as well.
Understood, sir.
Sir, I have.
Sir.
I have gotten it. I think you wanted the numbers, right?
Yes, please.
INR 247 million and, for the FY 2026, yes. Last year it was INR 174 million.
Understood, sir. Thanks a lot. My next question will be on our R&D pipeline. Outside of Sera, which you've already spoken about the European filing. Any other products that are there in the pipeline for us, which you know are gaining more traction or, you know, we are expected to launch soon in the this year or the year after that, which you would like to highlight?
This is a continuous process. We are working on many projects as we were talking. Coming this year, probably like in the second half, our R&D new facility should be operational, and after that we should be able to work on more different products. Because of the competition of the nature, I don't want to now going forward, specify the individual products, because that just creates the pressure of the products. Going forward, I will not be like to mention the exact product, but we are working on many different products. That's what I would like to say.
Understood, sir. I mean, it seems like the company has turned around in, you know, FY 2026 after a difficult FY 2025. I mean, apart from the revenue outlook which you shared, has the nature of our revenue in some sense also, you know, kind of become more long-term or recurring than it was earlier? I mean, is the quality of revenue increased, so to speak?
Quality of revenue is extremely well and very stable.
Understood, sir. Understood. Got it. Last question on capital allocation. I think one of the earlier participants also had questioned this. I mean, looking at our balance sheet, we have around INR 700 crores of cash. Despite that we have canceled the interim dividend. Just wanted to get some thoughts on your thought process regarding that.
That's again, I will say that is board decisions which board always evaluate from time to time on how to enhance our shareholders' value by different modes and methods, as you guys know very well. We are always as a company board members are always looking to see how and where we can do, how we can benefit this to the, our shareholders.
Understood, sir. When I, broader question on the fermentation space, so to speak, this would be my last question. You know, there are a couple of peers, you know, who actually have now entered, let's say, emerging areas like animal, no, sorry, non-meat based proteins, which are also manufactured using fermentation itself. Those segments also have, you know, good growth potential and healthy margin profile as well. Just wanted to get a sense on how we are looking at some of these adjacent areas. Are we considering these areas for future expansion as well?
Rajas, it is protein, overall category is a growth category as you all know very well. Okay? Non-meat protein is taking some traction as we understand it, and we are continuously working on various different areas to see how we can take the advantage of it, you know, in the whole segment, not only non-meat protein area, all entire protein area, so to speak. Yes, it is a very interesting area and obviously we are always looking into all these growth areas.
All right. Thanks a lot, sir, and wishing you, all the very best.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Rajas.
Thank you so much, sir. The next question comes from the line of Mr. Nikhil Upadhyay from Securities Investment Management, p lease go ahead, sir.
Hello. Good morning? Am I audible?
Yeah.
Hello. Thank you. Yeah.
Good morning.
Congrats on a good set of numbers for the quarter and the year as a whole. Now, my broader question is, sir, if we look at our growth trajectory in the past, since listing, there have been periods when we had very strong growth, then there was a period when the growth would come down to single digit. This time it seems you are more confident on the sustain. What are the factors or what we have done differently from the past which gives you confidence that this growth momentum can sustain? In a similar spirit, if we look at it, this time the growth, even for the year has been more broad-based, like human nutrition has grown, animal nutrition has grown.
If you can just talk about what at a company level we have done differently or what changes we have done over the last two years where we are seeing this broader growth versus segmental growth which used to happen earlier.
Sure, Nikhil. It's a very good question, and thank you for asking that. As you can see, the growth is broader and what it was is, we have to focus on the areas which we want to grow. Initially also from the beginning, we are telling that we have changed the focus on not running after every single thing, but focused on the areas which we are very good at and we want it to grow. It has to become supplemented with lot of research and not necessarily just a commodity product or me-too products. We made a lot of changes in that particular segment. Our outlook is more broad-based and long-term rather than the short-term margins.
What you see is that results, the cumulative cumulative efforts for some years now that it is it is paying off this year in spite of lot of challenges in the global marketplace. Okay. Our outlook is global now. It is not a segmented outlook only. We look at the entire region. World is very fast. It's, it's now coming to the AI world in very shortly. As you can see, we need to be very rapid and very broad-based and deeper rather than a commodity. Those are the kind of changes we are making. We made actually, and continue to make. As I mentioned that also in my opening remarks that within next six months, this quarter, this year, fiscal year, we'll be operational into our R&D center, which is one of the largest research-based center in our area so far that I know of, you know.
