Thermax Limited (NSE:THERMAX)
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May 12, 2026, 3:29 PM IST
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Q3 25/26

Feb 5, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Thermax Q3 FY 2026 earnings call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Kunal Shah from DAM Capital. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Kunal Shah
Vice President - Institutional Research, DAM Capital Advisors

Yeah, hi, good afternoon. Welcome to the 3Q FY 2026 earnings call of Thermax Limited. We have the management today, Mr. Ashish Bhandari, MD and CEO, and Mr. Rajendran Arunachalam, Group CFO and Executive Vice President. At this point, I'll hand over the floor to the management for their opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Hello. A very good afternoon to everyone on the call. In these particular results that we have shared, there's a lot to unpack. There are some one-time items. There are some exceptional items, and just a lot to discuss. Without any further ado, let's just jump in, and we'll go through the questions and answer them to the best of our ability. Rajendran and I, we are both on the call. Yeah, let's get going.

Operator

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Jonas Bhutta from Birla Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.

Jonas Bhutta
Fund Manager and Investment Analyst, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund

Good afternoon, gentlemen, and thank you for the opportunity. Two quick questions. Firstly, Ashish, if you can give us an update on how the prospect list of new orders sort of looks like. Has it improved or deteriorated in the last three, six months? You know, and you know, if at all there has been loss of market share, that sort of answers some bit of the slowness in order inflows that we've seen on the domestic side, or it's just deferral due to you know, the geopolitical uncertainty that was prevailing at least up until December? That's the first question.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Okay. Thanks, Jonas. And it was good and right of you to get the attention on domestic orders. There are two parts in play. Overall, in Industrial Products where you see the ethanol market slowing down has had some reflection on our order book, domestically, yeah, which is part of what you see. The second thing is in Industrial Infra, we have been very choosy in terms of what we wanted to do, knowing that our overall pipeline was very good. And with that in mind, we were okay to pass on some opportunities to continue to focus on things that are important and relevant. That said, I have shared frequently this year that I'm bullish on orders this year. And Q2, Q3 were a reflection of that bullishness. I think Q4 will not give you a reason to be disappointed either.

Jonas Bhutta
Fund Manager and Investment Analyst, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund

Understood. The second question was on the Chemical segment. They've sort of saw a significant contraction in its profitability. If you can quantify what is the recurring amount of fixed cost that has got added and sort of needs to be covered for going forward, and how much of it is operating deal leverage. And, you know, it also sort of highlights the 4%-5% segmental margins, sort of highlight even serious weakness on the base business, the existing business, which you've earlier alluded to saying is getting impacted by Chinese competition. So if you can unpack what's happening in the Chemical segment, and how should we think through over the next 12-18 months as to how does this under-recovery of fixed cost due to the new capacity sort of go away or continues to remain? So that's those are the two questions. Thank you so much.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Very good question again, Jonas. I mean, your understanding of Thermax's business is spot- on. Overall, if I take a look at our Chemicals business, and we won't compare to plan, if I just compare it to last year, year-to-date, we are about INR 50 crore off compared to last year, yeah, which is a big number. This is at the PBT line, which is a massive number. Of this INR 50 crore, the gross margin is a net wash or a slight increase over last year, which means we are carrying about INR 50 crore in costs, which are relating to things that we have added on for one reason or another. And in our buckets, those there are three buckets in which you can put these costs.

Of the INR 50 crore that we are off compared to last year, about 3/5, which is 60% of these, relate to the new asset that we have added and the cost net off relative to the old asset that we had. So what I'm trying to say is that the new asset that we have added has got depreciation that has been added. It is a more efficient plant compared to the old plant, but that efficiency improvement shows up in the gross margin number. So, so the numbers that I'm talking about is not taking into gross margins, yeah. Effectively, with adding this new plant, we have net of the old plant added about INR 30 crore of costs, which, given our lack of increase in volumes, is something that we need to continue to account for first.

