Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and welcome to the Rolex Rings Limited Q4 FY 2026 earnings conference call. Before we begin, a brief disclaimer. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectation of the company as on date of this call. These statements are not the guarantee of future performance of the company, and it may involve risk and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant lines will remain in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal the operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I will now hand the conference over to Mr. Hiren Doshi, Chief Financial Officer of Rolex Rings Limited, for opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good morning and warm welcome to everyone present on the call. Along with me, I have Mr. Manesh Madeka, our Chairman and Managing Director of Rolex Rings Limited, and SGA, our investor relations advisors. I hope you have all received our investor deck by now. For those who have not, you can view them on the stock exchange and the company website. Fiscal year 2026 has been a year that has tested our resilience, challenged us in numerous ways, and ultimately reinforced our conviction in the long-term opportunity that lied ahead for Rolex Rings Limited. We navigated one of the most complex external environments in the recent memory, held our business together with discipline, and came out the other side of with our fundamentals intact, our relationships with strengthened, and our future looking genuinely exciting.
Before I speak about fiscal 2026, I want to take a moment to reflect on the bigger picture that we, Rolex Rings, were admitted to corporate debt restructuring, that is CDR, in 2013, a period that tested every part of this organization. We stayed the course, focused on building a better business, and by 2022, we had fully exited CDR by clearing all dues to our lenders. That was a defining moment for this company. In March 2026, precisely on 31 of March 2026, Rolex Rings has honored its right of recompense obligation in full, making total payment of INR 101 crores to our consortium lenders. Every commitment made to every lender has now been met. The slate is completely clean. This is a statement of character.
This company made a promise, and it kept it. With the ROR now fully settled, we enter the next phase of our journey with no legacy obligations, no covenants, no restrictions. We are entirely free to focus on what matters most. That is the building a great business and rewarding the shareholders who believed in us. In April 2026, our board approved a buyback of 1 crore shares at INR 180 per share, aggregating to INR 180 crores. The promoters group has chosen not to participate, ensuring that full benefit of this buyback flows directly to all public shareholders. Coming to operating fiscal FY 2026. FY 2026 was not without its challenges.
The sharp escalation of U.S. import tariffs, which peaked at over 50% on our auto components, created significant headwinds in our export business, particularly in the commercial vehicle and heavy commercial vehicle segment that makes up the core of our U.S. exposure. At the peak of the tariff uncertainty, a major customer temporarily shut down the relevant plant entirely when duties import tariffs moved from 3%- 53%. Our supply to that program went to almost zero. On an annualized basis, our U.S. exports were approximately 30% lower than what we had in fiscal 2025. Yet, I am pleased to report that despite this disruption, we held our ground. We maintained our momentum. Full year revenue from operations came in at INR 1,144 crores, broadly in line with last year revenues.
We more than compensated for the U.S. shortfall through strong growth in Europe and a robust domestic performance. That ability to pivot, diversify, and recover in real time is what makes this business resilient. Revenue from Europe grew by almost 25% during the year compared to previous fiscal. Out of that, 60% of our new business nominations came from European customers only. This is a strong and direct endorsement of our product quality, delivery track record, and engineering capabilities. The relationships we have built over decades with global bearing and automotive Tier 1 companies are paying off in a very tangible way. India continued to perform well. Domestic revenue grew by 50% year-on-year, with both bearing rings and auto components contributing meaningfully.
Our domestic business has grown steadily over the last few years, and we are now seeing a broader set of Indian OEMs and industrial customers recognizing the quality and competitiveness of our products. Though we face challenges in the U.S., I want to be clear we have not lost a single U.S. customer. These are long-standing relationships with leading global customer base, and the programs are intact. The disruption was tariff-driven and temporary. With duties now normalizing, we expect U.S. order flows to resume meaningfully from Q1 of current fiscal, that is FY 2027. Coming to the operating numbers, operating margins. Our gross margin expanded meaningfully from 49.4%- 51.5% in fiscal 2026, reflecting the positive shift in product mix towards higher-value machined auto components and a better raw material management.
The quality of our revenue is improving, and that is a trend I expect to continue in coming years. Even as the U.S. import tariffs created revenue headwinds, we had EBITDA margins above 20%, a testament to the underlying quality of our business, the strength of our customer relationships, and our ability to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. Auto components now contributing almost 50%+ revenues. Going ahead, we continue to maintain it at 50%. This shift in business mix will be a driver of margin expansion going forward. I want to draw your attention to two specific items that together explain the substantial increase in my other expense breakup in Q4 of FY 2026, which are not indicative of any structural cost increase in the business. Both these expenditures are a kind of one-time expenditure.
The company has spent almost INR 22 crore by way of payment of customs duties at U.S. Out of that, almost 50% of that are yet to be receivable from the customers. On a prudence way, on a conservative way, we have recognized entire expenditure in this quarter, but the revenue is yet to be recorded in the top line, which would be there in the first and second quarter. Apart from that, we incurred approximately INR 6 crore, which is INR 60 million, in legal and professional expenses directly related to the closure of our right of recompense settlement with consortium lenders. This is again a one-time charge that will not recur. Both these things have made some abnormality on the face of my operating numbers as far as other expenses are concerned.
