Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to MTAR Technologies Limited Q3 and N ine months FY 2026 Earnings Conference Call. 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 this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Parth Patel from MUFG In time. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Rudra. Good morning, everyone. On behalf of MTAR Technologies, I extend a very warm welcome to all participants on Q3 and nine months FY 2026 earnings discussion call. Today on our call, we have Mr. Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director and Promoter, Mr. Gunneswara Rao, Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Srilekha Jasthi, Head Strategy and IR. I hope everyone had an opportunity to go through our investor deck and press release that we have uploaded on the exchanges on the company's website. I would like to give a short disclaimer before we begin the call.
This call may contain some of the forward-looking statements, which are completely based upon our belief, opinion, and expectations as of today. The statements are not a guarantee for our future performance and involves unforeseen risks and uncertainties. With this, I would like to hand over the call to Mr. Srinivas, sir. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Parth. Hello, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join us today. Today, on the call, I'm joined by Mr. Gunneswara Rao Pusarla, Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Srilekha Jasthi, Head Strategy and Investor Relations, and Orient Capital, our investor relation partners. We have uploaded our updated investor deck, press release, and results highlights on the stock exchanges and company website.
I hope everybody had an opportunity to go through the same. I'm pleased to inform you that, as highlighted in our previous earnings call, we anticipated a stronger second half of the year, and we have delivered accordingly with phenomenal growth in Q3. The company recorded revenues of INR 278 crores, representing a robust year-over-year growth of 59%, with EBITDA of INR 64 crores.
This marks the highest quarterly revenue achieved by the company to date, and we are confident of sustaining this momentum and achieving further milestones in the coming periods. One of the most encouraging structural developments in the strong growth witnessed across all our business verticals, supported by favorable industry tailwinds. Since inception, the company has strategically focused on technology-intensive products in high-growth sectors and has built a strong export wing, creating a robust foundation for long-term sustainable growth.
I'm pleased to inform that our current performance is a direct outcome of this long-standing strategic vision. During the current fiscal year to date, the company has received its highest-ever order inflows in the clean energy, fuel cells, and civil nuclear program segments, underscoring the strength of our growth trajectory.
The closing order book as of Q3 end stood at INR 2,394 crores, where 1,370 crores of orders across all sectors are received in Q3, reflecting robust industrial tailwinds. In the clean energy fuel cells vertical alone, the company received orders worth INR 1,080 crores during the first nine months of the fiscal year, of which approximately INR 645 crores were secured in Q3. This reflects the strong market share of our products and our role as a strategic partner in our customers' growth journey.
Both the clean energy fuel cells and aerospace verticals are expected to witness exponential growth in the coming years, driven by favorable demand trends and expanding market opportunities. Furthermore, we have also received the much-anticipated orders of INR 500 crores plus for the Kaiga Units 5 and 6 nuclear reactors, reinforcing our strong positioning and long-term role within the Indian nuclear energy ecosystem. We expect the closing order book to be at INR 2,800 crores by end of FY 2026. That will enable for sustaining our growth momentum over the coming quarters.
Clean energy fuel cells is one of the most exciting sectors, and it's poised for significant growth, driven by the global transition towards clean and sustainable energy sources. In addition to this energy transition, the rapidly growing demand for power for AI-driven data centers is activating the need for reliable 24/7 power generation solutions, thereby driving strong adoption of solid oxide fuel cells.
In this context, we are further encouraged by the recent development wherein our customer has entered into a $2.65 billion agreement with AEP for supply of solid oxide fuel cells. Driven by strong demand from AI-powered data centers, conventional data centers, and the global clean energy transition, our customer is projected to grow at an average rate of approximately 30% through 2030. As part of this expansion, the customer is expected to add another 2GW of capacity by the end of CY 2026 and further scale this to approximately 4GW in the subsequent years.
Aligned with this growing demand and forecast from our customer, we are augmenting our in-house manufacturing capacity in a phased and sequential manner. We are currently in the process of increasing capacity to 12,000 boxes by end of the current fiscal year and plan to further scale this to 20,000 units by end of FY 2027. Further, we are planning to actually create facilities to augment a capacity up to 30,000 units in the subsequent year.
Given our strong engineering capabilities, cost competitiveness, and execution track record, we expect to retain a majority market share in these units, withstanding previous global uncertainties. Accordingly, the company has recorded revenues of INR 387 crores in the clean energy fuel cell segment alone during the first nine months of the fiscal year, and expect to deliver revenues of INR 2 crores by end of the current fiscal year in Q4.
We are also anticipating significant growth in the civil nuclear sector, starting from next fiscal year, supported by robust order pipeline from Kaiga 5 and 6. In addition, we expect to receive further orders from the refurbishment reactors during the quarter and beginning of the next quarter. Furthermore, the government is likely to announce a dedicated production and incentives PLI scheme, valued at INR 18,000-INR 20,000 crore for the manufacturing of critical nuclear components in the upcoming Union Budget.
Such initiatives aimed at strengthening India's domestic nuclear supply chain are expected to provide further impetus to the growth of the nuclear ecosystem. We believe the company is well positioned to capitalize on emerging opportunities in the nuclear sector, which is marked by high barriers to entry. Another sector witnessing strong growth momentum is aerospace and defense.
