Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q3 and 9-month FY 2025 conference call of Bansal Wire Industries Limited. From the management, we have Mr. Pranav Bansal, MD and CEO, and Mr. Ghanshyam Gujrati, CFO, to take the discussion forward. We also have an investor relations team from Adfactors. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Darshan Mankad from Adfactors PR for opening remarks. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Sagar. Good afternoon, everyone. We welcome you to the third quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2024 earnings call of Bansal Wire Industries Limited. Before we begin the earnings call, I would like to mention that some of the statements made during today's call might be forward-looking in nature, and hence it may involve risk and uncertainties, including those related to the future financial and operating performance. Please bear with us if there is a call drop during the course of the conference call. We would ensure the call is reconnected as soon as possible. I will now hand over the call to Mr. Pranav Bansal, MD and CEO, for his opening comments. Over to you, sir.
Yes, thank you, Darshan. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the earnings call of the third quarter for this year. It's a pleasure to connect with you all again as we share the progress and performance of Bansal Wire Industries Limited. I hope the new year has begun on a positive note for you and your family. On behalf of the entire Bansal family, we extend our best wishes. I trust you've had a chance to review our results, press releases, and the investor presentations which are available on the stock exchange and on our website. Joining me today on the call is our CFO, Mr. Ghanshyam Gujrati, who will take you through the financials in detail and answer your queries.
Just to give you a brief, the third quarter of FY 2025 has been, in fact, a landmark period for us, showcasing exceptional performance driven by strong demand across our four sectors. Our unwavering commitment to innovation and sustainability continues to reinforce our market leadership as we remain ahead of our projections for the year till now. This quarter also marked the commencement of production in our specialty wire vertical, which has been a vertical behind which we've all been running for the last five years, featuring high-value-added products like bead wire, hose wire, steel tyre cord, and with a market opportunity to tap up to four and a half lakh tons annually. We have successfully established a pilot project with a production capacity of 50,000 tons. This strategic move positions us to capitalize on a growing demand while delivering superior quality solutions to our customers.
We are confident that with this new capability, we will further strengthen our market presence and unlock new growth opportunities, as is already evident by the response we've received from our customers so far. As in this area, also, we are ahead of schedule and doing better than our expectations in terms of both order booking as well as product approvals. To commence with the new products, the Dadri facility has achieved 30% capacity utilization already by December and remains on track to fully achieve commencement by the end of this year. While the total production capacity is set to reach six lakh tons, this expansion supports our long-term growth ambitions. With this, we have already planned another phase of expansion in Dadri to take the capacity from 3.5 lakh tons to 4.2 lakh tons, owing to the demand we are receiving from the customers.
Our export also accounted to about INR 250 crores till the end of Q3, as against INR 219 crores compared to the corresponding year, underscoring strong international demand from our products and new product offering. As we approach the close of FY 2025, we remain optimistic about our growth trajectory. While challenges like fluctuating raw material prices and geopolitical risk persist, we see immense opportunity in both domestic as well as the export market. Our focus remains on operational excellence, quality, and sustainability, positioning us as a reliable partner in India's growth journey. With that, I will now hand over the call to our CFO, Mr. Ghanshyam, to take you through the financial performance. Thank you.
Thank you, Pranav sir. Good afternoon, all. I would like to share the summary of third quarter and nine-month financial performance with you. For quarter three, FY 2025, our revenue grew 53% year-on-year to INR 925 crores. EBITDA surged 99% YoY basis to INR 73 crores, and net profit for the quarter stood at INR 42 crores, which is up by 172% year-on-year basis. For the nine-month revenue stood at INR 2567 crores, higher by 46%. EBITDA rose 99% to INR 203 crores, while net profit jumped 123% to INR 113 crores. As our MD, Mr. Pranav sir, mentioned, we are committed and we continue to focus on our operational excellence, quality, and sustainability, and work on diversifying our product portfolio, as well as enhance contribution from value-added product to add our margin.
