Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to JSW Infrastructure Q4 FY 2024 Earnings Conference Call hosted by ICICI Securities. 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 telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Manav. On behalf of ICICI Securities, we welcome you all to the Q4 FY 2024 Earnings Call of JSW Infrastructure. To discuss the result today, we have with us Mr. Arun Maheshwari, Joint Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Lalit Singhvi, Whole-Time Director and CFO, and Mr. Vishesh Pachnanda, Head of Investor Relations. We'll start with a brief opening remark by the management, which will be followed by Q&A. Over to you, sir.
Thanks, Mohit. Good evening, and thank you all for joining our earnings call for the quarter and the year ending 31st March 2024. I'm Arun Maheshwari. India's economy continues to perform better than most major economies due to strong domestic demand, momentum in manufacturing, and ongoing investments in infrastructure. The Indian government is taking major steps to make the logistics sector more effective and efficient. Central and state governments are working in tandem to increase the country's total port handling capacity to 10,000 million tons by 2047 from the current capacity of 2,600 million tons per annum. In alignment with the vision, the role of private players is being progressively augmented with public-private partnership terminals. Major ports in India, which are central government-owned, have a total capacity above 50% of India's port capacity today, and a significant portion of it is yet to be privatized.
This offers a huge opportunity for a business enterprise like ours to leverage our growth of our businesses. Moving on to the performance of JSW Infrastructure Limited for the financial year 2024, the year has been a year of milestones and delivering on our promises. Post-successful equity listing in October 2023, we have acquired a liquid storage terminal at Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and acquired a majority stake in PNP Port, which is opposite to our Dharamtar Port in the state of Maharashtra. On the development of Greenfield Port, a concession agreement has been signed with Karnataka Maritime Board to develop a 30 million-ton all-weather multi-cargo deep-water commercial port in a location called Keni, which is south of Karwar in North Karnataka.
We emerged as a winner bid for seven million tons per annum of dry bulk terminals in Tuticorin as well through a PPP mode and signed a concession agreement with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority for the two liquid berths for 4.5 million tons during the last quarter. For the period April 2023 to March 2024, the total cargo handled stood at 106 million tons, which is 15% year-on-year growth. Our third-party grew by 36% year-on-year to 42 million tons, and the share of third-party increased to 40% in the overall mix of 33% a year ago. Total revenue for the year stood at INR 4,032 crore, reflecting a growth of 20% year-on-year. EBITDA for the period stood at INR 2,234 crore. This is 25% year-on-year growth, and the net profit grew by 55% to INR 1,161 crore.
The board has recommended a dividend of INR 0.55 per share. That's INR 0.55 per share. Given the strong fundamentals of the sector and in line with our strategy to deliver growth, we have embarked on a 2030 growth plan aimed to enhance our present cargo handling capacity by 2.4 x from existing 170 million tons to 400 million tons by 2030. This represents a CAGR of 15%. We are actively pursuing and exploring various project development opportunities and already have a robust project pipeline in hand. Moreover, there are additional levers to accelerate the growth, like the privatization bids of terminals to berths in the government-owned major ports, an enormous opportunity. We are one of the largest terminal holders in India in the major ports. Further, we will keep on exploring value-added inorganic opportunities in the areas of port and related infrastructures.
The detailed 2030 roadmap is also available on P age 14 of our presentation, which has been uploaded on stock exchanges. With a strong balance sheet in the sector, we are well positioned to pursue organic and inorganic growth opportunities. With this, let me hand over to Mr. Lalit Singhvi to take through the financials and other details for the time period we are talking about.
Thank you, Arun. And good evening, everyone. Let me first give you a sense of our quarterly performance first and then talk about the full year. In Q4 FY 2024, the company handled cargo volumes of 29.3 million tons as compared to 26.8 million tons in the quarter ended March 2023. This 9% cargo growth is mainly driven by Paradip Port Terminal and Ennore Port Terminal, which grew by 26% and 18% respectively. Newly acquired assets, PNP and liquid terminal at UAE, also contributed to the growth. The increase at Paradip and Ennore locations and acquisitions has significantly contributed to an increase in third-party cargo of 35% in the current quarter on an overall basis. Third-party cargo has increased to 30.5 million tons from 10 million tons in the previous period.
