Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q3 FY 2025 Earnings conference call of Carborundum Universal Limited, hosted by DAM Capital Advisors Limited. 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 the star, then zero, on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Bhoomika Nair from DAM Capital Advisors. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.
Yeah, good morning, everyone. We warmly welcome to the Q3 FY 2025 earnings call of Carborundum Universal Limited. We have the management today being represented by Mr. Sridharan Rangarajan, Managing Director; Mr. Sushil Kumar, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. G. Chandramouli, Advisor in Investor Relations; and Mr. Dinesh Kumar, AGM Strategic Planning. At this point, I'll hand over the floor to Mr. Rangarajan for his initial remarks, after which we'll open up the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good morning. I'm Chandramouli. Let us start the meeting with a disclaimer. This call will be made such that statements which reflect our outlook for the future or which could be considered as forward-looking. These statements are based on management's current expectations, and are associated with uncertainties and risks or more fully detailed in our annual report, which may cause the actual result to be flat. These statements must be reviewed in conjunction with the risks that the company faces. Thank you.
Great. Good morning to all of you, and a warm welcome to our third quarter earnings call for the financial year FY 2025. I trust that you and your family members are safe and healthy. I'll quickly cover an overview, and then we will open up for questions and answers. First, we'll talk about the consolidated number. Consolidated Q3 sales was INR 1,241 crores. This was a growth of 9.8% compared to Q3 FY 2024. This growth was contributed mainly by Ceramics and Electrominerals, whereas Abrasives was marginally lower. Compared to Q2 FY 2025, which is a sequential quarter, 2.6%, we were higher.
Ceramics, Electrominerals grew up, and Abrasives was slightly lower. Consolidated sales on a YTD basis, which was at INR 3,635 crores, shows a growth of 5.5% compared to the same period last year. This growth was contributed by Ceramics by 8.6%, Electrominerals 3%, and Abrasives by 4.1%. I'll cover the PBIT, but whatever I'm covering, the PBIT, I will talk about PBIT before exceptional items, and I will cover in specific about the exceptional items a little later. PBIT for Q3 FY 2025 was 141 crores.
This was lower by 10.8% over Q3 FY 2024. PBIT from Ceramics went up by 14%, and Electrominerals 34%, the better. However, PBIT from Abrasives were significantly lower. I will cover each of these business PBIT a little later. While some of these business PBIT was higher, there was a swing in the unallocable expenses, which resulted in overall PBIT coming down, and Sushil will explain this separately. Compared to Q2 FY 2025, PBIT is lower by 3.8%. The PBIT of Electrominerals segment grew up by 17%, whereas PBIT of Abrasives and Ceramics were lower by 18% and 14%, respectively.
PBIT margin percentage at consolidated level came down from 11.4% in Q3 FY 2025 from 14% in Q3 FY 2024 and 12.8% in Q2 FY 2025. PBIT on YTD basis was at INR 444 crores, compared to INR 454 crores in the same period last year. PBIT margin percentage on a YTD basis decreased from 13.2%- 12.2%. Consolidated profit after tax and non-controlling interest for Q3, without exceptional item relating to VAW, was INR 111 crores against the same number of INR 111 crores in Q3 FY 2024 and INR 115 crores in Q2 FY 2025. I will cover this in detail. I think we feel operation-wise is comparable performance at the expected level.
Consolidated profit after tax and non-controlling interest for Q3 FY 2025 after the exceptional item was INR 35 crores. Profit after tax on a YTD basis was INR 264 crores, against INR 326 crores in the same period last year. Again, this is due to exceptional item. If we consider without these exceptional items, PAT and non-consolidated PAT and profit after tax and non-consolidated interest was INR 339 crores, which is a growth of 4%. So business-wise, it is fine. There are exceptional items, which we will cover this. I'll move to standalone.
Standalone Q3 was INR 728 crores with a growth of 15% compared to Q3 FY 2024. This has been the highest quarterly sales for CUMI. This growth was majorly contributed by Ceramics segment, growing at 25%, Electrominerals growing at 22%. Abrasives grew marginally by 1.1%. Compared to Q2 FY 2025, the sales in this quarter grew up by 3.2%. Ceramics grew up by 16.5%. Electrominerals was almost flat, and Abrasives grew by 4.6%. On a YTD basis, standalone sales were at INR 2,097 crores, with a growth of 8.2% compared to the same period last year.
This was contributed by growth in Electrominerals at 8.6%, Ceramics at 7.4%, and Abrasives at 5.4%. PBIT for Q3 FY 2025 was INR 110 crores, and it's similar to Q3 FY 2024. You would note that some of the PBIT of the businesses was INR 129 crores compared to INR 114 crores in Q3 FY 2024. This was offset by higher unallocable expense, resulting in flat PBIT. The growth in segment results were mainly from Ceramics and Electrominerals, where Abrasives was lower by 7 crores. Ceramics went up by INR 17 crores, and Electrominerals by INR 6 crores. Compared to Q2 FY 2025, PBIT in Q3 FY 2025 was lower by INR 6 crores.
On a YTD basis, PBIT grew marginally by 0.4% to INR 344 crores, again INR 343 crores in the same period last year. Profit after tax on a YTD basis grew up by 1.6% to INR 260 crores when compared to the same period of the last year. I'll cover the segment performance now. We'll start with Abrasives. Consolidated Abrasives sales for nine months in FY 2025 was INR 1,621 crores, with a growth of 4.1% when compared to the same period last year. Standalone business grew up by 5.4%, RHODIUS about 7%, AWUKO 16%, showed good growth compared to nine months in FY 2024, whereas the Sterling Abrasives and CUMI America had a negative growth.
