Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Pearl Global Industries Limited earnings call for Quarter four and FY25. 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, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Shishir Gahoi, Head of Investor Relations of Pearl Global Industries Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. I am delighted to welcome you all to this earnings call for Quarter four, FY25, and financial year 2025. I hope you all had an opportunity to review our press release and the investor presentation, which are available under the investor section of our website, and the same are also accessible in the BSE and NSE websites. To discuss our results, we have with us our Managing Director, Mr. Pallab Banerjee, and our Group CFO, Mr. Sanjay Gandhi. They will take you through our results and business highlights, after which we will proceed for the question-and-answer session. Before we start, I want to highlight that this call may include forward-looking statements based on the company's current views and expectations. Actual results could be different as future performance is uncertain and involves risks that are hard to predict.
I will now hand over this call to our MD, Mr. Pallab Banerjee. Over to you, Pallab.
Thank you, Shishir. Good afternoon, everyone. I welcome you all to our Quarter four and financial year 2025 earnings conference call. Since we came out of our pandemic years of COVID, our group has remained sharply focused on driving operational efficiencies and enhancing overall profitability.
Hello, sir. Sir, are you there? Ladies and gentlemen, we seem to have lost the connection with the management. Please stay connected. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the management back online with us. Sir, you may continue.
Yeah. So I will start from the beginning of my para. Since we came out of the pandemic years of COVID, our group has remained sharply focused on driving operational efficiencies and enhancing our overall profitability. This strategic focus has resulted in continuous growth for over the last 16 quarters and translated into our best-ever financial and operational performance, both for Quarter four and for the full year of 2025. We have implemented a series of measures aimed at strengthening our execution, optimization of our costs, and improving our productivity across the board. We will continue this journey, that is to grow, to improve our operations, become more green in our ESG initiatives, and resilient to potential macro-factor shocks and thus delivering as per our objectives and the promises that we have made to all of you.
In financial year 2025, our consolidated revenue reached INR 4,506 crore, marking a robust 31.1% year-on-year growth and reflecting a CAGR of 31.9%. This growth has been accomplished by a significant improvement in operating efficiencies. Our adjusted EBITDA has risen to INR 411 crore and a PAT after minority interest adjustment reaching to INR 248 crore. Thus, our adjusted EBITDA and PAT have grown at a CAGR of 61% and 94.7%, respectively. This clearly highlights the impact of our strategy, our business model, and the governance and efficiency-led approach that we have adopted. Our return ratios have also improved dramatically. ROCE has surged to 30.5%, and ROE has climbed to 20.1% this year, again demonstrating our improved capital efficiency and the value creation. Operationally, financial year 2025 was also a standout year as we recorded our highest-ever shipment volume of 74 million pieces, a significant jump over 57 million pieces the prior year.
The performance reflects not only the strength of the customer strategy but also our ability of enforcing manufacturing capabilities and the supply chain resilience that we have. Aligned with our commitment to delivering a shareholder value, we continue to adhere to the disciplined dividend policy, where the company declares a dividend of at least 20% of consolidated PAT annually. For financial year 2025, the total dividend payout is INR 52.7 crore, representing a 22.8% payout ratio. Now, let's talk about the industry, our business model, and our markets. Over the past three years, or ever since the pandemic, the global landscape has remained highly volatile, marked by a series of macro-factor challenges.
We have witnessed inflationary pressures in all the developed markets, shortage of freighters and containers, local conflicts becoming full-fledged wars, under- and over-inventory situations in countries like the U.S., fast-changing geopolitics, and all of these have resulted in a significant amount of continuous disruptions in the global supply chains. As a result, the business seemed to be, and finally, when the business seemed to be stabilizing and growing in the last few months of 2024, we now got hit by the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the U.S., administration. In such a dynamic environment, our key strength of multi-geography presence has enabled us to remain resilient, and we continued delivering the strong performance.
Our biggest market, U.S.A., if I speak about it, specifically on the recent U.S., tariff development, while a 90-day pause has been announced, an additional baseline tariff of 10% is active from all the countries which are exporting to the U.S., China has an additional 20% of so-called fentanyl tariff, and this is added to the baseline of 10%, totaling to 30%. All countries which are trading partners to the U.S.A., are now engaged in negotiating a bilateral trade agreement or a free trade agreement with the U.S., administration. It continues to be a dynamic and evolving situation, and we are fully prepared to adapt as things progress.
We are confident that the structure of our business model, with a diverse geographic footprint supported by a strong customer relationship and a robust order book, positions us well to navigate such uncertainties and continue to perform effectively, irrespective of the changing tariff regimes. A significant proof of the customer's preference in our business model is being proven time and again. I'm also happy to share that last week, we were recognized as Vendor of the Year. This award was given to us by a prominent U.S., retailer who is also among our top three strategic customers. Such an accolade normally was always going to the global giants from South Korea or from Taiwan. We are now one of the first South Asia or Indian subcontinent region vendors to get into this Hall of Fame.
Recognition was for our contribution as a global vendor with multi-country, multi-product execution excellence and beating the expectations in partnering with this retailer in their supply chain strategies. This recognition does boost our confidence and brings more customer interest in our operations. Now, talking about the European Union, as a consolidated market, this is one of the largest markets in the world today. The European Union is engaged in a FTA discussion, a free trade agreement discussion with India, and we expect to conclude this within the next two quarters. Countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Turkey, and Vietnam already enjoy these free tariff benefits, either full or in part. We are currently engaged with customers from Spain and Denmark. As you know, we have a design showroom and are actively engaged with our Spanish customers very closely. Inditex is one of our top three strategic customers from Spain.
