Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Lux Industries Limited Q3 and 9M FY 2022 earnings conference call. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as on the date of this call. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. 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 the operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Saket Todi, Executive Director from Lux Industries Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about our Q3 and 9 M FY 2022 financial results. Along with me, I have Mr. Udit Todi, Executive Director, our CFO, Saurabh Kumar Bhudolia, and SGA, our investor relations advisors. I hope you have received our quarterly results and investor presentation by now. For those who have not, you can view them on our website. We witnessed very strong demand across all our product categories in the third quarter of FY 2022. Consumers across all demographics are becoming more aware of the options and are looking for a high fashion factor as well as comfort, hygiene and brand image at reasonable prices. We now have a better acceptance of branded innerwear products, which has largely helped the industry to graduate from unorganized to organized sales.
We at Lux are confident in our ability to carve out an increasing share and outperform the sector and fuel this expansion. During the quarter, we are able to deliver better than the expected performance with our sales growing by 24% as compared to the same period last year. Our premium and economy category had one of its best quarters with a healthy top line of growth of 16% and 64% respectively. The rising consumption was not only seen in [Tier 2] and rural areas, but also in [Tier 1] cities. Sales of our mid-premium segment, which includes brands like Lux Cozi, Lux Inferno, Lux Cottswool, Lyra and GenX, increased by 9%.
However, our thermal wear brands, which forms a part of our mid-premium category, witnessed a slight weakness due to the factors like abrupt weather changes and delayed winter in many parts of the country. Brand building initiatives for our premium category has picked up and giving a sustainable growth continuously since last few years. Premium category, which includes brands like ONN, Lux Premium and One8, registered a sales growth of 16% in Q3 FY 2022 as compared to the same period last year. Overall sales contribution of the premium category went up to 13% as compared to 11% in the same period last year. Our volume growth for the quarter and the nine months ended in December 2021 stood at 6%, while the ASP growth was 16% and 18% respectively.
We are pleased to report that this growth across categories was not achieved at the expense of a deteriorating profitability. For the quarter ended 31 December 2021, our EBITDA stood at INR 145 crores as compared to INR 109 crores in quarter 3 FY 2021, registering a growth of 33% year-over-year. EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 21.72%, an increase of 154 basis points. The company's strong brand equity, combined with well-thought business acumen, has helped us consistently delivering a 20%+ EBITDA margin over the last five quarters, which is among the best in the industry, and we intend to maintain the same in the coming quarters as well. One of the most important factors in developing a brand equity has been our spending on advertisement and marketing.
During the first three quarters of FY 2022, we have also done a number of marketing campaigns depending on the marketing conditions, and they have paid off in terms of expanding our reach and tapping into new audiences. We have invested INR 749 crore on advertising and promotion over the last five years, which is around 8% of our revenue, and we have been able to generate INR 15.67 on every rupee spent. Our spending for the nine months FY 2022 for advertisement was at INR 108 crore, which is about 6.4% of the net sales, which is in line with the projection of advertisement and marketing spend for the FY 2021. From FY 2023 onwards, we plan to progressively restore our ad spend depending on the marketing conditions.
Going forward, with the Omicron strain being milder than the previous variants and most employees and workers having been vaccinated this time around, we expect economic activities returning to the normalcy and expect strong demand momentum to continue in the coming quarters as well. With this, I will now ask Mr. Udit Todi to share his thoughts.
Good afternoon, and a very warm welcome to everyone. Over the years, the innerwear industry has evolved to bring in multiple opportunities and possibilities of growth. Consumers, especially the millennials, are shifting the conventional consumer request of [Kuch Achcha Sasta Dikhaiye] to [Kuch Badhiya Dikhaiye]. To cope up with the changing consumer preference to expect quality and comfort at competitive pricing, we at Lux have been rapidly changing and expanding our relevance as a family brand by offering something for everyone in the family through our diverse brand portfolio. Our continuous focus on brand-building activities, strengthening our product portfolio, implementation and adoption of latest technology in our manufacturing processes have aided us in consistently achieving results that are considerably above industry averages. On the supply chain aspect, we have one of the largest distribution network, which is the core strength of the company.