We are happy to report that EBITDA and net profit margin for quarter three has expanded by 184 basis points and 198 basis points on year-on-year terms. Now, we are open for the forum for questions and answers.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone phone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Deep Mehta from Bank of India Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations for a very good set of numbers. First, a bookkeeping question. Sir, what was the volume for this quarter? And if you can help us with the volume number for the corresponding quarter of the last year on a like-to-like basis because we have also consolidated some of the group capacities?
Sir, the volume numbers for this quarter was about 90,000-92,000 tons, including low-carbon mild steel as well as stainless steel. For the corresponding year, last year, Mr. Gujrati, will you be able to give us the numbers?
Yeah, sir, it was around 60,000 tons last year in corresponding year.
Great, sir. My second question is regarding the recent capacity expansion which you just announced for Dadri's opportunity. If you can help us with the quantum of the CapEx, timeline of the CapEx, as well as the product mix for the incremental CapEx, and how are we looking at this?
Sir, the total expansion that was already planned was about INR 500 crores-INR 550 crores, wherein we were installing the capacity of about 3.5 lakh tons. Now, we have increased that by about 20% to 420. This is owing to some demand that we are looking at different products in different products from our customers. Therefore, our investment will also increase by about INR 70 crores-INR 80 crores in total.
Timeline for this incremental capacity?
We will be able to do this within the first two quarters of next year.
Great, sir. And just a clarification, this will be all about the stainless steel backward integration which we are planning, right? So that will, again, increase our capacity a few years down the line.
Absolutely.
Very clear. And my last question is regarding the value-added products. What has been the progress? Is the sales started? How has been the initial market feedback? And how should we look at the journey going ahead?
So, sir, we actually have done a little better than expected initially from the specialty wire vertical thanks to our customers. We've gotten very good response. And in fact, as we speak, we are able to sell about 100-120 tons within this first month, January. So, therefore, we are looking at expedited approval, especially for hose wire. And similarly, for steel cord, also within this month, we will be submitting samples to our customers. We remain ahead of schedule as of now for sampling as well as product testing.
That's great to hear, sir. That's all from my side. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from Naman Parmar from Niveshaay Investment Advisors. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity and congratulations on a good set of numbers. So, firstly, I wanted to understand how much contribution has been from the different sectors in the current quarter and nine months?
Sir, I do not have the numbers separately for all segments, but we can find that and give that to you later.
Okay. No, only you can tell how much majorly which sector has contributed.
Sir, we do not disclose those numbers on a regular basis. Therefore, I cannot give it to you right now, but we will send it to you later.
Yeah, okay.
Overall, all I can say is that low-carbon, the mild steel segment has increased because of the consolidation as well. Even after that, high-carbon and stainless steel both have seen a better volume. The exact numbers, we can discuss later.
Yeah. And secondly, I wanted to know how you used to hedge the prices of the raw material because your end product is majorly dependent on the steel only, correct? So if steel prices go up and down, how does it impact your margin?
So, sir, here, what we try to do is we try to create a kind of a natural hedge in our business model, wherein whatever orders we have, we already have either inventory or pending orders from our raw material suppliers. So, therefore, we try to keep about 70%-75% of our pending orders and stock booked against firm orders. So about 20%-25% of my total stock is the only stock that I carry with me as a risk, which will increase and decrease as per the market situation.
Okay. So on the current business only, you will be able to make an EBITDA of around 7%-8% only. With the increase in the value-added product, you expect how much margin expansion from here and how much value-added product will be contributing?
So, sir, our margins will change according to the raw material prices. So we have a kind of a cost-plus model in which whatever increase and decrease there is in our raw materials, we try to pass it on to the customers. Therefore, a percentage of margin would not be a very good way to track how we are doing. It would more be on EBITDA per ton.
Okay.
And even in EBITDA per ton, it keeps on differentiating because of the product mix that we have. So as far as margin is concerned, we look at more of ROCE than just absolute EBITDA percentage because it will keep on changing because of raw material prices.
Yeah, understand. Yeah, it's helpful. Thank you so much for that.