Our business generated INR 190 crores in our operating cash flow and spent hardly INR 36 crores on CapEx, leaving substantial free cash for the company to deploy. Looking ahead to FY 2027, one of the most exciting developments of FY 2026 was the adding new plants of our existing customers based at various locations. With few of the European customers, we have not presence in their U.S. and Mexico-based plant, which we got the program, which we got the orders in the previous fiscal. These programs are on track to ramp up meaningfully from Q1 of FY 2027 onwards. We step into FY 2027, the business environment feels more favorable than a year ago. First, the U.S. is coming back. Tariffs have normalized, customers who were in a wait-and-watch mode through FY 2026 are now reengaging.
We expect U.S. orders to recover from Q1 of current fiscal 2027. The 30% revenue decline we experience in the U.S. through FY 2026 is entirely recoverable, and the pace of recovery will depend on how quickly our customers rebuild their inventory pipelines and production schedules. Second, Europe continues to fire. The growth momentum what we built in fiscal 2026 is continuing into fiscal 2027, and more than 60% of our new program what we awarded from the customers are from European customers only. We have genuine structural tailwinds in Europe, a combination of China Plus One sourcing strategies, our qualification track record, and the long-term relationships we have cultivated with global Tier 1 companies. Third, our domestic business has strong legs. India's automotive and industrial markets continue to grow.
We are also beginning to see early contributions from EV and industrial programs, segments that we believe will become increasingly meaningful over the next two to three years. Rolex Rings has come a long way from CDR to debt-free, from financial stress to surplus cash, from a single geography dependence to a truly diversified global customer base, from a pure forging company to vertically integrated precision machine components manufacturer. Every step of this journey has been earned in last couple of decades. Fiscal 2026 was a year that reminded us that no business is immune to external disruption. It also reminded us that a business built on the strong fundamentals, deep customer relationships, operational discipline, and a capable team can weather, can face any storm.
As I look ahead to fiscal 2027 and beyond, I see Rolex Rings as a company that is well-capitalized, well-positioned, and well-prepared for the next phase of growth. Our ambition remains unchanged to be the most trusted precision forging partner for the world's leading bearing and automotive OEMs. We are well on our way. With this, I would like to thank all the participants who have joined. Now I request, we can now open the floor for Q&A session.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Any one who wishes to ask a question press start and one on your touchtone telephone . If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue you may press star and two. Participants are expected to use their handset when asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen we will wait for a moment while the question queue assemble. Ladies and gentlemen if you wish to ask a question please press star and one. Ladies and gentlemen a reminder if you wish to ask a question please press star and one. We take the first question from the line of Mihir Vora from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thank you for taking my question. Sir, my question basically is on the current situation which we are seeing is geopolitical issues. Are we seeing any sort of, you know, order delays from the customers, freight cost increases, and what kind of issues are we facing currently, or is, you know, sort of the situation still in control?
Yeah Mihir, as you said rightly, the freights are a bit increasing, but the positive side is that we didn't have any indication of differing or delaying the orders as of now. For last couple of months, that is from March 26 onwards, our customers are came back on the track, and they are rather giving us forecasting or dispatch schedules as per their original program. We do not expect much of the discrepancies from now, subject to this geopolitical reasons if further it will not escalate.
Just so in the terms of container availability, is it a issue or is it not an issue as of now? Like how are we seeing that?
It is. Partially it is, somehow we are trying to manage, you know, we are trying to get the containers maybe by giving some premium on that just to meet the customer production schedule and honoring their dispatch schedules. We are trying to manage. There is a delay of, you know, maybe two to three weeks on availability of container and maybe a bit of extended transit days also. We try to manage our inventory at our warehouse and the consignment shop. That's true that we are getting some difficulty in containers. We expect that to be resolved maybe in coming days.
Okay. Just a follow-up on this one. Yeah. Like, see, there are cost increases in terms of freights and commodities. What is our normal pass-through period for us in terms of overseas customers? Is it a quarter lag or a two-quarter lag?
With the majority of our overseas customer, we have a quarterly pass on for the raw material cost. Maybe with the couple of customers, it's on a half-yearly base kind of thing.
Okay. Okay. Okay. My second question is just something bookkeeping. Can you give me the segment-wise number which you regularly give on the call that is domestic bearing, export bearing?
Yeah. For the fiscal 2026, I'm telling you a domestic bearing rings is INR 386 crores. I'm rounding up to crores. Domestic auto components, it is INR 170 crores. Export bearing rings, it is INR 154 crores. Export auto components, it is INR 350 crores. All put together, it's almost INR 1,060 crores. It's only components. Scrap revenue, INR 71 crores. Export incentives is INR 13 crores.
Okay.
Gross revenue
Okay.
INR 1,143 crores.
Okay. Okay, got it. Got it. Okay, I'll follow back in the queue. Thank you.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Anubhav Mukherjee from Prescient Capital. Please go ahead.
