Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Pearl Global Industries Limited Q4 and 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 the 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.
[audio distortion] you all to our earnings call for Q4 FY 2026 and financial year 2026. 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 uploaded on the BSE and NSE website. 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 performance, after which we will proceed for the question and answer session.
Before we start, I just 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 the call to our MD, Mr. Pallab Banerjee. Over to you, Pallab.
Thank you, Shishir. Good afternoon, everyone. I welcome you all to the full year of financial year 2026 earnings call. We continue to sustain our growth momentum in top- line and bottom- line, despite the challenging and uncertain macro environment driven by our focused execution, multi-location, and the multi-location presence. In this year under review, we crossed revenue of INR 5,000 crore and our EBITDA stood at INR 468 crore at 9.3%. Excluding the incremental loss at new facilities of Bihar and Guatemala and the tariff cost that we bear, this year stands at 10.3%. Our installed capacity reached 101 million pieces per annum. With the completion of financial year 2026, we feel that we are solidly on track with our vision of FY 2028 shared with all of you earlier.
All this while we continue to improve on our efficiencies, governance, and rating. An update on the key positive developments in our industry during this year. As you all know that we all experienced a roller coaster ride with the U.S. tariff in this year of 2026. Especially for India, first, a 25% tariff was levied and on top of this, another 25% penalty was put onto Indian goods. Both these are on top of the MFN duties already prevalent for U.S. The total charges went up to the range of 65%-69% of Indian-made garments out of cotton fabric. After six months of this painful situation, a deal between U.S. and India brought this IEEPA tariff down to 18%. Then, of course, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the IEEPA tariff as not legal.
Now businesses in U.S. are starting to file legal case for refunds, though it may not be so easy as it sounds. Currently, a 10% tariff under the Section 122 is in place till the month of July for all countries exporting to U.S. Meanwhile, the U.S. retailers got a big respite from the tariff, and consumer sentiments have been very positive, as seen in their results of the first quarter. Equally important for India would be the FTA, which is signed between India and U.K. and between India and EU. Although we still await the implementation date, customers have started visiting and are excited about this opportunity to diversify their sourcing into India more and from the overdependence on duty-free countries like Bangladesh and Cambodia.
With these agreements, alongside earlier bilateral and free trade agreements that was already in place, India will have preferential access to all major global markets which are served by Pearl Global. Namely, they are [U.S.A.], European Union, U.K., Japan, and Australia. Meanwhile, other manufacturing hubs of ours, such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, already benefit from this duty-free access, thus ensuring that Pearl Global's diversified footprint remains highly competitive. With a comprehensive market access across geographies, we believe Pearl Global is strongly positioned to continue its growth beyond financial year 2028 while withstanding the potential shocks resulting from geopolitical conflicts and ever-changing global macro environment.
Let me take you through the outlook across geographies, starting with India. FY 2026 profitability marginally improved despite the discounts which we extended to U.S. clients during the tariff period to maintain the strong relationships that we already have, which had a temporary impact on our margins. This improvement was driven by our cost restructuring. With the removal of U.S. tariffs, along with the India-EU FTA and the U.K. FTA, we anticipate higher volumes, increased sourcing from India, and renewed growth in our Indian operations from financial year 2027 onwards, which were impacted last year mainly because of U.S. tariffs. We already have a very significant existing business with customers of European Union and United Kingdom who are keen to place business in India as well.
By leveraging the expanded capacity and the enhanced capabilities that we have recently established in India, we are ready to play an important role in driving growth and delivering the improved profitability going forward. Moving on to Bangladesh. As a country, this is on track since the new elected government. Our operations that we have in Bangladesh are running smoothly. It is witnessing a strong growth in the garment exports with shipments to key markets such as Europe, U.S., U.K., EU, Spain, of course, Spain comes under EU only, and Canada, showing consistent momentum. The ongoing CapEx project expected to be completed in first half of 2027. It will further expand the capacity by approximately 6 million pieces over the next two years of financial year 2027 and financial year 2028.
Driven by recent customer additions, mature operations, and upcoming capacity enhancements, our Bangladesh operations are well-positioned to sustain growth momentum and strengthen our contribution to overall performance. In Indonesia, we have been updating you about our ramping up on our recently commissioned factory. Indonesia capacity utilization has increased to 47% of its total established capacity that we have there in this year. Last year it was about 39%. This is being driven by the customer demand and continued focus on the premium clients. We are confident that our Indonesia operations will deliver both top- line and bottom- line from this year onwards. In Vietnam, during this year, we witnessed a strong growth momentum in our operations. Capacity utilizations improved to 80%+ in the current year compared to 63% of last year.
Vietnam has proven to be an important manufacturing hub for the U.S. market and continues to enhance our competitiveness across all other major geographies. Encouraged by the strong customer traction, we plan to have additional capacity in Vietnam, which would further deepen the customer engagement and increase the wallet share. In Guatemala, we remain focused on improving efficiencies and reducing our losses with a positive outlook and further progress expected in the coming financial year. With that, let me hand over to Sanjay Gandhi, our Group CFO, to share the financial highlights. Sanjay, over to you.