We do expect a lot from this market and other E.U. states in the near future once this FTA is signed. Moving on to the United Kingdom, India and the U.K., have recently finalized a free trade agreement, eliminating up to 12% of duties on Indian garments which are entering into the U.K., market. This makes us significantly more competitive as a country, putting India at par with other countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Turkey, which already have been enjoying this duty-free access to the U.K., with nearly 50% of the U.K.'s apparel imports coming from China, Bangladesh, and Turkey, and if you notice, China's share has been continuously dropping from 35% in 2020. It has dropped to almost 21% by early 2025. We are well-positioned to gain more market share amid this global shift away from China.
I mean, India is well-positioned to gain this market share as it moves away from China. The U.K., market contributes around 5% of our total business at Pearl Global, primarily serviced from Bangladesh. We now look forward to significantly growing our share from India as well. We forecast that U.K., revenue from India will grow a minimum of 3X within the next two years. As you already know, we have an office in London servicing our U.K. customers, and we have been engaging post this FTA scenarios with our existing and the new customers. Moving on to Australia and Japan as markets, on the Eastern Front, we continue to increase our market share steadily with Australia and the Japan customers. Please remember that for both these countries, India enjoys a free trade agreement.
Japanese customers also need a very good quality, almost a zero-defect quality standard, and thus significantly improves our manufacturing standard as well. The market dynamics in Japan are very different as compared to the Western markets, and this adds to our expertise and the skills to tackle diversified customers from diversified markets. We expect a significant growth in both these markets over the coming years. To give you a perspective of the market-wide share, last three years, we have significantly reduced the dependence from the U.S., market. It used to be more than 86% of our top line in financial year 2021. Now, by the end of 2025, this number has come down to 64% of our total business share for the U.S.
The European Union approximately adds to about 16% of our total revenue, followed by Japan around 7%, Australia and the U.K., are around 5% each, and Canada approximately 3%. Although our U.S.,-based customer contributes to 64% of our top line, however, a significant amount of goods are shipped and sold outside of the U.S., I mean, these brands which are taking from us the goods, U.S.,-based companies, but their sales are happening outside of the U.S., as well. So when we look at this number, what is the number that is moving into the country of the U.S.A.? That number is standing between 46% to 50% of our total revenue and not 64%. Now, let me speak about our manufacturing basis. Let me begin with India. We are pleased to report an improved performance for the financial year 2025.
Our standalone India revenue for this year reached 1,196 crore, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 25.4%. This solid top-line momentum has been complemented by a significant turnaround in profitability. India EBITDA stands at 10.2% for this quarter of Quarter four of 2025. On the infrastructure front, we have already added capacities and multi-product capabilities in our existing facilities that are located in the metros of Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Chennai over the last two years. Our India revenue, okay, so this India revenue of 1,196 crore, and we already have built up a capacity to execute more than 1,600 crore, thus giving us the preparedness to accelerate the India business as the free trade agreements of the U.K., and potentially from the European Union and the U.S., are signed within this year.
Our further incremental capacities are getting added, but across the tier two cities of India, our Bihar factory is operational now, and we will be scaling it up within this financial year. We have also secured additional capacity through partnerships in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Moving on to Bangladesh, we are now in the fourth quarter of operations since the unrest and the government transition that happened in Bangladesh last year. It has consistently delivered exceptional results for us. We recorded our highest shipment volumes in Quarter four with zero delays and with very robust operational performance and a healthy growing order book. We remain optimistic about further improvements in the coming quarter. All our facilities are running at optimal capacity with growing collaboration from partnership factories. The European Union and U.K., customers remain strategically engaged and reinforcing our growth path.
Once again, let me reiterate that Bangladesh continues to benefit from several structural advantages, including competitive cost, high productivity, skilled labor, experienced operational management, and favorable trade agreements with the key markets such as the European Union, the U.K., Canada, Australia, and China. Now, all these strengths position Bangladesh as a consistently competitive player in the global apparel industry. Bangladesh has started its talks intended for a free trade agreement with the USA, which could be an important step forward for trade between those two countries. To harness the growing demand, we are actively pursuing value-accretive capacity expansion opportunities. We are also assessing potential acquisitions in Bangladesh.
Now, shifting our focus to Vietnam, the country remains bullish on its manufacturing, actively engaged with the U.S., administration for the potential FTA or a bilateral trade agreement, has already become a member of the Comprehensive Trans-Pacific Trade Pact in December 2024, thus adding nine-plus countries with zero-tariff access, including major markets like Canada and the U.K., We recorded a strong growth from Vietnam this quarter, and we remain optimistic about sustaining this momentum. We added one of our fastest-growing retailers in the premium segment that is headquartered in and out of Canada and is growing very fast in its market share in the USA as well. A new partnership factory has been established, laying the groundwork for future expansion. We anticipate that this move will drive meaningful growth over next year as well.
Our focus remains on growing steadily in this market while consistently delivering a high-quality service to our premium customer base. Moving on to Indonesia, our new factory is now fully operational and receiving strong interest from both existing as well as new customers. We plan to scale up the production over these coming quarters, positioning ourselves toward a significant increase in volume and value in the next financial year. Strong customer demand and continued focus on premium clients support this recovery very well. And finally, about Guatemala, customer interest in the Central American operations continues to grow, largely due to the reduced transit times to the U.S., just over a week, and with zero WTO tariff. While these are the clear advantages, manufacturing capacity in this region, including ours, remains modest compared to our more established Asian operations.
In Guatemala, we expanded rapidly from 3 to 12 production lines, which brought short-term operational challenges and required significant investment in staffing and training. However, with the appointment of a new CEO, it has led to notable improvements in efficiency and shipment performance. Despite these initial setbacks, our focus on reliable service ensured the continued customer trust in Guatemala, which is now translating into a repeat business with a productivity which has to improve, which currently has improved up to 46%, 47%, and we are aiming to achieve about 70%-75% very soon. We are confident of a strong turnaround and achieving a cash break-even within this coming year. Now, I will hand it over to Sanjay, our Group CFO, who will provide you a detailed overview of our Quarter four and the FY25 numbers. Sanjay, over to you.