Our strong brand equity and goodwill has helped us maintain long-term relations with our distributors, dealers, and retailers. We are the largest domestic innerwear player by volume, with strong presence in north, east, and western part of the country. As of 31 December 2021, we have been associated with 1,170+ dealers, where we have less than 1% distribution attrition rate. For faster distribution of products across the country, we have set up 12 depots and 19 warehouses spread across 12 states across the country. We aim to further strengthen and streamline our distribution network to reach the untapped and the undertapped markets of South India, where our sales contribution is 4%.
Furthermore, our womenswear brand is gaining traction as this segment, which has previously been dominated by the unorganized sector with limited options and inconsistent quality, is now being captured by branded players like Lux. This transition is on account of increase in the number of working women and rise in their disposable income, supported by the shift in consumer preference for safe and hygienic products. We believe with time and more exposure and acceptability, this area is now opening up, which is good for the industry and creates considerable prospects for growth in our womenswear brand. Lyra, our womenswear brand, accounted for roughly 13% or roughly INR 220 crore of our net sales of INR 698 crore in nine months ended 2022.
We gradually transitioning from pure-play innerwear player to a mix of athleisure and outerwear player because we feel that strong brands attract consumers and help us negotiate better business terms with our suppliers. We are also expanding our e-commerce presence, having partnered with top e-commerce companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, and Ajio. We are currently shipping 4,000+ online orders per day and aim to generate INR 100 crore in online sales revenue over the next three years. Going forward, by the close of the year under review, we expect Lux Industries business model to be stronger than it has ever been and are poised to grow faster than the industry average. With this, I would now request Mr. Bhudolia to take you through the financial performance.
Thank you, Udit Todi. The company has posted robust performance for the quarter three and nine months ended December 31, 2021, backed by the accelerated demand across categories. Our revenues for the quarter stood at INR 668 crore as against INR 540 crore, registering a growth of 22% compared to the same period last year. This growth was led by strong demand across our product portfolio and increased share of value-added products. Our EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 145 crore, registering a growth of 33% as compared to INR 109 crore during same period last year. Our EBITDA margin, which stood at 22%, have seen an improvement of more than 150 basis points YoY.
Our quarterly profits crossed INR 100 crore mark for the two consecutive quarters, stood at INR 101.2 crore, registering a strong growth of 35% over same period last year. We have seen an improvement of 122 basis points in our PAT margin, which stands at 15% as compared to 14% in quarter 3 FY 2021. Now, coming to our nine months performance, our revenue for nine months FY 2022 stood at INR 1,720 crore as compared to INR 1,364 crore in nine months FY 2021, with a growth rate of 26%. The region-wise revenue contribution for nine months FY 2022 is as follows. Northern India, 29%, Eastern India, 28%, Western India, 23%, Central India, 16%, and Southern part of India is around 2%.
While revenue split for segment stood as follows. Mid-premium, 55%; economic segment, 32%; and premium segment is around 13%. EBITDA for nine months FY 2022 stood at INR 377 crore as compared to INR 264 crore in nine months FY 2021, registering a growth of [43%] YoY. The EBITDA margin has seen an improvement of 260 basis points, which stood at 22% versus 19.5% in nine months FY 2021. PAT for nine months FY 2022 stood at INR 265 crore as compared to INR 179 crore in nine months FY 2021, with a growth of 48% YoY. The PAT margin stood at 15.5%, an improvement of 230 basis points as compared to 13% in nine months FY 2021.
Our working capital cycle was 168 days as of December 31, 2021, which was slightly on a higher end. This is majorly attributable to two factors. One, management's conscious call to build up raw material inventory as we were expecting a price increase in the raw material. Two, some buildup of finished goods inventory due to delayed winters in many parts of the country. However, as compared to September 2021, our debtor days has reduced to 97 days from 121 days, but inventory days has gone up to 119 days from 101 days. We have been working to improve our working capital cycle by constantly monitoring and controlling all levers, and we expect to reduce our working capital days in the next few quarters.
Before we open the floor to questions and answers, I would like to emphasize that as a responsible company, we are always striving to increase our stakeholders' accountability. In all our business operations and transactions, we are guided by our long-standing dedication to the highest ethical standards and transparency. With this, we will now open the floor for questions and answers.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone wishing to ask a question may please press star and one on your touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants, if you wish to ask a question, you may please press star and one. The first question is from the line of Mayank Lakdawala from Concept Investwell. Please go ahead.
Hello, good morning. Congratulations on this set of numbers. I just want to know that I am seeing that there are no increase in the distributors from your end. Can I know how much is the increase in the sale from each distributor?