We are going for innovations, as our PM says, you know, rather than just service industry. you know, that is what you can see, lot of registration, lot of papers, lot of research. We are spending substantial and, well, committed to spend substantial amount of our earnings into the R&D sector. Does that give you answers to your question?
Yeah, yeah, sir. It gives a comprehensive view. I would just want to understand one more point because when we go for a more comprehensive, an in-depth, entrance with the customer or entrancement and more innovation, there are two aspects which probably can throw light. One is with our existing customers, say, which were present three years back, today, what quantum of business we would have increased with them? Secondly, if we look at the growth beyond our top 10 customers, how would that be?
Well, you will find that our top 10 customers will be very much evolving and expanding. Okay? That is because of what I said it before. We are very keen on increasing our share of revenues from the existing customers also, which they have already established for so many years. There is a lot of changes globally happening right now, as you are very well aware, Nikhil. Obviously, lot of companies are looking at us also into the different angle, different perspective. It is an exciting, even though challenging time. We feel very confident that this really with the last lot of work which we have done in last several years is taking a deep root into it.
Sure, sir. Thanks. Just two questions. One is, sir, see, today we are almost INR 750 crore-INR 800 crore kind of a top-line company. When we today go to a new customer, the kind of discussion which they are having with us versus when we were a smaller company, say five or seven years back, today with the kind of projects which we are getting, are they more innovation-driven or is it more of a, like, second supplier source kind of a replacement which we are doing? How would you define the kind of work on the R&D we are doing? Is it more newer products and even the companies are open to give them to us or is there still some skepticism?
That's You are asking very good questions. Both. Again, I will answer you both because new companies, quite a few new companies are approaching us. Old companies are or those companies which are established are checking us out kind of thing, you know. Yes, we are working on both. One is we need to continue on getting the revenues from the existing or these new sources, which are just which are just cost-driven. At the same time, we have to establish the new markets which, with our innovations, which which is little deep-rooted. The strategies are combination of both.
Okay. Last question. Two or three years back, if we go back to our call, one of the idea which we had was that this is a business which is driven by volumes, and volumes will provide us operating leverage. Even from I'm taking a base post-COVID, when we were at INR 530 crores. Today, we are at INR 750 crores. It seems we have, like, sacrificed some bit on the gross margins because gross margins have come down from 75% to 70%. Well, it may not be a sacrifice. The operating leverage has not played out the way we had thought or we as investors had thought that as volumes will come, operating leverage will play out.
Is there something wrong with the understanding of the business, or is it a sacrifice which we have said that we are okay doing business at 30% margins, but let's focus on getting more customer traction? What have we chosen between the two?
More customer tractions.
Sure. Which means that margins should remain in this level, and operating leverage would probably provide it for more volume growth, we would look at?
Yeah. Yes.
Okay. Thanks a lot, sir. I'll come back.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, sir. The next question comes from the line of Mr. Lakshminarayanan from Tunga Investments. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. Thank you. Hope I'm audible, sir?
Yes, you are, Mr. Lakshminarayanan.
There are two questions. Sir, I noticed that Mr. Roda is moving on, and, you know, he has been a big part of our management. I just wanted to understand, you know, how the organization is maintaining stability and, you know, how the organization is actually moving forward and whether any next person has actually taken lead in that area.
[inaudible] I cannot hear from your questions properly. Maybe you are little too soft.
No, I hear. I understand that Mr. Dipak Roda, who has been part of our team for a long time, had decided to move on. I just wanted to just understand, you know, how that role has been smoothly transitioned and if any other person has been replaced, I mean, how he has been replaced also.
Well, in an organization, of course, when somebody leaves, that's such as Mr. Roda who works for a long time with the company as a part and becomes a part of the company, it does hurt overall. There is always, you know, management, second level management and third level management which take care of it.
Okay. Has anyone been appointed in his the same capacity of getting that key role he was in?
Lakshminarayanan, what we did is, Mr. Roda was handling some part of Indian business and some part of U.S. business. We'd, we manage with two different heads at this point of time who are equally capable. That's how we are going right now. I guess, we should be able to do good. We will not be having too much of difficulty going forward as well.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Sure. Mr. Rathi, you're always urge us to think your company, you know, on a longer term, not look at quarter, not look at year. If I just look at U.S. business from March 2022- end to March 2026- end, I see that there is a significant divergence from the performance, which is down around 6%, on Indian rupee terms, while the currency has actually also depreciated by 22%. How does the management view this? Is it something which you anticipated or you're happy about? How do you like us to look at your U.S. business over a longer period, not necessarily a year or two, but slightly longer?