Sir, thanks for the opportunity. Sir, what could be the tariffs that U.S. tariffs that we are currently like facing for bearing rings and auto components?
See, as of now, our product falls under Section 232 and it comes under the duty tariff of 25% at U.S.
Both the products like both the rings and auto components.
Certain kind of industrial bearing depends on their, you know, tariff HSN and classification, which are there under 18%, but majority of them are in 25%. Auto components it is a 100% under 25%.
Get that. Sir, will it be possible to share the state of exports by geography like U.S., Europe?
You want the precise in the numbers or the percentage of our revenue?
Either will be fine.
Okay. Let me tell you of my total revenue, U.S. is somewhere about to touching to 23%, whereas Europe again is almost 22%. Mexico, Canada, and some others all put together couple of percentage and remaining 54% is there in domestic.
Sir, thanks for sharing that. Sir, I have a basic question. In your investor presentation it was mentioned that the domestic bearing ring market is somewhere around INR 2,200 crores, as far as I remember. Like, will it be possible to share what kind of market share do we have in that?
See, the what we have shared or rather what we have stated in the presentation that is overall bearing rings business which is consisting of quite a wider range. In our addressable segment, say from a 20 mm inner diameter to 900 mm outer diameter product range, and again, particularly from the hot forging route, what we envisaging or rather we expect that overall market is somewhere about INR 1,600 crore-INR 1,800 crore domestic market, wherein we do have a share of almost 30% of that business.
Get that. Sir, this is entirely catered by domestic manufacturer or is there any import component at all?
Partially, it is there. Still there are certain import constituents are there. Certain kind of non-availability of higher range of the products that those are still under import. Let me tell you, those components have significantly reduced in compared to what we had before two years back. There is an potential to producing or rather there are import substitute or Indian manufacturers are getting better chance to produce those components also.
Get that. Sir, final question from my side is like, what portion of our revenue is like actually fully machined and, those, like, components?
Almost 85% of my revenue it is machined components revenue and, for 15% of my component revenue is from only, through forge products or rather through only forging process.
Get that. sir, what will be our current utilization across both [KGVL
My utilization is almost same what we had. As you have seen that my top line is almost at same, this thing. We are in the range of 62%-63% of utilization of my available or achievable capacity.
Get that. Thanks. I'll get back in the queue.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and one. We take the next question from the line of Saurabh Jain from Suni dhi Securities. Please go ahead.
Hello. Yeah, good morning, sir. I have a couple of questions. One is on gross margin. This quarter we saw substantial expansion in the gross margin. If you can, you know, throw some light on what was the reason. Was it entirely because of the product mix or anything else? Also if you can, you know, guide us on what kind of growth are we looking at for FY 2027 and FY 2028. Yeah, that's all.
Okay. Taking to your first question, yes, as you rightly said, the major portion or rather major factor for incremental GP or gross margin is because of the product mix only, that is well. Apart from that, there are Some revenue, as I told initially also that the custom duties, you know, what we have already received in the second quarter, third quarter from the customers, that has been accounted as in a part of total revenue. Cutting out that one, my major factor of this incremental GP margin is due to product mix and even due to change of the steel from, say, overseas to domestic on certain product processes. That is the main reason. Coming to the next part of your question, that is, growth for FY 2027, FY 2028.
Would like to inform that for fiscal 2027, what we expect as on date is in maybe a mid-teen growth, 15%-17% growth, something like that. Again, same kind of growth would be there or maybe income, maybe a bit on higher, high-teen growth in the fiscal 2028. That is on the basis of the orders, programs, what we have already won and the ramp-up, what it would be there. I have not considered the any kind of, you know, additional revenue, what we have lost during this last one and a half year because of this geopolitical reasons, tariff war, et cetera. That would be an additional to my overall revenue, whatever the addition.
As I told you, initially that 30% of my U.S. business has, you know, lost in this particular fiscal of overall revenue. We expect at least 50% of that would be added again back to my normal practice minimum in the first half only, and the remaining, again, it would be increasing in the second half. Again, conservatively, I would like to stick on that. We are expecting somewhere about 15%-17% growth in fiscal 2027, and obviously high-teen or even beyond that for fiscal 2028.
Okay. Sir, my next question is on CapEx over the next two to three years, because of course we are running at lower utilizations. In case if we want to diversify a bit because we have a cash position of INR 367 crores. Another question is on now we are out of financial income range. What kind of dividend policy are we looking at with not any significant CapEx and substantial cash on the books?
As you say that we had a huge amount of cash surplus, at the same time we have already announced this buyback, which is of INR 180 crores. That would be and some kind of, you know, initiation to honoring the stakeholders, and wherein particularly promoters have not taken, not going to participate. That is one. Apart from that, what you've asked is for the dividend, definitely we are in process or rather we are in the thought process to, you know, even offer for the dividend. We would like to preserve some cash with the company. As you know that ours is a capital-intensive industry.