Q3 sales was at INR 526 crores, with a small degrowth of 0.4% compared to Q3 FY 2024. Compared to Q2 FY 2025, sales were lower by 3.1%, largely coming out of the lower sales in standalone and in RHODIUS. Standalone Abrasives sales was at INR 905 crores, with a growth of 5.4% compared to the same period last year. The growth was majorly driven by Industrial and Retail and while there is a small degrowth in precision business.
The growth on a YTD basis was predominantly coming out of the volume. In Q3 FY 2025, standalone Abrasives sales grew up by 1.1% to INR 294 crores compared to Q3 FY 2024. Industrial Precision segment registered growth, while Retail segment was marginally lower, mainly on account of a small volume drop. In comparison to Q2 FY 2025, there was a degrowth of 4.6%, mainly due to lower industrial demand. RHODIUS on a YTD basis achieved EUR 49 million compared to EUR 46 million during the same period last year. This represents a 6% growth over the last year. This was mainly due to volume growth.
For the quarter, RHODIUS achieved EUR 15.3 million, which is 1% lower compared to Q3 FY 2024 and lower by 7.5% compared to Q2. Between Q2 and Q3, it is always you have the lower number of days due to Christmas holidays, et cetera. Generally, the seasonality will be like this. On a YTD basis, RHODIUS incurred loss after tax of EUR 0.9 million against the loss after tax of EUR 2.1 million in the same period.
So the losses have come down significantly. We expect a growth of 7% on a full-year basis as against 9%, what we communicated during the Q2 earnings call. We expect a loss of EUR 1.9 million on a full-year basis against the break-even we told in Q2 earnings call. The losses in Q2, losses in FY 2025 are expected to be higher by EUR 0.38 million compared to FY 2024. This is mainly due to pricing pressure in the market, higher freight costs, and imports and, additional costs relating to contract workers.
It is to be noted that this is after the PPA write-off of EUR 2.8 million , meaning if you add the EUR 2.8 million on a full year basis, it is making a profit. AWUKO. AWUKO achieved a sales of EUR 7.6 million on a YTD basis. This is a growth of 15% compared to the same period last year. For the quarter, AWUKO delivered a sale of EUR 2.3 million , which is an 8% growth over the same period last year. Sequentially, it grew by 3% compared to Q2 FY 2025. The losses before tax on a YTD basis were EUR 3.7 million compared to EUR 2.7 million in the same period last year. Excluding one-off income in FY 2024, AWUKO has improved their performance operationally.
During Q2 earnings call, we communicated AWUKO would increase their sales, yearly sales by EUR 2 million and have an EBITDA loss of EUR 4.5 million . At present, we feel that the sales will increase by INR 1.3 million instead of INR 2 million. The EBITDA loss will still be around EUR 4.5 million. I will cover the PBIT performance of the business segment. Consolidated PBIT for Abrasives on a YTD basis was lower by 0.5% at INR 118 crores as compared to that of the last year.
There was a slight drop in margin from 7.6% in nine months FY 2024 to 7.3% in nine months FY 2025. This was mainly due to standalone drop in PBIT margin, decreasing from 16.4%- 16.1%. Consolidated PBIT for Q3 FY 2025 was at INR 28 crores, with a degrowth of 43% compared to Q3 FY 2024. This was due to PBIT degrowth in standalone, almost about, INR 7 crores, RHODIUS about INR 4 crores, and AWUKO about INR 9 crores. While compared to Q2 FY 2025, the PBIT was lower by INR 6 crores.
This was mainly due to lower PBIT in RHODIUS and standalone. Now I'll move to Electrominerals. Consolidated sales for nine months in FY 2025 was INR 1,199 crores, showing a growth of 3% compared to the same period last year. Standalone business grew up by 8.6%, Foskor 24%, showed good growth compared to nine months of last year. VAW in local currency delivered better performance, about 2% growth compared to the same period last year.
However, when it's converted to Indian rupee, it is showing a degrowth of 2.5%. Q2 FY 2025 consolidated sales was INR 416 crores, with a growth of 12.8% compared to Q3 FY 2024. The growth was contributed by standalone and Foskor Zirconia. In comparison to Q2 FY 2025, sales grew by 3.4%. Foskor had a double-digit growth. Standalone was flat, and VAW had a small degrowth. Standalone Electrominerals. Standalone Q3 sales was at 211 crores.
This is higher as to quarterly sales for the Electrominerals business. It is a 22.4% growth compared to Q3 FY 2024. This growth was aided by volume increase, higher price realization, and also because of higher export sales. Compared to Q2 FY 2025, sales in this quarter were marginally higher by 0.3%. This was again aided by price realization and a small volume drop. Electrominerals sales were INR 610 crores, with a growth of 8.6% compared to the same period last year.
This was on account of increase in volume and a higher price realization. The other feature of the growth is also higher exports. VAW. The operations are, you know, doing well, and we will cover in detail the issues that we face. Sales in local currency for Q3 FY 2025 grew by 6.4% compared to Q3 FY 2024 and grew by 6% compared to Q2 FY 2025.