Can you come again with your question?
Sure, sir. I want to know that I can see that there are no increase.
Mr. Lakdawala, we're not able to hear you clearly. Can you use the handset mode while speaking?
Sure thing. Sir, can I know that I can see that there is no increase in the number of distributors from your end, so just want to know how much increase in the sales per distributor? Second question is, how many distributors are there in South India?
As you can see, we are already trying to add on distributors into the South Indian market, and we are in talks with a couple of them already. Overall, yes, per distributor sale with the existing set of distributors has already gone up, and that is why we see that during this quarter we have achieved a 24% increase in revenue. As far as the exact number of dealers and distributors in the South India market is concerned, see, that is a very marketing and strategic call, so we would not want to be open with the number of the distributor which is present in any particular geography.
Okay. Thank you. That's all from my side.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, anyone wishing to ask a question, may please press star and one. The next question is from the line of Ishrat Khatri from Omkara Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good afternoon, sir. I just had a question on the sustainability of the gross margins that we've been seeing during 9M and FY 2022. I was just looking at the numbers, and I realized that a lot of that gross margins come from the inventory gain that we've had, considering raw material prices that have been consistently going up. The low cost inventory that we have is definitely benefiting the gross margins. If I just exclude the inventory gain and I calculate the core gross margin, then that's coming at a much, much lower level than what we've made historically. Is it because we've not been able to pass on the raw material price increase completely, or we've done it lately, but it's coming with a lag? I'm not able to understand the situation.
Partly, the gross margins which you have seen expanding over the last couple of years has also been on account of change of product mix.
The premium portfolio of the company is also gaining pace compared to the semi-premium and the mass category. You also have to keep that in mind, that the product mix has also been changing favorably for the company. Yes, you are also right to a certain extent, we have gained from the old raw materials in an inflationary scenario. Those gains are also there. As a company policy and as a marketing policy, we always pass on any increase in raw material prices to the consumer. Obviously we also try and make our dealers and distributors benefit from the old rate stocks. Part of the benefit is retained by the company, and part of the benefit is given ahead to the market.
Sir, you mean you've completely passed on the increase in the raw material prices?
In the long term, yes.
Also in terms of the product mix, how has it changed? Because I looked through the presentation, about 13% odd of our sales come from the premium category. What was this number, let's say, a year, two year, three year ago, as a percentage of our total sales?
Earlier, the premium category contribution was close to 11%, which has went up to around 13%-14% in the current year.
Oh, where do we see this number going ahead?
You can see it in my deck only. Maybe slide number closer to nine, 10 type.
Going in the future, what percentage do we expect from the premium category based on our strategy currently ?
We are always seeing that in future, the premium category growth will outgrow the growth in the economy and the mid-segment category. The premium category growth will always be few basis points or approximately 5-6 percentage points greater than that of the economy and the basic category. Slowly and steadily, there is a shift which is happening towards the premium category.
Okay. Okay, sir. Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, anyone wishing to ask a question may please press star and one. The next question is from the line of Bhargav Buddhadev from Kotak. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, team, and congrats on a good set of numbers. My first question is that inventory days have increased in December 2021 on the back of delays in the onset of winter season. Now that January and February has gone, how has been the inventory at the retail level? Is it fair to say that January the retail inventory would have significantly deplenished and hence this inventory could sort of see some reduction?
See, over the long term period, yes, the inventory will see a reduction, but on immediate basis, the winters are leaving and the summers are coming in. The channel inventory stock is definitely going down. This quarter four when the summer season starts, we are expecting that bumper sale happening, which happens on a regular basis. Seeing that, the inventory in the channel has gone down and will continuously go down till they replenish it. Seeing the inventory at the company level, we see that there is a ceiling up for everything, and the inventory, at this level, will almost be the ceiling of it.
Secondly, our EBITDA margins are now reset to 20% +. Do we expect this to sustain, especially given that we've also cut the advertising spends, this year it's close to about 6.5% of revenue? How should we look at the EBITDA margins and advertising spends going forward?
See, the EBITDA margins will remain constant or will have a healthy growth only because, as I said previously, that there has been a growth in the premium segment which is outgrowing the growth in the economy and the mid segment. The premium segment commands a better EBITDA margin than the economy segment. I think so that increase in the EBITDA margin of the premium segment will subsidize the increase in advertisement spends. We are expecting in future we will be, we'll be able to maintain the EBITDA level margin of 20% +.
