Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Aether Industries Post Results Call hosted by HDFC Securities. As a reminder, all participant lines will remain in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal the operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Nilesh Ghuge from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you, Ryan. Good afternoon, all. On behalf of HDFC Securities, I welcome everyone to this Aether Industries conference call to discuss the results for the quarter-ending December 2024. From the Aether Industries, we have with us today Dr. Aman Desai, Promoter and Whole-time Director, Mr. Rohan Desai, Promoter and Whole-time Director, Mr. Faiz Nagariya, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Kushal Doshi, Lead Investor Relations, and Ms. Shubhangi Desai, Executive IR. Without further ado, I will now hand over the floor to Mr. Kushal Doshi to begin with the earnings call for Q3 FY25. Over to you, Kushal.
Thanks, Nilesh. Thank you and a warm welcome to everyone. Today, our board has approved the financial results for the third quarter and the nine months ended FY25, and the same has been filed with the exchanges as well as updated over our website. Please note that this conference call is being recorded, and the transcript of the same will be made available on the website of Aether Industries Limited and the stock exchanges. Please also note that the audio of the conference call is the copyright material of Aether Industries Limited and cannot be copied, rebroadcast, or attributed in press or media without specific and written consent of the company. Let me draw your attention to the fact that on this call, our discussions will include certain forward-looking statements which are predictions, projections, or other estimates about future events.
These estimates reflect management's current expectations on future performance of the company. Please note that these estimates involve several risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied. Aether Industries Limited, all its officials, do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events or otherwise. Now, Mr. Rohan Desai will begin by sharing Aether's business outlook. Then, Mr. Faiz Nagariya will cover the financial highlights of the period under review, and Dr. Aman Desai will share the ongoing expansion and strategy of the company going forward. I hand over the call to Mr. Rohan Desai for his opening remarks.
Good evening, everyone. I'm happy to connect with you today to delve into the details of our company's performance during the third quarter of financial year 2025. First of all, let's talk about the market dynamics. We have witnessed an increase in total volumes while at the same time maintaining stable prices across our product range. This stability reflects a resilient demand for our products, leading us to expand our client base by adding eight new clients. While we have observed that the prices are likely bottomed out, we are expecting a potential uptrend to emerge post-Chinese New Year, which could positively impact our future quarters. Operationally, we have some noteworthy developments. Site 2, which was previously affected by the accident, is now back to full capacity following the revocation of restrictions by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board in January 2025.
This is a testament to our commitment to safety and regulatory compliance. Meanwhile, our expansion efforts on Sites 3 and 3++ are on track, promising future capacity increases. Our greenfield project at Site 5 in Panoli is also progressing as planned, with the first phase expected to be fully operational by quarter three of financial year 2026. This expansion will increase our production capacity significantly. Site 4 has been particularly busy, experiencing a surge in production, primarily due to new validation and trial quantities from data use. Following our strategic supply agreement with them, signed and announced in June 2024, we have finalized orders on the first two products in January 2025, which will be supplied from our site. We are gearing up for a ramp-up in Q4, which should further solidify our position in this market segment.
Turning to our business model, we have observed a shift in our revenue streams. This quarter, large-scale manufacturing contributed 49% of our sales, with contract/exclusive manufacturing increasing up to 38%, and contract research and manufacturing services making up to 11% of our sales. As we pivot our strategy towards enhancing our capacities in contract research and manufacturing services and contract/exclusive manufacturing, we anticipate these areas to become even more pivotal. Volume growth across all three models has been encouraging, with our export and domestic split at 54% and 46% respectively in quarter three of financial year 2025.
Sustainability has been a core focus for Aether. We have now fully commissioned a 15-megawatt solar power plant, which not only powers our manufacturing facilities but also marks a significant step towards reducing our carbon footprint. This initiative is expected to save us over INR 150 million annually in energy costs.
With 31 megawatts of solar power plant now under our belt, we stand as the only company in this space to source approximately more than 80% of our electricity from renewable sources, setting a new benchmark for environmental responsibility. I would now conclude and invite our CFO, Faiz Nagariya, to elaborate on financial highlights of the period under review. Over to you, Faiz.