Second, for the growth that we want to do, which is construction Chemicals, Fortmax, some of the international expansions, etc., that we have done, that is the other 20% that is added on. The last 20% is base cost increase, salary increases, T&L, G&A expense increase, etc. So in some ways, the 40%, which is 20% and 20%, we were prepared for, and a portion of 60% also, we were prepared for, but so much reduction relative to our expectation in volume, and relative to the plants. I've been saying we really wanted Chemicals to grow. Until Q3, we have not shown. In Q4, you will start to see a bit of that reversal starting to show up as well. In North America, at least, and this is not relating to the tariff, some of the share loss that we had will reverse.

You will start to see that in Q4 numbers already and starting to show up in next year's numbers because some of the customers that we have gotten back are long-term customers. The 20% that you see, which is relating to some of our growth investments, will also reduce but will not go away because we know for a period we will be continuing to invest. Net- net, I think you will see the Chemicals numbers starting to improve, get closer to the 10% number. In our estimate, at least for the next year, we are off from the 17% profitability that Chemicals was at. We are right now closer to trying to get the business to 13%-14% EBITDA, about, double digits in profitability, but still extremely bullish on the prospects for growth.

Jonas Bhutta
Fund Manager and Investment Analyst, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund

Sure. Appreciate it. All the best. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Mohit Kumar
Managing Director, ICICI Securities

Yeah, good afternoon. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on Industrial Products. The EBIT for Industrial Products hasn't grown despite strong growth in the top line. Part of the reason, of course, is decline in EBIT margin compared to last year. My question is how one should think about the growth and the EBIT margin for the next 12-18 months in this business, yeah.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

I think, reasonably bullish. You will see, I think in Industrial Products, it is not that year-to-date, to me, our revenue performance is very good. Our backlog is building up nicely. I think we need one very good quarter on revenue, which I expect to support. You will see some of that profitability coming back. I suspect we will not reach the profitability that we showed in Industrial Products last year. I said that previously as well because our most profitable product line, which is heating, was growing relatively slower compared to water and Enviro. Enviro is our clean air product line. And so, guys, there's a lot of feedback that I'm getting from somebody speaking. Go on mute, please. If you're not speaking, if you can please go on mute.

Operator

So, Mohit, requesting you to kindly stay away from the mic because your breath is causing the noise up. Thank you. Management, you can continue. Sorry.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

And Mohit, you can continue to breathe. But, no, no, no. It's perfectly okay, guys. We all do that. Not a problem at all. My apologies for calling it out. So we knew the mix was such that the numbers would come down, but it was a slight reduction over last year. Today, right now, we are tracking below 10%, which is something that you will see in Q4 as our revenue comes up. Some lot of that profitability will also show up. The second thing that I would say is one of the good things which is happening is that within our Industrial Products platform, our cooling product line, which is also relatively profitable, where we have very specific IP, is starting to make its presence in data centers.

In this last quarter, we have had two wins, one domestic, one international, which together are substantial and potentially call out a larger pipeline, which is possible. And that gives me a lot of comfort that the mix that we have and the growth that we have in Industrial Products is something that we can sustain.

Mohit Kumar
Managing Director, ICICI Securities

Understood. My second question is, can you just help us with the prospects on the refinery side and the expected finalization of tenders, given that the other three large refineries are getting built up, right? So are you seeing some? Are you hopeful of some closure over the next 12-18 months?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

I would say yes. 12-18 months is the right time frame. Our pipeline overall in Industrial Infra continues to be good. Refineries, also, there is a pipeline. But we are a lot more, overall sanguine in terms of the kinds of opportunities we want to pursue. And certainly, very large projects where there is significant, construction and civil, and if it is government-related, is something we will be very, very careful about because what we have seen is time and again, these projects get delayed because of matters which are not entirely in our control, but then we get left with the, backend-related costs and everything else. So we are a lot more comfortable with the pipeline that we have. And we will, look at refining and petrochemical, but not necessarily trying to go for a really big number or anything.