On a YTD basis, they delivered a 2.2% growth. They delivered a loss after tax of RUB 718 million in Q3 FY 2025, including one-time exceptions against the profit after tax of RUB 392 million in Q3 FY 2024 and profit of RUB 466 million in Q2 FY 2025. If we exclude the exceptions, profit after tax for Q3 FY 2025 would have been RUB 479 million, comparable to the other quarters. Profit on a YTD basis is RUB 35 million compared to RUB 1.23 billion during the same period last year. If we exclude the exceptions, profit after tax on a YTD basis for FY 2025 would have been RUB 1.23 billion. I will now cover in detail about the issues relating to VAW.
As for the press release of the U.S. Department of State dated 10th of January, a set of companies, which includes Volzhsky Abrasive Works, our subsidiary company, has been designated as "Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons", SDN List, part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, for operating or having operated in the manufacturing sector of the Russian Federation economy. So, as a result of this, you know, the assets held in the U.S. will be blocked.
Transactions in U.S. currency are not possible by VAW. Transactions involving U.S. currency with U.S. are not possible. Transacting in euro currency is not possible by VAW, as bankers and financial institutions would not risk themselves for a secondary sanction. We have made a detailed assessment of the situation with the background of the learnings and consulting from various experts.
VAW used to export around 40%-45% of sales. Of these, U.S. dollar denominated sales is about 12%, and euro denominated sales about 25%. VAW doesn't have any customers in the U.S. Going forward, VAW will not be able to export in U.S. dollar or in euro. VAW will be able to carry out only domestic business. In the meantime, we have provided for receivables in U.S. dollars and in U.S. deposits in dollars.
This would result in 100% provisioning on carrying value of the foreign currency receivables and deposits in VAW's books outside of the CUMI group. This amounts to RUB 1.59 billion before tax. Post-tax, it would be equivalent to RUB 1.19 billion. This provision is at VAW's level. CUMI has to pay to VAW.
After netting off the payable, the impact before tax is INR 104 crores, and post-tax and non-controlling interest, the impact would be about INR 76 crores. In Q4 FY 2024, VAW made a sale of RUB 2.3 billion and a PAT of RUB 384 million. Q3 FY 2025, VAW made sales of RUB 2.6 billion and a PAT of 479 million before exceptional item. So, we are also considering this. It's a you know changing day by day depending on you know various outcomes, but we have considered you know a lower sales and a lower profit compared to Q4. So, I would say at this point, you know, we have to learn this, but we're going every quarter at this point in time. I'll move to Foskor Zirconia.
During the first nine months of FY 2025, Foskor Zirconia in local currency witnessed a sales growth of 19% compared to the same period last year. The growth was majorly driven by growth in volumes, and for the quarter, sales growth grew by 45% compared to Q3 FY 2024 and grew by 29% as compared to Q2 FY 2025. On a YTD basis, Foskor incurred a loss of INR 10.8 crores as compared to the loss of INR 10.7 crores in nine months FY 2024.
During the Q2 earnings call, we communicated Foskor's loss would be in the range of INR 16-17 crores. Because of better profit in Q3, we feel the loss would come down, and it would be in the range of about INR 9 crores-INR 10 crores. Now, I'll cover the PBIT of this segment. Consolidated PBIT for Q3 FY 2025 was INR 67.5 crores.
This was a growth of 34% compared to Q3 FY 2024. Standalone business, Foskor Zirconia, VAW contributed to this growth in comparison to Q2 FY 2025. Sorry, in comparison to Q2 FY 2025, it was a growth of 17%, again mainly due to better performance in Foskor. PBIT margin at consolidated level was 16.2% in Q3 FY 2025 compared to 13.7% Q3 FY 2024 and 14.3% in Q2 FY 2025. On a YTD basis, PBIT was INR 168 crores compared to PBIT of INR 186 crores in the same period last year. This resulted in margins decreased from 16%- 14%.
In nine months, over nine months period, the drop is largely on account of VAW. Standalone Electrominerals PBIT was similar to that of the last year. I'll move to the Ceramics section. Consolidated sales on a YTD basis were INR 795 crores compared to INR 795 crores in the same period last year. This represents a growth of 8.6%.
The growth is mainly driven by CUMI India. Q3 FY 2025 consolidated sales were at 315 crores compared to 243 crores in Q3 FY 2024. The growth was contributed majorly by CUMI India. Compared to Q2 FY 2025, consolidated sales grew by 12%. Standalone business and VAW showed also a decent growth. Standalone Ceramics Q3 sales was INR 265 crores with a growth of 25% compared to Q3 FY 2024. This growth was aided mainly by volume increase, offset by small impact due to lower price realization, mainly arising out of the refractories. Compared to Q2 FY 2025, sales in this quarter grew by 16.5%.
The growth was majorly aided by volume increase. Prices were impacted in Monolithic segment of the Refractory business. Electrominerals sales were at 710 crores, which is higher by 7.4% compared to the same period last year. Fired and Mono Refractories, Metallized Engineered Ceramics business, standalone group, spread.
Compared to the same period last year, sales were lower in Wear and Corrosion Resistance business. I'll cover now the PBIT of this segment. Consolidated PBIT for Q3 FY 2025 was at 68 crores. This was a growth of 14% compared to Q3 FY 2024. This was majorly contributed PBIT in standalone by 34% in comparison to Q2 FY 2025. There was a degrowth of 14%. Standalone PBIT grew by 9%. There was a decrease in PBIT in overseas subsidiaries.