No doubt we do have capacity, spare capacity available, but there are certain kind of range of the products where the equipments are almost 80%-85% capacity utilization. In that segment we need to capitalize or we need to incur CapEx year-on-year basis. There would be a minimum INR 30 crore-INR 40 crore bare minimum CapEx plus maintenance CapEx, et cetera, that would require for a year-on-year basis. As I told you, the situation, the geopolitical disturbances and there are uncertainties still prevailing into the overall global economy. We would like to be with some kind of conservative as far as our surpluses are concerned. That would like to be there in the company.
Again, it is not, it doesn't mean that we are not going to distribute profit to the stakeholders. That is again in the next agenda of our line item. First, we would like to honor this buyback and thereafter we may think further on that.
sir, INR 50 to 50 odd crores of annual CapEx, is that right, for this year and next fiscal?
Broadly, yes. Yes.
Okay. That's all from my side, sir. Thank you. Wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Nishita Sanklesha from Sapphire Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hello. Most of my questions have been answered. I just had a question on order book, if you could quantify the order book we currently have and the order book we expect, the order book pipeline in FY 2027.
See, in my case, customers are giving broadly awarded a program for five to seven years. Then once the program starts, SOP starts, you know, it will drill down on a forecast of three to six months kind of thing for the overseas customer. For the domestic it would be maybe a couple of months or something like that. If I'll tell you as of now, I do have a monthly order book for next three to four or three to six months even till the first half of this fiscal, current fiscal, on an average, INR 115 crore-INR 125 crore dispatches planned for this first half on a monthly basis.
Okay, okay. Any order book pipeline that I see?
Yeah.
That you mentioned that really.
Pipeline. As I told you earlier, that, you know, the certain order programs, what we won in fiscal 2026, those have just started with a volume of maybe 10%, 15%, 20% kind of thing. Those orders further will be ramped up to 50%, 60% of their overall peak level, and that would be ramped up in this current fiscal during these four quarters of something in there, in first, second, third, fourth and onwards. These are the. Apart from that, we are also in, you know, a process or rather in dialogues with couple of new customers for the new program. In our business, in our industry, the new customer evaluation and final program, meaning it's a validation activity of more than 15-18 months.
If it is a critical component for the auto application, definitely this time may extend more than 18 months. With the new customers, with the new plans of our existing customer with whom we are in dialogue as of now, that would be recognized maybe down the line one and a half year or somewhere in fiscal 2028.
Okay, okay. Understood. Just wanted to understand, how has the current geopolitical situation affected our inventory days, if they have affected?
Inventory days are bit stretched, not significantly, but we try to manage. You know, in between fiscal 2026, we have also reduced dispatches as our customers at U.S. are facing some kind of slowdown and they're partially shut down, something kind of thing. We have stopped and good amount of our consignment inventory have already been consumed. Will not have significant impact as far as the inventory days are concerned. Definitely we do have imports also, wherein the transit period has bit stretched. I think in next three to four months that thing also will be settled, so there would not be any significant impact on inventory days.
like, what is the range we expect our inventory days to be around?
Sorry?
What is the range that we expect our inventory days to be around, like any specific number?
On cut-off date, on an annual, you know, if you check my annual numbers, audited numbers, wherein the inventory which is in transit has also been considered as my, you know, sales which is in transit is considered as my inventory because of my Incoterms with the customer. If I'll move out that portion, I would be having somewhere about 70- 85 days of inventory. Considering that sales in transit, it would be touching 150 or 160 days.
Okay, okay. Understood. That is it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Participants, a reminder: If you wish to ask a question, please press star and one. We take the next question from the line of Jason Soans from IDBI Capital. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you so much for taking my question. My first question, just for context, I know you gave the breakup for 2026 revenue. Just wanted the breakup for the 2025 revenue, sir, in terms of segment export bearing rings, export automotive in those segments.
Yeah. Can you note it down?
Yeah.
Fiscal 2025, the domestic bearing rings was INR 329 crores. Domestic auto components, INR 177 crores. Export bearing rings, INR 155 crores. Export auto components, INR 399 crores. That it was INR 78 crores. Export incentives . INR 16 crores. One sec. INR 16 crores.
Sure, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much for that. Now, I just wanted to know, you spoke in detail, sir, about the outlook and all. Just, sir, wanted to know, how is the domestic demand outlook looking, you know, things have been little weak for us this year. Now going there was some slowdown in the bearing segment and all that. Just with regards to the big three in terms of the bearing manufacturers, how is the demand looking on the ground, localization and all they were speaking about the effects on the ground, et cetera, in terms of India. Just wanted to know how is the domestic traction looking, sir, in terms of the demand for bearing rings?
I'm bit more bullish on domestic bearing ring business also because if you see in fiscal 2025, what we had is somewhere about INR 329 crore revenue, whereas in FY 2026 it has gone to INR 386 crore. More than 15%, 17% growth, 18% growth in the domestic bearing ring business only. We expect to remain it continue. Again, as I was mentioning that 13 or good amount of import substitute have already been started producing in domestic market, those will be in continue. We expect our customers are also growing as far as their capacity, as far as their production, the numbers are quite encouraging.