Thank you. The next question comes from Kuber Chauhan from Anand Rathi. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for taking my question and congratulations on a good set of numbers. A few questions from my side, so I just wanted to know that what has led to such a stupendous growth in this particular quarter, and how do we foresee the demand in the next couple of quarters, number one, and as you said that you are going with an expansion mode, right, so what would be your asset turnover from the incremental capacity which will be installed?
So, sir, as far as asset turnover is concerned, what we can tell you is if you look at standalone Dadri's project, we are installing about INR 550 crore worth of equipment, so now maybe INR 600 crore for the 420,000-ton capacity that we will generate, and against that 420,000 tons, we should be able to do a revenue of about INR 3,500 crore, so against a INR 600-crore investment, we should be able to do INR 3,500 crore.
Okay. Okay. Okay.
And the value project, as far as the current business or anything else goes, it again will depend on the kind of product that we are installing. As I said, our margins keep on varying depending on the product. Similarly, the investment also keeps on varying. We have about 5,000 SKUs now in our product portfolio. For each SKU, the investment matrix or the inventory turnover and asset turnover is a little different.
Okay. And any new products in your pipeline going ahead and how you are aiming to drive this next quarter and as well as for 26?
Sure, sir. So even in this quarter, the third quarter, we have seen a big jump in revenue as well as EBITDA pertaining majorly to the consolidation that has happened within our group. So now all group companies, everything, all sales have been consolidated within Bansal Wire. Therefore, you see this kind of a jump in this quarter, which should remain there, and we should only try to better it every quarter.
Expansion for the 2026, any kind of how much top line or how much we are aiming for?
Sir, as a company, I mean, even in the last 10 years, we've grown at 20%-25% on an average, which is what we want to continue growing at. With this, we are also adding specialty wire vertical, which is a new vertical and which is also one of our main focus areas. Against the 20%-25%, now we have our existing products as well as specialty wire vertical to bank products.
About the specialty wire vertical, so where these products have been applied majorly?
These are products. The main product in specialty wire vertical is a product that we call steel cord. Now, steel cord is a product that, well, we will be the first and the only Indian company to make this product till now. This is used in tyres, and right now, most of this product is being imported, so this is more of an import substitute, which today means the market size in India is about 2-2.5 lakh tons, of which we have only started with 20,000 tons as a pilot project in which we've invested already INR 150 crore, so there is a big potential here to grow.
Okay. So we are comparing to all the customers, all the tyre manufacturers, or only certain specific customers? I am assuming that the kinds of tyres, radial as well as bias. So we are restricted to any particular segment or to everyone?
So, sir, there is no bias consumption here. This is only for radial tyres, whether it is TBR or PCR. That is one. Second, we have only started this last month. Therefore, there needs to be an approval process, a long approval process that we are waiting for. Till then, what we are doing is from the same infrastructure, we are making something called hose wire, which is also part of the specialty wire vertical, which is used to manufacture hydraulic hose, in which our numbers till now have been a little better than expected. The response also has been better than expected.
How much we are aiming to, I mean, how much would be the contribution of the specialty wire vertical from our top line?
Sir, right now, the pilot project is of a capacity of 20,000 tons. Looking at the current market prices, it should give us about INR 300 crores of revenue.
By when?
Sir, this all depends on the approval process. So the approval process takes anywhere between nine months to two years. So it all depends on when and how we get an approval. But once we do, ramp-up is very quick. And even till that time, we will still be making hose wire, which is a byproduct with similar kind of return ratio.
Okay.
We expect capacity utilization to be there very soon.
Okay. Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question comes from Veenit Pasad from Investec. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon, Pranav. Hello. Am I audible? Yeah. Okay. Good afternoon, Pranav. Pranav, my first question is, if you can share any update on how are we seeing what are the timelines for stainless steel rod backward integration, which we were planning to take up. Any progress on that front?