Thank you, Rohan, and good evening, everybody. I am glad to present the financial results of Aether Industries Limited for Q3 and nine months of financial year 2025. The total consolidated revenue of the company today is INR 2,333 million in quarter three of financial year 2025, as against INR 2,098 million in quarter two of financial year 2025. There is an increase of 11% quarter-on-quarter. This has resulted in EBITDA of INR 757 million in quarter three of financial year 2025, as against INR 613 million in quarter two of financial year 2025, which is an increase of 23% in the comparing quarters. EBITDA margin is today 32% in Q3 of financial year 2025, as against 29% in Q2 of financial year 2025. The PAT has reached INR 434 million in Q3 of financial year 2025, as against INR 348 million in Q2, which is an increase by 25% quarter-on-quarter.
The PAT margin is today 19% in Q3, which was 17% in Q2 of financial year 2025. The consolidated revenue in the nine months of financial year 2025 increased by 25% from INR 5,083 million in nine months of financial year 2024 to INR 6,351 million in nine months of financial year 2025. The EBITDA has increased to INR 1,891 million in nine months of financial year 2025, against INR 1,433 million in nine months of financial year 2024, resulting in an increase of 32%. PAT stands at INR 1,081 million in nine months of FY25, as against INR 839 million in nine months of FY24, which is an increase of 29% in comparable periods.
During the quarter, we have submitted the stock loss claim resulting from the fire accident on November 29, 2024, to the insurance surveyor, and the same will be processed and claimed settled by the insurance company in Q4 of financial year 2025. The revamping of the affected site is completed, and 100% operations at the fire- affected site have been started in January 2025, with approvals from the regulators. The remaining claim for the fixed assets for the loss will be put up to the insurance company in the month of February 2025, along with the loss of profit claim, and we are confident to get the claim settled by the insurance company by or before the end of financial year 2025, or maximum by Q1 of FY26.
We have been able to reduce our inventory cycle to 171 days as of December 31, 2024, as against 179 days as of September 30, 2024. The debtor cycle has also been reduced to 129 days as of December 31, 2024, as against 136 days as of September 30, 2024, encompassing a payment flow from the customers. With more contract manufacturing businesses unfolding in the near future, we anticipate to have better debtor and inventory cycles in the future, resulting in better working capital cycles. Now, I would request Dr. Aman Desai to share updates on Aether's ongoing expansion plans and strategies going forward.
Thank you, Faiz, for the financial highlights. Good evening, everybody. I'm very pleased to connect with you all again. To begin with, as always, we've been working diligently in augmenting our capabilities with our ongoing CapEx across R&D, pilot, and production. We integrate this with incremental additions in our chemical reaction capabilities and competencies of chemistry and technology, beginning from R&D all the way to commercial scale, and this aids us in enabling and developing newer chemistries and technologies and addressing newer customers. The CRAMS business model has continued to grow, with our nine-months CRAMS revenue being equivalent to 95% of the entire fiscal year 2024 already. We are currently working on over 50 research projects in our CRAMS business model across all the sectors, with the majority of the projects being in the non-pharma and non-agro sectors.
As the new year has started the world over, we have been witnessing a significant influx of business inquiries in our CRAMS business model. These increased inquiries are primarily non-agro and non-pharma and in the oil and gas and sustainability business segments of our company, and what is very interesting about these new inquiries is that they are more towards the late stages of the commercialization journey for new chemical entities for various innovators in these business segments. This means that the translation to contract manufacturing and exclusive manufacturing business model from the CRAMS business model for these molecules will be relatively much faster. Each such translation will represent a step change in the growth trajectory of the company.
One exciting development in the recent few weeks has been the finalization of the first two product launches in our Site 4 for our strategic customer, Baker Hughes, which we have recently announced to the stock exchanges. This will now, with immediate effect, initiate significant manufacturing activities in Site 4, which will represent the first commercialization at Site 4, which has been long awaited. We anticipate multiple significant product launches in Site 4 for Baker Hughes and other companies to sequentially kick in now in the very near future. Our R&D expenses for the quarter three of fiscal year 2025, which is the current quarter, stood at INR 161 million, which is about 7% of our total revenues. We had 10 customer audits in this quarter. We have successfully passed all these audits, and we have reinvigorated our collaborations with these customers and these innovators.
CapEx at our Site 3+, 3++, and Site 5 is all well underway and as per schedule and on track, which represents very significant potential and possibilities for increased manufacturing assets for both the large-scale manufacturing business model as well as the contract and exclusive manufacturing business model. With that, I'll end here. Thank you, everybody, for your time and attention this evening, and I look forward to the questions. Kushal, back to you.
Thank you. We shall now request the moderator to open the forum for questions and answers.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Priyank Chheda from Vallum Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, Aman. I mean. Thank you for the opportunity. First, on the Site 4, Baker Hughes, in this, you said that we have finalized now two products. Can you tell me what would be the volumes for these two products? And just to again reconfirm, this total oil project of Baker Hughes was around somewhere around 16,000 metric tons, is that right? And at an ASP of around $2.5?