PBIT, which is basically, Australia and America. PBIT margin in Q3 FY 2025 was at 21.8% compared to 24.7% in Q3 FY 2024 and 28.5% in Q2 FY 2025. Consolidated PBIT on a YTD basis was at INR 213 crores compared to INR 215 crores same period last year. This resulted in margin decrease from 27%- 24.6% over nine months period. This was mainly due to underperformance in Australia and America. I would request now, Sushil to cover the margin percentage, debt, cap, capex, cash flow, and return on capital employed.
Thank you. Let us sp eak about the PBIT margin at a consolidated level? On a YTD basis, the consolidated PBIT margin was at 12.2% compared to 13.2% in the same period last year. For the quarter, consolidated PBIT margin was at 11.3% compared to 14% in Q3 FY 2024 and 12.8% in Q2 FY 2025. Now the standalone. Standalone PBIT margin on a YTD basis was at 15.4% compared to 17.7% during the same period last year. For the quarter, standalone PBIT margin was at 15% compared to 17.4% in Q3 FY 2024 and 16.4% in Q2 FY 2025.
Abrasives, the consolidated PBIT margins of Abrasives on a YTD basis decreased from 7.6%- 7.3%, and standalone margins, Abrasives margins were at 16.1% with a dip of 30 basis points as compared to last year. RHODIUS reduced their losses, and AWUKO has improved their performance operationally. For the quarter, consolidated Abrasives margins declined from 9.5% in Q3 FY 2024 to 5.4% in Q3 FY 2025.
This was due to decline in standalone margins from 17.2%- 14.6%, and the margins dropped by 95 basis points compared to Q2 FY 2025. Electrominerals, the consolidated PBIT margins of Electrominerals on a YTD basis declined from 16%- 14%. The standalone PBIT margin of nine months was at 9.3% compared to 10.5% in FY 2024 nine months. The drop is mainly due to higher input costs and pricing pressures that we see in the market.
For the quarter, consolidated Electrominerals margins improved from 13.7% in Q3 FY 2024 to 16.2% in Q3 FY 2025. Standalone Electrominerals PBIT margins increased from 7.8% in Q3 of FY 2024 to 9.1% in Q3 FY 2025. The consolidated margins of Electrominerals improved by 192 basis points compared to Q2 FY 2025, which was contributed by profits delivered by Foskor in Q3 FY 2025 compared to losses in the previous quarter. The standalone margins, margin percent in Q3 FY 2025 decreased by 113 basis points compared to Q2 FY 2025.
Now the Ceramics business, consolidated, Ceramics margins on a YTD basis decreased from 27%- 24.6%. The standalone Ceramics PBIT margins declined by 50 basis points to 25.1%. Profits from CUMI Australia and CUMI America were slightly lower compared to last year. For the quarter, consolidated Ceramics margins declined from 24.7% in Q3 FY 2024 to 21.8% in Q3 of FY 2025.
This is mainly attributable to CUMI Australia and CUMI America. In comparison to Q2 FY 2025, the consolidated Ceramics margins decreased from 28.5%- 21.8% in Q3 of FY 2025. The standalone margins, in Q3 FY 2025 decreased by 186 basis points compared to Q2 FY 2025. Now about the debt position. There was no debt in our standalone books, and total debt at a consolidated basis was at INR 109 crores at the end of Q3 FY 2025 compared to INR 103 crores at the end of Q3 FY 2025 and INR 119 crores at the end of Q3 FY 2024.
The debt to equity ratio was at 0.03 at a consolidated level. On a YTD basis, the Capex, our investment was about INR 202 crores. ROCE, on the YTD basis, our return on capital employed at a consolidated level is 17% compared to 18.3% during the same period last year.
And at a standalone level, it is at 18.2% compared to 20.5% last year. For consolidated business, ROCE in nine months for Abrasives declined from 11.4%- 11.1%, Ceramics declined from 46.5%- 38.2%, and Electrominerals from 27.1%- 24.6%. For standalone businesses, the ROCE on a YTD basis for Abrasives has marginally decreased from 42.9%- 38%, and Ceramics has declined from 51.4%- 46.6%. Electrominerals has decreased from 27%- 20.1%.
Now the unallocable expenses at a standalone level. At the standalone level, the unallocable expense in Q3 FY 2025 was at 19.8 crores compared to Q3 FY 2024. This was higher by INR 16 crores primarily due to lower dividend, higher project-related costs, higher employee costs on account of new headcount additions, ESOP benefits and leaves benefit valuations. Compared to Q2 FY 2025, it was marginally higher by INR 2 crores due to higher dividend receipts in Q2 FY 2025.
On the YTD basis, unallocable expense was INR 37 crores compared to YTD Q3 FY 2024. Unallocable expense was higher by INR 10 crores primarily due to lower dividend, higher project-related costs, higher employee costs on account of new headcount addition and ESOP benefits. At a consolidated level, unallocable expense at the consolidated level in Q3 was INR 22 crores.
Compared to Q3 FY 2024, unallocable expense was higher by INR 24 crores primarily due to higher exchange loss in CUMI International on translation of certain closing balances, higher project-related costs, higher employee costs on account of new headcount addition, ESOPs, and leave benefit valuations.
Compared to Q2 FY 2025, the unallocable expense increased by INR 11 crores primarily due to exchange loss in CUMI International on account of translation on certain balances versus exchange gain in Q2 FY 2025. On a YTD basis, the unallocable expense at a consolidated level was INR 45.4 crores, at almost the similar level of YTD Q3 FY 2024. Now I request Mr. Sridharan to talk about the future outlook.