So, sir, in fact, as we speak, we are in the middle of processing payments for the land acquisition. We've already finalized the land in Sanand for Gujarat from GIDC. So that's in process. Within a week, I think we should have the possession of the land. And apart from that, even the equipment, I mean, we are in daily touch with our manufacturers, and we should be able to finalize some orders within the next two months. After this, it will take us about 12 to 15 months to really establish it. 18 months, in fact. 15 to 18 months to really establish it and start production.
Okay. And was my understanding correct that we'll place equipment orders in the next two months for this?
Absolutely, yes. So within this financial year, we will try our best to finalize equipment and place orders so that after 18 months, we should be able to start. So anywhere in the middle of 2027, or even if there is a couple of months here and there, within 2027, at least we should be able to start production in full scale.
Understood. Understood. And Pranav, second question on working capital. Now, we have spoken about using something like bill discounting and other methodologies for discounting of our debtors, etc. Where are we on that front? Have we made any progress? We have not done anything as yet. We plan to start that soon. Any color on that?
I would say every one of us has been very focused on ROCE now. It is a journey that we are on, and I think we have made some good progress till now. We have already tied up a lot of limits, but we are not utilizing it yet because it is not required. After the consolidation of Balaji Wires and Bansal Wire, within Bansal Wire, now we see that maybe next quarter or from Q1 of next year, we will start utilization, which will bring our debt level down as well.
Understood. And Pranav, lastly, if you can shed some light on, let's say, how's been the demand trends for us last month or maybe January, or how are we seeing Q4 pan out, number one? And number two, which are the sectors which are doing well? How has been the ordering from the customer's end? Is it a case wherein we are facing some capacity challenges in terms of fulfilling, or demand is relatively slower? If you can shed some light on demand, that will be helpful.
Sure, sir. So, sir, I think it has been challenging for us in the last two, three years overall to be able to meet our customer's demand. Earlier, because of the delay in the Dadri project, and now in the last three, four months, because of not being able to produce enough product within Dadri. So although it is being streamlined, and now every day we see some good numbers. But yes, in the last quarter itself, I would say all our sectors, we had good demand flow, especially automotive. Even though in December, there is generally a slowdown in our automotive, but we were able to grab a higher market share in a lot of products and get good orders. So right now, it is all about producing more because sales is not a challenge.
So even in Q4, we see a good demand from our customers coming across all products, not just one. All high carbon, stainless steel, as well as low carbon. We see a good response.
Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Thank you so much, Pranav. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Jay Patel from Patel Equity. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hello, Pranav. So just wanted a clarification. You mentioned INR 150 crore CapEx for specialty wire. So is it for all the CapEx that you have done, that is IHT, OHT, steel cord, and bead wire, or is it only for steel cord, INR 150 crores?
Sir, the INR 150 crore CapEx that we have almost already done is only for steel cord. IHT, OHT wire is separate from that. In fact, that is also a product that we have now. We are now ahead of schedule. We were supposed to start investment in IHT wire by mid of next year, but we have already placed some orders, and we will hopefully do something within the first quarter itself.
Okay. And I see steel cord, it is more of an import substitute. But what about this IHT, OHT, and bead wire? Are there any domestic manufacturers, or they are also import substitute?
So, Bead Wire, it is almost all domestic. So we have, I think, three-fourths more manufacturers apart from us here in this product. And similarly, IHT, there is only one manufacturer that is Tata Wire. Otherwise, this is all being imported. And this is a product that is used in EVs. So we see a very good demand in this particular product, which is the reason why we have actually expedited the ordering and the commissioning process.
Okay. And margin change in products would also be more or less in line with steel cord, or they would be up or down?
Sir, in IHT wire, we are looking at similar kind of margins as steel cord, but it is, of course, a smaller market, not as big as steel cord. In bead wire, we are looking at general margins which we get in high carbon, nothing special.
Oh, got it. And, sir, secondly, this backward integration into steel rods, so how would it affect our margins on quarterly basis? How would it benefit?
So, sir, here again, we work on more of a conversion module. Even for stainless steel scrap, it is more of a conversion module wherein our raw material will be scrap, and we will just add our processing cost and margin over and above that. Any increase and decrease with the wire is passed on to the customers here as well. Here, we are our own customers, so we do not see a big challenge in capacity utilization or order booking. As far as margin is concerned, it will only help us here because we will be able to control our inventory and more of a processing cost kind of an advantage here we will see even in months.