Thank you, Pallav, and good evening, everyone.
Welcome to our Quarter four FY25 earnings call. I will now walk you through our financial and operating performance for the quarter-end year ended 31st March 2025. Starting with our Quarter four FY25 consolidated financials, we are glad to report our best-ever consolidated performance for both Quarter four and full-year FY25, setting new records across all key financial indicators, revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and profitability. In Quarter four FY25, our revenue reached INR 1,229 crore, making a substantial year-on-year increase of 40.1%. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding ESOP expenses, came in at INR 119 crore, up by 41.7% year-on-year, with margin at 9.7%. Excluding for losses in operation at new facilities, Guatemala, Bihar, adjusted EBITDA for Quarter four FY25 stands at a healthy double-digit 10.5%. PAT, after minority interest, stood at INR 68 crore, marking a growth of 32.9% year-on-year.
We have reported strong EPS at INR 15.1 in Quarter four FY25 compared to INR 11.82 in Quarter four FY24. Coming to consolidated performance for FY25, in FY25, our consolidated revenue reached the highest ever of INR 4,506 crore, grew by 31.1% year-on-year compared to achieved sale value and volume growth across geographies. Adjusted EBITDA crossed the INR 400 crore mark, rising to INR 411 crore, up 29.8% year-on-year. Excluding ESOP expenses, our EBITDA reflects sustained financial strength. PAT, after minority interest, stood at INR 248 crore, up 42%. For FY25, we have reported EPS of INR 54.96 compared to INR 40.26 in FY24. Please note that FY25 included an exceptional gain of INR 5 crore due to gain on sale of non-core assets.
Operationally, FY25 was also a standout year as we recorded our highest-ever shipment volume of 74.3 million pieces, a significant jump from 56.9 million pieces in FY24. This performance reflects not just the strength of the demand from our customers but also our enhanced manufacturing capability and supply chain resilience. Turning to our standalone financial, for Quarter four FY25, revenue touched all-time high, closing at INR 397 crore, an almost 24.2% growth year-on-year. Revenue for FY25 grew by 25.4% year-on-year to INR 1196 crore. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding ESOP expenses for Quarter four FY25, nearly doubled to INR 40 crore compared to INR 21 crore in Quarter four FY24, which is a strong 96% year-on-year growth. Notably, India operations alone are now delivering a double-digit EBITDA margin of 10.2% in Quarter four FY25.
For FY25, adjusted EBITDA stood at INR 66 crore, a 34.9% robust growth on a year-on-year basis with a margin of 5.6%. PAT for Quarter four FY25 grew by 95.2% to INR 23 crore. For FY25, PAT increased substantially by 94.4% year-on-year to INR 55 crore. We have reported EPS at INR 5.14 in Quarter four FY25 compared to INR 2.74 in Quarter four FY24. For FY25, EPS stands at INR 12.15 compared to INR 6.5 in FY24. Key financial indicators at Group levels are net debt to EBITDA has reduced to minus 0.4 times for March 2025 from 3.43 times in March 2021, indicating a strong financial position and higher ability to cover debt. Cash and bank balance, excluding cash earmarked for LC payment, is INR 513 crore as of 31st March 2025.
Net working capital days are 38, well below our targeted number of days. Increase in inventory is in line with increase in revenue. Inventory number of days are 57 and are in line with our estimates considering sales plan for coming quarter. Trade payables all are in line with the credit terms in respective geographies. Return on capital employed improved from 28.2% in March 2024 to 30.5% in March 2025 due to prudent capital allocation policy, strong profitability at a Group level, and efficient working capital management. Other key highlights of the year: the company has received a credit rating upgrade reflecting its strong financial position and continued operational resilience. ICRA has assigned long-term rating A stable and an A1 rating for short-term obligations, reinforcing the company's credibility and ability to meet financial commitments efficiently. Enhanced board strength with the induction of two independent directors, Mr.
Rahul Mehta Narendra and Mrs. Jyoti Arora, reinforcing governance excellence and strategic oversight. The company has appointed Deloitte as its successor auditor for Pearl Global (HK) Ltd. for FY25, 26, and 27, strengthening financial transparency and regulatory adherence. Ernst & Young actively oversees internal audit for India, Bangladesh, and now expanded its role to Vietnam for FY26, enhancing compliance in key markets. Update on CapEx. Year-end review, that is, financial year 25, the company has incurred CapEx of INR 135 crore, which includes INR 75 crore towards capacity expansion, sustainable laundry capacity expansion in Bangladesh. Capacity expansion is across geographies, whereas the laundry capacity expansion is in Bangladesh. INR 22.5 crore towards the land acquisition in Bangladesh for future capacity expansion, INR 12.5 crore in Vietnam towards securing partnership capacity, and remaining CapEx is for replacement and efficiency improvements.
It's worthwhile to note the land acquired in Bangladesh can add factories having capacity from 2,500 to 3,000 machines. We have earlier updated regarding leasehold land in Madhya Pradesh, India, where we can set up a factory for capacity up to 1,500 machines. With this, we have the opportunity to expand capacity in India and Bangladesh. For FY26, CapEx plan, the company plans to incur INR 250 crore for the year. Out of which, INR 130 crore for capacity expansion in Bangladesh and India, and Bangladesh of INR 110 crore and India 20 crore respectively. INR 90 crore is for sustainable laundry capacity expansion in Bangladesh, INR 5 crore for solar power installation at all the factories in India. Remaining CapEx is for replacement and efficiency improvement.