Thank you for the question, but unfortunately, we will not be able to comment on the exact specific volumes and pricing for these two products as these are confidential in nature with Baker Hughes, but in the second half of your questions, the volumes and pricing that you have conveyed are what has been conveyed by us in the original letter of intent that we had published to the stock exchanges a year and a half ago, and those remain.
So nothing has changed since whatever the original volumes and the numbers that you had conveyed for Baker Hughes, is that right?
We have only increased our partnership with Baker Hughes, and we have only increased our collaboration across even more projects and products since then, and it's become only more interesting in the last one and a half years.
Just to understand, when we had thought of the original communication, again referring back, we had thought to get this full revenue in FY25, but now because of all the delays that we know, should we think that this full revenue now gets shifted to full revenue potential gets shifted to FY26, or there will be certain more validations that are required yet to establish that FY26 will see the full revenue?
The field trials and the validations are all finished, and we anticipate that the full brunt of our work that we are doing across all products in the Site 4 will be implemented in the very near future. Thank you. We should shift to the next question.
Sure. Can I continue?
Maybe perhaps you can come back in the queue, maybe.
No problem. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Bhumika from Newmark Research Lab. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. First of all, I'd like to congratulate the company on the great set of numbers. My primary question is, how are we planning to push the agrochem and the pharma verticals? And do we see any massive scope happening in material sciences or any other vertical for that matter?
I can pick that. Thank you for the question. The pharma and the agro continue to be interesting, especially with the work that we are doing with the CRAMS players, especially in the agro business for the new chemical entities and the innovators. In the pharma world, in the generics advanced intermediates world for large-scale manufacturing, the demand is solidly in place. And as Rohan mentioned in his script that as the Chinese year ends and the industry starts over again, we anticipate an increased pricing trend to happen as well, which will be beneficial for us. And especially in the non-pharma and non-ag world of material sciences and oil and gas, this is very interesting.
And as I've mentioned, we have numerous projects, including new projects that have kicked in in the CRAMS business model, which we anticipate translating into the contract and exclusive manufacturing business model in the very near future. And so I think we are very upbeat, much more so on the material science, the oil and gas, and the sustainability business segments that we have in terms of manufacturing potential and possibilities for new projects.
Okay. Thank you. I have one more question. This was regarding Site 5 expansion. So the expansion that we've anchored, the CapEx that we've anchored, this expansion pertains to the agrochemical segment or the pharma segment or the material sciences segment. What are we trying to? Are you trying to increase the production capacity, and which products will we increase there? Any clarity on that?
It will be a mix of large-scale manufacturing business model as well as exclusive manufacturing business model, which are the two primary business models that we have in production. And it will be a mix of pharmaceutical, agrochemical, material sciences, and oil and gas. And so broadly speaking, the vision of the company ultimately is to have a mix of product mix of 25%, say, pharma, 25% ag, 25% material sciences, and 25% oil and gas majorly. And Site 5, which will be our largest production site, will reflect this proportion and ratio.
Okay. Thank you so much. I'll be joined on the line.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and one. The next question comes from the line of Priyank Chheda from Vallum Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Again, on the Site 4, a project of Saudi Aramco that we had targeted to do around 500 metric tons volume in FY25 and then eventually scale it up to 2,000 tons over the next two years. Any project update on this would be helpful.
Yeah. So I'll take the question. We did a top line till nine months of INR 11 crores for Saudi Aramco project, which is Converge. We are looking at anticipating next financial year to reach a revenue of INR 20 crores. That's the plan, and that is what we are looking at. We have one contract which we had done and commercialized that contract, which was with H.B. Fuller, and we are anticipating two new contracts to come in the next financial.
Sure. Sorry, if I missed out the number for FY25, you said we're looking out for around INR 40 crore. Is that right?
Yes.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay. That is 25, 26. FY25, FY26. So the full potential for this project was around 200 tons at a $10, somewhere around 200 crores. So is that something which we are looking out to reach in FY27 later on?
Yes. INR 180 crores is the potential of revenue which we can generate out of our two KTA plants.
Sure. Okay. Okay. And coming to, yeah.
Yeah. One minute. So this is a prior contract, right, which was signed in FY24 till FY29, and at maturity, we're having a two KTA plant. So this is a step-up build-up towards that two KTA, which we are targeting in FY28, 29.