Overall, we always told you that it is a balanced business, a global business. It is export-driven business as well as local business. Look, you have to keep and look at it in the same way. Nothing, it changed, you know. One year, as I said, various things, takes little time to deep root, and that is what we are doing right now, you know, globally, not only in the U.S. market, but global markets all over. It is, it is just, like somebody said, when one door closes, second, some other door opens.
Just if I just engage on that further, sir. How do you like us to look at the U.S. business sector? Because that's a business where it's very dear to you and you are putting all your efforts to expand that business. How do you think you look at it? I mean, how do you think we should look at it and how you are looking at it over a longer period? I'm not looking at a year, but slightly longer.
Yeah, it's going to be a growth business as usual. Our business is a growth business. U.S. business, you should be looking as long-term steady growth business. Okay?
Got it. Got it. The third question is that, from the, you know, Serratiopeptidase business, right? I mean, how much that did contribute for the full year and what has been the year-on-year growth? As a follow-up on that business, I see that the competition is little muted if I, if I can understand. Can you just tell me how are you thinking about competitive intensity in the Serratiopeptidase business? I think two parts of the question. One is, what has been the contribution of Serratiopeptidase for the full year and, especially the last year, and how is the competitive intensity? Because I understand that one of the competitors is not selling the product.
Beni, you want to answer on that one? Mukund?
Yeah. As Mukund was mentioning, I think this is the last time we will be sharing this number. This is like Serratiopeptidase. I think we have on YTD growth about 45%, and Q-on-Q is about 54% growth.
Okay.
I think you will all appreciate because there has always been a kind of a lot of pressure this is created by competitor and all that. We'll be restricting that.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much, sir. The next question comes from the line of Mr. Shreyans Gathani from SG Securities, p lease go ahead, sir.
Hi, good morning sir? I had a couple of questions. The first one is on the Biocatalysis. You know, a few calls ago you had mentioned that there were some trials going on. Just wanted to get a sense of the overall business and any updates on that.
Mukund?
Sorry, I was on mute. At this point of time, I would like to say that we are working on few of the products. Trials are going well, won't be able to comment on the exact number right now. Next year, what we are looking at it is some moderate growth coming from this area.
Got it. Any estimate on like when these would complete? Because they've been going on like as far as I know, like six to nine months already.
There are not one or two products. We are working on many different products. In some of the products you get some challenges. I would still say, like to go and say that this year we expect some growth coming from this area. Whenever that will happen, that will be the quarter we are going to put it up as a different category or we would like to comment on that. As of now, I would say that this year we expect some growth coming from this area.
Got it. Got it. That's helpful.
Keep in mind that this is a very, again, challenging area I would say because it also depends a lot on the government bodies regulations and global competition, you know. Changes of processes. There are a lot of things, lot of factors into this. We still, irrespective because of the several different, product lines and trials going on, we expect a, as Mukund says, moderate growth in this continuous growth on this market.
Got it. That's helpful. The second question was on the gross margin. I think you alluded there was some extraordinary item this quarter. If you could just expand on that, just trying to understand a little more.
Rauka ji?
The gross margin is particularly driven by, you know, product mix which the company have and the group have. Overall if you see the domestic sales is kind of higher as compared to total consolidated sales, which, you know, in turn sometimes gives us the lesser margin. On an overall basis, if you see on a year, full year basis, the gross margin is kind of, you know, 1% down because of product mix only.
He's talking something extraordinary.
Yeah.
No, he was asking about some extraordinary item. I guess like something was there in the last quarter which is not here right now.
Oh, okay.
The last quarter that was there in FY, quarter three, right?
Quarter three.
Quarter three we had some exceptional item. That was, I think one was related to.
Provision reversal.
Reversal of some provision which we were carrying in our books for some litigation matter. That, that has come in our favor. So about, I think INR 16 crore was the reversal. In addition to that, we have provided for the, you know, the impact of the labor laws because we have been In India, you have seen that, you know, new labor laws have enacted. Impact of those labor laws on our payroll cost, so that we have taken into account. This is, I think, pertaining to quarter three of this year.
Okay. Sir, my last question pertains to the R&D center, like, you know, we expect it to operationalize in the second half of the year. What kind of incremental expenses are we looking at in terms of percentage of R&D spends, in terms of like, you know, percentage and, you know, INR spends? Like, have we already started hiring for that? Like, what is gonna be the capacity, you know, for that? How many people are we looking to hire over there?