In light of recent European defense security initiatives and pushed by Indian government on exports, we believe that Indian aerospace sector is at a structural inflection point. With our expanding capabilities, proven execution track record, growing customer base, and participation in next-generation programs, the company is well positioned to capture this emerging growth opportunity. In the aerospace and defense segment, we achieved revenues of approximately INR 72 crores for the nine months ended FY 2026 from various customers.
Going forward, we intend to focus on next-generation technologies and structural assembly orders. We are actively engaged in strategic next-generation programs, including AMCA, where we have commenced participation in structural assembly tenders. Recently, the company was declared as L1 for the main landing gear test setup assembly, marking a key developmental milestone. We continue to participate in subsequent structural assembly tenders as the program progresses.
With multinational customers, we plan to progressively graduate to structural assembly orders over the coming years as we enter into volume production for the existing parts. In line with this strategy, the company is actively working on multiple new inquiries. In the products and other vertical segments, the company has generated revenues of approximately INR 84 crores, and we expect to close the year with revenues of around INR 130 crores.
Overall, the company remains confident of sustaining the growth momentum and expects to grow rapidly over the next three years, driven by healthy order book, favorable industry trends, and continued execution excellence. The company also anticipates a meaningful improvement in margins over the coming quarters, supported by operating leverage and favorable shift in product mix towards higher volume production.
Return on capital employed is expected to improve even further, supported by high asset turnover ratio in the clean energy segment. While there may be a short-term impact on working capital base, we expect this to improve substantially over the coming quarters as we continue to optimize inventory levels, secure customer advances in a big way, and strengthen receivables management. We're also expecting significant advances from customers, which will enable us to reduce our working capital cycle. Now, our CFO, Mr. Gunneswara Rao , will take us in detail on the financial performance of Q3 FY 2026. Yes, go ahead, Gunneswara.
Yeah, yeah. Good morning, all. Thank you for joining us over the earnings call. We registered a robust growth in this quarter, as explained by our MD, compared to previous years. I would like to update on the financial performance for this quarter. On Y-O-Y performance, Q3 Y-O-Y for this year versus last year, Q3, our revenue from operation at INR 278 crore in Q3 FY 2026, as against INR 174.5 crore in Q3 FY 2025, which translates to 59.3% increase on the YOY basis. EBITDA reported at INR 64 crore in Q3 FY 2026, as compared to INR 33.3 crore in Q3 FY 2025. This translates 92.5% increase on YOY basis.
Profit before tax stands at INR 46.1 crore in Q3 FY 2026, as against INR 21.4 crore in Q3 FY 2025, 115.2% increase on Y-O-Y basis. The company is well positioned to capitalize growth opportunities across the clean energy, civil nuclear, and aerospace sectors, as informed by our, our MD, and is actively augmenting the infrastructure support the future expansion. Amid the strong growth momentum, is visible in these sectors. The company continues to place a strong emphasis on cash flow and discipline and working capital management.
As explained, earlier, the working capital days are 260 days during this quarter, primarily due to the higher receivables associated with increased turnover. The company's targeting working capital levels is approximately around 200 to 210 days in the next fiscal year, supported by ongoing initiatives to optimize our receivables. So like, we are discussing on various advanced opportunities from customers, and also we actually work on inventory management to see what else we can reduce inventory and stuff.
While there has been a short-term impact on cash flows due to elevated receivables, we are confident that we are going to manage our working capital and cash flow from operations by discussing with customers on various advanced initiatives. In addition, we are confident that we will improve and sustain the margins over the coming quarters.
Our order book stood at INR 2,394.90 crores by end of December, and we are going to, our forecast for the end of this financial year is INR 2,800 crores. Other things are we are working on various growth engines in the company, which will enable the company to achieve sustained growth over coming years. While the company has delivered a strong performance this quarter, we remained focused on sustaining this moment, achieve further milestone in the coming quarters and coming years, and we thank you, our shareholders, for the continued trust and confidence. With this, I open the floor for the discussion. Thank you, everyone.
Thank you very much. We'll now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their 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. The first question is from the line of Piyush Sewaldasani from Sundaram Alternates. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good morning, sir. Thank you for the opportunity, and congrats for a strong set of results. My first question is on the offtake visibility for the capacity expansion, which we are doing for Bloom. Taking hot boxes from 8,000 to 20,000, now we are talking about taking it to 30,000. We understand that, you know, Bloom is seeing increased extreme acceptance of its products, but can you give some more confidence on the offtake because India is having a higher tariff rate compared to our competitors? And how should we think of market share evolving over time?
Thank you for your questions. First, I would like to emphasize on the visibility on the expansion for clean energy segment. So basically, we have a capacity, as you mentioned, 8,000 units, but we are expanding to 12,000 by end of March. Everything is on track with that. And then, based on a clear visibility given by the customer, we are expanding in a phased manner to 20,000 units, hopefully by end of December. And then, with that, we'll have a capacity of about 20,000 units, and then we move on to the phase two of the expansion plan to about 30,000 units in the subsequent year.
The infrastructure will be built for 30,000 units, but the equipment will be planned in such a way that it's done in two different phases, or I would say three different phases. Phase I is 12,000, which will be ready by March end, and Phase II is about 20- overall 20,000 by December end, and Phase III to 30,000 by the subsequent year. So this is being done purely based on the kind of demand forecast, what we have received from the customer, and, that's how we are doing it.