Got it. And Pranav, the next question, we are basically, as you have been saying, we are a low margin business, right? Operating leverage is of utmost importance to us. But what I can't understand is, see, having a Dadri site, a very large site at a single location, it helps us in operating leverage, right? But for backward integration, we are going into Gujarat, and again, for steel cord, you are looking at Bengaluru. So this would increase your cost, right? So how do you view this?
Sir, one good thing that has happened with Dadri is that we've understood that a small capacity somewhere is not viable. After putting up Dadri, we feel that even that plant, as compared to our existing smaller facilities, there's a very big difference in operational cost. Therefore, from now on, whatever investment we want to do, we do not want to scatter it into very different plants or areas. Therefore, the Gujarat and South expansion also is basically from that thought process because even today, about 25% of our sales comes from Gujarat. So by having a plant in Gujarat, we are going closer to the market. And with that, it will also help us in expanding in the wire business at a later date wherein any product that we make in North, we can also make in Gujarat and serve the West.
Similarly, for steel cord, when we choose Bengaluru, it is not only for steel cord, but in the long run, we will also be able to enter in our general products within the South market by having a manufacturing facility there. So this is the reason why we are choosing a different area, and for example, for backward integration, the raw material anyway comes from the West, so even today, even if I have a plant within the northern part of India, I still have to buy it from West, so I'm only going towards my raw material source and towards 25% of the market. In South, for steel cord also, I'm going only closer to the market so that I can save my transportation cost, which is a very big cost for us across all products.
Got it. And sir, last one from my side is, see, in specialty wire, in hose wire as well as steel cord, Chinese are significant contributors to India's import, right? And as you know, they can be pretty aggressive with pricing. So do you think once we have approvals in place for steel cord, we can match Chinese in pricing?
Sir, here's another challenge in imports is this product comes on basically steel packaging or steel reel. So what happens is any producer outside of India supplies it on a steel reel. The customer in India consumes it, and then they send the packaging back. So therefore, there is twice the transportation cost that is involved, which is a very, very big cost for this kind of a product. So first, when we compete with China, we will have this advantage of logistics costs because it is a domestic producer. We are a domestic producer. Second, even after that, we have a 10% kind of a duty on this product, which is something that we get a straight benefit from. Third thing, we are honestly not looking at selling this product at the Chinese price or competing with China directly. We are an alternate to China.
So we are giving a better service. We are closer to the customer. That is why we would be able to charge a better price than the Chinese price in India. So a combination of all these three things, it makes us comfortable that, yes, we will be able to compete with them and still earn a decent enough margin, which is also evident by the current order book that we already have for hose wire. The margin that we were expecting in hose wire, in our projections, we are getting. We are able to fetch a higher price even today from that.
Got it. Thank you, Pranav. Thank you for the elaborate answers, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Depesh Kashyap from Invesco Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, Pranav. Thanks for taking my question. Sir, to begin with, can you just give a split of the high carbon, low carbon, and the stainless steel volumes for this quarter, please?
Sir, we are not maintaining the details on a regular basis. We generally only track total volumes, but for the split volumes, we can definitely send it to you.
Sure. And so I just want to understand this. Your other two companies, right, the Balaji Wire and your Bansal High Carbon, has that been closed and your volume shifted to your main entity, or still not?
Sir, the volumes have completely shifted. By completely, what I mean is about 95%-98% kind of a revenue has been shifted. 2% or 3%, 5% revenue is left with those two companies due to some product approvals, which will shift very soon.
Sir, this happened when? In this quarter only, or the last quarter also?
In the third quarter. The majority of shift happened in the third quarter, but we had already shifted some volumes in Q1, some additional volumes in Q2, and the final volumes have been shifted in Q3.