The capacity expansion CapEx, which is highlighted above, will lead to enhancement of capacity by approximately 8 million pieces, INR 5 million to 6 million in Bangladesh, INR 2.5 million to 3.5 million pieces in India. In-house laundry capacity expansion, as mentioned above, will reduce the washing cost significantly and also reduce the water consumption, leading to sustainability in CapEx, generating a return on capital employed of 18% to 20%. All CapEx projects being undertaken by the company across geographies are with the highest standard of sustainability by optimizing water and energy consumption, minimizing environmental impact, and supporting green initiatives. In brief, we have delivered an exceptional performance in Quarter four FY25, reinforcing the strength of our business model backed by a robust and diversified customer base and a well-established global footprint. We are strongly positioned to build on this momentum.
Looking ahead, we remain confident in our ability to accelerate our strategic milestone for FY28 and unlock sustained value for our shareholders. Now we can open the floor for questions and answers.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and one on their touch-tone 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, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to two per participant. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Bhavya Gandhi from Dalal & Broacha Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Yeah, I thank for the opportunity and congratulations management on a great set of numbers. So my first question is regarding the revenue potential for the full-year basis for Indonesia and Vietnam and Guatemala. Assuming maybe like 85% capacity utilization, what could be the full-year revenue potential from these three geographies?
So if you see like in Indonesia, the capacity that we have built up, we should be able to cross $30 million to $35 million easily. It might go up a little bit more over the next two years. Similarly, Guatemala, as of now, is a smaller capacity. We should be doing about $10 million to $15 million is the maximum potential that we have, what we are foreseeing. And then which is the country you said? Indonesia and Vietnam. Vietnam, we are almost nearing $100 million. We should be comfortably crossing that mark in Vietnam.
$100 million, right?
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay. Sir, just if you can provide some ground-level feedback with respect to how are the purchase orders being placed by retailers, especially after this 10% tariff introduction. Some ground-level feedback on how things are happening.
Especially about the U.S., market that you're talking about. In the U.S., what we find is that there was a lot of confusion because with the U.S., administration coming in bits and pieces. Initially, they put up 10%, and then they said that they will put the reciprocal duty, which was put for a day and then was taken off for 90 days. Again, China was implemented with a 145% tariff, and then it has been taken down to 30%. A lot of moving parts in the U.S., at this point of time.
So when the tariff was high, for example, China at 145%, which definitely brings in a lot of these goods which are sold in the holiday season. That means all the Christmas gifts, Christmas items, decorating items, a lot of accessories and all. So those kind of was a big concern for most of the retailers, which has been now avoided by decreasing the tariff to 30%. Now, as these moving blocks were happening, there was definitely a conservative approach from the retailers. So they were trying to save money from here and there to make sure that even some product of Christmas and all should be there in the store. Now, with this moving away from this 135% tariff, 145% tariff, it gives a good relief to the US customers. So far, we have not seen a big trend difference, like a reduction on order booking and all.
We are not seeing that. Yes, the press had come out with a lot of numbers and figures of consumer sentiment coming down, and there could be a situation of empty sales. So far, nothing of that we have seen. April has been a good month of sales in the U.S., and May also beginning, we saw that the sales have been started well. Let's see how the whole month of May goes. So far, most of these retailers are getting sales as per their target, so they should be open to buy, which is normal. So let's see. They were a little bit conservative in terms of placing the holiday numbers, but not a big change as of yet.
Fair enough, and just one last thing.
What would be the customer addition for the quarter and the full year if you can provide any new customers added on the retailers or the brand side?
As a group, we are continuously adding customers. We are approaching new customers. As our name is more well-established among the customers across the globe that we are a global supplier with multi-country, multi-product, and doing well with the very reputed ones, so we are able to move in with the new customers. As you know that in this industry of ours, the entry barrier is high. Normally, it's very difficult for a vendor to acquire a customer, but so far, at Pearl Global, we have been able to maneuver through this quite well and even in the last five years, we have added a significant amount of business from the new customer base that we have been building up.
This exercise is on. Even like in this year also, in this last year, 2024-2025, at least two very significant customers have got added to our list. So we expect more to do in this year. By significant, I mean like somebody who has a potential to do more than $20 million to $30 million.
Fair enough. Fair enough. Really helpful. Yeah. That's it from mine. Thank you. Thank you. I'll get back into queue.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ashmitha from Electrum Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. Am I audible?
Yes, please.
Yeah. So this is just a few questions on my side, and thank you for the opportunity.
Just wanted to know that with the tariff that is now in place and that we are expecting some margin impact, what would be the share of added costs that we would be absorbing versus passing on to the brands?
Just wanted to know that. See, as the tariff got added, most of the retailers were looking into opportunities of mitigating this tariff. One of the methods that some of these retailers followed is to ask the vendors to burden share the tariff. That means the tariff burden that they have got, a portion of it can be shared by the vendors. That's the negotiation that was happening, and you may have heard about that. Now, that doesn't mean that each and every vendor has come back with this kind of request. This is not the only formula that is working.
So as a company, Pearl Global, we have been engaged with these customers. So one of the methods is, yes, some kind of burden share. The second method is as they are mitigating their risk to move from a country like China, which was slapped with about 145% duty, and they needed an emergency other help, so we could come to the action and do that. And in some cases, there have been ways that their costs are high when they take the goods and land them in the U.S., That means I'm talking about the freight, insurance, logistics, handling, blah, blah, blah. So that portion, if we can land the goods for them in the U.S., and mitigate some of those extra costs from them without affecting our bottom line.
So those are all the three methods that so far we have used, and a few more in terms of negotiations with the raw material suppliers and other things. So all this combination is something that we are operating. But if you are specifically looking for what kind of discounts or burden share that these customers have been asking, that was varying from anywhere from 1% to 4%. For us, wherever we have agreed to, it's not more than 2, 2.25% is something that we have agreed to in some of the cases, not in all. And as I mentioned, only about 45% to 50% of our total turnover is landing into the USA where this thing was valid. So I don't see a big impact on this. So that is why it's not a major feature for us.