As far as tariffs are concerned, as I mentioned to you in the earlier call, that we are not in any way concerned with being a technology company and the way we have progressed in terms of our competitiveness and various developmental programs we have done for the customer, the demand continues to be the same. Hopefully, in the future, we hope that the tariffs would come down, but that's not going to affect the company's growth momentum as we see right now, which we have clearly seen in the current quarter as well.
Got that. So my next question is, yeah, yeah, I think that's very clear. So my next question is on the gross margins. We have seen a decline in gross margins this quarter. Could you explain why? I think we were going through pricing negotiations with Bloom last quarter. Can you help us understand what would be the sustainable gross margins?
So, Gunnes, you want to answer that?
Yeah. While this current quarter is 46.1% gross profit, whereas nine months ended, if you look at it, it is 49.5%. It is purely on the product mix. Just because gross margin has lowered, it doesn't mean that our EBITDA will affect. As we explained it many times, the gross margins in the fuel cells is lower, in case of domestic, it is higher. But however, the efforts required to make the domestic sales is more compared to the fuel cells, because it is a continuous production and we were doing over the years. So our EBITDA margins will not impact because of the gross margins.
So also our EBITDA guidance, which we have earlier mentioned, that continues to stay same, right?
Yeah, we will. We have said around 21%, ±1%. As you know, by end of this nine months, our EBITDA percentage is 19.2%. With the strong forecast in the Q4, we are confident to achieve those numbers, whatever is guided.
Sure. And then sir, on the nuclear order, which we have received for INR 500 crore, can you please help us understand what could be the execution cycle for this?
See, the INR 500 crore orders should be executed over a period of three years. That's how it is done. That's the timeline that we are looking at. There are various projects out of the INR 500 crore. Some will be executed within a year, some 1.5 years, some in two years, and some projects within three years. So it's a combination of all this. So all this INR 500 crore should be executed within the next 36 months.
Got it. Thank you, and that's it from my side, uncertain.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management will be able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, kindly limit the questions to two per participant. Our next question is from the line of Renu Baid from IIFL Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good morning, and congratulations on the quarter results. The first question is, we're trying to understand, the portfolio more closely. Can you help share what has been the utilization levels for nine-month period of the current capacity of 8,000 units? And, the CapEx, target that we plan over the next two years as we take this capacity to 20,000 and 30,000 in the next 18 months, what is the quantum value we are targeting to spend?
And whether it would be entirely brownfield expansion of the current units, or we may need a combination of, new greenfield facility as we move towards 30K, units by, or the part of CY 2027. And, I probably was not very clear in terms of audio. Can you repeat what was the revenue which is guided for clean energy for fiscal 2027, for the current year?
Okay. See, the 8,000 capacity utilization, I think we are doing it in the current quarter, Renu. Because it's not only about the equipment, but also ramping up the lot of activities involved in the manufacturing process, so we are fully geared up for that. The subsequent quarter, that is Q1 of next year, that we'll be moving up to utilizing the 12,000 capacity, which will get commissioned by end of March. Beyond that, we are moving the entire facility to the SEZ near the airport for the entire Bloom operations to expand to up to 20,000 and then subsequently to 30,000 units.
So that will be a completely a new plant which we are trying to establish near the airport. Everything under one roof, so that it becomes more operationally more efficient. That's the basic plan, what we're looking at. What was the second question, Renu?
When we look, what is the value spent CapEx that you're looking for this expansion? Initially, we had guided that it would be something like INR 25-30 crores for the first phase. So how are we looking at the overall CapEx for clean energy expansion?
So basically, that's right. For 12,000, it's about 35-40, whatever numbers we have given earlier. But for the going from 12,000 to 20,000, the infrastructure is being done for 30,000. The building, everything is being constructed for the long-term requirement of the company.
But the equipment installation will be done for an additional 8,000 units, and subsequently we'll do for the next phase up to 30,000. So we are looking at roughly about INR 50-60 crores of CapEx that might be required. It is an approximate number, we're still working on it. Should be finalized in the next couple of weeks. So that's the approximate number what we are looking at.
Sure. Second, in terms of the, you did mention that for landing gear assembly recently, L1. So what kind of revenue opportunity we expect in the aerospace business from the customer here?
No, that landing gear assembly, that referred to the AMCA program, which is we are just working on the prototypes. Just the beginning of the whole program, right? So, the prototype is worth around INR 4 crore, but the requirement would be very huge in the coming years. So there are various segmental orders that were being released. So that, this is starting point, and we'll see how it goes over the coming years. But the aerospace segment, as I said earlier, we are doing extremely well. We are doing a lot of MNC customers right now. We are growing pretty rapidly.
We are still doing some first, first articles. We have entered into volume production with the customers simultaneously, working on number of packages. So that's the kind of, t hat segment is growing pretty well as a growth engine for MTAR, and it will move further up in the coming years.
Got it. So lastly, would you want to share what is the revised guidance for fiscal 2027? And, sorry, for fiscal 2026, and any initial guidance that you would like to indicate for the next fiscal year, 2027?
No, we, the guidance would remain the same. We would, as I said earlier, that, we would do 30%-35% growth guidance for this year. So we'll cross about INR 900 crores plus, for the financial year FY 2026. And FY 2027, we're expecting growth of about 50% revenue growth, for FY 2027, based on the current, growth, what we have, about INR 900 crores plus in the current financial year.