In terms of Lyra brand, the brand has sort of now become close to about INR 300 odd crores. What is the plan to make it a sort of a INR 500 crore plus brand? Is it possible to elaborate a bit?
In the long term, we're definitely looking at a INR 500 crore brand under the brand Lyra because we have already spoken about it in the past con calls, that we're trying and expanding the product portfolio within the same brand. Earlier it was predominantly leggings and bottom wear, and now we are also diversifying into lingerie, which is innerwear, as well as athleisure or relax wear, lounge wear. Now that we'll be covering three different categories, so overall we believe that over the next couple of years, we should be able to reach that mark.
Is it possible to sort of give a breakup between the three, within Lyra?
As of now, I can just give you a rough idea. We do not have the exact figures with us. On a very rough basis, about 80% would still be bottom wear, and 10% each would be coming in from lingerie and leisure wear, lounge wear.
Okay, got it. Lastly, on ONN, the brand is close to about INR 1 billion. Over here, what are we doing to sort of try to lift this revenue number?
As we have seen that the growth happening in the brand ONN is mainly due to the outer wear category, and we are keeping a focus on that category. As the growth is happening in the overall market in the outer wear category, we are seeming to outgrow that growth. Over the next few quarters, we are expecting a similar sort of growth which would happen in this category.
Okay. Thank you for your answers and all the very best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Devesh from DS Investments. Please go ahead.
Hi, team. Good afternoon. Just wanted to get some comments around the EBO channel. I know it might be in an early stage, but just wanted to see how your reading is, how is it performing in terms of your expectation, and where do you see it in your three to five-year timeframe?
You see, the EBO channel is still quite a new and nascent channel for us, and we are about 20-25 stores forward only at the moment. We've got a very mixed response from the market. Some of the stores are doing really well, some of the stores are doing average. You know, during the last few quarters, really, we cannot take out the impact of COVID and get a very clear idea as to how the EBOs would perform without, in the absence of a pandemic. Given the pandemic situation, it was really difficult to come out with a clear-cut analysis. We'll take maybe a quarter or two more to get a very clear picture. But as of now, the response has been encouraging.
Okay, great. Again, you know, going dialing out for another three-five year, again, qualitative idea, where do you see industry going with, you know, unorganized to organized coming in and in general the players doing well, right? Industry growth and where you see us going in terms of volume versus value breakup? Just a qualitative commentary.
The company has already been enjoying a good figure over the last couple of years. Going ahead, we should be able to maintain our growth rate, and we believe that we should be able to beat the industry growth rate by about 200-300 basis points. As you have very correctly mentioned, this would primarily be on account of shift from the unorganized to the organized sector. On a whole, when the industry is growing, the organized sector would be growing much faster than the unorganized sector.
Okay. Sounds good. Thank you. Those were the only questions.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Sachin Bobade from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. My question is on women segment. You said that there are conversions happening from unorganized to organized in this segment. Going ahead, long-term perspective, historically, what we have seen is that women segment, it is difficult to crack. It has always remained dominated by either unorganized players or in premium segment it is dominated by very few players. Success in mid category and economic category for organized players is very limited. What new initiatives or new ideas you have or what sort of brand investment you, we can do in this category? Your outlook on that, please.
Yes, on the premium end side, the market is consolidated by a few players. On the other end, there are a lot of unorganized players in the women's wear space. If you talk about a mid-premium brand, also a brand which caters to the nationwide market, a very few names would come up into your mind. We believe that Lyra as a brand would fit perfectly in this scenario. In order to capture the situation, we will be spending heavily on our marketing initiatives over the next couple of months. We believe that the brand already enjoys, you know, a good recognition in the women's mind space. When we come up with new marketing initiatives with regards to innerwear and loungewear, it will benefit us much more.
Right now the split between, you know, right now the contribution of innerwear in the Lyra brand would be roughly shy of 10%. With the help of this new marketing initiatives, it will really help us achieve very good growth rates there and increase the percentage of revenue coming in from women's innerwear.
How is the early response to new product launched under Lyra brand?
The new product launch response has been very encouraging, and that is why we've been able to get about 10% each coming, contributing to the top line of Lyra.