Oh, got it. Now that's clear. Perfect. On Site 3++, so I'm sure we are ready to start the plant with the construction fully commencing by end of this financial year. And we had planned somewhere around two molecules in agro, one in material science as a pipeline so that when we start, we start ramping up the productions also. So any update on that Site 3+ and ++ would be helpful. Somewhere the production capacity was around 3,500 tons. Is that what remains intact or not? And then our plans to reach a full potential of INR 350 crores, when should we think of that reaching that potential from that plant?
On Site 3++, there has been an interesting development also on CEM business model. We are looking at it. Also, on these three products, we have already completed the qualification with our customers. Either we go on the large-scale manufacturing business model or CEM is just what we are looking at. We will come to know by February end as on which direction we will be going, and we will announce that decision publicly once we make that decision. But in terms of Priyank, yes, you're correct. We will look to complete the construction and completion of the plant by the end of this financial year. We'll look to stabilize this plant over the next three to four months, and then you see the full commercial production happen.
The full revenue potential somewhere remains with the mix of the products that we plan to manufacture. The full potential remains at around INR 350-400 crores. Is that right understanding?
For Site 3+ and 3++?
Yes. Both combined at 3,500 tons. Yes.
300 crores.
300 crores. Got it. Perfect. And now coming to Site 2, which is our core manufacturing site, which is now ready to again scale up fully, what would have been the revenue contribution, say, because we were running at a sub-optimal level, what would have been the revenue contribution from that plant in these nine months so that we get to know when we are ready for full commercial production, say, FY25 at full utilization, what can be the revenue from this?
It is approximately INR 265 crores in nine months.
Okay. INR 265 crores in nine months. And this would have been running at what, around 60% utilization? Is that right?
Yeah. It is around 60%-65% utilization, and now when the 100% revocation is received, in this quarter, we will be reaching around 70%-72% utilization levels.
Perfect. Perfect. All right. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Abhijit Akella from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good afternoon. Thank you so much for taking my questions. Just a couple. One was regarding the comment you made regarding the expectation of some improvement in prices in China following the Chinese New Year. So if it's possible for you to please share some color about what intel exactly you're picking up from your contacts there. What's the thought process, and has anything changed in China with regard to how they are looking at their strategy in the chemical industry going forward?
So the prices have already bottomed out. They do not see further reduction in the pricing. Usually, the Chinese New Year, post-Chinese New Year, the Chinese strategies evolve, and the companies restart afresh. And that is when the strategies and the pricing trends are decided for the whole year. So we are projecting that some changes and some corrections will happen. That's our understanding. Our teams, as we speak, are also in China evaluating this in terms of the procurement and in terms of the sales. So I think that's our understanding, and that's our assumption.
Does the proposed tariffs to be imposed by the U.S. on China, does that have a bearing on any of this, or this is independent of that in your view?
It will be independent.
Okay. All right. Thank you, and just the other thing I had was on the Baker Hughes contract, since we expect that it will more or less run at close to full utilization during the upcoming financial year, so just sort of wanted to check what level of visibility we have or how far along the progress of the launches of those products has actually come along, so how much confidence can we sort of have in that projection?
We have a lot of confidence on the partnership in general. We are launching the first few products now as we speak, and we anticipate the remaining products will kick in in the very near future. And it's usually the start that is the most difficult. And now, as of today, we are starting. And so it's a lot of confidence and very high. It's a very strategic partnership for us, and we have visibility at the highest levels. And these are very fast-moving products. And so very high confidence and a high degree of attention in this partnership and in general in Site 4, expecting reach full utilization very fast.
Okay. Got it. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. All the best.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Krishan Parwani from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Congratulations on good set of numbers. Thank you for taking my question. Just a couple from my side. First, on the gross margin improvement in this quarter, I just wanted to know, is it linked to product mix improvement, or is there some benefit from price revisals as mentioned by Rohan earlier?
I would say some. Very less, 5%-7% could be contribution of the price improvement, but the remaining is changing the product mix.
Okay. That's great. And so with commercialization of the Baker Hughes contract and some volume of takeoff Aramco projects, so are we expecting a similar EBITDA margin or an upward trajectory in the margin going forward?
Yes.
So I mean, should we assume like a 29%-30% margin, or what should we assume for the future?
Currently, for a couple of months, a year or two, we can expect around 30% margins, and then when we have new contracts coming up, and then we will see that the margins also increase beyond that.
Okay. And thank you. And secondly, on the tax rate, is there any abnormal payment in this quarter? Because I think it's 28%. So I think with the new facilities coming in, I remember you had mentioned that it should come down. So is 23%-24% going for a tax rate this time?