And obviously, the margins, what we said, 12% ±100. We're, we are very confident to maintain or do slightly better than that. And, the margins would further improve in the next financial year based on the kind of improved margins we have shown in this quarter.
Got it. Thanks much, and best wishes to you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Meet Jain from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Sir, my first question is regarding our aerospace business. As you indicated that we are doing multiple first articles. Just wanted to understand in terms of order book. So the last three quarters, we have seen a stable order book, like a very muted order book from Aerospace and Defense. So just wanted to get some clarity. It is for a long-term contract, or how can we look into this?
See, we have the long-term contract, but the orders, what we show in the order book, is based on specific orders being given based on the long-term contract. The long-term contract is for five years, 10 years, like that, but the orders, what we reflect in the order book, is based on the orders that they keep releasing to us on quarter-on-quarter basis.
So we have the overall order book of around INR 325 crores in the aerospace and defense sector. Specific to aerospace, we have INR 120 crores of MNC orders, and then space, we have INR 120 crores and odd, and defense, about INR 80 crores. So the total is INR 325 crores.
This particular vertical is going to grow more and more in aerospace sector as and when we convert the first articles into volume production, which we have already done in the case of few customers, and it's an ongoing process. We're adding more of the packages, based on our performance and achievements that we have done over the last one year.
Understood. So this quarter, we grew around 70% in the aerospace division. So can you just break it up in terms of how much were the new orders that the completion of first articles and the batch production, and how much were the old orders? Just a ballpark number.
You want the breakup of what?
Like, we did, we did almost INR 31 crores of revenue in this quarter for aerospace. Just want to understand, as you mentioned, that the first articles have been completed, and we started batch production for few of the customers. In order to get the sense of the quantum of that.
Yeah, it's about INR 18 crores and odd is what we have done for the aerospace export orders for this quarter.
Okay.
It's a ± a few INR 11 crore here and there. I'm giving an approximate number.
Got it, sir. Apart from that, my second question is regarding the products in other segments. In terms of order book expansion, we saw almost INR 137 crores of orders we added in this quarter. So as we know that this segment will also cater to Bloom fuel cells, cater to nuclear power. So INR 137 crore orders is also linked to the strong order inflow in the Bloom, Bloom part?
Yes, on the ASP division, yes. We also have a lot of orders coming in from that division. Apart from the other products that we do for ball screws, water lubricated bearings, and we also got qualified for export of ball screws with, our MNC customer recently. So that's something which is very positive for the company. So we started doing exports of our other products as well, in terms of ball screws right now.
Understood. Okay, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Bala Murali Krishna from Oman Investment Advisors. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, [Foreign language], sir. First of all, congratulations on your good set of numbers.
Thank you, Bala.
You also delivered great quarter. So the first question is regarding, sir, BESS opportunities, a lot of things going on in the country when it comes to battery energy storage system. So GE Energy, one of our customers, GE Energy, is also related to energy storage system. So do we have any opportunity in the BESS boom, sir, in terms of domestic?
No, I, I actually mentioned about this last time as well. So, it's taking its own time to get this going in terms of what we need to do in the battery storage system. For domestic, there is a market, but still it is not... it's going to take a lot more time than what we can anticipate right now. So let's see how it goes. That's something which we need to see. As and when there's a major development, then we'll let you know about it, Bala.
Okay. Sure, sir. So in terms of PLI scheme for nuclear, sir, so maybe it would be like, we need to deploy much capital on a yearly basis, but, do you think that, using these orders is a capital test, or we can do with very less capital of existing infrastructure also?
We already have the infrastructure for the nuclear programs that we are doing. So the PLI, whatever the details of the scheme are not yet known, but once the union budget is done, then we'll know more details, which will be definitely beneficial to the company to do more and more. But we have the infrastructure to handle that already.
Sure, sir. Lastly, on this, Adani program, AMCA program, any update on that, sir? And also on the defense licenses, so do any products are in the pipeline to get into the defense licenses?
Oh, that's being still accessed by ADA right now, the defense program. They're accessing it. Probably, they're saying it will take another two to three months for them to shortlist the company. So let's see what happens.
Okay, sir. That's all. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Akshay J. from Xponent Tribe . Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations on a very good set of numbers. So I have a couple of questions. One is on, specifically on aerospace. You said that your MNC aerospace revenue this quarter was about INR 18 crores. Could you give us some color on sort of how do we see this ramping up in terms of, you know, batch processes? Because, you know, we've been hearing a lot of FAIs going on, and, I mean, you know, the business has been supposed to scale up, and it has been scaling up. Is this INR 18 crores now a quarterly recurring that we should at least think of as a base case?
That's one. Second, sir, could you give some thoughts or update on Fluence? The first article inspections have been done, and we are expecting it to commercialize in some time. So if you could give some color on what is it that we are getting to, because Fluence is in the and it's kind of just scaling really, really well. So I would imagine that you would be keen to get to the value chain sooner than later.
So when it comes to the first question, the aerospace, so what you're looking at, 18, 19, is just the beginning, right? We have been growing step by step in aerospace. So part of the first article is what we are working on. Once it gets converted to volume production, we're looking at almost twice the number as what you can see right now, close to INR 40 crores or even up to INR 50 crores per quarter. So overall, next year, we can look at that kind of a situation where we can do about INR 150-160 crores in aerospace itself.