Thank you, Pallab. Welcome all to our quarter four and full year FY 2026 earning call. I will now take you through our financial and operational performance. FY 2026 consolidated performance. FY 2026 was a record year for us, where we marked our highest ever consolidated revenue performance despite geopolitical [unstability]. Consolidated revenue grew to INR 5,025 crore, up 11.5% year-on-year. This strong growth was driven by volume and high value-added product growth in overseas business. Adjusted EBITDA excluding ESOP expense stood at INR 468 crore, up by 14% in FY 2026. Adjusted EBITDA margin stood at 9.3%, excluding tariff impact of INR 36 crore and incremental loss in Bihar and Guatemala, approximately INR 13 crore. Adjusted EBITDA margin stand at 10.3% for the full year.
PAT in FY 2026 stand at INR 270 crore, strong growth of 17% on year-on-year basis. Quarter four FY 2026 consolidated performance. In quarter four FY 2026, we achieved our highest ever quarterly revenue, with total revenue standing at INR 1,314 crore approximately, reflecting a growth of 6.9% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA excluding ESOP expenses at INR 135 crore, up by 13.7% year-on-year, with the margin at 10.3%, which has been the highest ever EBITDA margin in any quarter so far. Adjusted EBITDA margin excluding the reciprocal tariff impact of INR 5 crore and incremental loss in Bihar and Guatemala of INR 3 crore, adjusted EBITDA margins stands at 10.9% at the group level. PAT rose to INR 81 crore, grew by 24.6% year-on-year.
Talking about standalone financial performance. FY 2026 standalone performance. In FY 2026, total revenue stood at INR 1,081 crore. Adjusted EBITDA excluding ESOP expense stand at INR 67 crore, with a margin at 6.2%, up by 60 basis points year-on-year, mainly due to cost restructuring effort done in the organization. Adjusted EBITDA margin excluding tariff cost of INR 19 crore stands at 8% for full year. PAT stand at INR 69 crore compared to INR 55 crore in FY 2025. Quarter four standalone performance. For quarter four FY 2026, total revenue stood at INR 304 crore. Adjusted EBITDA excluding ESOP expense stand at INR 24 crore. EBITDA margin at 7.9%. Excluding tariff cost of INR 5 crore, adjusted EBITDA margin stand at 9.6%. PAT stand at INR 14 crore. Balance sheet highlights.
Our strong performance at the group level is reflected in our strengthened balance sheet. Net worth as on 31st March 2026 stood at INR 1,438 crore compared to INR 1,146 crore as on 31st March 2025. Cash and bank balance excluding cash earmarked for LC payments stood at INR 634 crore as on 31st March 2026 compared to INR 513 crore as on 31st March 2025. Working capital days stood at 43 days as on 31st March 2026. Return on capital employed stood at 28% as on 31st March 2026. Other highlights.
In line with our stated dividend policy and commitment to shareholder return, the company declared its second interim dividend of INR 8.50 per share, representing 170% of face value for FY 2025- 2026. The total dividend for FY 2026 stand at INR 14.50 per share, 290% of the face value. This is the highest ever dividend payout ratio by the company. It represent 25% of the group PAT of FY 2026. We are happy to share that the company has achieved a notable improvement in its credit profile with the long-term credit rating upgraded from BB B stable enough in 2021 to A stable for long term in 2026. We have been consistently improving our credit profile for last five years.
Concurrently, the short-term rating has advanced from ICRA A3 + to A1 +, underscoring our robust liquidity and operational resilience despite a challenging macroeconomic environment. Our installed capacity has crossed 100 million pieces milestone significantly ahead of our earlier target of H1 FY 2027. With Bangladesh ongoing CapEx expected to be completed by H1 FY 2027, this will further increase capacity by 6 million-7 million pieces during FY 2027 only from this CapEx. CapEx update for FY 2026, please refer to slide eight of the investor presentation. A CapEx of INR 250 crore has already been committed and is expected to be completed by H1 FY 2027. This timeline is in line with what was declared at the beginning of the financial year. CapEx planning for FY 2027.
We continue to build capacity and capability across group, and we are in the process of outlining CapEx commitment of INR 200 -INR 250 crore for FY 2027 across geographies. We'll update you further on detailed CapEx plan in the coming quarters. Couple of commitment which has already been approved by the board in quarter one are as follows. The company, through its step-down subsidiary company, DSSP Global Limited, Hong Kong, will be acquiring an additional 10% stake from minority shareholder in PT Pinnacle Apparels Indonesia for a consideration of $1.4 million. Post the acquisition, the company, through its step-down subsidiary, will hold 99.92% stake in PT Pinnacle Apparels Indonesia. We have also identified a land parcel in Vietnam and are at advanced stage of concluding the purchase.
The purchase consideration would be in the range of $ 2.5 million-$ 3 million. In summary, we have sustained the growth momentum built in earlier years. FY 2026 performance testament to the strength of the Pearl Global diversified business model, which has enabled us to sustain growth even in uncertain geopolitical environment. With this, I now hand over to the moderator to open the floor for questions and answer.
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 touch-tone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use their handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Bharat Gulati from Dalal & Broacha. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity, congratulations on a great set of numbers. I just had a question regarding, you know, growth that has come in in this quarter. India has seen a sharp degrowth of about 23%, and which predominantly is an India-heavy quarter, and its overall contribution last quarter from [32%] has dropped to [23%]. Whereas the other segment that we report in our audited results, that has shot up significantly on a QoQ and YoY basis to INR 214 crore, which I predominantly understand is Guatemala. Could you explain where that spike came in? Also, we've achieved profitability in that segment, so just wanted to understand the sustainability of that EBIT going forward.