The growth in cargo volume resulted in an increase in operational revenue for the quarter from INR 915 crores to INR 1,096 crores, a year-on-year growth of 20%. Other income for the quarter is INR 104 crores as against INR 58 crores in March 2023, mainly driven by an increased income from fixed deposits and gains of mutual funds. EBITDA for the quarter ended March 2024 was at INR 685 crores, up from INR 530 crores in the quarter ended March 2023, an increase of 29%. Strong EBITDA growth was mainly on increased revenue. Depreciation was INR 134 crores, and finance cost was INR 75 crores in the current quarter as compared to INR 98 crores and INR 70 crores respectively in the quarter ended March 2023. Profit before tax stood at INR 417 crores, a 41% increase year-on-year.
Tax for the current quarter is INR 329 crores as compared to INR 302 crores for the quarter ended March 2023, representing an increase of 9%. Moving on to the full-year results. During the year, the company handled cargo volumes of 106 million tons. This is higher by 15% over the last year. Increase in volume is primarily on the back of increased capacity utilization at the Ennore and port terminals of Paradip and Mangalore Port Terminal. Newly acquired assets, that is PNP and liquid terminal UAE, also contributed to this growth. The third-party cargo volume increase grew by 36% year-on-year, and the share of third-party in the overall volume stood at 40% versus 33% a year ago. The higher volume translated to 18% growth in the operating revenue stood at INR 3,763 crores.
Increased revenue, the benefit of operating leverage, and cost control meant EBITDA of INR 2,234 crores, which is at 24% year-on-year, with a strong margin of 55.4%. Depreciation was INR 436 crores, and finance cost was INR 289 crores during the year as compared to INR 391 crores and INR 282 crores respectively in the financial year. Tax grew at 55% to INR 1,161 crores. As of March 2024, our net debt is just INR 65 crores, so practically zero net debt and one of the strongest balance sheets in the sector. This, coupled with steadily increasing annual cash flows from the current asset base, we are well equipped to pursue a growth plan aimed at enhancing our present cargo handling capacity to 400 million ton by FY 2030 or earlier. With this, I request the operator to open the line for questions.
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 withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We have our first question from the line of Priyankar Biswas from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Yeah, yeah. First, congratulations for strong results today. So my first question to you is, can you shed some light on what sort of CapEx, given the growth pipeline that you see we should be looking at for, let's say, the next three to four years? And what is the, let's say, target ROC for such CapEx? And additionally, on top of that, if you can also elaborate, let's say, growth opportunities like Murbe Port and, let's say, the volume aspirations at Tuticorin.
Yeah. So as regards to CapEx pipeline, as we mentioned in the initial presentation that we are going to be a 400 million company by 2030, this is base cargo, and on top of it, there would be some acquisitions or privatization programs, etc. So as regards to CapEx, on the base up to 400 million, we are expecting around INR 30,000 crore of investment in the next six years from 2024-2025 to 2030. So if you want to have a three-year horizon, it would be around, say, INR 14,000 crore, and the second three years, it would be INR 16,000 crore. This is what we are tentatively committing CapEx for this period.
So Mr. Biswas, regarding your question regarding Murbe and Tuticorin, I'll take Tuticorin first, wherein we have been a declared winner for the bid we have submitted. The concession agreement is in the framing stage as of now, and we'll update the market as and when it gets signed. So this is an update on the Tuticorin side. On Murbe, it is a Swiss challenge which we have submitted, and we are waiting for further directions from the authorities on this subject. So as and when we get any further thing to hear about it, we'll let all of us know.
Okay, sir. So one more question. So typically, there would be some ESOP effect in the employee expenses, right? So what would be that for the full year in FY 2024, and should we see that in FY 2025 as well?
Yeah. So in the 2023-2024, the provisioning was around INR 148 crore, and now 2024-2025, it will be much less. It will be around INR 65 crore-INR 70 crore.
Thank you, sir. I will get back into the queue.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Before we take the next question, a reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. We have our next question from the line of Nidhi from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. First of all, congratulations on the great results .
Sorry to interrupt, ma'am. We are getting a lot of background noise from your end.
Hello. Can you hear me now?
We can hear you, but yeah, of course, there's a background noise. Nevertheless, you can continue with the question. We'll try to see if we can answer the question.
Hello. Is it better now?
Okay. Please proceed, yeah.
Yes. Yes. Again, as I was saying, congratulations on a great result. There are a couple of questions that I had on the CapEx side. What was the CapEx for the current year, and then how are we proceeding in the next two to three years to come? That is number one. And two is, at Tuticorin, what are we expecting in terms of potential capacity addition in the next couple of years?
Sir, we spent around INR 150 crores on sustainable CapEx and around INR 75 crores on the regular CapEx. We are looking at a CapEx number because your voice was not very clear.
CapEx number for the last year, FY 2024?