And, as far as Fluence is concerned, we're still working on it. So we're working. We have done the first article. Now, there are little bit, t here are a lot of design changes. They have not yet given us any specific feedback on that as of now. They're still working on it. But as and when something goes, some improvements are done on that, then we'll see how it goes. But as of today, it is still a work in progress for us.
Sure, sir. So if I could follow up, just on the aerospace bit, commercial aerospace. A lot of our clientele is currently defense-led aerospace globally, IAI. I mean, the GKN is definitely commercial, but what is our kind of, a re we working with Airbus, Boeing, other, other commercial aerospace companies that make, you know, larger planes for products? Because, I mean, that would really bring scalability to the, to the business, right? I mean, could you give some thoughts on where are we on that, that part of the business?
So that's the plan, right? So the plan is to work with companies like GKN and IAI, which are very good companies, who also supply to Airbus and Boeing, not that they don't supply. So to get Boeing and Airbus and such companies for Indian parts, we are also looking at establishing that as well, moving forward over the next one, one and half years.
So that's how we look at the aerospace vertical in a very aggressive manner in terms of building it more and more, and moving. By end of the third year, we're looking at, you know, revenues of at least INR 350-400 crores coming in, with various of such customers. So that's our vision and the roadmap, what we have over the next three years.
Okay, next three years from now, right? Okay, okay.
Yeah.
That is MNC Aerospace, right?
Exactly, because there's a lot of certifications and processes that are involved. We are almost there in terms of various certifications, so, it's a matter of time that we can get into those kind of activities moving forward.
Absolutely, sir. Looking forward, and, you know, wishing you the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Mohit, we can't hear you at all.
I don't think Mohit is on the call with us. So our next question is from the line of Balas ubramaniam from Arihant Capital. Please go ahead.
Good morning, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Sir, ASP assemblies are nearly 126,000 per quarter, with 16 ASPs per hot box. I just want to understand, like, how it is in place, whether how we are going to take as a bottleneck for this capacity expansion. Right now, we have 8,000 units, and we are planning to reach up to 30,000 units, maybe in one or two years time frame. I just want to understand how the CapEx are moving, like, concerning about the ASP assemblies.
So, yeah, that's a good question. So we have already planned for the increased quantity of ASPs each quarter in terms of the capacity. And as and when we increase the capacity of the hot boxes, the ASP CapEx is also will go up accordingly. So that's also being planned simultaneously.
Okay, sir. How much CapEx we have planned for to increase to 30,000 units, sir?
I've said earlier about this. It's a rough number right now, but it's approximately between INR 50-60 crores. That's what we are looking at for 20,000, and 30,000 comes later, right? So that's an add, probably an additional, 40-40 crores in order to increase it from 12,000 to, s orry, from 20,000 to 30,000. The infrastructure is being built for 30,000.
Okay, sir. Sir, in Q2, I think, some of the dispatches has been delayed nearly four weeks. And I just want to understand, right now, we have INR 278 crore. How much revenue came from this four weeks dispatches in Q3?
That's very marginal, right? And whatever we did, see, a lot of projects in nuclear are under work in progress because of the long registration period. So once that is done, the dispatches from nuclear will happen from Q1 of next year in a big way. So that's how it is. But majority of the orders have been executed based on the clean energy segment and on the aerospace segment as well.
Okay, sir. Because why I'm asking this question, because our inventory days came down from 282 days to 210 days in Q3. Just want to understand, we have, again, we restocked, for the execution in Q4, sir?
Yeah, because as and when the dispatches have gone up, the inventory days have also come down because of the exports that we have done. And we are trying to maintain, the CFO is trying to maintain a very tight control on the inventories being positioned based on the needs on quarter on quarter basis in the lead time that is supplied. So we are monitoring that very closely right now, so that our working capital days also gets reduced as much as possible.
Okay, sir. Sir, my last question, BOM cost is hardly less than, like a single digit percentage, which is impacted by tariffs. Whether we are completely absorbing right now or it's passed through to the customers?
No, we are not concerned with tariffs at all with any of our MNC customers.
Okay, sir. Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Bhavin from Share India. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hello? Hello.
Yes, sir, we can hear you.
Yeah, yeah. So my question was on the nuclear energy side. What is the opportunity size we are expecting once this INR 20,000 crore, if it is, PLI is allowed on the nuclear energy side? And what are we supplying on the civil nuclear side to the government?
So basically, we have been in the nuclear business for the last 40 years, so we are supplying all the core nuclear reactor components and assemblies to government of NPCIL. We are doing some major projects right now for them, and the PLI would help, obviously, a lot. We are just waiting for more details on that. And also there is a lot of requirements which are coming in with further reactors coming in, and where the government has given clearance for the private sector to set up the nuclear reactors.
So a lot of, if you look at the roadmap for the next five to 10 years, a lot more reactors are going to come into place, where NPCIL would play a very key role in establishing such reactors. We're supplying the key assemblies to the nuclear reactors, which we are looking at.
Okay. Okay. So majority of the opportunity we are expecting from the SMR that are going to be constructed, is it this, right?