Okay, I will start. Then Sanjay can add to it. See, what happened in India was we were under the very high tariff from U.S. market of almost 50%. Most of our retailers were pushing us to take out as much as goods from India and manufacture in the other countries. Still, like, certain customers, like, which we are serving only from India, we continue to pay the discounts and still continue to have the goods in India.
That's the reason you are seeing that the India total number has come down for this quarter. Why in this particular quarter? Because since August of 2025, this tariff was levied, and whatever was the existing order that we already had at that point of time were shipped out mostly by about December and Jan. That net impact of the U.S. tariff, or the reduction of business, specifically in India, came in this period of time. Other markets continued. Similarly, like most of these U.S. gain that we have in terms of the customers, the product share and other thing, that we took that advantage from the other locations of ours. In terms of numbers, Sanjay, you wanna give?
Thanks. There are these [two], [three] points which you mentioned in your queries. First is the growth in overseas business. Growth in overseas business is coming from the volume and the value-added product primarily from, you know, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia. That's the first part of the question, you know, which is there. Second is, I think you mentioned about sustainability of EBIT margin, which has been achieved, how sustainable it will be.
Given that, you know, we have mentioned earlier in our earlier earnings calls as well, that, you know, inherently, if you look at the business capability, once we exclude the reciprocal tariff and the initial ramp-up or set up cost in operation like Bihar, we have been consistently maintaining on delivering that 10% double-digit EBITDA margin. Having delivered now 10%, having achieved a 10% EBITDA margin for this quarter, after looking at all the strength and you know, addressing the inefficiency which is there, in some pockets, which you mentioned about the losses in Guatemala and Bihar, we are pretty confident at this stage to really maintain 10% EBITDA for the full year as we start FY 2027. Third question was about the gross margin.
The gross margin is largely a function of the product mix. Given the product mix we have, it's also a seasonal, you know, on a quarter four, if you are really referring to, that is something is a combination of the product mix, customer mix. Given the same consistency of the product and customer mix, we believe that profile will also continue for the same quarter. You know, every quarter is a different quarter because of seasonality in our business. That will continue. I guess these were the [three] points which were to be covered. I hope I have addressed all of them.
Sir, it was more specifically related towards the other segment that we report, which is primarily Guatemala, to my understanding. That has seen a huge spike up this quarter. Is that going to be sustainable on the top-line and bottom-line? Because we've delivered about INR 85 million in EBIT in that section and about INR 214 crore in terms of top-line. Is that run rate is going to be sustainable going forward, even as India business and everything comes back? Just trying to understand that.
Yeah. I would just like to correct here. In our segment reporting, we mentioned Hong Kong, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and others. [So what happened], Guatemala is part of our other segment where we have Indonesia as well, we have Dubai entity as well, we have U.S. entity as well. It's not Guatemala which is bringing the Q4 growth. It's, as I mentioned, the growth is coming largely because of the high value and the volume which is being driven in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia. That has been the large part of driving. As I mentioned that this gro`wth and this number are sustainable number on a year-over-year basis in the same quarter- by- quarter.
Sir, it would be fair to say that this quarter has been a huge spike up in Indonesia revenue, which has aided for the loss in revenues from India. That would be the right understanding?
All three. All three.
All three, as I mentioned. You know, see, we follow a [bill-to-ship-to] model. The Dubai, U.S. and Hong Kong, sorry, Dubai, U.S. and Indonesia, Guatemala all will be combined in that other segment. There is a growth of transaction in all these three geography, and that billing which happened to U.S. and Dubai happened for all the Bangladesh operation, also Vietnam operation and Indonesia operation. Largely, it is a combination of three entity which is really pushing the sale up. We believe that, you know, this will be sustainable. Yeah.
Got that. Got that. In terms of Guatemala, are we still in losses in Guatemala? Do we achieve the break even in the start of FY 2027, or will that take some time to achieve that break even?
Yes. Guatemala operations, we have reworked on the strategy of operations in Guatemala. Given that strategy, as we are in the first quarter of FY 2027, it seem that it is working out and we should be able to have break even in FY 2027. We'll keep you updating as progress happen during the quarter, but our estimate and our strategy, the way it is devised, is to really definitely achieve a break even in this year.
Got that, sir. Got that. Just in terms of EBIT, EBITDA margins for India, you know, excluding tariffs, we've achieved a 9.6% EBITDA in India. Can we expect this EBITDA to go to group levels by FY 2028? Just on where do we see this number going forward? Given that with such significant degrowth in top-line and deleverage, we still managed to get this margin in.
Yeah. As a part of quarter four for India, if you see the last year, we had 10.2% EBITDA. Seasonality-wise, if you look at India, the quarter four has always been the robust and will continue to be the robust. We are pretty confident that India also should generate definitely quarter four, specifically if I have to mention in FY 2027 as well, double-digit EBITDA. Our effort is to have high single-digit EBITDA for the full year. For sure, you know, as we accomplish that number, you know, in standalone result, that will get reflected in the group result as well on the higher side. It should show improvement there on.
Got it. Got it, sir. Just on, you know, the aim that we've set out for FY 2028 to have a built out capacity of 125 million-130 million odd pieces. Just trying to understand how much of that capacity that we add going forward from here, which is roughly some 25 million, 30 million odd capacity would be utilizable in FY 2028?