Right, so I'll comment about what we talked about in Q2 earnings call and what we are now looking at. So we communicated full year consolidated sales to be 9%-11% growth. We said about INR 5,100 crores-INR 5,200 crores. We expect a shortfall of INR 200 crores-INR 300 crores, so the overall growth will be accordingly adjusted. Consolidated Abrasives, we expect a growth of 5% against 10%, what we communicated earlier. The shortfall is mainly coming from AWUKO. We communicated growth, in the last call, EUR 2 million, whereas now they are talking about EUR 1.3 million.
Abrasives in India, growth would be in the range of 6%-7% against 9%-11%, what was communicated earlier. RHODIUS is doing well. We communicated earlier the growth of 9%-10%, but now we are revising. We feel it could be about 6%-7%. We communicated about sales growth of 12%-14% consolidated Ceramics segment. We expect it to be 10%-12%. For Industrial Ceramics business in India, we communicated growth projection would be 12% because of some shortfall in Engineered and Wear Ceramics segment.
It would be 10% on year-on-year basis. Refractories, we expect 8%-9% growth over the last year against 12%-13% we communicated earlier. We communicated about sales growth of 5%-6% in consolidated Electrominerals business. We expect some shortfall from VAW, what we have planned.
This will lead to flat or marginal improvement over the last year. Growth from standalone business is slightly better than what we communicated earlier about 10% growth. The PBIT performance, we communicated consolidated PBIT would be 12.7%-12.8%. We expect a drop of by about 100-120 basis points. We said that consolidated Abrasives Ceramic margin will be similar to that of FY 2024.
At present, we expect to drop by about 150 basis points. In our last call, we said, that consolidated Electrominerals margin will be in the range of 13.5%-14%. We expect a margin decrease by 100 basis points. For CapEx side, we said that we would spend about INR 350 crores. So far, we spent about INR 202 crores in nine months. We feel it would be to we should be spending about INR 300 crores. Overall, we expect a top line to be INR 4,800 crores- INR 5,000 crores.
We expect PAT to be around INR 450 crores without considering the exception effect. We would be spending about INR 300 crores of CapEx. We'll be continuing to be debt-free while delivering the current business. We have also prepared a good strategy plan for the future. We will share more in the near future. So with this, I will conclude the opening remark and open up for the Q&A. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Harshit Patel from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you very much for the opportunity. So my first question is on VAW. As you mentioned, we won't be able to transact both in U.S. dollar as well as in euro. So is there that much of an appetite in the local Russian market that we will be able to absorb those lost sales or what exactly could be the impact of these measures both in the near term as well as how do we plan to mitigate these over a medium to long term?
So, Harshit, I think we said that we will not be able to sell and we will not be able to compensate. We will only be selling what we were selling domestically. We are just looking one quarter at a time to see how this whole thing develops. That is why we said that, you know, as far as the you know the next quarter, we have made this adjustment. That is why we are bringing down the top line also in our projection. That is what we are looking at at this stage. We feel that given what they have been doing in domestic, they should be able to continue to do the same.
Understood. Just a follow-up to that, you have also mentioned that the cash was around INR 123 crore, which is not available for use by any entities within the group due to the temporary repatriation restrictions. Is this the entire cash balance of VAW or just one portion of it? Why can't we repatriate that to India? I mean, we can at least transact between ruble and INR, right? There shouldn't be any restrictions on that.
Yeah, so since it's just an accounting technical term being used, this represents the cash in VAW. And typically, the cash repatriation means, you know, that rupee-ruble trade is possible only to the extent of the trade-related transaction. We don't have any ownership of, you know, the CUMI India doesn't own VAW directly. It is owned in Cyprus, and it has to come through Cyprus. And that is where we feel that at this point in time, it is not repatriable, and hence it is mentioned so.
Understood, sir. Perfect. Sir, my second question is on our Ceramic segment. While the standalone business has done exceedingly well, I mean, the growth has been more than 20% after quite a long period of time. However, the margins seem to be weak. Our understanding was that when the Engineered Ceramics business will revive, there would be a decent margin expansion on that.
First, that is not visible. And secondly, even the Ceramics margins at the subsidiary level seems to be very weak. So is there any one-off impact of the consolidation of that American entity, which is Silicon Carbide Products that we have consolidated for the two months of this particular quarter? So what was the revenue and PBIT contribution from that acquired company in this particular quarter?
So to start with, I think, there are some one-off issues in Australia and America. Australia is largely there are provisions in terms of the inventory and, in terms of the receivables. And, that is the broad reason. Plus, there is also product mix change in terms of the lower project-based orders. That is the reason for that. As far as America is also concerned, is that we used to ship them, including the freight, but now we have changed the terms.
The freight is absorbed by our American entity. And hence, there's a drop in the margin, from their level. So that is, I would say, these are not relating to operation side of the business, more at this point in time, one-off, I would say. Now, as far as the margins that you are looking at in terms of the PBIT, you know, we had a standalone Ceramics margin of 25.3% of Q3 FY 2025 versus the last year at the same period, about 23.7%. Sequentially, you know, we were at 23.8% and moved up to 25.3%, showing improvement in margin as you observed that, you know, the volume is going, mix is better, and the margin percentage is also better.
Wow. Sir, just on that, Silicon Carbide Products Inc.
So that company is fine. We will share more details at this. It's a very small English company. They are in line with our expectations.
Perfect. Sir, just a small one question, if I can squeeze in. The standalone EMD margins had benefited from the higher fused alumina prices in the last quarter, that is, second quarter of FY 2025. So how was that particular situation in 3Q FY 2025? Because we see a sequential margin drop in this particular aspect.