If it has got significant civilian construction, then we will prefer to stay back. If it has got higher portion of, like, our equipment, then we would, of course, bid on it. There's a reasonable pipeline for both models.

Mohit Kumar
Managing Director, ICICI Securities

Understood. Thank you. All the best.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Renu Baid from IIFL Capital . Please go ahead.

Renu Baid
SVP of Research, IIFL Capital Services

Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is, if you can dwell a bit more on the order prospect pipeline, covering broad-based infra as well as industrial products. On the backdrop that we were sharing in the domestic market, last three to four quarters, there have been consistent delay in decision-making on large projects. Recently, we heard L&T receiving reasonable large steel projects. Do you think decision-making now tends to improve given uncertainty related to tariffs are broadly behind? And what is your outlook on pickup in private sector investments, and the project pipeline in the domestic market? That's the first question.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Look, I think the private CapEx. I still don't see a much larger pickup, which is broad-based, not yet, yeah, and the tariff thing is very, very recent. So, we have to see. And I will in all of this, I would leave the ethanol sector out, yeah, because the ethanol sector is going through a tougher period. And we see many projects getting stalled and all that. We have been fortunate. We have, I think, there are at least four orders where we have a handshake, but we haven't booked them. We haven't done anything because we knew the projects had not closed financially. And what we are seeing is financial closure for many ethanol projects is very difficult. So if I leave those projects out, the rest of it is reasonable. I wouldn't say, like, broad-based, it's very good yet.

It has the potential to be very good, but not yet. That said, our pipeline of projects, both large and small, continues to be very healthy, driven as much by international as by domestic. And you will see in this last quarter, actually, 50% of our product business was international compared to domestic. Of course, if you have one large order, which is international, Dangote that helps. But even beyond that, we had, see, Dangote was less than INR 600 crore. But overall, our international number for the quarter was INR 1,400+ crore, yeah? So there was a lot of other stuff that came in internationally as well, including the data center wins that we mentioned. So it was a good quarter internationally. Overall, also, the pipeline remains decent. And as you know, international typically is more profitable for us than domestic.

Renu Baid
SVP of Research, IIFL Capital Services

Got it. Secondly, you did allude to that the company will selectively look at participation for boiler orders in domestic supercritical space. So how are we looking at order pipeline prospects in that segment? And recently, we have seen Adani placing an order on B&W China for boiler components. So you think given our relationship, which you had had with TBW previously, there is any place for Thermax on that opportunity?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

On that specific opportunity? And that is not to TBW. That is to B&W China.

Renu Baid
SVP of Research, IIFL Capital Services

Sorry, I mean.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Yeah, B&W China.

Renu Baid
SVP of Research, IIFL Capital Services

B&W pipeline, yeah.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Yeah. So we don't have a specific role to play on that one. Our supercritical pipeline continues to be there, I think, until we close something or we walk away saying, "This is no longer in play. You will have to be patient." I would say, though, that power overall, not just supercritical, even subcritical, even captive power for utility or even for, I mean, captive power, you not utility, captive power and subcritical, both of those is a pipeline that is also, as I've been saying, developed, the highest that I have seen in the last two-three years, multiple customers in India and even a couple internationally and subcritical utility and supercritical. That whole opportunity set is reasonably big.

Renu Baid
SVP of Research, IIFL Capital Services

Decision-making could be expected, early part of next financial year, or it may take longer?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Or even this year, this year and early part of next financial year, both.

Renu Baid
SVP of Research, IIFL Capital Services

Got it. Got it. Thank you and best wishes too. Thank you.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Parikshit Kandpal from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Parikshit Kandpal
SVP of Research, HDFC Securities

Hi, Ashish . I think the last meeting was in a decent quarter. So the first question, in the last call, you had highlighted that in Q3, you'll try to replicate both in Q3 and Q4 the revenues of Q4 last year, so you were expecting a significant pickup in execution, which reported execution was slightly softer. So, I mean, so what were the reasons behind it, or any issues around execution you're facing currently?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

I think it just, as I said last time also, that Q3 I had expected to be better. But, many of our customers were reporting continued delays. And the range went right into October this year. So even Q3 got impacted at the beginning part. As I see right now, there are some minor cases of customers who are delaying, revenue pickup for one reason or another. But I would say nine out of 10 things are green. And I expect to do, I would say, double-digit better than last year in revenue and, a reasonably good profitable quarter, setting us up for next year with a backlog which is quite substantially better, both in quantity and quality compared to the backlog we have.