If you see, we continue to expand our capacity. Already we have given you the details of the Bangladesh expansion which started, and I think, those factories, the two units that we are setting up, one for washing and one for stitching garments. Both will be ready in the second half of this year. That I think ramp up will continue to happen within this year and the next year in terms of the output production. Similarly, you know, we, as you just heard, that we are also looking at Vietnam expansion because there is a good opportunity of business out there. We are buying a land and building up a greenfield project there as well.
All the details of that, what size of CapEx and all, will be told to you as we go through all the details in the next few quarters. In terms of India also, like we had started the Bihar factory, now it's in the ramping up phase. All these things, if you look at it today as I speak on 31st of, you know, looking at 31st of March, where we were. We were at 101 million pieces of our established capacity. Now, all of the factories are not running on full capacity or, we haven't hired all the people as yet because it's in the ramp up mode. As you know, in garments, like, you know, we go line by line.
Once the production establishes in one line profitability, then we go into the next. That's the kind of, you know, you'll always see that we are putting more and more capacity. By 2028, what we had foreseeing is that we should be having a established capacity of anywhere between 125 million-130 million, and we should be shipping around $100 million . Sorry, 100 million pieces to get to that target of INR 6,000 crore that we spoke about.
Got it. Just on realization, if I can squeeze in one last question. The tariff impact, once it goes out of our business, how much realization gain will that bring us? If you can just clarify that.
There will be gain, but very difficult to quantify from the point of view of how much the tariff cost will actually translate, because every season will start a fresh negotiation and a discussion and a fresh cost structure. Ideally speaking, you know, if you look at your number, there will be a definitely improvement. That's what is giving us a confidence that, you know, in this full year basis, we should be achieving a 10% EBITDA margin, which we factor into, you know, some of the cost which incurred in FY 2026 will not be there in FY 2027, and the operational improvement, which we just mentioned in your earlier question regarding Guatemala. I think these two factors, which we really analyze it and looked at it, gives us a good confidence of, you know, achieving a 10% EBITDA on a full year basis.
Would it be fair to say that realization from here would improve, at least not go down?
That's the target realization. We are already at INR 635, INR 640 per garment. I think it should continue or it should sustain and improve.
Per unit, you know, per unit, it also depends on what kind of ratio that we are ending up between knits and wovens and the customer base. That will be always, you know, depending on where the need is, what kind of, you know, demand that we are seeing from which segment of the customer base. If it is more of the Primark and other people like where the FOBs are less, so then that will swing the number to a little bit. That's something very difficult to predict. Yes, our overall goal is INR 600 +, as Sanjay mentioned, INR 630 and all.
Sorry to interrupt. Mr. Gulati, please join the queue for more questions. The next question is from the line of [Kishore] Kumar from Unifi Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, sir. First of all, congrats to the team for delivering such a resilient performance in Q4 and in FY 2026. Sir, I'd like to start with your comments on energy consumption region and its impact on the raw materials and the freight costs that you have mentioned in the set presentation. As you know, the cotton prices and the polyester yarn prices have increased a lot since the start of the war. How is Pearl Global managing this? Is the current pricing negotiation that we are actually doing with our customers reflecting the increase? Plus, given the increasing inflation all around the globe, particularly in the U.S., what are you hearing from your customers and how do you see the demand trend panning out in the coming quarters?
If I go one by one, first of all, the energy impact. Two parts to it. Whatever is the raw material cost increase that is coming because of this is visible to us as well as our customers. When we negotiate price, normally we give that visibility, okay, this is the raw material cost and this is our additional what value addition that we are doing. Generally, that impact is suddenly like, you know, if you book the business and after that some, you know, increase happens, then it impacts us.
Otherwise, that also at a maximum of about one to two month. That's, that's how, like, our industry, the impact should be less. Yes, because of energy impact, if manpower is missing or if something happens on that regard, then it will be another problem for us. What we see as of now, this, both these things are workable and manageable.
Okay.
In terms of demand trend that you're talking about in U.S. because of the current inflation, inflationary environment that U.S. is undergoing, surprisingly, like, you know, the resilience that we are seeing from the consumers and the buying pattern, that's definitely is quite good at this point of time. If you see, like if you compare with 2022 when the oil prices were in the similar range of INR 110 a [barrel], that time we saw that there's a huge drop in the consumer sentiments. We have not seen that in U.S. so far. Yes, the, you know, experts are talking about in the second half of U.S. there could be a little bit of, you know, more inflation and more slowdowns. Let's see. Like as of now, we are not seeing that trend.
Got it, sir. Just a follow-up. When we actually book a new order, we simultaneously place, fabrics from [crosstalk].
Yes.
Okay.
So as soon as the-
[crosstalk]
As soon as the order comes to us, yeah, immediately we place the business, and then the raw material costs are already fixed with the supplier.
Yeah. Great. Got it. Sir, also, you spoke about in the incremental capacity that we are actually bringing in in India and in Bangladesh, and the [EU] and U.K. FTA being the business which actually will come in the coming quarters. Given this actually the tariff cost, we actually moved some of the business from India to the other, regions. Do you see that coming back to India, which will actually can aid in the capacity utilization in the interim?
Yeah, I think, both are applicable. One, because of these FTAs we are seeing, a lot of interest, especially from the U.K. and EU customers, like who were earlier, if you see, if you study these customers, they were heavily penetrated in countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia and all, where because of their LDC status there was no tariff. Now that today, like if India opens up as a much more stable country, much larger country, definitely their preference would be to, you know, have a bigger presence in India. That trend is already started. Most of these customers we were already doing business in Bangladesh. They are in fact, engaging with us to grab some additional capacity in India. That's one thing that we can see already happening.