All right.
And my second question would be now with India blocking the road transshipment that we've seen, and I think the lead times would be increasing via Bangladesh, right? So how is Pearl impacted in terms of supply chain efficiencies and delivery timelines, if you can just explain?
So what I know is that India has limited that Bangladeshi garments can be brought into India, not through the land route, but can be done only through the sea ports of Kolkata and Mumbai. So that means the retailers in India, when they are buying goods from Bangladesh, they have to bring the goods into Kolkata port or from the Mumbai port, which means that their transit period, their transit time goes up by a couple of weeks. Now, this particular ruling doesn't impact us because none of our production from Bangladesh was coming into India in any way.
So we are not in any kind of impact or effect on this ruling for us.
All right. So my last question is.
Sorry to interrupt, ma'am, but I may request you to rejoin the question queue for one more question.
Sure, sure, sure. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dhwanil from iWealth Fund. Please go ahead.
Hello sir. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. Am I audible?
Y es. Absolutely.
Sir, just on the first one, on the industry side, right now with the U.K. FTA coming in, right? And sir, as we are present in the other geographies also, right? So if you can just give us some understanding, how do you see the overall India demand shaping up? And in terms of cost also now, sir, against Bangladesh, how would we be placed?
U.K. FTA is good news for India overall. India, if you see, out of the $16 billion, close to about $15 billion to $16 billion of apparel exports that India does, almost about, I think, between $1 billion or $1.5 billion is going to U.K. Now, I think that number will grow significantly because we had a 12% extra, 10% to 12% extra duty that our goods have been paying as it was entering into U.K., So that definitely for the retailers or the brands, it was not very not a good proposition to import out of India. So only the goods which were like something unique for India or something very fashionable which the other countries cannot do was only coming into India.
Now that this level playing field is there where we will not be charged this duty, so naturally, the Indian manufacturers can compete much more than along with this Chinese or the other big players. China was having a big share, almost 35%, and it had dropped to almost 21%. That's because of the anti-China feeling or basically more of decoupling from China. But that market share can India also gain quite a lot. Initially, it was going to other countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Turkey. Now, India also can compete in that sphere. Now, if you're talking about India versus Bangladesh, Bangladesh will continue to be cheaper because of all the other factors that I just mentioned.
Employee would be the main in that?
Yeah. Cost of manufacturing, the efficiency level, everything is better in Bangladesh.
So still, like apples to apples comparison of product, same product, if I'm shipping out of Bangladesh factory and from an India factory, Bangladesh would be cheaper by almost about anywhere between 5% to 7% might be cheaper. But earlier, that 5% to 7% plus this 12% duty, it was impacting more than 17%. So now that number comes down significantly. So yes, there should be some significant growth. Even like some of our Tirupur vendors and some of our low-cost center factories in the tier two cities and all, we should be able to compete with Bangladesh.
Okay. And on the other geographies, sir, Vietnam, Indonesia, so now India would be on the level playing field?
Yes. So see, U.K., Vietnam got the benefit only by December 2024. So there is not a significant business of U.K., in Vietnam.
So definitely now, India and Vietnam would be more like simultaneously we can grow. And Cambodia and Bangladesh had a major share. So those are the ones like we should be competing now, and we have a much more level playing field, including Turkey and all. So Turkey still enjoys the faster transit because from Turkey to U.K., is hardly about a week and all. So that's the advantage that Turkey will still continue to have. But otherwise, India is in a much better place to compete.
Okay. And sir, my second question was on the overall capacity now, right? So I think Quarter four, we were at 88% utilization. And going ahead, sir, with the overall expansion plan, right, I think we would be adding close to 8 million pieces this year, right? So which is kind of 8% to 10% of capacity extra we are doing, right?
So in terms of our, sir, overall vision, which we had and with the 130 million to 140 million capacity expansion, by when do you think, sir, that will happen? And what kind of CapEx, broadly, sir, we would be needing? And then in terms of geographies, the incremental capacities will go where? Which of the countries?
Yeah. So first of all, one thing I have to make clear that we had given you a snapshot of where we wanted to be in 2028. So we said that we want to export or we want to ship 100 million pieces by 2028. Now, to ship that 100 million pieces, we thought that and that's not the last year of our operation, and that's not the final goal. We want to be a much bigger organization, so we continue to invest in our capacities every year.
By 2028, we thought that or we had a plan or we still have that plan that our capacity should be in the range of about 130 million pieces by that time. And we still should be comfortably shipping 100 million pieces. Now, how does it correlate? Capacity means that we build the infrastructure. And as we ramp up those infrastructures by hiring the full strength of people, that takes a little bit more time. So as we make an infrastructure of, let's say, 130 million, to use that 130 million might take about more than one year or two years to get to that full capacity. But our capacity will be ready by that 2028 when we will be shipping 100 million. So I think so that is the reason for which you will always see that our utilization is about 80% or 79% or 81%.
That will always be like that because continuously we are growing the capacity for the demand for the future. Now, last year, for example, in India, we continued to grow, although everybody else was shutting down their factory because there was an over-inventory situation in the U.S., and the order book was less, but we knew that, okay, this is the year that things would be happening and we would need this capacity, so we continue, so as a group, we continue to expand on our capacities, keeping in mind the future strategies that are going to be enacted by us, so that's the capacity front. In terms of where this capacity will be allocated or created, that will depend on the business ROI and ROCE and ROE. These are the things which Sanjay and his team continuously continue to monitor, and that drives our investment in the locations.
So so far, it seems like Bangladesh is a very competitive country. India is getting a good potential because of this potential FTAs, which we have to encash upon. Vietnam, Indonesia are more specialization on higher end of the product, so naturally, it will be lesser than the India and Bangladesh, which is more of a mass merchandise and the mass market that we cater to, and Guatemala will be very, very restricted because that's just more of a showing a feather in our cap to our customers because that's a very expensive country and not so efficient country, but yeah, because of its location and all, we have to showcase that to our customers that we have a presence out there. That's the kind of overall plan.