Parikshit Kandpal
SVP of Research, HDFC Securities

So just double just to clarify, the double-digit is for the year as a whole, right, FY 2026?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

No, no. Double-digit is quarter-over-quarter because until now, we are barely 1% or so ahead in revenue compared to last year, right? So, I don't think we can do double-digit for year-on-year. But certainly, very good Q4, but setting us, as I said, up for a very good beyond.

Parikshit Kandpal
SVP of Research, HDFC Securities

Okay. Second question, I mean, on our last call, you had said that you will give some more color on data center prospects and opportunity on the TAM. So you've already won orders. So if you can help us understand what is our play here and what kind of TAM one can look at both domestic and international markets?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

So both domestic and international, the TAM is very high. And the product that we have has got a unique fit, which is also very good in the sense that once the application, we are able to prove to the customer that from an engineering point of view, we can do what we say we are doing, then price is almost secondary, and competition is also secondary. And this is international more so than domestic. The one win that we have had is a single order, which is one of the largest we have had in cooling. And that is for one of the marquee data center names in the U.S. And, you know, it is still just a very small number in the grand scheme of things. So the question is, how much more can we do?

The good part is now with two wins, one in India, one international, our name is there, yeah? Now, we are getting calls, and we are getting asked. With the tariff getting addressed, it should only make things easier. I suspect, both in TBWES , and in cooling, in this coming year, we will be talking about increasing capacity and CapEx investments.

Parikshit Kandpal
SVP of Research, HDFC Securities

Okay. Just on the cooling, so what is the product exactly for the data center? It's from heat, after heat, heating to cooling? That's the product?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

So I can share, but you will have to go through our notes. And for competitive reasons, we'll still not share what is the product, yeah? And we will leave this, let it run for a bit longer. And when it's the right time, we will share, yeah? But it is something that we will continue to talk about. And if you read our social media and all, you will get some examples. But broadly, we're still keeping this very close to our chest.

Parikshit Kandpal
SVP of Research, HDFC Securities

Okay. Thank you for the information.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

I can say words are good. The margins are very good.

Parikshit Kandpal
SVP of Research, HDFC Securities

Okay. Sure. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Amit Mahawar from UBS. Please go ahead.

Amit Mahawar
Executive Director, UBS

Hi, Ashish. Hi. My question is more for second segment. Segment one is very well taken care in, yeah. I'm not worried about the margins that will eventually come with the mix. But in second segment, are you happy with the, the conversion rate of pipeline? You know, second segment houses TBW also, which is having a cyclically favorable time on the industry. But somehow, you know, we are yet to see more orders. So any color on how should we think about, you know, this year, maybe done next year, orders for industrial? And quick question on, you know, should we now assume you know, I was reading the, PPT, which says that last year was the provision, but this quarter doesn't so can I see that as a recurring margin, you know, indicator for Thermax? Thank you.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

I think, in what you see as the recurring margin, there is still an overhang of the poor projects that we are continuing to carry, yeah? And you can see that in the subnumbers. If you take a look at TBSPL, which is our bio-CNG projects, we reported a loss even in this quarter. And all of our practically our entire portfolio of TBSPL is going to go through PGTR this quarter and next quarter, yeah? And between those two quarters, we expect to convert that into revenue and also move them from a red line to a black line. We continue to carry NRL at a zero cost. We continue to carry FGDs at a relatively low profitability. Almost all of that between Q4, Q1, Q2 will get resolved.