We are getting good response or good reward from them also in terms of order winning. Let me tell you, one of the domestic customer who, with whom, maybe before one and a half years back I was almost at zero. Today I'm of my monthly revenue, maybe 3.5%-4% of my revenue that goes to only that one bearing manufacturer. My existing other customers like big OEMs,sorry big bearing manufacturers, I got an incremental component increase as well as the current volume of the existing products from both the way. From almost my four customers out of six customers.
Only we are facing some kind of, you know, stagnancy as far as the industrial bearings or a bigger size of bearings are concerned, where entire industry is also facing such issue.
Okay. Sure, sir. Sir on this, you did mention that the tariff, of course, the tariff situation last year has been pretty volatile. It was first half, I believe it was at 53%, then it came down to 28%. Sir, on the average portfolio, you said tariff was 25%. Considering that, we see the good demand coming in from the U.S. going into FY 2027?
Yeah. As of now, my customers are, you know, just for last, very frankly, for last four months, five months, there was not a change in any kind of duty structure except that, you know, the Supreme Court decision what it came out. Now, the further how it would be, we don't know. Unfortunately that Supreme Court decision do not cover this Section 232. In our product it is 25% as of now, which my customers have also accepted. The markets has of their OEM also accepted that one. You know, these 25% on my component may not be a substantial on the overall assembly what my customer is selling to their OEMs. I think my customer and OEMs are well prepared with this 25% base.
For last two and a half months, again it came on track. Further if whatever the loss we had in the previous fiscal, we expect that it would be come on the back on the track on a monthly revenue what we had prior to that.
Okay. The customers have accepted this 25%, and now you think things should improve from your end. Right?
Yes. Yes.
Okay. Okay. Sure. Sure. Just, I mean, you have, you know, mentioned in the presentation also that there's a customs duty, due to which the other expenses have gone up. What I understand is, would that mean that, you know, when it was 53%, you paid a lot more and there is some reimbursement supposed to come? How come? Because for me it's a little unclear on how that other expenses-
Exactly. Exactly.
Has gone up.
You right clearly understand that, you know.
Yeah. Yeah. Yes.
In a more in between portion, I have paid 53% of, you know, customs duty.
Right
My customers are going to reimburse me 25%, which are yet to be recognized. You know, even post decision of the Supreme Court, I'm supposed to get some kind of refund from the U.S. government. Out of that refund, you know, partially we are supposed to pay back to my customer also. Whatever I'm supposed to pay back to my customer that I have already recognized in my expense, I'm conservatively, I have not re-recognized the revenue or rather the inflow, what I'm expecting in this quarter, maybe by September 26.
That would be added back straight to my revenue when, as and when I receive.
Okay. Sure. Sure. Sir, just one thing. I mean, when before October, I believe it was 53% or something like that. I mean, you must have booked the revenue as well as the customs duty as well. Why there is a lag?
No.
Why would there.
Not directly, you know, one-to-one kind of thing. There is a consignment arrangement with my customer. The duty applicability, for me it is as and when the goods are cleared for at U.S. customs, but for my customer as and when they lift the material from the warehouse, you know, they are going to pay back me, accordingly as per the credit terms. There is a time lag in between that.
Okay. Okay. You are saying some of those goods still have to be lifted by the customer.
And-
When they lifted the revenue will come into your top line and the excess, let's say 53% you have paid. Whatever differential that also will come through.
Uh, uh.
Is it like a retrospective?
Yes. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
That is what yet to be recognized. Whatever the, you know, even the consignment which is there at my warehouse or rather a nominated warehouse at U.S., those are entirely duty paid and that has been already recognized.
Okay. Sure. Thank you, sir. Thank you for that. Sir, also one question I had is, Europe also was pretty weak in the initial part of the year, you know, when you go back 12 months. Now Europe seems to have improved quite a bit. You know, you were talking about good outlook. Anything Macroeconomically also Europe was pretty weak. Even peers are saying that Europe is seeing good demand improvement. Anything which has changed on the ground materially in terms of policies or something which is bringing back growth in Europe?
See, definitely there are certain kind of stimulus, some kind of, you know, boosting to just revive the European economy. The industries or the consumption, the production, which was almost zero at Europe level. Even as of now, they are facing some kind of inflationary for this conversion cost, power cost and other remaining, you know, labor issues, et cetera. The demand, end-use demand retaining that is being started off and that is why the reason, you know, the orders or rather the quantum which has reduced in fiscal 2024, 2025, that has came up again. For me, the good part is that we got a new orders from my customers as well as for the new plants, which was completely zero to me.
Even as of now, they are at, say, 30%-40% of their production, but it is a 100% growth to me when they add back this 30%-40% to me.
The first half, maybe till July 25, we had initially just started some kind of initial dispatches and then the ramp up has started. Though it has not significantly ramped up in current fiscal, that is fiscal 2026. Particularly in the last quarter of fiscal 2026, that is Q4, we had a good thing from the Europe and that will remain continue and to be increased in fiscal 2027.