So, sir, for next two, three years.
Sorry to interrupt, sir, but I may request you to rejoin the question queue for follow-up questions.
It was just the only continuation of what sir was saying. Okay, I'll come back.
Before we take the next question, we would like to remind the participants to press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Rudraksh Raheja from iThought PMS. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. Congrats on a good set of numbers. My question pertains to our customer acquisition. We already cater to big players like Walmart, Target, etc. Let's say if we want to start a new engagement, could you help us understand the timeline and different stages in between acquiring a new client and reaching a sizable commercial scale of orders?
So yeah, first of all, a little bit of correction. When you say Walmart and Target, for both these, we are not catering to U.S., market. We cater to Target Australia market and Walmart for Canada and Mexico market as of now. But yes, in terms of acquisition of a new customer, yes, it depends on both the customer and us, how we are positioned. For example, Walmart or a Target kind of customers, it's very, very difficult to enter those kind of customer base because there are many, many players from across the globe who are always vying for it, and they have a huge waiting list in terms of adding to their base.
Yeah, this kind of when such a, I would say, disturbance that happens or basically the whole resetting due to the tariff and situation like this comes up, then there is an opportunity at that point of time definitely opens up. So that might speed up the process even for a customer like Walmart and a Target. Otherwise, what we do, we are in touch with many good customers. We think that there's a different potential where we can serve them. And what is that particular category, what they are looking for, or the region that they're looking for where they have, I would say, a white space or a gap or a hole. So if I can strategize and pitch myself on that front that, okay, I can immediately provide you a solution that you are looking for, then that speeds up the whole process.
Otherwise, if I just go, okay, I'm a vendor in India and I have a factory in India, and please give me an opportunity, it can go on for years without getting an entry. So you see, there is not a simple answer to the question that you have asked. If you can really know the strategic intent of that customer and the category that they are looking for, where there is a white space and you can fill it up, then it's very smooth, like a knife through butter, and it can go very quickly. So I don't know if that answer satisfies you or not, but that's how it operates.
Just hypothetically, how quick are we talking about, like six to 12 months or even less than that?
Yeah. We have experiences in which we could build up a significant amount of business.
For example, I mentioned in my speech about a very good, fast-growing customer of Canada-based and retailing in the U.S. Now, that particular customer had a need. So once we started speaking, within months, we are shipping to them. So that's because they had a particular need, and we could fulfill that, and we were absolutely prepared. We have been watching them. We knew that as soon as this opportunity comes, then we will start speaking to them. So as this thing started happening, so from the first date of communication to execution and order happened very, very quickly. And there have been cases like another customer in the U.S., which we are trying to rope in, and they have given us the confidence that they want to work. They find that our factory is good and product is good and all.
This conversation is going on for more than a year. We haven't seen a conversion as of yet. Again, it varies. Now, if I have a one-country kind of factory and a general factory or a traditional factory, then I have to prepare the factory. I have to prepare the systems, process, and all. For a company like Pearl, where we are located in multi-country and awareness of the customer's need, because we do cater to more than 30 top-line customers across our countries, so we do have that preparedness and the readiness level, which is very high. That's one of the reasons that you have seen some of our competition in India and all have to acquire a company to add customers, whereas we can approach a customer and develop the business. There are different strategies that each of us play to get a new customer.
Understood, sir. So my second question is on our U.S., business. An Indian textile service provider with a very good reputation has grown in the US in the last two years. So are we seeing any increase in competitive intensity there?
You mean that Indian vendors have gone to the U.S., and taken a position? I didn't understand your question.
Yeah, yeah. Indian player, a very good player with stellar reputation in global markets. They have expanded their businesses in the US for the last two, three years. So are you seeing any increase in competition in your U.S., markets?
See, the US market is always high competition because the volumes are big. It's an attractive market and English-speaking customers and all. So definitely, there is always a competition. The major players in the U.S., are the South Koreans, the Taiwanese, the Chinese. I'm not too sure about India.
India has a very small segment among all the U.S., customers. So if one or two Indian vendors get added up, I don't think it makes a big difference because the big players still belong to these other countries. And we find our main competition is against them.
Understood, sir. Understood. Thank you.
Thank you. Participants are requested to limit their questions to two per participant. The next question is from the line of Parth Patel from Unifi Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. So thank you for the opportunity, sir. And I think congratulations to Pearl Global team for consistently delivering over the last, I think, two quarters, right, good growth. So my first question is, so can you give us a broad sense in terms of top five or top 10 strategic clients of Pearl Global? So what is the revenue contribution from those clients in FY25?
Thank you, Parth. First of all, you are asking me about the top 10 customers and what is their market share that they have?
No. What is the revenue contribution from top 5 clients?
So basically, so top 5 should be about now around 65, yeah? Top 5 should be 60%, and top 10 will be around 80%, 78% to 80%. 78% to 80%, yeah.
Yeah. So my second follow-up question to that is, okay, what would be Pearl Global's wallet sharing those top 5 or top 10 clients?
So for those, let's say I'm talking about top 3, let's talk about. So I have a customer like Kohl's, where I belong to almost in the top 3, basically, from their side. Normally, their exposure in one particular vendor would be in single digit, maybe about 5% to 7% maximum. We talked of three vendors that they have.
So my share for them, I would be only about that much of percentage. Then I have got, let's say, PVH Group. So that also belongs to one of our top 3 customers. So similar number, maybe a little higher percentage. Whereas we also supply to Inditex Group, a significant number. They are in our top 3, but they are such a big customer, big volumes that they buy. I may not be even 1% or 2% for them. So depending on the size of the customer, our goal is that the top 3 or top 4 should be in the $100 million range, and then the next tier should be in that about $15 million range. So like that, we have classified how we will approach them.