After Q2, the only thing that will continue is NRL, which also next year, we should close out, almost entirely, in our estimates, entirely. So I think this quarter was okay, yeah? Now, I have confidence based on the backlog that we have. Also, the backlog is international fair bit. Even the domestic stuff we are taking is better in margins. I think where you are, we can do substantially better. And we will do substantially better. And I wouldn't say TBW, yes, numbers are bad at all, yeah? TBW, yes, three quarters in a row has done. What's our order book on TBW, yes? Is INR 3,000, 2,700, 2,800 crores year-to-date?

Rajendran Arunachalam
Group CFO and EVP, Thermax Limited

Year-to-date? Give me a minute.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

I think it's somewhere there. And in three quarters, it has already done more than what it did, last year or close to. And we have got a whole quarter to go through. And we have a very good pipeline for Q4 as well. I think we see TBW, yes, again, as a place where on the current path it is on, we may run out of capacity before anything else.

Amit Mahawar
Executive Director, UBS

That's good to hear. Quick one, last one from me. You mentioned about the quality of book changing. And we can see the orders, the type of orders are very, very clearly different than the ones taken in the last couple of years. Maybe 2027, 2028, do you want to say that in Industrial Infra, we can comfortably maintain, you know, 8%-10% margin band? And you can give us some color on the type of orders, you know, the closure speed, and the capacity you have on the second segment. That's it. Thank you.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

The quality right now, at least in this year, is actually better than what I expect the mean to be, yeah? Because we have had more international orders than we typically do. I do think in the next couple of quarters, both on the EPC side and domestic, we will see more pickup and more domestic projects, like I had mentioned, on the power side starting to show up. Overall, from a direction perspective, I'm comfortable with the number that you have stated. The immediate past, the orders that we have booked are perhaps better than that number. But as we look forward, some of what we may look for will dilute it somewhat. Net- net, I'm comfortable with the range that you are talking about, absolutely.

Amit Mahawar
Executive Director, UBS

Sure. Thank you, Ashish, and good luck.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. The next question is from the line of Mehul Panjwani from 40 Cents. Please go ahead.

Mehul Panjwani
Analyst, 40 Cents

Hello, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Sir, my first question is with regards to the Dangote Industries order. Sir, how long will it take to execute the complete order? And when will we recognize the revenues?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Revenue will be recognized on a periodic basis as we finish it. The whole project delivery is about 18 months. But a reasonable revenue, we will recognize in the next year, next year itself, yeah? But the whole execution is 18 months.

Mehul Panjwani
Analyst, 40 Cents

Right. And sir, what about what impact would—I mean, there's a slide on in a presentation on the input cost. But, given the commodity situation, globally is very flaky, what kind of impact which it will have on if the prices were to rise from here on, how would it impact?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

So right, so look, right now, copper, steel are both going up. That is a slight negative on the business. I would only say it's a slight negative because overall, the commodity pressure is, I think, just starting to be seen. If it gets worse from this point on, it could get substantial. But right now also, there is a slight commodity pressure of the kind that we haven't seen in the last couple of years, especially in the projects business where we also have the advantage of a cheaper rupee. We are looking to retire our risk by placing orders as early as we can and locking our margins and everything to the extent that we can. But we do carry a little bit of residual risk.

I think in the last month to two months, we have started to look at the commodity prices a lot more carefully than what we have done in the last year or so.

Mehul Panjwani
Analyst, 40 Cents

Right.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

We are tracking a number internally on if what moves, what would the impact be to Thermax. That work is going on. I mean, Rajendran shares that with me regularly.

Mehul Panjwani
Analyst, 40 Cents

Right, sir.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

I think to add that.

Mehul Panjwani
Analyst, 40 Cents

Sorry? Work, please.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

No, no. That's it.

Mehul Panjwani
Analyst, 40 Cents

Yeah. And sir, regarding the data center sector opportunity, I mean, I heard you respond to the question that we have two orders, one from U.S. and from a market player. So, what kind of, what kind of revenues can we, I mean, what kind of orders can we see from the data from that segment?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

So I think our board, everyone is asking the same questions. The range is quite wide right now. So we just have to be patient. The first one was very important, and we loved what we saw. The question is, can you how many more can you do? And, and I guess we will know over the next with each passing quarter. The range of possibilities is very wide.