So I think, so to start with, if you look at overall Electrominerals, the Q3 PBIT margins will be lower than the Q2. It's a seasonality effect. You can check many quarters, and you will see this trend, right? Second is that I think, there is a cost pressure. Definitely, alumina price increase versus our ability to put on the price is a continuing process. Plus, the competition from China is also a factor that, you know, puts pressure on us in terms of putting up the price. So that is what I would look at it largely.
And that is where you see this margin about 8.2% compared to last year's same period about, sorry, 9.1% compared to last year's same period at 7.8%. So that's the, you know, broad thing. The drop from 10.3%- 9.1% is more a seasonality-linked basis.
Understood, sir. Those were my questions. Thank you very much, and I'll get back in the queue.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Harshit.
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one. Next question is from the line of Amit Anwani from PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question. First question is on Abrasives. You mentioned that the guidance has been lowered to 6%-7%, and also for consol, Abrasives, RHODIUS has been lowered to 6%-7%. So domestically, you have been highlighting in the past that standard Abrasives have been facing Chinese impact. Wanted to understand more color on both the tariff wars and slowdown in China continues. What is the outlook in domestic market for Abrasives? Will it be 6%-7% for a longer period of time, or there's some improvement effects in it?
And also, what is the status now on RHODIUS and AWUKO as well with respect to sales? Are we sticking to what we guided? Because in 3 months' time, we changed the guidance, drastically. So just wanted to understand more details on Abrasives side and subsidiaries.
Yeah. I think, see, Abrasives demand is largely, I would say, at this point in time, holding on. You know, definitely, the market, the industrial activity is showing pressure in terms of, you know, the demand. That is for that. And also, at the same time, there's an increased infrastructure spend the government also has announced. So should be able to, again, put up some demand for the, you know, the Abrasives one. So it is going to be, you know, a period where we need to watch in terms of how the demand is going to play out.
As far as the tariff type of question, I'm not going to do crystal ball guessing now. Let us see how this is going to pan out. Then we will take it as it comes because it's going to be a tough one to do this. AWUKO and RHODIUS, in terms of the top line, I think, so as I said that, I think it's AWUKO. We have just revised from EUR 2 million to EUR 1.3 million. That is the only revision that we are doing. But RHODIUS is, you know, a large portion of the RHODIUS is the challenge of cost pressure rather than the top line. And I would say that in terms of the top line, we are still feeling that, you know, what we said earlier versus now is still holding.
There could be large issues in terms of the pricing pressures, and some logistics costs going up and employment of contract workforce. A combination of these is what is pulling the margin down. But I think there should be an operation to address. We will share more color as we meet in the month of May.
So again, on the VAW, you said 12% of sales is happening USD. I think that is impacted. And I recollect, I think we were doing a lot of sales in Europe, which is, I think, 60/40, 60% was Russia, 40% on Europe. So any color? So shall we assume that large part of the sales will be impacted or you'll be diverting more towards Russian markets or some other geographies? If you could give more colors on the business aspect of VAW now, how should we read?
So I told Amit in my opening remark, 60% is domestic sale and 40% is export. And, of that, 12% is dollar- denominated and 25% is euro- denominated. We feel that euro and dollar, they will not be able to export. And the focus of the company would be more on domestic side of the business, which is what they used to do, 60% of the business. And we are looking now quarter- by- quarter.
For this quarter, whatever we have feeling, you know, for the remaining kind of two months, we have made this adjustment. You know, we have worked on that. That is why we are sharing this adjustment. Beyond that, we'll have to wait and see as things develop. There are many developments, you know, happening every day. There's a lot of development. So we'll let's wait and see without making a broad basis for the future.
Sure, sir. Thank you. Thanks so much.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Aditya Mongia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Again, two questions on VAW. Firstly, when you say that the euro denominated businesses will also kind of go down and it'll only be a domestic business, is this coming in from the customers, or is this a thought process that you have at this point of time?
So it's largely coming from the fact that the bankers are not in a position to, you know, transact in dollar or in euro. So that is the basic problem that they are facing.
Okay. Understood, and let's assume, as you were saying, the revenue levels fall to 60% of where things are today in VAW. Could you give us a sense of how does it impact the profitability in local currency? Because there'll be fixed costs that have to be taken into account. And then secondly, from a repatriation perspective, what are the means that we have of extracting the incremental profits and the cash from there?
Sorry, could you repeat the second portion of the question, repatriation?
So, of whatever incremental money we make in VAW, I am not clear whether we can kind of repatriate them or not because of the comment that was made on the call on cash. We're just trying to get a sense of both aspects.
Yes.
A, what will be the profitability, and B, what will be the means to kind of make it come to us, incremental profits, that is.
Sure. Aditya, first of all, as I said earlier, we are taking one quarter at a time. You know, the model of the business will be domestic business. Obviously, the business has to be sized for that, which means costs have to reflect that kind of a volume of the business, right? So that all those, you know, aspects need to be looked into. The team is definitely looking at all these aspects of it. As we go and meet in the month of May, we will have better pictures emerging, and we will share what we are looking at as a, you know, going forward. But as I said, you know, domestic business is possible. Domestic space is there.
They have been doing this for the last three years, as you know, you know, as they change their product mix and, you know, positioning of the product. And we feel that that should be, you know, in good stead for them once they have resized their operation accordingly. And we have considered, when we talked about this year, the impact of that is for the, let's say, the three months of Q4 is part of that consideration. But beyond which, I would like to wait to see how this is going to play out. We feel that I think there should be some, you know, better picture should emerge.