Yeah, that's a, that's an added opportunity, but a lot of the other reactors, the government itself is planning to establish 700 MW reactors over the next five to eight years. So let's see how it goes. Right now, we have enough orders on hand to handle the existing orders itself.
Okay. Okay. Understood. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Aman from Astute Investment Management. Please go ahead.
Good morning, sir. My first question is on the nuclear side. You've talked about scaling to start from FY 2027 itself. So do we expect it to happen in Q1, Q2 itself, or will it be backended in Q3, Q4?
No, it will start from Q1 itself. Hopefully, we're going to start from Q1 itself and then move on from there. We already have started working on the existing orders, and the new orders which have come in will slowly start kicking in from Q3, Q4, but the existing orders will start executing from Q1, Q2 onwards.
Do you expect around, say, INR 150 crore to be done in FY 2027 itself in nuclear?
I think very comfortably. That's a pretty conservative number for us, but we'll do much more than that.
Okay. FY 2028 will be further ramped up because we'll get additional orders, say, in Q4 and maybe FY 2027 also.
Yeah, exactly. So we have to. So it's a very simple calculation. If you have order book of INR 800 crore in nuclear, let's say, by end of the year, we need to anyway execute that within the next three years, so.
Sure, sir. And, in terms of, say, next two to three years, where do you see this nuclear order book? Do you think this can grow on top of this INR 800 crore or INR 800-INR 2,000 crore is a fair ceiling before anything newer happen?
I would not talk about the how much of orders, but definitely I see a huge ramp up. One is on the operation side, the ramp up on the operation side, but the number of orders which are going to kick in over the next two to three years is going to be phenomenal because of the new reactors coming in and the government announcing the privatization. So a lot of things are happening. So right now, we are very comfortable with this INR 800 crores, plus a lot more orders are going to kick in over the next one to two years in any case. So in the past, we never had a very strong order book.
We used to do a lot of reactors, but with a break. But now I don't see that break happening. There'll be a nice exponential kind of a graph for the growth happening year on year basis, based on where we are today.
Sure, sir. And just completing this part, so we got most of the order from Kaiga 5 and 6, and obviously, refurbishment is different. But what I see is every year, two to three nuclear reactors are supposed to start or at least be part. So is it fair to them, INR 300-INR 500 crore additional order book every year on the conservative side?
Yeah, that's a very fair number what we are looking at, because now they're planning Mahi Banswara for a 4-reactor, 700MW with NTPC and NPCIL combination, which is called ASHVINI. So a lot of such projects are coming in, the tenders will be floated. So obviously, that's how I said, you know, this area, nuclear division also is going to, it will be a very good growth engine for MTAR moving forward, year-on-year basis.
Sure, sir. Next set of questions is on, say, Weatherford and IAI. So the first article inspection is taking a little longer than maybe my, our expectation. So do you expect Weatherford to start scaling in FY 2027 itself, or maybe it is delayed to FY 2028, 2029?
That, that's a good question. We have already completed the Weatherford first articles, it's been approved already. The only thing is we are waiting for, is for the volume production. Now, to do the volume production, our plant is getting ready. We are pushing it to be ready by June, but by September, we should be fully, fully in a full-fledged commercial operation. So then we get into the volume production. We're expecting the volume orders also to come in this quarter. So that's where we stand as far as Weatherford is concerned.
It's all about doing the volume production, the infrastructure is getting ready for that in the SEZ near the airport. And so now those revenues, part of those revenues will kick in, in FY 2027, and then it will go in a full-fledged manner from subsequent year onwards. Aerospace, we are not t he first articles are not taking time. There are a lot of parts, lot of SMDs, for IAI. Already one of the customers, GKN, they're already doing into volume production, and they've added a lot more packages.
So both happen simultaneously, the volume and the first articles. IAI, the complete batch of first articles should be done and dusted by June, July. So that's the timeline we are looking at, and once it is done, then they look at volume production. So in aerospace, the requirements are very stringent, as we all know, right? It's for the aircraft and all that. So we are right on track with that as far as we are concerned. A lot of R&D and development program happens in first articles, which we are successfully doing it.
Each month, we are doing more than close to about 100, 100 parts per month, which is phenomenal. The average, industry average is 300 parts per year, whereas we are doing 100 per month. So we can't do faster than that. So we're averaging around 80-100 per month, to be very realistic.
That is a very good run rate. I think most of the leading aerospace players are doing that much only, and we have scaled to this-
Yeah
Number pretty soon.
Yeah, exactly.
So congrats on that, sir. Just on Weatherford, so earlier you had talked about maybe INR 150-200 crore kind of opportunity. So FY 2027, maybe INR 50-70, and FY 2028, that full INR 150 crore ramp up, is it a fair assumption?
That's a fair assumption, yes.
Sure, sir. Final, final question is on the clean energy, on the other side, hydropower, wind, and the other parts scaling. Could you quantify? I don't have the numbers. What is it today, excluding Bloom? And, and where do you see the scaling of any of these customers, where you can see scaling to, say, INR 100 crore kind of number for us?
No, it's not just one customer. We're working with GE, working with Andritz, Voith, number of customers, right? Recently, we finalized with Andritz about INR 40 crores of orders in hydro to be executed every year. We have done that recently. So that's purely based on our past kind of deliverables that we have given to all these customers. A lot of work has been done in that sector over the last two years. So in, B Fouress is another company. So we're working with various customers. So we're looking at about INR 100-INR 120 crores of orders that we can execute next year.