Sure. That's good. That's good, sir. Sir, one, you know, you had given an update on the INR 1.75 billion of order inflows which you're expecting. Of course, I know that this year has been very, very volatile with tariffs and all. Most of that, those orders at pipeline which you had mentioned that was in Q3, FY 2025, is that on track or how is that? I just wanted an update on those order inflows which you had mentioned.
See, let me tell you, the order book of 100 and this INR 1.75 billion, what you were mentioning.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
You know, we told it that somewhere in December 2024 that we are expecting these kind of revenue on the basis of the order book, in fiscal 2026. Right?
Let me tell you, out of that, you know, partially it was from, U.S. and partially from Europe.
Europe has turned around with the certain positivity, we got a hit in U.S. business. Out of that 175, you know, maybe INR 75- INR 80 odd crore business, something we were able to add into my fiscal 2026 business, remaining not. Of that program, you know, couple of programs are still on hold at U.S. I'm not considering that thing in my fiscal 2027 estimation, beyond that, all the orders are on track. Apart from these INR 1.75 billion overall business, we got new orders from European customers which further would be added. Partially it was started, few orders are still on hold, the remaining would be added in fiscal 2027 along with the new orders what we went from European side.
In this current fiscal, that is, fiscal 20 27, I expect again, on the basis of the order and all this, you know, previous fiscal order pendency, et cetera, all put together again INR 165 crore revenue would be added apart from my existing business.
Mm-hmm. Sure, sure. Sir, just one thing, just on the tariff thing again, just some clarification, just one thing. Now again, 31st October before it was 53%, now it is 25%. Just wanted to understand, if it's 53%, when the tariff has been reduced to 25%, are we getting that extra money back also? As in, what I meant to say is that extra 28% what we paid, is it going to come back or is that gone and now it's 25% from now on? Just wanted some clarification on that.
See, as per the Supreme Court judgment.
you know
Yeah
till November, my product was classed, was not there in the list of 232 Section.
Whatever the duty I have paid during that point, till that point of time, it would be refunded.
duty which has implied because of IPA, right? That will be refunded. Beyond that, say from November 25 onwards, whatever the duty I have paid, which is 25%.
Yeah
I'm not going to get back because that is under Section 232.
Okay, okay. Before October, that what you paid, 28% roughly, you know, just that you will get refunded, which should be a good amount. That is very positive point.
See, it is not there for the entire till October 31 I will get, I was paying 28% or rather 53%.
Right.
There were a portion, prior to that it was 28%. There was a portion prior to that it was, 13%. Right?
It starts from that thing. This 13%, 28% and 53%, there is a basic, the duty which was already there, 2.97, prior to this IPA tariff or this thing. That would not be refunded.
It is a question of 10%, additional 10%, additional 25% and additional 50%. Out of that, whatever I have paid till 31 of October, under IPA tariff, that would be, I'm expecting refund on that amount, not beyond that.
There are certain litigations that as far as the online refund and all these things, that we are trying to cope in and to the best possible of these things we are going to get back and that would be straight away added to my revenue.
Sure. Just finally, sir, one question I wanted to ask. On the EV side, even domestically and export side also, are you seeing some good traction? You know, finally I see EV is seeing good traction in the domestic market also. Just wanted to in terms of bearing rings or automotive components, are you seeing good traction on the EV side?
We are not facing or we do not see much of the traction as far as the EV market in overseas countries. You know, still now, even when we are talking with our customers for the new programs or for the new business, they are still on the more concentrated on this, ICE and the hybrid kind of vehicles or other transmissions. It is true that some portion in India or in domestic market it has bit increased, but if you see overall the other, ICE market has also increased. We do not see much of the traction because of EV. Again, we are well prepared if we even if the significant penetration would be there, which is as of now for next five to seven years we do not foresee.
Even after that, we are able to produce, you know, the components required for the EVs in terms of, you know, gears, transmission parts or maybe bearings also required in those EVs. That would not be a much of the issue.
Sure. This ROR thing, sir, ROR element is absolutely finished, right? Now there is no more anything coming up on that front.
Yes. Yes.
Yes. Sure. Sure. Thanks. Thanks for answering my questions, sir. Thank you so much.
Okay.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Kush Nahar from Electrum PMS. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Couple of questions. First, like you elaborated that the gross margins had expanded for this quarter because of the product mix. I just wanted to understand how sustainable are these margins and, excluding the other income, where do we see an EBITDA margin on a normalized basis in the next two, three years? Secondly, do we have any plans to enter into warm forging or cold forging where the products are, you know, near net shapes and less machining is required and the end use can be in a more precise industry in terms of engineering? Lastly, like you mentioned that there are some OEMs which have shifted their manufacturing and import substitute is happening.
Directionally, since we are the largest players in terms of installed capacity in India, do we see this market share of 30% increasing to maybe 50%, 70% because of capacity that in line are we doing the CapEx accordingly?