Whether these business of U.S. which were shifted to other countries will come back to India? Yes, for the ones that the raw material is easily available in India and is more competitive than the other countries, definitely it makes sense to produce those kind of goods in India. We will continue to take that call. In terms of our capacity, yes, what we are seeing is today the order book that we have and the capacity that we have in India, that's perfectly matching.
Understood, sir. Pretty clear. Also, sir, we were actually keeping a target of INR 6,000 crore top-line in FY 2028, and that translate to a [9% CAGR] over the next two years. Is that the minimum that you are targeting or should we key in actually, [12%-14%] that we are guiding for the last year?
12%-14% is something like we have been talking about as a CAGR that we have planned. Of course, there are certain years where we get more opportunity to grow the business, like it happened last year. We had a reasonable growth in Bangladesh and all. That's something like compared to that, like this year, because of tariff from U.S., with all the global, all countries of sourcing. There was definitely some kind of, you know, that growth pattern was slowed a little bit.
I think, yes, if the more opportunity comes, then we should be growing at a faster rate. At least we are ready in terms of our capacity. Otherwise, like, you know, the goal of INR 6,000 crore, as you said, is achievable even with a modest growth of 9% for the both three years. Yes, we are quite confident that we should be hitting that target and maybe more.
Got it. Lastly, a bookkeeping question. Given the incremental capacity that we are adding in India and in Bangladesh in H2, how much incremental startup cost should we actually factor in? The 10% that we are guiding for FY 2027, does it include the incremental cost? What is the incremental depreciation that we should key in?
Yes. It does factor into the incremental costs which will be incurred during the stabilization phase. In terms of the depreciation, if you look at our balance sheet, the capital work in progress is at INR 110 crore. This is largely pertaining to the Bangladesh factory expansion plan. There will be addition or, you know, there are some commitment already done. Some work is in progress in H1 of this year, which we said, you know, by that time the entire factory should be ready.
We should have another INR 40-INR 50 crore adding to that capitalization. Around INR 150 will be there as we see it as of now on account of the ongoing CapEx. Now, i f during the year, as we are evaluating the capital commitment across geographies, there can be a further addition, which we'll update you in the, maybe in the next quarter or, you know, if we have call any, anytime before.
Depreciation.
Depreciation will come around on that only.
Thank you. Sorry for interrupting. Mr. Kumar, please rejoin the queue for more questions. A reminder to all the participants, please restrict yourself for three questions per participant. The next question is from the line of Soham Samanta from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. Just wanted to check one thing. When you were saying INR 6,000 crore target for FY 2028, and on the other hand, we are saying our realization is INR 660, INR 630 now, and we are saying 100 million shipping target by 2028. Things are not matching. Do we look our realization declining for next couple of year?
Let me answer that. INR 6,000 crore is something that we talked about in 2023.
Three.
Yeah. That's the time that we gave ourselves this target. Naturally what you are seeing today in the last few years, like we have been ahead of that. If this trend continues, like which we as of now we are quite confident what we are seeing in this particular year. Naturally, it should be like, you know, quite more than INR 6,000 crore.
No, is it fair to assume [12%-13%] is achievable by looking the current trends?
Yeah. If our global leaders continue to be sensible, I think, that's the kind of, you know, rate that we have planned for.
Okay. In that case, if it is continuing that case, what is the driver like? Is it fair to assume that Bangladesh could be the largest driver in that business?
We tend to always in this period of last three to four years you have seen Bangladesh was contributing a major part of our total turnover. At the same time, we have been investing in the other market. For example, this year, if you look at overall growth, I think, Vietnam is more than the Bangladesh, the rate of growth that we have seen. That's with that, keeping in mind, we are continuing to invest in Vietnam, Bangladesh and India, like because India, despite the problems, we have not stopped, you know, increasing our capacity because we think these are temporary and at some point of time, it will be better. That's something like we are encashing upon at this point of time as this demand is coming back.
Okay.
We are investing in all the region, not specifically only to Bangladesh.
If we are to, we want to chase the number [12% - 13%] in that case, Bangladesh could be more than 20% growth are we looking for next couple of years?
So-
Yeah.
I think we look at a group level. We mentioned that 12%-14% CAGR is something we are working upon. Given that trajectory, you know, in one year, one origin will contribute more. In second year, the other origin will contribute because the capacity commercialization and is, you know, has a lag. It will keep on happening and, you know, the every country will contribute significantly. Overall at a group level, we are looking at 12%-14% growth to continue.
Got it. Sir, the last from my side that you said that double-digit, lower double-digit margin will continue. We expect that similar like 10%-11% margin will continue for two year, right, for FY 2027?
I lost your voice in between, sorry.
I was checking the margin.
Your question is about the margin? EBITDA margin, right?
Yeah, yeah. EBITDA margin for FY 2027.
Yeah. I mean, our trajectory is definitely 10%-12%. 10% is our first big milestone from, you know, the company perspective, given that, you know, the expansion which has been taking place. Yeah, I mean, we are looking at a range of 10%-12% in the coming years, starting with FY 2027.