We are, we are almost there, INR 100+ crores, purely with these customers. A lot of work has been done. This is what I keep saying, you know, what you don't see in the balance sheet is the kind of work MTAR has been doing on the background with various customers, developing various first articles, proving our capabilities to the customers and all that. You'll see the results over the next year and moving forward as well.
Thank you, sir, for answering the question.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Dhavan Shah from Alf Accurate Advisors. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity, sir, and congratulations on a great set of numbers. So my question is on the order inflow. I think you mentioned that this year will close with the INR 2,800 crores kind of the order book, and you also mentioned the revenue could be around INR 900-odd crores for this year. So if I take reverse calculate the order inflow, it comes to roughly INR 700-800 crores of order inflow that can come in the fourth quarter. So if you can, you know, share the breakup of the order inflows that you are expecting that can come during this quarter, the 700-800 odd crore.
See, it's a combination of the fuel cell orders, the nuclear orders, the space and aerospace orders. All these put together should be roughly around close to INR 700-800 crores that we're expecting in this quarter. So that's how our closing order book will be around INR 2,800 crores.
Understood. Understood. So full year order inflow would be roughly 2,800 odd crore this year. And then next year, what kind of the order inflows are you expecting?
Much more than this. I can't really quantify the number right now, but we'll have a pretty good strong order book next year as well, much higher than what we have today.
Understood. Understood. And, the incremental opportunity from the Bloom would be how much next year, if you can give some, you know, guidance on that?
It's very straightforward. I mean, basically, it's not on how much, how much are we able to deliver? That's the big question there. It's not about the orders, right? So based on the expansion plans that we have, so they're asking for a lot more, but we are, we have positioned ourselves to deliver 12,000 units, and the expansion plan to 20,000 will happen by December, hopefully. Then we add another additional hot boxes to them. So basically, it is 12,000 units is what conservatively we have taken for next financial year.
Understood. Understood. And the margins can reach up to 25 odd%, that's what we are expecting because of the operating leverage, right? Next year.
Yeah. I, as I said earlier, I don't want to comment on the exact number, but if you look at the current quarter margins, it will further improve from there. Obviously, with the higher operating leverage and better revenues, next year, our margins will substantially improve.
Understood, sir. Thank you. That's all from my side.
All right.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Amar Ahir from Radin Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello, am I audible, sir?
Hi, Amar, you are audible. Please go ahead.
Is it possible for you to give, like, what would be your utilizations right now?
What is it? Utilization of what? I mean
On the capacity that you are having.
On the fuel cell side you're talking about or?
Yeah, on the fuel cell side.
Yeah, we are up to 100% capacity. Literally, we are right on the top, brim right now at 8,000 capacity, and then by end of March, we'll go up to 12,000 capacity. So we'll utilize the full capacity utilization, what we have.
Okay. And, if you could give any guidance on the upcoming orders coming in, FY 2027, and where will your order book stand in FY 2027?
FY 2026, I've given already just now. We're expecting about INR 700-800 crores worth of orders this quarter, and then we'll close the order book at INR 2,800 crores. If you talk about FY 2027, then we'll have a lot more orders coming in. It's too premature to comment on that right now, but we'll have an even more stronger order book, closing order book next year.
Okay. Will it be possible for you to give group guidance for FY 2027 and margins?
I mentioned this earlier, we're looking at about 50% of revenue growth guidance for FY 2027 as of now, and a lot more better margins and improved margins next year compared to.
50%.
Yeah.
Okay, 50%, you mean, 50%, right? For the FY 2027.
That's right.
Okay, sir. And, margins?
Margins, you have seen in Q3, we'll have a lot more improved margins beyond that, so in FY 2027.
Okay, so that's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Naman Parmar from Niveshaay Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, good morning, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity. So firstly, I just wanted to understand on the nuclear side, like, in terms of thorium-based deposit, right? So we are aggressively working on to create FBR for the thorium-based reactor. So any capability that we are creating on that side?
We have already done for the FBR. The majority of the requirements of FBR reactors were done by NPCIL in the past. Now, those reactors have to get commissioned. That's the first step. We're expecting those reactors to get commissioned over the next six months, is what they have said. And the next cycle is the thorium-based reactors.
As you know, we have 40% of thorium deposits in the world. That's the nuclear cycle which was created by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre many years back. So that's the cycle which we want to achieve. We are not in there, but ultimately we will be there. So that's the idea behind this whole wish.
Okay, yeah, understood. Secondly, on the bookkeeping side, so currently, what is your cash flow in the current quarter?
Gunnes, can you?
Yeah, the cash flow from operations was negative INR 22 crore for this year because of the higher revenues which are actually sitting in receivables. But we are working.
Okay.
With our customers on the various advanced opportunities for this quarter in Q4. Let us see how the discussions goes on, and, definitely we are confident of, getting advances from our customers. Our Q4 and year-end cash flows will be better than the last year. Will be better.
Okay.
By getting these advances, yes. Mm-hmm.
Okay, I understand. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Dev Thakur from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Sir, on the nuclear side, how should we see the opportunity per reactor? Like, will it be in line with Kaiga's INR 250 crore per reactor, or should we see this increase for the newer set of reactors?