Of course the expenses are going to go up, but not like. We'll try to maintain between the, whatever the current percentage what we are going up, because it also depends on the function of the sales. In terms of persons, some persons we already hired, some persons we are planning to shift from our existing R&D center. Some persons we are in a process to hire. In terms of capacity, the capacity in a given time, it will take some more time to really come to the fullest utilization, but we intend to increase in the first phase by the three-fold of what current capacity what we have.
Okay.
It's a phase in, phase manner. You know, expansion will be in a phase out manner.
Got it. Got it. That's helpful. Are we looking to close down the other R&D centers? Because you said we are moving people.
No. We will not be closing. Those will continue. Those will continue, but at the same time, some people will move from here. We will be going with lot of modern machineries out there so that the people requirement will be lesser, but we can get, like, more higher output out there.
Okay. Okay. Got it.
In absolute term, the R&D revenue expenditure is likely to go up by INR 50 million. Okay. CapEx is definitely this is going on, that will be again additional, I think INR 50 crores we will be spending this year. I think overall CapEx on R&D will be about INR 130 million, INR 30 crores, sorry. INR 130 crores.
Got it. Got it. Okay.
Maybe we have already spent INR 50 million we are going to spend during this year.
Got it. Okay. What would be our current utilization? Are we looking to do any kind of capacity expansion? Like I know we just do incremental, and we find efficiencies. Anything, as we are increasing sales, are we gonna need more capacities, or are we okay with what's there?
In the main company, we'll be taking that call after September. As of now, we do our preparation on the ground so that whenever we want to go, we can go very quickly, rapidly. The infrastructure buildup is done. We may look into some capacity increment in the one of the subsidiary company this year. Those are the plans as of now.
Got it. That's very helpful. That's all from my end. Thank you and good luck.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much. The next question comes from the line of Mr. Rohit Ohri from Progressive Shares, p lease go ahead, sir.
Hi team. Good to see the company evolve from a domestic enzyme manufacturer to an integrated, specialty biosolution platform. I think, this is where the alpha lies. Many congrats on this, one of the strongest quarter that y'all have delivered.
Thank you, Rohit.
Yes. Yes, sir. I have a few questions. While you're becoming a global innovator in this biomanufacturing platform, with certain moats that you have, and we also see the small CWIP or some sort of expansion that is happening. If you can take us through that, this fermentation capacity that we have of around 500 m cu capacity. By when do you think that the next round of expansion should come through?
That's what I said, like we might look some capacity expansion into the one of our subsidiary company, and we will take the call in the month of September when we should really increase. That's as of now currently stand. We do have infrastructure to increase the capacity increment by 50% right away. Okay. We'll take the call as we move forward in this year.
[Kamleshji], what would be the peak revenue that we get from this capacity currently?
It's very difficult to say because, Rohit, it's like always the product mix, how it's moving, what are the different areas which are moving. As I was saying, like, there is a constant improvement in the productivity. It's a lot of blending game. Even like I mentioned earlier as well, like, this year we could increase some of the products output to maintain the pressure on the pricing. These are all the blended I mean, like it's very difficult to say exact revenue.
Okay. sir, on the working capital, we see some stress over there in the inventory. Is it because of the demand or is it some new client that you all are onboarding or maybe just talking because of the pricing in the industry?
It is not only the pricing, but it is because of the uncertainties of supply chain and other things, and you never know what will happen tomorrow. You do not want to get stock out for the raw materials and other areas. You should be able to deliver because it is a game of, like, the logistic delivery. Sometimes you need to build up the capacity, build up the inventories to manage all the changing global environments.
On the receivables side, is it because of stronger sales or, are we giving some higher credit to some of the clients or customers?
The things are more or less same.
Okay.
Rauka ji can put some more lights on the number. I don't feel like there is a much of difference, like, on the strategy front.
Okay. sir, on the competitive positioning, while Rathi also mentioned that this year could be a little bit of a challenging on the international front. How do you see or what are the things that generally the customer looks at while they are trying to choose AETL over Novozymes and/or Hansen? What are the cost advantages that we generally see? Why would they prefer us while we might compare with some of the European players or maybe some other players in China who could be having better margins or maybe defensive margins as compared to us?
[crosstalk] Good question.