Okay. From the bouquet of your questions, let me take the part. One is for this incremental GP and the what would be generalized gross margin in a normal case. As of now, let me tell you, in my kind of business or in my business particularly, you may expect overall gross margin to the extent of, you know, in the range of 49%-53% kind of thing that would be there. Product mix and, you know, because as I do have a good amount of or a versatile range of the products, so there is a different kind of inputs in different kind of steels required, domestic or overseas and with the different composition, so that cost matters.
Generally it ranges in between, you know, 49%-53% kind of gross margin. I think you have also asked for the EBITDA, net operating EBITDA, that is other apart from the other income. As you must have seen that, generally, we have this operating EBITDA in the range of 19.5%-21% kind of thing. I expect on an conservative way, operating EBITDA would not be less than, you know, 20.5%, 21% kind of thing. With the incremental growth further it may improve because maybe I'll be getting the benefit of scale of economy and fixed cost absorption. I think those were the couple of this thing.
The next one what you have asked is about warm forging and cold forging kind of thing. Let me tell you, we are 100% there in the hot forging route as of now. We are producing, you know, major chunk or more than 85% of my overall business or products are machined one, and those are also near net shape kind of thing. We are already there into that. Cold forging, again, it is some entirely a diversification kind of thing, and it re-requires a different kind of entire setup. Down the line. As of now, it is not that aggression that we are going to have a cold forging business, but it is there in our mind.
Once we would like to utilize or get the maximum benefit of this hot forging for which we have already settled good amount of equipments and entire facilities. That is there. The other portion I think what you have asked is for the import substitute kind of thing in the domestic business. Let me tell you, the way it was expected, definitely it is not that encouraging that import business is straightaway coming back to India, but partially it has increased. Still it is on the, you know, coming way. My customers are diversifying or rather increasing their capacity to produce a bigger size of products or to considering them as an import substitute and settling the facilities. Because of all these geopolitical disturbances also, that also gets some kind of disruption.
The things have started and we are also going benefited with that and partial business or some kind of new range of those products, it has already been started with us. May not be significant as of now, but down the line it would definitely increase. Coming to other part of your question that currently is it is 30% of my bearing ring business in rather in domestic share, which may go up to 50%, 60%, 70%. See, 50%, 60%, 70%, definitely it's a big time or a big journey, maybe. In not one and a half, two years, I will be having 50% stake in the domestic market.
Definitely I expect 10%-15% jump on my domestic bearing ring business on year-on-year basis. That will definitely increase my share into the domestic business. I hope I have considered or rather I have taken all of your questions.
Right, sir. Thank you for the detailed answers. Just lastly, since we have 30% market share, who would be your next serious competitor?
I don't want to name any serious competitor. First of all, I am very much concentrated on my business, my facility, because the kind of my setup and the facility what we have, maybe the down the line, the other people having hardly 20% of that or even something like that. The kind of different, you know, more than 26 kind of different forging lines, more than 625 CNC spindles under one setup with these kind of value-added processes, definitely it's nobody's there. My I cannot say even my peer or rather the other players who are there into this kind of business or within the certain range of the products what I'm producing as of now.
They are there, but, in fact or rather, they are more than what you say, not more than 10%-15% and 20% of my overall CapEx capabilities.
Right, sir. All right, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Radha from Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on the settlement of the long-pending restructuring case. Sir, I wanted to understand in Europe, is the demand recovery only in the commercial vehicle space or also in the passenger vehicle space? What kind of industry growth do you expect in FY 2027?
In Europe, I think major chunk what we got a growth is from the passenger vehicle as well as the light commercial vehicles growth. The portion of that growth is you can say 70% it is there from this segment and maybe balance 25%-30% is from the industrial segment or something in there. We expect that this industry growth, definitely automotive growth would be on a higher side compared to industrial growth. In domestic and in Europe, we expect that industrial applications for the bearing ring business, that is the high time to grow now, as of now. Maybe, unless and until this disruptions, geopolitical factors maybe settle down in before end of rather, 1st half or maybe in next couple of months.
I think there would be a good significant improvement what we are envisaging.
What is driving this growth, sir? Is it inventory restocking that is happening over there?
No. For Europe it is not inventory, you know, the consumption of inventory or clearance of inventory pileup. As such, as I told you that for me, these are the new customers or new plants, so obviously there would not be a question of any kind of inventory pileup. Europe, again, it was very low for last one and a half year and there is no inventory pileup issue over there. It is an growth in their production, in their actual ramp-up.
Understood, sir. Secondly, sir, out of the 30% revenue loss in U.S., how much revenue loss can be attributed to that one customer which has shut down the plant due to the tariff?
Major chunk of that, you can say 75% of that is because of that, you know, duty tariff of 53%.
sir, there, maybe Yes, sir. we had, you had given a comment that, this entire 30% revenue loss is recoverable. if 75% of the revenue loss is attributable to the shutdown of plant by a customer, then, how is this portion of the revenue recoverable?
I told you that that was a temporary shutdown and for last four months again it came on the track. For last couple of months I have already started dispatching the level what we had prior to this slowdown. It's not that they have cut down my, you know, the products have been shifted, they canceled my order. It is a simply reduction of particular business. Though they have been asking all the components what I'm supplying to them, but in a reduced quantum prior to this three, four months back. From February 26 onwards, it again came back on the track and the volume what I have lost or the 30%, something like that, partially it has already been started in a recovery mode.