Got it. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, please restrict yourself to three questions per participant. The next question is from the line of Abhishek Shankar from ICICI Direct. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my question. Congrats on a good set of results. My question was basically, when I see the inventory days, it is, you know, moved up a bit. Is it fair to assume that this inventory days movement is basically because of lower shipments in quarter four or maybe in the second half of the year because there was a lot of issues relating to the shipments?
That's also one way of looking at it. The second way of looking is that it also depicts the higher shipment which is expected in quarter one.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, thanks. That was the only question I have. If I have anything, I'll just join back to the queue. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harsh Dubey from [L.F.C.] Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Congratulations on good set of numbers, and very happy with the results. Just having one or two questions. First is when we talk about MUJI, I just wanted to understand, we do have numbers for the contribution from our top three clients from the perspective of how much as a vendor we contribute to their sourcing. Just from the MUJI perspective, since it is going to move from a tactical segment to a top tier, what is an expectation of MUJI contributing to our revenue and then, how much do we currently contribute to their vendor contribution, the supply that we do to them?
MUJI is a Japanese brand, as you know. They have been working with us for some time. Once the confidence get built up, they grew more rapidly in the last two to three years. We will continue to grow with them. We are, you know, at this point of time, we are in discussion with them to grow further. Both India and Bangladesh is the two countries that we are servicing from, and they are looking at the other country of origin as well, potentially as a source. In terms of total turnover from MUJI, we had already crossed about, I think, $65 million. Yeah. That will continue to grow. That's why like, you know, maybe your question is in the top six. Yes, it is figuring in the top six, and, we expect it to continue to be there.
Perfect. Just on this, just when MUJI has, like let's suppose when they are taking, you know, they have lot of vendors, how much as a vendor we contribute to their sourcing is one of the questions that I wanted to understand.
Unfortunately, that's not visible to me as yet. As we become more and more important to them and when I get that visibility, I can definitely share with them.
Of course.
U.S. customers, I have already said that, "Okay, we are at number one position or number two position or number three position." Yeah, with Japanese, it might take a little bit more time to get to that level.
Sure
Of transparency.
Sure. Perfect. Just on this, sir, when we say that, we have MUJI as a Japanese client, what I wanted to also understand is we said that we are also looking for other Japanese players to be onboarded as our client. Just as an example, is there a plan further to go with UNIQLO, which is one of the brands, Japanese brands, since you're already working with MUJI?
Yes, Japanese as a market, we are looking at more seriously and what are the opportunities are there. Specifically, if you're talking about UNIQLO, that's not on the priority because these two brands compete with each other to a certain extent. That's why like there are many other brands, or maybe like, you know, Fast Retailing has got a couple of more brands. Yes, all those are in the scope and we will be putting all the effort to have a couple of more customers out of Japan.
Perfect, sir. So on this, just another question. This will be having three parts. First is that, we were saying that we are expecting to add, you know, new client in India. So, any update on that as of now? Also the second part to the question is, we do say that, we are expecting approximately 12%-14% growth. As per my understanding, all the brands that we do cater to, have a growth rate right now of approximately 7%-8%. The other, extra 4% increment, will that be majorly through the vendor consolidation? Specifically, how much is Pearl Global expected to benefit from this vendor consolidation that is happening?
The addition of new clients, yes, as a group, we continue to add new clients. We go as per the need of the clients, which country of origin they are looking at and what kind of product they are looking at. Yes, anybody, once we identify, okay, these are the two or three clients that we should be working with, as I said earlier also, like, you know, what we do is we look at the growth of that client, their positioning in the market and their financial, how confident we are about their financials.
These three things are the ones like what we consider while adding a client. Specifically for India and other country, I think, that will be too immature for me to say at this point of time. Yes, we are continuously adding clients. Sorry, the second part of your question was in terms of 12%-14% growth. What specifically was that? Can you just repeat?
My question was, we say that 12%-14% is the revenue growth that we expect, but major of our clients that we serve to have 7%-8% of the growth. Are we expecting another 4%-5% growth coming from the vendor consolidation happening? How probably we are going to experience that vendor consolidation?
That's like, you know, gaining more and more wallet share of that particular customer by working very closely with them, giving them best of the services, best of designs. It's a variety of factor. You know, as per Pearl Global, one strength that they see is definitely a multi-location and multi-category. Both these, you know, factor also plays as we gain more and more wallet share from the same customer. That's why, like, you know, our growth rate, we expect at least to be better than theirs.
Thank you, Mr. Dubey. I would request you to join the queue for more questions. The next question is from the line of Bhavya Gandhi from Bajaj Alternative Investments Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, thanks for the opportunity, congratulations on good set of numbers. My first question is regarding the entire INR 250 crore CapEx that will it be enough to do capacity addition of 25 million- 30 million pieces, or will have to spend beyond INR 250 crore?
This INR 250 crore. First of all, let me break this question into two parts. The addition of capacity has always been a, and will always remain a combination of in-house facility plus the partnership facility. Both are under discussion at this point in time as we really speak. Part of it is factored in the CapEx program, which we just mentioned, about INR 252 crore for the next financial year. The one which is underway should add 6 million-7 million pieces from 200. We should be at 107 + additional 20 million pieces. That will be CapEx plus the additional partnership facility. There may be more CapEx beyond INR 250 crore as well, which is outlined for FY 2027. As we mentioned that we are evaluating it, this is a ballpark number given. The number of actual CapEx may be more than that as well. Yes, that's the intent.