The timing is always challenging. It's a very good question. The time is always challenging. The challenging time always creates some opportunities. I always feel that the company like us gets more opportunity when the time is more challenging, because that's the time when everyone is in, like, panic. That's the only time the people start looking for the alternatives as well. If you are, like, comfortable.
And-
Generally, you don't look into it. Yeah,g o ahead.
Also one more thing you have to remember that we are not a company which is just came up in last few years. It has a tremendous track record of last 30, 40 years, right?
True, true.
That all counts. That is Because ultimately people should trust you, deliver it, that you can deliver.
Okay. Makes sense, Rathi ji. My last two questions is if you can take us through what are the developments which are happening with Starya, which was recently having some corporate developments happening over there.
Well, It has been just being established. Completely independently. I think Coming year will be the first year for the Starya as its independent company. The response is pretty good.
Anything on the numbers that you would like to share on the top line or maybe?
No, there is nothing. Nada. It is just a starting, so there is not much of a numbers game right now.
I Rohit, I would say that we are not, like, really looking for the numbers, but it's more like a strategical fit as well. To expand the U.S. market as well, right? It's more like a strategy rather than the exactly number, and we are not really looking for too big numbers to come up in just near terms.
Okay, last one. If you have the number handy, maybe, an approximate number to the revenue which could be coming from the products which are launched in the last three years or so.
Good questions. We will have to calculate, Rohit ji. Yeah, there will be some good revenue as well.
Okay.
Yeah.
Because we don't, like, separate it out that way. Yeah.
It is not like you know, we have do a lot of combination products, a lot of, say, very proprietary products and it's not possible, at least sometimes, to just say, this is more or this is less, kind of thing. We have a broad range of enzymes and they have their own function and it is just create a very unique formulation for the industry.
Vasant Rathi, a ballpark number maybe like 10% or maybe 15%. That is what I was looking at.
Well, the growth you can see whenever you take out, one individual product which you all know, and rest of them is all like that.
Okay.
You know. We are very much as a, what you call it, proprietary enzyme product kind of company. Hmm.
Okay, Vasant Rathi, Mukund Kabra, thank you for answering my question. Thanks a lot.
Oh, pleasure.
Thank you, Rohit ji.
Anytime.
Thank you so much, sir. The next question comes from the line of Mr. Ashish Thavkar from UTI.
Thanks for the opportunity. Is there any update on where we are in terms of, the U.S. tariffs, discussion with the customers? Are they still on the back foot? What is the scene there?
Ashish, thank you for asking this question. You know, every day there is a new drama. We initiated, the customers are always asking when they can get the refund back. We are asking the government when we can get the refund back, and so on and so forth. Let's play the tune and see what happens, you know. Whether the Congress in U.S., Congress acts on it or don't act on it. There is a lot of drama going on in the court. You know, politicians and the business. It is The people more or less understood that there is a reality of this and prices in the marketplace is going up. Inflation is really hitting up here also in the U.S.
Not only in energy, but all the sector, food sectors, supplemental sector, all supply lines, okay. We just have a challenge how we can pass on this cost to the customers.
As of now, we are still absorbing 10 odd % cost, right, from the tariff?
Yeah, to a certain extent, yes. It is a gradual process to pass it on, and to explain. That's a process, but you cannot just pass on everything to the customer and lose the market share.
At 18% tariff, we would not be very uncompetitive, right, versus the competition?
No, it's a competitive market. You know, when you get into ingredients and when their cost goes up and the market is very different, you know, how many times they have to increase that to make their sales is. That becomes whether the consumer can afford it or not is another issue which they have to face. What will impact for them because it's a B2B market, no?
Yeah. Great. Lastly on this, chemistry is, since we are also on the peptide enzymes, and peptide is in, you know, finding a lot of relevance globally, what are the opportunities that we are seeing in these chemistries? If you could help us highlight what are the new chemistries that you guys are targeting.
It's a very interesting opportunities. We will try to explore it also. Since we are in a protein area, and enzymes, proteins go hands in hand and peptides are also part of it. Very interesting areas. We are exploring all various different possibilities.
Great. Thanks and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, sir. The next question comes from the line of Mr. Umang Shah from Banyan Tree Advisors, p lease go ahead, sir.
Hi, sir. Congrats on the great performance. Am I audible?
Yes, Umang. sir.
Yeah. Great. Great. Sir, I have two questions. Sir, first was, if you could give the breakup between India and international business in the human nutrition segment.
Rauka ji?
What is the question?
Yeah.
The breakup of the India and international business.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Rauka ji?