Understood, sir. Lastly, you know, if you see the last five years revenue, overall revenue for the company, the growth seems to be constrained as you are present in three key geographies and there is rarely a time when the demand of all three geographies remains strong. Going forward, what are the key growth drivers that we can expect from the company in order to address these demand and cyclical challenges that we have across geographies? Are there any plans for new product introductions or new customers, any market share gains, anything that you can highlight, sir?
See, Radha, that is a continuous process over here. Let me tell you, in last three and half years, though my revenue is continuously maybe on a same kind of level, but in last three years, we have developed many components for the heavy, medium and heavy duty vehicles for EV, for hybrid and for an industrial customer. Because of that only we got new orders in the previous fiscal. Let me tell you, prior to this, new orders from Europe, we didn't have much of the presence in auto segments in European business. Now it would be there.
Combination of, you know, though the bearing ring segment in Europe is a bit down because of industrial this thing, again now I do have a good presence in this auto components. The growth in the business in Europe compared to previous fiscal is 25% in this FY 2026. That is mainly from the auto side of business. In U.S. we have also didn't have much of the growth because of this duty tariff and all these things. Again we are in dialogues with a customer wherein the couple of bearing ring companies into in-industrial bearings. They are in process of presenting. Again they are just deferring this because of this duty matter, et cetera.
Coming to the domestic, if you see my numbers for last three years on a bearing ring business, I am getting incremental business into the bearing rings. Even I'm getting incremental business in the auto segments also. I was not supplying indirectly to the OEMs based in domestic market for the automobiles. Now, through my couple of suppliers, I have already started good amount of business to these car manufacturers.
Understood, sir. Those were my questions and wish you and all the best to the team.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraint, we take one last question from the line of Pratik Banthia from Fermi 325 Investment Advisers. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Congratulations on stable set of number in a challenging environment. I just had two questions. One was, in what percentage of factory are we present with our top five customers and what kind of share of business do we have with them? The other question is, as we have created a deep capability in bearing rings, what other auto component segment, you know, do you think a similar capability can be built by us?
The first part is, you know, the first five customers, I think you have asked the contribution from first five customers. I would like to tell not of five customers, I would like to say a five customer groups. You know, when I say one customer, they are having certain plants in U.S. and Europe and domestic, I am supplying to all these different plants. For me, each plant is a different customer. When I say a top five groups, you can say almost 65%, 70% of my business is from these top five groups, which may drill it down to somewhere about more than 15 plants or 15 different customers.
What share of business do we have with them?
On an average, with this, let me tell you. With the bearing manufacturers, I think we are at 45%-50% of their wallet share, the major three players. In auto components, with certain players, we are at 35%-40% of their wallet share.
Okay. The second question was, like we have built deep capabilities on the bearing ring side, what other auto component segment, you know, do you think?
See.
Yeah.
We do have capabilities to produce hot forge auto components, which we are. Let me tell you, today we are producing more than 150 kind of different auto components consisting of, you know, rough gear blanks, pinion, crown wheel, crown and pinion, sun rings, gear rings, bush, shafts. These are the things what we are very much capable to produce. We do have expertise or rather you can say bit of more competence in producing transmission parts, chassis part and few of the steering components. There, we have good amount of opportunity.
Okay. one last question.
We are able to produce, you know, the components required for the EV and hybrid both. That also can be produced from our capabilities.
Okay. One last question was, going ahead, what percentage of CapEx, you know, would be what the CapEx split between, let's say, machining and forging?
See, machining, it depends on the kind of the new business what I have been awarded. Forging is in the range of the business or rather the range of the products what I would like to address. You can say 70%-75% of out of INR 100 it is towards forging kind of setup and maybe INR 25-INR 30 required for machining and other capabilities.
Okay. Any inorganic opportunities are we looking at since we have some cash on the balance sheet?
We are exploring that couple of things, again it is on a primary stage. We want to, you know, jump into that thing as the things that overseas in U.S. and Europe are not much encouraging or rather they are still under, you know, having in the sentiments portion. We are just exploring it, but we are on a very preliminary stage. We are very much open and we are in finding the proper opportunity also.
Any specific segment you are looking at?
No. Segment would be broadly extended to our, products or rather our capabilities or maybe in the line of the thing on, hot forging or extended, value-added processes.
Okay. Thank you. Best of luck and all the rest.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, with that, we conclude the question and answer session. I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments.
Well, on behalf of Rolex Rings, I would like to thank you everyone for joining us. I hope I have been able to answer all your queries. We look forward to such interactions in the future. We hope to meet your expectation in the future too. In case you require any further details of this thing, you may contact directly to the company, to me, and/or our advisors, the SGAs, that is Strategic Growth Advisors, our investor relations partner. Once again, I thank you all the participants for sparing your valuable time for considering our invest earnings call. Thank you very much.
Thank you. On behalf of Rolex Rings Limited, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your line.