The distribution network for these brands would be similar to what we have in men or the separate distribution network to be created?
No. There is a separate distribution network which is created because, you know, women's wear brand, we are catering to a different kind of an audience. India being such a vast country, there is obviously some sort of an overlap between men's and women's distributorships. If we happen to look at it at a very macro picture from a very bird's-eye point of view, then distribution network would fairly be different.
Okay. Incremental spends on that would not happen or the amount is limited?
Could you please repeat yourself?
Incremental spends on distribution creation, network creation. That would not be a sufficient, significant amount.
That is not a significant amount. For us, what we are looking at in the next couple of months, we will be spending more on our advertisement and marketing initiatives. The product has already been launched in the market, so we believe that, you know, now is the time to scale it up and capture the growth.
Sure. Sir, in South India, we have only 4% contribution coming from South India. We are talking about this for last few quarters. How is the expansion of network in that market happening?
The South India market, as we said, we have, that is one of our focus markets. Going ahead, we'll be looking at tapping the South India market and increasing our distribution reach there. You see, during the last, say maybe two or three quarters, really the situation with the COVID and the pandemic has not been really great.
To expand distribution network. We would just want the situation to normalize and stabilize once because mobility into the market was really restricted during this time. Even we were wanting that once the situation normalizes, we become much more aggressive with our distributors reach there.
Is it all brands will get launched in South India or only premium or economy? What do you have in mind?
We will be launching the entire bouquet of brands in the South Indian market. It will not just be restricted to a few brands, it will be across all brands. Because all the different brands are catering to different audiences at different price points.
Sure.
It has to be a bouquet presentation rather than a single brand or a two-brand presentation.
Okay. Last question, you mentioned that this time winter was very different from compared to last year. This time in January, winter was very good. Any increase in demand for winter products during the quarter?
Not really. See, what happens is any severity in the cold which comes in and after January does not really convert to sales from the company end. [audio distortion] that cold only useful for liquidating inventory at the shopkeeper level or wholesaler level. But not at the company level.
That has been one of the drawbacks, and the winter wear sales were not really great compared to last year. In fact, overall, across different industries also, if you happen to see even if you're outside the textile sector, you will see that the winter wear, you know, the winter segment, winter related products have not really performed quite well.
This is only for Q3 or in January also?
This is overall Q3, Q4 combined.
Okay. Got it. Thanks for your answers. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Dhiral from PhillipCapital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. My question is pertaining to the volume growth in the premium segment. For Q3, we haven't seen any kind of volume growth. Any particular reason for that?
For the premium segment, actually it's divided into three parts. One is the export and ONN and One8. Across ONN and One8, there has been a growth in the volume growth, but both markets there has been a degrowth in terms of volume. That is the reason we are seeing a zero growth. But if you'll have the distinction between the domestic sales and the overseas sales, the domestic sales has a good volume growth. For example, in ONN there has been volume growth in the quarter at around 9.09%. Whereas in One8 there has been a minimum volume growth.
On an average, if you'll see the domestic growth happening in terms of the volume in the premium segment, there has been a growth 60%-70%, but which has been compensated by the overseas degrowth. That is why 0% growth.
Okay. Sir, how much export has been degrown? What is the reason for the degrowth?
See, the export has been degrown because export is a very price sensitive market. Here as we are being able to command the price of the product and as and when there is an increase in the cost, we are being able to pass on it to our customers. Export market as it is being always competitive with China and India. There has been a degrowth in terms of volume in that channel. Overall, over a long-term period, it gets stabilized.
Okay. If I look at your nine-month performance, particularly on the economy side, so our ASP growth was almost 27%. If I see premium [mid- premium segment], the ASP growth was just 13%. Any product mix change in the economy side why the ASP growth was much higher than the other two segments?
Said by Saket just now that in domestic, still we can command the prices, but in the premium category, again, we have to be very careful to have the incremental price for the purpose of export. That is the reason the premium category will see the price growth is lower than as compared to the economy price growth.
Okay. What if you see the Q2 FY 2021 last year, the volume growth was almost 29%. We are entering into the very high base. Do you think the Q4 FY 2022 we would be doing the high base of last year?
Yes. We are expecting to have an annual growth rate of above 20%.
I'm talking on the volume side.
On the volume side, we, the economy segment will have a good volume growth. As in India right now, the main season for February and March is the economy segment. There will be a good growth in the volume, which will overall catapult the volume growth of the whole company.