Yeah. Krishan, good question. And the major reason is that the site for which it started in third quarter, the same started in actually March 2025, and the assets were capitalized. So this is basically before tax, which is increased on account of that. And the tax also, there was an assessment completed of our previous year, which is also around INR 1.25 crores, which is also added to this tax. So that is the increase. Otherwise, the tax rate is 25.168% for Aether residues and 17.16% for Aether Speciality. This is one of the cases this time.
Okay. So with contribution from Aether specialty increasing, that mix would be or tax rate could be lower than 25%. Correct?
Yes. Correct.
Okay. And just the last bit, in terms of your working capital, so where do you aspire to take it to, let's say, in the next two to three years, maybe FY27, FY28? What's your targeted working capital there?
As a finance person and a CFO, I would like to see the working cycle of the company after two years to around 150-160 days at least.
Okay. That's great, sir. Best of luck for that, and thank you again for answering my question. Good luck. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ashok Shah from Eklavya Invesco Family Office. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking the question. So we have increased our R&D budget. So can you elaborate how many scientists we have recruited and what's the future plan because we have increased by almost 100%?
The company is based on R&D foundation. So we continuously expand the R&D assets and the pilot plant assets that we have. We today have more than 125-130 R&D scientists, more than 100 chemical engineers in the R&D and pilot plant. The idea is to continuously expand that and increase that. This is done on the backdrop of continuously increasing inquiries that we see from existing customers as well as new customers in the transition models. In fact, by this year, in 2025, we do plan to take a two-way expansion of the R&D infrastructure and create an entirely new R&D wing, which will be a two-way expansion of the R&D assets. That will start digging the hole and doing the excavation for that in the very near future. The designs are made up. That will represent a significant expansion. And so this trend of increased R&D expenses and expenditure, this is a continuous feature for us and will continue.
So do we plan to?
Ashok, I would like to add something here. Last year, we spent around INR 98 crores in financial year 2024 on R&D expenses, and this year, in nine months, we are at around INR 47 crores. Where did we see double R&D expenses?
No, no. 15%, I think it was a percentage-wise in comparison to the revenue.
Yeah, sir. Yeah. Last year, it was a one-off because the revenue was down because of the fire accident, and that's why it was 15.4%. If you see current year, in nine months, it is INR 47 crores, which is 7.4% of total revenue.
Okay. It will be the same. Yeah.
Yeah. It's the same. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And sir, what's the amount of claim we have submitted for the fire incident? Excuse me?
100 crores.
Thank you, sir. Thank you. That's all from my side. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Yash from Stallion Asset. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. What is the capacity utilization right now, and how do you see that going forward overall?
So the capacity utilization at Site 2 is approximately 62%, which I told before sometime also, and we expect that by the end of March 2025, when the entire facility is now operational, we expect it to be around 72%, and maybe next year, when everything is going okay, we do not expect it to go more than 80-85% because we will keep 15% always in hand for some kind of overall maintenance. Site 3 is operating at around 50% currently, and that is not because of the production, but because of the pricing pressure, which is there, and we expect it to rise up to around 65% next year.
Okay. Okay. Got it. Thank you.
You too.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Bhumika from Newmark Research. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity again. My question is regarding the exports. Now, since this quarter, we were heavy on exports, there are a lot of wildfires going globally, and there's global temperature uncertainties. Do we see our agrochemical exports being hampered because of that?
Bhumika, I'll take this question. No, we do not see. We are operating out of very few agrochemical products, and we have annual contracts on them or long-term contracts on them. And we do not see this because they are not seasonal products. They are ongoing for approximately eight to 10 months in a year. And so we do not see any change in demand because of this event.
Okay. Thank you for the clarity. The other question that I had was, now we've seen a decrease in our large-scale manufacturing segment and a massive increase in our contract-exclusive manufacturing. So on a company level, would you say the vision for the company is to venture more into the contract-exclusive manufacturing for the pharma, agro, and the material sciences space?
Yes, Bhumika, that's the thought, and that's the strategy of the company, that we want to do more CEM business and also focus on the large-scale manufacturing business model. The large-scale, in fact, has not decreased. In fact, the CEM has increased. And hence, there is a pivot from large-scale manufacturing to CEM business model. Are you guys there?
Ladies and gentlemen, Bhumika has left the question queue.
Oh, okay.
As there are no further questions? I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments.
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thanks for connecting, and we look forward to connecting you both as usual results. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of HDFC Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.