Slightly more, because we are going to add additional assemblies for the new reactors called End Shield and Calandria. So probably it should be going up to about INR 350-3,400 crores of opportunity per reactor. That's what we are looking at. That's an opportunity, we have to see how it goes.
Got it. Got it. Thank you. Sir, on the clean energy side, sir, as the data center power demand is expected to, like, in the various estimates, double from 60GW to 140GW . What percentage of this incremental share can be captured by fuel cells in next three years or five years?
The majority is by the fuel cells. There are people, that's how the Bloom demand has gone up so much. You know, there's a huge shortage right now, and over the next five years, it's going to be phenomenal. It's also. It only depends on how you can cope up with that kind of demand in terms of the expansion plans, the execution cycles, and all that.
So it's not only orders, per se, it's on how you can take that as an opportunity, demand as an opportunity to convert that into the execution cycle to do it, and how soon you can expand your capabilities in terms of the capacities and all that. So, fortunately, it's the other way around, right? It's, it's not about orders, but it's about how much you can produce. That's where we are right now over the next three to five years.
Got it, sir. Sir, on the, like, next question would be on the EBITDA margins. So at current quarter, we are already at 23% EBITDA margin. So in FY 2028, we are guided for 28% EBITDA margin. So are we sticking with that guidance or, like, the 20% ±1% kind of EBITDA margins?
Yeah. FY 2026, I would say, is 20%, average is about 21%, but FY 2027 would be a lot higher than that, right? So we'll be in the higher, much higher range. It's a very clear indications for all of you to see.
Got it. Got it. Thank you for that. Sir, on the, o ne last question. What is the update on the roller screws? And we had also got the, the license on the ECM and the naval equipment for somebody. Is there any progress on that thing?
We are already certified for that. As usual, the defense program has a lot of certifications for roller screws because it's an import substitute. It is done already. We're just waiting for the final papers to come in. They're very happy with the performance of the roller screws. They have tried and tested it. Everything is done. So just waiting for it. EMA is also same situation. Hopefully, this quarter, all those certifications will be closed, and we'll be through with the normal or regular production, what they need for the future as an import substitute.
Got it, sir. Thank you so much, and all the best for the next quarter. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Vignesh Iyer from Sequent Investments. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations, sir, on excellent set of numbers. So my only question is on the working capital side. I heard you earlier where you said that quarter four will be heavier on execution side, since we are targeting 35% revenue growth. Wanted to understand what would be the inventory and net working capital levels that we are targeting for end of quarter four, and what is the steady-state number that one should look at going forward?
Gunnes, you want to answer this?
Yeah, yeah. So for quarter four, we are targeting around 235 days with as-is condition. But we are discussing with some of our customers on advanced payments. I think most probably we will get advanced payment. I think our working capital will drastically reduce if we get advances, then it will be less than 200 days. Otherwise, the 235 days we are estimating by end of this year, as is scenario now.
What would be, sir, the inventory days?
Inventory days, as like today, whatever absolute numbers are there, we will be there only here and there, 10 days. But with increased turnover in Q4, days will come further come down to, say, another 5-10 days, it will come down.
Right. Right, sir. So that, that's all from my side. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Chaitra from Ebisu Investments Advisors. Please go ahead.
I hope I'm audible. Hi, sir. So, thank you for this opportunity. So could you please share the current capacity utilization in your aerospace and defense segment?
See, as I said, we have enough capacity to handle up to even INR 200 crore of business. We are setting up additional capacities, and machines are coming in as well. Right now, we are doing partial volume and partial first articles, but the kind of revenues that we can generate will be beyond INR 200 crore plus once all the equipment comes in over the next two to three months.
Okay, okay. Understood. Thank you so much, sir. Good wishes.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Nilesh Jain from Astute Investment Management Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on the clean energy side. So during FY 2023, we had done a peak revenue, you know, at that time, and mostly because there was a change in MoC, which impacted the volume. Do you see anything that's happening, maybe next year or where maybe because of change in technology, which might come into place?
I think that, that kind of a situation will not happen. There was a drastic change in the kind of design changes happened at that point of time. But even if there are some changes, they'll be very minor tweaks, which can be manageable. That's not a problem. So I don't see that happening moving forward.
Okay. And, so in terms of realization, how do you see that going forward given Bloom is also want to reduce, you know, further costs on their side?
Yeah, the cost can be reduced based on the, primarily on the design side of the story, right? I mean, all the reduction in the BOM costs and all that. Other than that, I don't see any kind of realization will change. Suppose if they replace Inconel with SS or any change of materials based on the design engineers working together with MTAR, then the BOM cost comes down, then the realization. But that will not affect us, because our value add remains the same. So those kind of changes, subtle changes can happen. So that's the only thing. Other than that, the value add would remain more or less the same.
Okay, sure. Thank you, and wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in the interest of time, that was our last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Yeah, I would like to thank all of you to attend this earnings call of MTAR Technologies. And I would like to also thank specifically the all the entire team of MTAR for putting together such great performance for this quarter and also for the coming quarters. We can clearly see that happening quarter-on-quarter basis, based on all the hard work done over the years. And also, I would like to specifically thank all our investors and shareholders in supporting us over the years. And also, we're putting our best efforts to improve further and further quarter-on-quarter basis. Thank you so much.
Thank you. On behalf of MTAR Technologies Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.