2024.
Good.
So Nidhi, the total CapEx, including sustainable CapEx, was close to about INR 225 crore in FY 2024. As we had mentioned in the previous call, the total CapEx expected in another three years would be close to INR 14,000 crore. The capacity addition, if I had to look at and commensurate that in the next three years, would be close to about.
85 million.
85 million tons.
Okay. Lastly, if I could ask you about what you think are the bidding opportunities that we could foresee in the upcoming years?
Well, see, the government is very clear that they would like to go more and more privatization. So there are many opportunities coming up. There are opportunities in multiple major ports coming in. So we exactly won't be able to comment how many opportunities would come in, but there are continuously opportunities out there, whether it's Kandla, whether it's Haldia, whether it is Vizag, or Tuticorin. So we should be assessing those opportunities. And as and when it fits into our overall strategy and the growth plans, we do consider them coming in.
Okay. All right. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Alok Deora from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir, and congratulations on very good numbers. Sir, just first on the volume, we have done pretty decent volumes in this quarter and full year. What's the outlook there for the next couple of years on the volume growth, assuming that we are at this capacity and some capacity additions will also happen? What's the growth we are looking at as far as stability is concerned?
So generally, the growth, see, as the base grows up, the percentage would be tapered down to that extent. But I would fairly assume 10%-12% kind of volume percentage growth should be there. Our CAGR, because it's being an infrastructure company, it's a very long horizon. So year-on-year growth would be a bit of a misnomer if I have to look at it that way. If a long-term sustainable, if I have to look at it, it would be around 15%-17% kind of CAGR. But year-on-year, if I have to talk about immediate next year, probably the guidance would be 10%-12% of growth in terms of volume.
Got it, sir. And sir, we are talking about a pretty massive jump in capacity over the next five years or so. It's almost more than doubling capacity. So it's a related question to the previous question which came through. Are those kind of projects which are upcoming, or how is the situation? Because it's like 170 going.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have the management line disconnected. Please stay connected while we reconnect them.
Hello?
Thank you for patiently waiting. We have the management line back with us.
Yeah. So Mr. Deora, you were asking about what kind of projects pipeline and all those. So we have given those details on page 14 of the presentation, which is uploaded now. So primarily, just for the sake of clarity to the group over here, for the growth of about 85-88 million tons in another 3-4 years' time, it's largely coming from a variety of projects which were declared and which are approved projects for us. So that is what we have mentioned over here. And thereafter, we have taken the Keni project, which is the concession agreement is signed, that we have taken after post 3 years because that's the gestation period is a little longer.
There are several other projects which are in pipeline, potential projects, which we'll keep on updating as and when we move towards that, forming up those projects in the approved line. The details of the projects are already mentioned in that presentation.
Oh, got it, sir. And just. Hello?
Yeah, sorry. Continue.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just a last question from my side. So are we also looking to, from a longer-term perspective, since we have so much funds also available, are we looking to increase logistics activity in the sense that setting up a logistics vertical in a bigger way where we can provide end-to-end services, any color on that?
So we have been maintaining this stand that we would be developing our portfolio not only in port but also the related infrastructure, which is value-attributed to the port business as well. So last-mile connectivity, getting into the logistics play, is part of that. So we are definitely considering that to be in that sector, and we are working on this sector very closely. If anything comes up, definitely we'll update the market.
Sure. That's all from my side. Thank you and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. We have our next question from the line of Ravi Naredi from Naredi Investments. Please go ahead. Mr. Ravi, are you there? Hello, Mr. Ravi, are you there?
Okay, sir. Let's move on.
As is. We have our next question from the line of Aditya Mongia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Congratulations on the different kind of results this time, and thank you for the opportunity. My first question related more to the 10%-12% growth guidance that you've given, which basically translates into about 11-13 million tons additional growth for next year. Just want to kind of get things in some perspective. Our sense is that about two million to 2.5 million tons would have happened because of PNP and Fujairah in the last quarter, which means 7.5 million tons of growth happens just from that. It seemed as if the guidance was kind of single-digit for the remaining ports. Could you give us a sense of what is the split of fixed growth across your third-party cargo ports and the other mature assets on an organic basis?
So if we are to look at the group company cargo growth, as and when, there's a growth in the capacity in the group companies. And these are lumpy growths. These are not very every year, there's no growth. So there's a continuous growth on a scale of five to 10 years kind of scale. But wherein the third party is a continuous growth momentum, if you have to notice for the last four to five years what we have done. So the third-party business continued to grow. We were 33% last year. We are 40% this year. We may try to improve from 40% from this year onwards. So probably we would like to aim closer to 45%. But as we move forward, we would be there at around 45% by the next year-end.