Mehul Panjwani
Analyst, 40 Cents

Since we have been in this business, is it, I mean, what is it, why is it that we have got into this sector only very recently?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

So, see, we were always in cooling. In cooling, we have a few set of capabilities which are very unique. In some of those cases, our IP is not just best in India. It is best globally as well in cases. So once we are able to establish the value of that IP, then the story changes.

Mehul Panjwani
Analyst, 40 Cents

Right.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Cooling has always, yes. It's always been part of our portfolio. The application-specific out here, applying that IP to that application, that is something that is not new. We have been working on it for the past year and a half. It is only now that the success is starting to show up.

Mehul Panjwani
Analyst, 40 Cents

Right. So my last question, in this, market win in U.S., do we have competition from all over the globe, or just the U.S.?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Actually, with some amount of bravado, I would say neither. You have to sell the application. Once you sell the application, your competition is largely only from China.

Mehul Panjwani
Analyst, 40 Cents

Okay. Thank you so much, sir. And, good luck to you.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya from Kotak Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.

Aditya Bansal
VP, Kotak Institutional Equities

Yeah. Hello, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity. The first question that I had was on the margins in the industrial product segment. I think my understanding was, given your comments last time around, that mix would start turning supportive from the third quarter, and then so would margins. And I'm assuming none of the RM headwinds would have hit you in 3Q itself. So a bit confused as to why the margins have kind of gone down when, at least the—

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Yeah.

Aditya Bansal
VP, Kotak Institutional Equities

Commentary was that, margin the mix will improve only.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

I agree. And it was disappointing. I think it was largely. I know it is largely because on volume, we underperformed relative to expectations. And you will see Q4 some of that reversing. Yeah. Q4 so far is good. I'm bullish on what we can show on all metrics in Q4.

Aditya Bansal
VP, Kotak Institutional Equities

Understood. Just going to the second two, which is the industrial project or the Industrial Infra, I mean, some of those issues that were hitting you last quarter also are still hitting you this quarter on bioenergy and other aspects. Why has the margin shown an improvement, then? Could you just explain this better? And is there any one-offs inside?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

No, no. There's no one-off. Last quarter, we took a big hit here. So that pulled the whole number down. I think overall across the board, we are stabilizing. And as I've shared, what is driving that stabilization is also very minutely and, at a micro level, managed. And, without those last time, we had a negative one-off. If you remove all of last time's negative one-off and the stability that we are seeing, that was the normalizing factor. In projects, you do have some positive and negative moves. Barring surprises, in the periods that are coming, I see more positive moves than negative moves.

Aditya Bansal
VP, Kotak Institutional Equities

Understood. Do you kind of still sense that the commentary on Chemical segment that you've made of 4Q, making you reach through INR 250 crore kind of business level number, maybe on the order inflows, is still a possibility, or that may get deferred?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

No, no. Very much a possibility. Not just a possibility. Very much an expectation.

Aditya Bansal
VP, Kotak Institutional Equities

Understood. Those are my questions. Thank you for your responses.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. The next question is from the line of Amit Anwani from PL Capital. Please go ahead.

Amit Anwani
Lead Equity Analyst, PL Capital

Hello. Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So, first question: if you could give us an update on the Green Solutions business this time and where are we in terms of the megawatt addition. We were facing some delays with, I think, a couple of projects earlier. Target for megawatt addition and update on the Green Solutions business here.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

So green solutions, TOESL, good. Not that happy with orders in TOESL in Q3. I mean, they were practically zero. Q4, I expect to be a lot better. In terms of, sorry, hydrogen, we continue to make investments. We continue to carry a team of about 40-odd people that are just cost to the system right now. And then finally, FEPL. In this particular quarter, we are executing right now 5 projects. Of those projects, there are two very specific projects that are two of—I mean, and specifically, there is a partner that we had for these projects who has gone through financial trouble and which has been a massive drain on Thermax based on delays that we have had. Of those two projects, one project got finished in January.