Okay, fair enough.
My second question, I think so the last annual report, you have mentioned that you have an in-house, I think in-house design team, right, across the four different locations of around 75 members, right? Can you explain how the in-house design team helps in the core business, or the design team is more working towards a kind of a new venture like Pearl Unlimited in the US for the brand licensing business?
Yeah. We have designers across all the locations where we are manufacturing so that we continuously design and show the product where the strength, as per our strengths. Also, we have design teams in the bigger markets like U.S., U.K., Spain.
This is where we have design teams and our own showrooms where we can engage ourselves with the customers' design teams, and we can co-create the product together or always know what is going on in their mind and be prepared much, much more. So that's the intent that we have. If you see how do we do our planning and manufacturing, almost about 70% to 80% of our business, we would like to have more of an auto mode where we have these top clients, as you just heard, these top 10 clients. So they are the ones where we are talking about strategic and long-term vision that we have. So more or less, there is some kind of guaranteed business which we can expect that will come season after season or year after year. So that's something we have to secure ourselves.
And then there is another piece about that could be, let's say, even if 70%, 65% to 70% of our business is like that. And that another 15% to 20%, we should be continuously showing them the design and make sure that this capacity is completely full. So that's the reason for which we continue to give the design inputs to our customers. And we are proud that, okay, almost about 40% to 50% of what we finally manufacture comes from our own designs.
Okay. Fair enough, fair enough. Thank you. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pulkit Singhal from Dalmus Capital Management. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity and congrats to the management team for a good set of numbers. So the first question is regarding capacity expansion.
I mean, your commentary is largely positive, driven by various FTAs and whatever you're seeing on the ground, and we have grown volumes at 15% CAGR over the last five years. Now, given that we are already operating at an optimum 77% utilization, one would assume that even for a 15% volume growth, you have to add easily 14 million to 15 million pieces every year. But somehow you are adding only 8 million, and I'm just wondering why the capacity addition is lagging growth figures?
Yeah. First of all, thank you, Pulkit. See, when we talk about the capacity addition or this capital allocation, it is more of the investment that we are directly doing. Keep in mind that always we have a combination. We have certain capacities that we are investing upon and directly making it, and there is some partnership.
So the partnership is always a flexibility that I have, which I can grow as per the need that I have. And if you see, we have done 74 million pieces this year, and we already have with us 93 million, which is ready. And we would be going comfortably much above than 108, which is, sorry, 103 that we have planned. From 93 to 8 million, that would be 101. But yes, there will be now. I told also. I mentioned in my speech about certain partnerships that we are doing even in India, along with Bangladesh and Vietnam. So there will be some other further additions to it. So this is the direction that we can see, and we are sure of because we are investing this money. Sandy, you want to add something on this?
Yes.
I mean, from 74 million pieces, if we take, let's say, 15% also growth, we'll be looking at 85 million shipped pieces. With the current capacity 93.1 and the rest 7.8 getting activated during the year, we will be comfortably placed to have those numbers achieved during the financial year. As we are saying, there are 12% to 14% volume growth. Even in this current financial year, FY26, we are pretty confident. And during the year, we said there are other projects also which are under discussion. As of now, we have done this asset evaluation and zeroed in on this project, which will be starting implementation. But the rest of the opportunity will come. And during this commentary, also, you mentioned there are some outsourcing facilities in India which are also under evaluation.
So even if you take 93 million, I think there is a good headroom for us to really cover in the next 12 months' time period. But there will be additions which will happen during the year also, which will take us to a number which is higher than that. And 130 million is what we have stated by FY28. I guess we should be by early part of FY28, we should be looking at this 130 million pieces.
Understood. Thank you.
And if I may add, I think the last three or four years, we have done much, much better than 14% growth. And yes, our plan is definitely to have a stable growth of a CAGR of 14%. But yes, we are always ready even to do more, 25% to 30% also. And we have seen that time and again.
Yeah.
I was referring to volume growth, actually. Value growth is definitely higher. My second question is on margins. I mean, last two years, if I look at it, our business has grown 50% broadly. But margins have gone from 8% EBITDA to 9%. And in fact, even last year, despite a 30% revenue growth, 9% has remained flat. So I'm just wondering, I mean, with scale, one typically assumes some kind of margin expansion, but then there's an element of mix, etc. So how are you seeing things in terms of margins? I mean, I thought that we would achieve double digits, but it seems to be a bit elusive so far.
So if you look at our quarter four financial, India, we are at 10.2%.
If you look at the group number also for quarter four, excluding the new facility losses, I think we are at 10.5% at the group level also. So clearly, with this revenue stream and with this excluding the once a new facility stabilizes, we are already at that mark of double digit EBITDA, which means that after doing this demonstration, in the medium term, we are pretty confident of achieving this 10% plus. It can be higher also. Between 10%-12% is what we have stated in a medium term to achieve this. Why we specify this range is because there are multiple levers which we are working on aggressively. Three or four levers which we can mention is Guatemala losses, which should be converting into the breakeven and then generating a profit.
Indonesia full capacity utilization with U.K., FTA and other FTA with India coming in, the capacity ramp-up in India. I think these levers will materialize at different points in time. And once the convergence takes place of all these levers, we are definitely looking at much better than 10%. So that's why we've given a range of 10% to 12%. So just to mention that, in a medium term, we are pretty confident of achieving this double digit EBITDA margin. We have very well demonstrated this. I think this can give us a cue in terms of the leverage, which potential is available even with the existing facility, existing operation as of now.
What is the expectation this year?
So as I mentioned, there are multiple levers. We are working on it.
And I think we should be looking at we are looking at a moderate in a medium term, we are looking at a double digit EBITDA margin.