Sure. Again, just to get clarity, is repatriation a problem or not? A simple question on incremental profits.
So repatriation of dividend is a challenge because you cannot repatriate using dollar or euro. So that is the issue. And, the money will probably be they have to make use of it for their own investment purpose. And we will have to wait and see once better days comes.
Sure. And, if INR 100 of the volumes or revenues of this company, how much are being consumed internally, let's say, coming to India and then being used up? Is that any meaningful proportion?
Question is not clear. Could you repeat the question?
Are there any sales that happen from VAW to standalone entity? I'm just trying to get a relevance from an internal perspective.
So we have very, very little sales to CUMI India and has no impact to CUMI India business. And there will not be any transaction between CUMI India and VAW.
Noted. I have more questions, but I'll get back into the queue. No, thank you for your.
Yeah . Please.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bhavin from SBI Funds. Please go ahead.
Yep. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, sir. The question again is on VAW. Now that there is a restriction, is there a thought of kind of, because the acquisition was made as a with a thought process of security of raw material now that is not possible. Is there a thought of kind of divesting this business completely as repatriation also is getting challenged?
Yeah, I think, Bhavin, it's a good question. From our point of view, we need to allow some time to understand what these means to us, right? And we don't want to extend our thinking beyond the current management of what we are doing. I think these things can change. You know, this is, it's a geopolitical issue, so we need to wait and see.
So we'll have to give some time to see, you know, how this development will turn. So I will focus more on, you know, one quarter at a time and see how do we take this forward.
Sure. Could you give us an update on the projects within the Ceramics division, the couple of expansions which were underway in terms of armored or the semiconductor one? And also, a couple of quarters back, we had issues with respect to the new energy hydrogen SOFC related. Where are we in that? Have we seen a ramp- up on that front?
Okay. So as far as the projects are concerned, they are very much, you know, on track. And we are tracking to the time as well as to the cost. We feel that it should progress as per our timeline. No challenges, no issues. I'm not clear about your second comment in terms of that we have not shared any challenge relating to hydrogen-related stuff. I'm not sure where you are coming from.
Okay. So we had seen drop in sales, because the customer.
Okay. So that is not hydrogen-related. Probably, let me come in. It is a solid oxide fuel cell manufacturer, and they are not into Hydrogen business. So they would basically generate electricity out of that, and that is what is their core business. That business is back, I think, as we communicated, you know, this is from Q1, that is calendar year Q1 onwards, FY 2025, which is what, like, January to March, what currently we are running, which is Q4 for us. Their order intakes are fine. And they are very much in line with the trend, what they have communicated to us.
Okay. Just a couple of follow-ups on the two expansion projects, especially on the armor side. If you could give us, like, do we—I mean, are the customers for which we are kind of building, are their projects also in line because we would be a supplier, a Tier 1, Tier 2 suppliers? If you can give some update on that front on both the projects. While we may be ready, the customers also should be correspondingly ready.
I think the customers are ready, and they are definitely very much part of this progress. And they have been updated. They are also keep updating us. And it is progressing as expected.
So ramp- up would be pretty quickly as soon as the project we see expansion getting commissioned. Would that be a fair assumption?
So first, let's start the project, kickstart the production, start, you know, our sale, and then we will share more details as we progress.
Okay. Yeah, yeah. Those were my questions. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Right. Thank you. Thank you, Bhavin.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Lakshmin arayanan from Tunga Investments. Please go ahead.
Yes. I have two questions. First is that if I look at India made and India sold, what has been the last nine months' sales growth made in India and sold in India?
It's roughly about around 8%. You know, I don't have a precise number, but I indicatively what Abrasives or refractories and some of the Electrominerals sales put together, I should look at it that way.
If you look at this segment, what has negatively surprised you in the last three months or maybe six months?
The negative surprise is definitely Volzhsky Abrasive Works [this time].
No, I'm just looking at the India-made, India-sold. About how does that affect the standalone?
I don't think there's any major surprise, I would say, either positive or negative. We feel that it is continuing to be the same. We expect probably the momentum might pick up because of this renewed commitment from the government of India in terms of the CapEx programs, infrastructure spend, etc. So probably also more money put in the, you know, people, the demand driving, could also happen. It should probably look at as more positive.
In this business, what is the mix of direct OE sales versus distribution? And what has been the which has actually grown faster between these two segments, India made India sold?
I think, you know, so we have the entire Electrominerals, Refractories f or business to business. And as far as the Abrasives are there, the dependence on the distributor is high. So that I would say, for example, is the biggest distributor-led business. The rest is all, you know, business to business-led growth. Overall, we are looking at more similar experience. Maybe in the distributor side, there are, you know, pressures in terms of their collections and probably some inventory piling up. All those things are, you know, we are looking at. Other than that, I don't think any significant observation which I can share.
Got it. And this is my second part of the question. In terms of India-made and exports, what has been the growth for the last nine months? And how do you expect this year to conclude for the export business from India?
Exports have significantly grown more than the domestic growth. And I feel that it should continue the same way. I don't see this as a [problem].
Do you have a number, sir? Do you have a number in terms of how much is the India-made and exported from India for the last nine months? What is the revenues? And then how it has grown over the last nine similar period last year?
Yeah. We have grown almost about, say, 18%-20% in the export side of the business.
And how much does that come to? Is the total business if you look at India? India made.