Okay. No, sir, last quarter, you did around 80,000 tons, right? And this quarter, 92,000 tons. So just wanted to understand how much will be because of this shift and how much will be the actual volumes that you have seen outside, if you can give some color on that?
Sir, yes, you are absolutely right. So you will see about a 25% kind of a 20%-30% kind of a growth here, in which I would say most of it has come because of consolidation. So about 10%-15% is the volume increase that we have done quarter- on- quarter.
No, yes, 15% is the volume increase that you have done, but maybe something will be due to the consolidation and something will be due to actual volume growth that you guys have seen, right? So consolidation is it done now, right? If you can just give a color here?
Sir, we will have to give that to you later.
Okay. Got it. And then how much of the Dadri capacity has been operationalized, and what is the utilization that you're running on right now?
Sir, we have now touched about 30% kind of a utilization level in Dadri.
Sir, capacity is how much right now?
Sir, the capacity, I would say about 80% of our capacity has already been commissioned, and the balance is also being commissioned. Within the next two months, we should be able to commission the complete 3.5 lakh tons of capacity.
Okay. So 80% of 3.5, you have already commissioned, and this will be happening in this quarter. And then you are further expanding to 4.2. That will happen over the next six months, right?
Yes. Absolutely.
Okay. Got it. And you also highlighted that you started selling the specialty steel wires in the month of January. Can you tell us a bit about the trend, how different it is from the existing numbers that you have in those specialty wires?
Sir, I would say it is slightly different from the existing trend that we have because right now, the product mix that we have is more of high volume and low value addition, whereas steel cord or hose wire is completely different. So for the exact numbers, we will have to take it out. But in general, I would say any projections that we had for specialty wire, the margins have been a little better already.
Okay. Okay. Understood. And then lastly, I think recently, you have created a subsidiary of BWI Steel Private Limited, right? So what is the use of that? For what purpose have you created a separate subsidiary?
BWI Steel is the company that will do the backward integration for us in Gujarat. That company is already in process of buying land, and then after, we will start investment in CapEx assets as well.
Understood. Understood. Okay. Thank you, Pranav. All the best. Yeah.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question comes from Manav Jain from SP Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. So my question was regarding the steel cord product. So as you said, this is an import product. My question is, why hasn't any other Indian company ventured into this segment and into this product in the past? And will they ever venture into this product segment in the future?
Sir, there are some definite challenges that we see for a company entering this product because it is definitely, I would say, one of the highest technical products that we have in our industry. Therefore, you need the right set of people, the right set of technology and process, and that culture, which we already have being in this industry for the last 85 years. For technology also, we signed up with some good companies wherein we are able to get the right product made.
So do you think you'll be able to?
There is definitely one process. The second is, of course, a long approval process from the customer.
So what is the current market share for this product? Any thoughts?
We had only started last month. Our samples have already been made. We are a little ahead of schedule in terms of sampling as well as in terms of actually realizing sales from Gujarat. The quality has come out perfectly well. It is acceptable in the market, and this is the reason why we are getting a better-than-expected response from our side.
Got it. Got it. And I have a question on the margin side. So from this high, so the specialty products have a high margin base. So what are your expectations when this high margin product gets consolidated with your other wire products?
So sir, here, the revenue potential of this product for us right now is about INR 300 crore, in which if you look at the current prices or the prices that were prevailing in the market till now, it has been about 20%-25% kind of an EBITDA that we look at, which is fairly different from our current numbers.
Got it. Got it. Okay. That's all from my side. Thanks so much for now.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question comes from Ananya Nichani, an individual investor. Please go ahead. Ananya Nichani, your line is unmuted. Please proceed with your question. As there is no response from the line of current participant, we'll move on to the next question. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. As there are no further questions from the line of the participants, I now hand the conference over to Mr. Pranav Bansal for closing comments.
Thank you, everyone, for attending the investor call. It was great to speak to all of you guys again. I hope we have answered all your queries, and for the queries that we have not answered, we will try and send you all the details as soon as possible. Thank you again.
Thank you. On behalf of Bansal Wire Industries Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for queries. You can connect with Adfactors team. Thank you.