Understood. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Before we move on to the next participant, the participants are requested to limit their questions to two per participant. The next question is from the line of Prerna Jhunjhunwala from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. Am I audible? Hello.
Yes, you're audible.
Yeah. Okay.
Hi, I can hear you.
Yeah. Congratulations, sir, on a strong set of numbers. Sir, I missed the US commentary. The question that I had on US was how are the clients talking about in terms of volume growth and in terms of tariff sharing during this 90-day pause and beyond that?
So volume growth, if you look at the U.S., market over the last four to five months, the volume growth is quite good. In fact, even in the first two or three months of this year, you can see that the U.S., imports are on the double digit increase. So I think that should have continued. A little bit of skepticism and all this is coming up because of this tariff uncertainty. But I think overall, the market is not suppressed as of yet. So let's see how things go. News are very different every morning. We have a President who speaks quite differently between the morning and evening. So I think so far, people are accepting him. And I think the life continues. In terms of this tariff, which is a baseline additional tariff of 10% that has been implemented.
So there have been trials from the customer side, basically the retailers and the brand side, to increase the price tickets. So if somebody is doing it publicly, they are getting reprimanded by the President and his group. But still, ultimately, it will be found out. There's a balance will come up. In the short run for this one quarter, which is taken by surprise, some of the retailers did come back with kind of what kind of alternate solutions can be done. As I just mentioned, some people asked for some kind of burden share. Others asked for some logistical solutions. The third group of customers wanted help. So they thought that if we can share that kind of help, then it is good enough for them. So all combinations are going on.
So it's not that we are really stuck and we have to give a very hefty discount and that we cannot manage and it will go to a bottom line. So we don't foresee that kind of challenges as of yet. And whatever the challenges would be for this one quarter where we have done the costings and already orders were in place in which we have to give a small discount and all. So that's the kind of it's more of a tactical negotiations and discussion that is going on, but not a huge speed bump or, I would say, a big impact on bottom line or other things as of yet.
Okay. So we don't foresee any major hit on our profitability because of U.S., tariffs as of now, at least in the medium term. Okay. So my second question is on profitability again.
You mentioned that you always keep on investing into new capacity also. And some of the capacity will definitely be lying idle because you are investing ahead of demand. Reaching double-digit margin, I mean, near 12%, would definitely require something more than just higher utilization. Can you just help us with some of the levers that could play eventually with time to improve your margins?
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Sandy has one idea.
Yeah. Yeah. Prayerna, as I just mentioned in answer to the previous question, there are levers which are already existing which can really play out. In addition to the demand, you rightly mentioned about additional volume growth. Let's say Guatemala starting from that. We are currently in a stabilization phase. So there are losses in the operations.
We are pretty confident of turning it around in the near quarters. That will help in terms of the improvement. Assuming other things remain constant, there will be improvement in EBITDA. Second, the facility utilization in Indonesia is at 50%. The overheads and the structure is prepared to deliver double the volume what we are doing in Indonesia. That's another lever. Operating leverage will kick in. Third is we mentioned about the India also the capacity which we have in terms of the revenue is around INR 1,600 crore plus. Currently, we are doing only INR 1,200 crore. Now, that ramp-up can definitely bring in. It is well demonstrated if you look at quarter four number of India, where we have done INR 397 crore and delivered 10.2%.
It clearly demonstrates that as we scale it up and bring the efficiency improvement across the factory, the targeted EBITDA margin in double digit can be met in a very medium term. So the foundation across the group has been set to really achieve double digit EBITDA margin on a sustained basis once our new facility and operation stabilizes.
Understood, sir. So thank you for your responses. I'll come back to the question. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vignesh Iyer from Sequent Investments. Please go ahead. Sir, are you there? Mr. Vignesh? Mr. Vignesh?
Hello. Am I audible now?
Yes, sir.
Hello. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. And congratulations on a great setup number. So I have two questions from my end. Firstly, more on a broader to get a broader idea.
I mean, last month, there was a certain restriction placed on import of yarn from India. I mean, so I wanted to understand what has been the impact on the industry, I mean, in terms of lead time in procurement of yarn and how well are we placed at the moment, I mean.
Import of yarn from where? Sorry, I didn't understand.
So basically, there has been some restriction placed on import of yarn from India to Bangladesh in last month through road route, if I'm not wrong. And dependency of Bangladesh textile is big on import of yarn from India. So on that matter.
So so far, we have not seen any impact. None of our business has been impacted out there. In fact, you have seen that our business in Bangladesh has significantly grown.
We are already experiencing almost about a 35% growth year on year in Bangladesh at this point of time. So we have not seen any impact as of yet. Okay. And I think there are enough stockists and enough other routes of yarn into Bangladesh. So we are not seeing any impact, in fact.
Right. Got it. And sir, could you share the number when it comes to utilization only for the quarter four for the Indian unit as well as the Vietnam unit?
I think, yeah. So quarter four, India unit utilization has been almost 90% plus. And Vietnam, generally, H1 is higher utilization because we produce product category in Vietnam, sir largely outerwear, which are for fall and holiday season. In quarter four, the utilization in Vietnam will be around 65% of the available capacity.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. That's all from my side. Thank you.
Tha nk you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in interest of time, this would be our last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you, all the participants. In FY25, Pearl Global showcased strong resilience and strategic focus, delivering record shipment volume and robust financial performance. Our ongoing infrastructure investment across all regions supported by expansion reflects our commitment to long-term capacity building and position as well for future growth. Backed by strategic partnership and a clear vision, our FY26 CapEx plan aims to enhance efficiency, advance sustainability goals, and reinforce our leadership in global apparel manufacturing. As we look ahead, we remain focused on delivering sustainable value, strengthening global competitiveness, and driving continued success with diverse portfolio and strong momentum. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Pearl Global Industries Limited, that concludes this conference.
Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.