Okay. Got it. Fair enough. Sir, last two, three years, you've taken various steps to increase the margins. I believe those have played out. Going forward, are there any further room for margin improvement? All these steps like something, like a laundry, that you had established in Bangladesh, and there were various other margin levers that you were predicting. You know, I mean, that would lead to margin expansion over the years. Are there still, room for margin expansion going forward?
Yes. Bhavya, very appropriately, you captured that point of laundry CapEx. That will not have an impact on the top-line, but it will improve the EBITDA margin. There is a improvement coming from that as well. 10% EBITDA, which we are confident for FY 2027, is largely operational EBITDA, which we think we should achieve it. Given that, you know, the way the business capability as of now has been established and demonstrated across the last four quarter and continue to be. Therefore, we state that, you know, journey of 10%-12% will be a combination of all these capital expenditure like laundry, and there may be other any other CapEx as well, which will improve the margin profile of the company. While we continue to work on the various customer and product profile to really bring more enhanced and value addition in overall margin profile of the company.
Got it, sir. For this 25 million- 30 million piece addition, have we already locked customers or are we seeing any visibility from the customers over next maybe couple of years or have we engaged with the customers for this new capacity addition that we are planning from a demand standpoint?
Yes, what we are saying is that we continue to grow with the existing customer, and then we also bring in the customer. Whether a customer has committed a number to us for this extra additional INR 25 million-INR 30 million over the next two years. I had mentioned this earlier also in our other calls that we do have certain strategic discussion with these customers where we get some amount of visibility. Whether, like it is everything is perfect and goes as per plan, it's not a long-term order that they're placing with us.
We do strategize with the customers which category they are buying from us and what are the additional category they will be buying from us in future, what is their size and requirement. That discussion continues to happen as we do it with our existing customer as well as when we add a new customer. We look for the opportunity, what is their requirement first, and once we get them on board, then we try to increase our wallet share with them by offering multi-location, multi category of product.
Thank you. Mr. Gandhi, please rejoin the queue for more questions. The next question is from the line of [Manju Vasani] from ASK Wealth Advisors Limited. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good evening to the management. Thank you for the opportunity. First on the on the on the top-line trend, now that the tariff situation has eased out and we have also increased the capacity and fairly, the capacity in India has also ramped up in the last few quarters. In this context, how are the discussions with the clients happening now? What is it that the clients are looking for now? Is there any improvement in the timeline of orders being placed with us, and is there some sense of utilization rate improvement that we have over and above what we have achieved?
I know Indonesia, Vietnam, et cetera, have had a very good improvement in utilization this financial year. From here on, what is the sense of visibility we have on the volume pick up, sir? I think the previous participant's question was also trying to address on the same lines. With capacities coming up, how quickly do we think we can build the production line also?
First part of it, like what's the trend that we are seeing in India? Because I think India is a country which got affected with the tariff.
Sorry to interrupt, sir. There's a background noise going on.
Yeah, Manju, if you can mute yourself. I think there's some kind of disturbance coming from your side. Thank you. Talking about India, like, that's where, like, we had this 50% tariff, and rest of the other countries, as we had noticed, that all were in the similar range of 20% or around. Yes, with this tariff moving away from India, definitely we are seeing a positive response from the customers. Also added to that are the other European Union and U.K. customers' interest because of the potential FTA implementation in the next few quarters or a year. Keeping that in mind, we are seeing good traction in the order books of India, so far, whatever we have seen.
I think, that's specifically that you were asking for, like how this Indian capacity is looking at. If you're talking about the global capacity, that's something, as I mentioned, like we continue to plan and discuss with our customers what product, what category that they are looking at. That's an ongoing process that continues.
Basically Vietnam is already at 80% utilization. On the existing capacity, you also talked about how you're looking for land banks to increase further capacity there, et cetera. With 80%, what would be the optimal utilization level, sir? Is 80 itself an optimal level, or you think it can stretch up to another 10 percentage points, close to 90% is the optimal level, when you will really look for additional capacity to garner higher, more business?
Yeah. As you have been talking to us for some time, you must have noticed that we try to keep a ratio of about 85:15 or 80:20, kind of, you know, how much we do in-house and how much we have to do it through our partner factories. In Vietnam, the situation is that, okay, we have got a good growth of all the capacity that we had offered to the customer. Now what we are seeing is that a majority part of it is being, you know, on the partners' capacity. This is a good time to invest there and get in-house capacities. That's the process that we are undergoing.
Whenever we publish our capacity, especially from India, from Bangladesh and Vietnam, where we do actively work with, you know, partner factories, and when we see that the proportion is going high in the partner factory, that's the right time to put our own, investment and CapEx. Does that answer your question?
Yes. Yes, that is helpful. You're saying incrementally you will look to add more capacity to partners' facilities rather than give away any business for the lack of capacity.
Yeah, yeah. Because if you are doing like 90% of the order from partner factory and 10% less, that's like a very skewed up ratio. Like the control becomes less. It should be a balance that has to be maintained.
Understood.
That's how we take that decision.
Got it. Just one last question from my end, sir. This year we had called out for INR 36 odd crore from the one-off impact from tariff. In a sense, when the adjusted EBITDA, what will become the base for the next year's growth from that perspective, if you see, it will be somewhere in the range of INR 514, INR 550 odd crore. Is that the correct reading, sir? Is there any change to that number?
468 + 36. I think you're calculating 468 + 36. That's the kind of number that you're talking about?
Yeah. Yeah.