Okay. Last year the [A&P] spend, as you said, in a nine-month it was 6.4%. For FY 2023, any guidance that you want to share? What would be the [A&P] spend overall as a percentage of sales?
You know, that actually depends on the pandemic situation. If another fourth wave comes in India and how severe it is, that will go down. If everything is normalized, suppose this is FY 2020 right now, in FY 2020 the same situation, then it will normalize again back to 7.5%-8%.
Okay. Last on the online side, sir, what was the online growth till date, nine months, and what do you [audio distortion].
[audio distortion] The guidance that we have given that over a period of another 1.5-two years, the company will get that run rate of around [INR 100+ crores].
Okay, got your point, sir. Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Venkata from 3 Sigma Financials. Please go ahead.
[audio distortion]
Sorry to interrupt. Sir, we are not able to hear you clearly.
Okay, let me bit louder. Congratulations on great set of numbers-
Sir, set mode while speaking. Because of all the surrounding-
Hello? Hello?
Yes, sir.
Sir, congratulations on great set of numbers and you have given confidence regarding recreating the [audio distortion] will the gross margin continue to be like this?
Actually, we cannot understand it.
Yeah, yeah. Still we are very much confident that we, the inventory will come down gradually, and still we are in a position to maintain the gross margin at the similar level.
Okay. That's what I wanted to hear.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, anyone wishing to ask a question, may please press star and one. The next question is on the line of Sandeep from Sun Life. Please go ahead.
Hi. A very good afternoon. I congratulate on some of these brilliant results. I think you are consistent. Your EPS, I'm expecting is about 130. Everything is fine. The demand is good. The market is good. I'm more concerned about the corporate governance side. Perhaps would you like to comment in this earnings call, or would you like to do it separately?
I believe we should connect separately to take it forward, because currently, we are discussing only about the company's financial performance and other stuff. We can connect separately to take it forward.
Mr. CFO, why I say this is because you brought up the brand equity kind of thing, right? All these things affect your brand equity in the end of it. I think, you know, we should handle it more openly and we should be very quick in deciding which way the result's going, right? That's just my suggestion. Overall, a brilliant result, and I again congratulate you on a brilliant business. I'm just kind of worried on the corporate governance. Thank you very much.
No, definitely we completely agree. Even if you insist, let me give you a quick update on the corporate governance point of view, that SEBI has passed an interim order against certain person in the matter of alleged insider trading in the scrip of our company. Mr. Udit Todi and his wife are also named in the order. There is no direction or any observation against the company in the SEBI order, and as such, no bearing on the company in any manner. The company has also taken a legal opinion in this regard which confirms this position. The company is voluntarily taking steps with assistance from external advisors to ensure no breach or any infraction whatsoever in this regard and is also getting the entire facts and records reviewed. All these updates are provided to the shareholder .
Mr. Todi has also clarified his stand in the matter to the Board of Directors and confirmed that he has never violated any provisions of law, which he will demonstrate to SEBI. As a good measure, he has decided to not attend any board meetings where there is any discussions pertaining to the SEBI order. Mr. Todi has also complied with the directions as mentioned in the order, and also undertaken to cooperate with SEBI and the company in any manner to bring out all facts and to demonstrate his innocence. For now, the matter is under investigation by SEBI, and we do not wish to comment or elaborate on any of the issues underlying the SEBI order, besides confirming that all compliances are being met with by Mr. Todi and also the company wherever necessary.
Thanks for the very good clarification. Just a follow-on question. Is there likely to be a criminal liability on any of the senior management of Lux Industries? Because I remember the case of Rajat Gupta in USA doing some kind of not ethical corporate governance. Just want to be sure on it. Any criminal liability pending or you see coming? Thank you.
It would be, say, too early to comment, but for now the kind of advice and the visibility what we are getting from our external advisor, that as such it does not call for any kind of criminal liability. Still, as I told you, the matter is under investigation. Till the time we are not getting all the facts and factuals on board, it would be very difficult to comment from the company side.
Okay. Thank you very much. Bye.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments.
I take this opportunity to thank everyone for joining on the call. I hope we have been able to address all your queries. For any further information, kindly get in touch with us or Strategic Growth Advisors, our investor relations advisors. Stay healthy and stay safe.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Lux Industries Limited, that concludes this conference call. We thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.