We will share more details to Lakshmin arayanan.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you, sir. That's all my questions.
Right. Thanks .
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohit Pandey from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good afternoon, sir. Sir, m y first question.
Good afternoon.
Yes. My first question is on Ceramics subsidiaries. Sir, if you could please provide more color on the challenges that were faced in this quarter in the subsidiaries, especially CUMI America, that impacted the margins. Because historically, as per my understanding, this has been a very profitable subsidiary. So that would be very helpful.
Yeah. I think, Mohit, we covered this largely. Two businesses. Australia and America is where we had these. Some of the issues. There's a provisioning on the inventory receivable plus big business mix change in Australia. Logistics costs going up in America. And these are the broad drivers and probably some higher, you know, employee benefits because of the law change in Australia. Other than that, those are all normal. And we still feel if you exclude them, their business performance is good. And these, we feel that these are one-offs.
Okay, sir. So sir, provisioning, etc., you think is more or less done in this quarter for inventory and receivables for.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. They're done. Yes.
Okay, sir. Sir, secondly, on RHODIUS margins, so you indicated the cost pressures that are hurting profitability, but you also said demand seems to be holding fine. So, going forward, do you see possibility of passing on the cost pressures? If you could also give more color on the nature of these cost pressures, that would be really helpful.
so I said that there is a price pressure, which is basically, you know, the expectation of the, you know, from the customer is a, you know, price drop, and there's also, at the same time, there's also a cost pressure. That is the combination of it, and I don't think cost is a significant portion. It's mainly a, you know, the market price is where the challenge comes.
Okay, sir. Understood, and sir, last question on VAW. So fixed cost, notwithstanding, is the domestic business inherently more profitable, on the gross margin, compared to whatever exports have been done so far from VAW?
Yeah, so I think we feel, as I said in my earlier response also, is that domestic business they should be able to do fine. They are readjusting and repositioning themselves as far as the fully focused domestic business model is concerned. We feel that that should be helpful for them. They should be in a position to manage it.
Okay. Sir, last question on the unallocable expenses. Any outlook if you could provide here for this project cost that were mentioned? These are linked to the newer, the R&D works that you are undertaking. Is that a fair understanding? These can remain elevated, or how should we think about it?
I think, see, I think this could change. Last year, we spent about, say, INR 57 crores, INR 58 crores of total unallocable cost. We should expect it to be in the range of about around 60+. That is the broad expectation one can have.
Okay, sir. The last question was on the longer-term plan that you briefly alluded to. So any timelines you have in mind around when you are looking to announce that? Or that would be my last question.
Yeah. I think we will share more details when we meet again in the month of May.
Okay, sir. That's it from my side. Thank you so much. Thanks.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this will be our last question. It's from the line of Bhoomika Nair from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Just wanted to ask on the Abrasives business. You know, in terms of the end market, we saw precision was quite impacted. But now there seems to be some improvement. So if you can talk about the outlook for industrial retail and precision. You know, because this quarter was fairly muted and standalone from a growth perspective, how do we see the growth coming back and also some comment on the Chinese competition?
I think, Bhoomika, I talked about the overall Abrasives business. We feel that it will continue to be in that range, you know, 8-10% growth. Industrial is doing fine. Retail is doing fine. Precision is largely, you know, in terms of the dependence on how the industrial outlook is there. So there's, to some extent, it is, you know, linked to, I would say, like, say, bearings and some of the high-end auto components, you know, business turnaround. So that should also be doing fine is my own guess. So overall, I should say that they should be able to travel around 7%-8%, type of a growth.
Sure. Sir, on the other side, in terms of Ceramics, you talked about the one-offs that we saw in Australia and in America. You know, when you mean one-off, does that mean that this will not recur? Yes. Going forward, and it will normalize to the business-level margins as we move ahead into the next quarter or the next year?
Correct. Correct. Correct. That's correct.
Okay. Okay. And lastly, on VAW, you know, with exports being a challenge, which is 40%, and as the revenue scale kind of comes down, will there be a hit on the profitability because of the fixed cost and lower revenues?
So I think, as I said, the business is relooking at the model and repositioning themselves the cost also accordingly. Because you cannot afford to run the business at the same level, you know, with the 100% business possible, whereas you are only doing domestic. So that repositioning is parallelly happening. And they have to resize this operation accordingly. So that should be they are very much aware, and they are definitely on the job to do that.
So how long do you think it will take to resize the business and cost structure accordingly? Will it take like a three, six months or longer time frame?
My own guess is that they should be able to reposition this in this quarter.
Okay. Okay. Got it, sir. This was my questions. Thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to host the call, as also the participants, for being there. Thank you very much, sir, and wish you all the very best.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I'd just like to say that, you know, if you exclude the exceptions arising out of the Russia challenge, we feel that the business has performed operation-wise quite decent. And I think that should continue is what we feel. As far as Russia is concerned, we are keenly watching and see how we need to respond to each of these situations.
And, as I said, we will take one quarter at a time and see how do we, you know, tread this path. It's a geopolitical issue, and we need to see how this will evolve, you know, and I think you're all keenly watching, you know, the news. So we must also be tracking this parallelly. So I feel that, other than this, the business is doing fine. The balance sheet in good stead.
We feel that we have done a fair bit of work in terms of the future, in terms of how a long-term strategy can be looked at, and I think we will share a portion of that when we come and meet in the month of May, so thank you for all your patient hearing and asking the right questions, and wish you all the best. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of DAM Capital Advisors Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.