Beni?
Yes, I'm giving the information.
Sir, meanwhile, the second question was, if you can help me understand, was there any one-time component in the India revenues of Q4? Any sort of pre-booking or pre-buying by customers or something?
No, there is no that kind of revenue. It's not a one-time revenue.
Okay. Sure, sir. Sir, one last question was that with our India R&D coming in, would we be freeing up some capacity in Evoxx to make it more customer-facing or would Evoxx continue doing R&D for us?
Evoxx will continue doing R&D.
Okay. Okay. Sure, sir.
Umang?
Yes, sir.
32% of our business has come from India. I'm talking about human nutrition business.
Okay.
Of our total revenue, 32% from India domestic market and 30% has come from international market. Total is 63% contribution of human nutrition business in our total revenue for FY 2026.
Okay. Sure.
It's a balance.
Got it.
Basically.
Absolutely. Absolutely, sir. It's 32% and Yeah, got it. Got it.
32%. Yeah.
Yes, yes. Got it. Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, sir. Have a great Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you so much, sir. The next question comes from the line of Mr. Ketan Chheda, Individual investor, p lease go ahead, sir.
Thank you so much for the opportunity. Sir, congratulations on a good performance for the whole year. Indeed a good, you know, growth that you have achieved. Sir, my first question is with respect to the patents, the numbers that you publish every quarter in your presentation, I saw that the number has gone down from 17% to 15%. Could you just throw some light on that, sir? Like, why has the number of patent reduced?
Some of the patents, like which we are not giving the revenue or we thought that is not significant, we have cut down from the list. We filed two or three, I need to see the exact numbers, which we got granted this year as well. Few of the old patents which we thought are not like, making, contributing to the revenue, we are not focusing on them.
Understood. Understood. Thank you so much for that. My other question is, sir, when I look at your segmental performance, of course, you know, it's a very good growth on all segments, human nutrition, animal nutrition, so on and so forth. When we look at the geographic, this thing, and of course, the U.S. market has been much discussion we call earlier. My question is, respect to a bit long-term going in the past. Even if I see four or five years, right from starting 2021 onwards, our U.S. business has not kind of, you know, grown significantly. If you could help us understand, you know, what kind of business are we doing there? You of course mentioned about the competitive landscape being a bit tougher there.
If you could throw some more light on, you know, what kind of business it is and what kind of challenges that we face, that would help us understand the business, the U.S. business better.
Most of our U.S. business is in nutraceutical market. We do various different industrial segments in food area and so on. Most of the business is in the nutraceutical market. Okay? Nutraceutical market is under tremendous churn right now in last few years, changing the face of it and changing the habits of the people. As you can see last few years, now probiotics is one of the major market segment.
Yeah.[inaudible]
U.S. market is always changing with the new habits and then rest of the global catch up is there. This is always going to be like that. Market is growing in various different segments. We need to catch up that rising trend. That's what we are doing.
Right. Right. sir, my next question was also with respect to probiotics view, which you just touched upon. If I look at the presentation, you've given a segmental revenue also for the probiotics, which has significantly reduced from last year. again, like, you know, if you could help us understand why we see probiotics as a growth segment for us and our revenue contribution in that segment is a very small one, and the addressable market is a significant one. what.
Ketan ji, what happened there is like what we are reporting the revenues or what we used to or what we are currently as well, like reporting the revenues are the individual which was like, kind of a, what I would say is a commodity market. Now the approach is changed, and we are like making lot of different solutions using the probiotics, which are not really reflecting into the exact numbers because it is very difficult to segregate them because it's always been the not utilized as a individual product. The probiotics is like used very widely in a lot of like U.S. formulations, but the you won't be able to separate it out exactly.
The numbers what you are looking at it is going down or going up is the individual probiotics what you are selling. Those are like more like commodity segments.
I can assure you that our probiotic business is very strong.
Sure. Thank you. Thank you, for asking all questions and, wish you all the best. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, sir. There are no more further questions, sir. Now I hand over the floor to Mr. Ronak Saraf for closing comments.
Thank you. Thank you everyone for taking your valuable time for attending our earnings conference call. We will keep you all posted for any further updates. I request you all to kindly send in your further questions that may remain unanswered. An audio recording and the transcript of this call will be uploaded on our website in the due course. Looking forward to host you all in the next quarter. Till then, stay healthy, stay safe. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using Chorus Call Conference Call service, y ou may disconnect your lines now. Thank you and have a pleasant day.