If that's the case, like, let me just explain this breakup of this 36. For all other countries, the tariff was at a lower level, and for India, the tariff was at a much higher level. To most of our customers, they came back and say that, "Okay, what kind of burden share that you are doing with us?" Specifically for India, they wanted to have that 25% of penalty to be borne by us. Naturally, from India, we had to give more discounts compared to the other countries. Some of this tariff is still continuing at 10% level as of now. There are some burden share that we'll continue to do. Maybe the 36 number will come down significantly. It may not be zero, with U.S. specifically.
Understood. Is it right to think, put a number of, let's say, INR 5-INR 8 odd crore could continue to be the tariff related costs which we may have to bear? Is that a right understanding? I'm just looking for some quantification there, sir.
I mentioned earlier as well, you see there will be definitely some flow. Since the cost will not be there, that should lead to improvement in the margin. Every season is new costing, new product, and since the tariff is not there, that will not be part of the costing. We hope that, you know, that will certainly result into some gain at a margin profile also.
Sorry for interrupting. Ma'am, please rejoin the queue for more questions. The next question is from the line of Shirish Pardeshi from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Hi, Pallab, Mr. Gandhi, thank you for the opportunity. I have just one question on the design and marketing. Generally the design is one of the, one of the pillar of attracting new clients. What number of people, what number of designs we would have churned in last one year, and how this segment will scale up over the next two, three years? I mean, I understand capacity expansion will happen, but we need the customer trust will be based on the designs.
Design and capability both.
Yes.
What we do is, if you, if you follow, we have been investing in the design staff and also in the country where the sales are happening. That means, whether it is European countries like Spain and all, where we have a significant exposure. Similarly for U.S., for U.K., and these are places like we have invested in the design team who work very closely with the customers. What kind of trend, what are the requirements that they have. That's definitely plays in our favor. Exactly how much of number and all, of samples? Yes, the numbers are quite significant always, but I do not have a exact number to be shared with you as of now.
What is the employee base we had in 2025, and what is in 2026, and what is it that you're looking for next two, three years?
Yeah, yeah. Design staff, if you talk about, yeah, we are almost like, you know, we used to be in the range of 70, 75. Now it's almost crossing 100. That continues to grow. Like, as we get more clients, depending on their needs, their handwriting, we have to continue to invest in the design staff. We do that. Also, the second part is more than the design staff is the technology of design. There are a lot of, you know, technical advantage that is coming through. Like for example, the 3D designs, then AI, you know, rendering on those 3D designs, which improves the sales and the adoption. Those are also playing an important role. Both these investments go hand in hand.
Okay. Same question on the marketing investments in terms of front-end staff, in terms of business development. What was the number in 2025 and 2026?
Every region we have leaders, the CEOs, who are working. What we do at the leadership level, we front-end couple of customers. Some would be done by me, some would be done by my Vietnam counterpart or like the Bangladesh. That how, like, we the leadership position goes. Then depending on any customer that we are acquiring or adding, and if it's a sizable number, so definitely then we try to give them more, you know, dedicated service. Most of the customers, like we built up dedicated teams, and that's how this game gets played. If you want the details, there are a lot of details out there.
There would be some maybe design staff, there would be merchandising staff, sourcing staff, sometimes like, you know, all the approvals that they allow us to do, technical approvals and all, so those kind of staff. We built it up continuously, as we acquire the customers.
See, I got that, Pallab. What I wanted to check with you that is there any target that we are looking for adding two or three or four customer in every quarter? There's a lot of work which will happen starting from design capability, showing them how sustainable, how technological advanced we are. Is there any number you can share?
That particular part. Yeah. You see, like we already have that, you know, the core staff which is generating the new designs and the new which can be shown to every customer or even the new customers also. That part remains constant. As the new customer gets on board, then we start investing in terms of more people dedicated to that particular customer. We are in conversation with all, you know, the ones that we have targeted, where we feel that they are doing very well and they are growing and we should be with them. That kind of list is always there. Now, how many of them will be converted in which quarter?
That means like how many will place new orders to us or new clients will be ordering to us in every quarter? That's more difficult to predict because sometimes this onboarding takes maybe years. A marquee customer like we recently added, we have been at it for more than two years. When that opportunity comes, when they need something different or they need a different, you know, location or a different product, that's the time where they would be entertaining us to start placing the business.
Before that, it's more of a conversation, what we can do, what we can't do, what is their requirement. Yeah, so it's very to put a number would be difficult, but that's a continuous process that we have. What we do is that we generally, publish like, you know, the new addition that has happened in the last five years, what is the contribution to our total top-line. That we'll continue to do.
Okay. All right. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. In the interest of time, that was the last question for the day. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sanjay Gandhi for closing comments.
Thank you to all participant. With positive industry development in the future, given the tariff and the reciprocal tariff and the penalty is not there, we across the geographies are feeling at Pearl Group a lot of optimism as we step into the new financial year. Of course, there are challenges across which we are navigating well. With a diversified manufacturing base, new capacity addition, ongoing expansion plan, and a strong relationship with global retailers, Pearl Global is entering FY 2027 well-positioned for continued profitable growth.
We remain confident of sustaining this momentum beyond FY 2027 as well, driven by our expanded footprints, strengthened capabilities, and deeper customer engagement, enabling long-term value creation. I hope we have been able to address all your queries. For any further information, kindly get in touch with Shishir, our Head of Investor Relations, or [Strategic Growth Advisors], our investor relations advisor. 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.