Coming to that, what would be the incremental growth on this particular thing? I would say the group company cargo would remain where it was. It won't be increasing much because that is a lumpy growth. As and when the capacity improves in the captive cargo, then only it increases. So that is in works. Probably it will shape up next to next year, wherein third-party business will continue to grow. So any infrastructure, if you have to look at, we have to look at, as I said earlier, it has to be looked on a time horizon. It cannot be looked at year-on-year basis. So we continue to maintain that. Though it is 10%-12% for next year's guidance, on a sustainable basis, it would be around 15%-17% CAGR.
Understood. The second thing, I just want to kind of clarify. How much is the ESOP cost provisioning for the quarter gone by?
What cost? Sorry?
The ESOP cost provisioning for the quarter gone by. I mean, you've given the full-year numbers for this year, but if you could also give a sense of what's the fourth-quarter number?
Just a minute. INR 34 crore.
INR 34 crore. The other question that I had was, given our best sense of the assets that we had won in the recent past, obviously, Fujairah is a high-margin asset. But on the other assets, on the Tuticorin one and the JNPA one, should one expect a similar kind of EBITDA margin profile as is being seen at the consolidated level right now, or could there be meaningful differences?
So I would say whenever we bid for any terminal, we definitely consider the IRRs before bidding it. So I'm sure these assets are yet to get officialized, whether Tuticorin or JNPA. And as and when you get officialized, probably you will see the similar kind of outputs from there. So fairly confident on that.
Great. I have more questions. I'll come back and look at you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. We have a follow-up question from the line of Priyankar Biswas from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Sir, thanks for the opportunity. So my question is, so we have seen recently commissioning by JSW Steel of, I think, close to another five million tons of capacity. So why shouldn't we be seeing the group cargo growing? Because as you were highlighting, as they expand capacity, there should be some lumpy volumes also adding to your mix.
Yeah. So the thing is that what you are seeing five million ton addition is at Vijayanagar Steel Plant. And that is largely catered by the ports of Goa and Mangalore and Krishnapatnam, the other four large major ports which serve them. So Goa Port is in the process of building the capacity. The shed is under construction. So it will take another nine to 10 months' time for the shed to get completed. So that volume of this additional five million ton will get impacted from there. Otherwise, our two other terminals are largely full. So we don't have any overflow of cargo cannot be handled over there. So once we have our Goa Port completed in another 10 months' time, those volumes will start reflecting over there. From existing 8.5 million ton, we are taking it to 15 million ton.
So have we got the easy clearance for that? Because I think that was a hindrance for Goa, right?
So we have an approval. All the relevant approvals are there with us. After the shed is approved, then we have to go to the local authority to get the clearance. Otherwise, all the clearance from MoEF is in place.
Okay, okay. That's very helpful, sir.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have the management line disconnected again. We'll quickly join them. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the management back with us. Over to you, sir.
Yeah. Yeah.
Operator, you can take the next question.
Okay. Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Aditya Mongia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Priya, thanks for the opportunity. I wanted to kind of check that beyond port operations and logistics operations, are there other means of work that the company is taking to investing? And as you called a previous discussion happening around the slurry pipeline, I just thought I'd kind of check with you of any plans incremental beyond logistics and port, maybe some sort of other agencies that you are looking forward to.
Yeah. So definitely, thanks, Aditya, for asking this question. So being an infrastructure company, anything which adds value to the port businesses or end-to-end logistics solutions, definitely would explore that. And if slurry pipeline comes to our forte, we don't mind looking at and exploring that opportunity, provided it is adding value to my existing businesses or its value attributed to all our stakeholders. If these two ticks are there, we are okay. Counterparty has to be a bit solid because slurry pipeline businesses are such which are end-to-end. So your counterparty has to be strong enough. So we would look at all the aspects. In case if we have to get this opportunity, then we would get into that.
Thank you, sir. We have our last question for today from the line of Nidhi Shah from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Miss Nidhi, please go ahead with your questions. Miss Nidhi, as we are unable to get through that. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Mohit Kumar for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
I would like to thank the management for giving us the opportunity to host the call. Sir, would you like to make any closing comments?
No, we are thankful to all the colleagues and asking the relevant questions, which really gives them more insight about the company and the future and workings of the company. Thank you all, and thanks for reposing the continuous confidence in the company and the management.
Thank you, everyone. On behalf of ICICI Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.