And a substantial portion of the second project will get done, this quarter as well. So, we have got, in that sense, underperformance in, in FEPL. Our projections overall are that, the new projects that we are doing, which will start showing up in, in end of March and then finish off in June, are some of the best projects that we are performing and have profitability, which is substantially better than anything we have done in the past. And because the projects are close to their end, we can see that end of sight as well. I would say, overall, in terms of megawattage, this year, we will add another 250 MW. And then, next year, we will get to close to 700 MW and close to 1.1 GW in FY 2028. That is the plan that we have.

In between, we will look to monetize this business through some form or another. What that form looks like is something we are looking to work through.

Amit Anwani
Lead Equity Analyst, PL Capital

Sure. So, second question on the cooling business, which you highlighted regarding the orders for data center. Just wanted to understand. I think I can recollect, you also talked about heating as an application for international market, which is where we have the capability. Just wanted to understand ballpark what can be the addressable market for this kind of applications in a typical 1-MW data center. And, for us, can this area really scale up as a part of Industrial Products over the next couple of years? Any understanding on the outside?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

At the core at the core, the how the powering of the data center happens drives a lot how the fit of a Thermax solution happens, which means that the way data centers are being powered in North America, which is different from anywhere else in the world, there, the value that we can add is substantially more than how the data centers are being powered in the rest of the world. Even in the rest of the world, we have a specific solution which is value accretive, which is what we have won in India. But the solution that is in North America is different from that solution. And in the solution that we have for North America, our relative competition is lesser. The value add is more. And the size of the opportunity is also bigger.

Amit Anwani
Lead Equity Analyst, PL Capital

Right. So, in terms of solution, how is the, like, are there already players supplying this, and you're able to win because of the product? Some color on competitiveness here, still forming in domestic and i nterest?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Yeah. There was maybe two, three quarters more than we can share here. Right now, we would still like to keep it close to the chest.

Amit Anwani
Lead Equity Analyst, PL Capital

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Okay. Because we have.

Amit Anwani
Lead Equity Analyst, PL Capital

Yeah.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

We have spent a year and a half working this.

Amit Anwani
Lead Equity Analyst, PL Capital

Right.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

So now, we want to work this a little longer before we share more.

Amit Anwani
Lead Equity Analyst, PL Capital

Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Hardik Sharda from MAVIRA AMC. Please go ahead.

Hardik Sharda
Analyst, MAVIRA AMC

Hi, sir. Good afternoon. I just wanted to know, recently, government has outlaid INR 20,000 crore for carbon capture. So how is Thermax positioned to tap this opportunity?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Very excited about that. Very aligned. I think we have one of the best R&D programs domestically on carbon capture and also partnering with some of the global names on EPC capability around carbon capture. I look at it favorably. All I would say, it's early days, because we've seen that with coal gasification also. Between outlay and how it gets dispersed, there could be a lot of things that can go wrong. And how the tenders and how this money will be outlaid and how will it be given, all of that needs to be studied. But, first reaction, we love the idea and bullish on this.

Hardik Sharda
Analyst, MAVIRA AMC

Sir, could you highlight a few global EPC players?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

No, because these are all things that you work on, which is not right, again, to share. But carbon capture, we've been calling out for some time. I would share, though, that in India, if you take a look, there was a project which got bid out for Kandla Port for biomass to ethanol. And I'm saying I'm calling this out because in that particular project, Thermax was a winner. It's a relatively small project below INR 100 crore. But Thermax won it by delivering completely India-based technology, which means we built a solution for biomass gasification along with a domestic partner. And the methanol island, which is converting green gas to methanol, is completely Thermax homegrown technology and capability, which we had demonstrated as part of our coal gasification project as well.

Some of these pathways, which we have been working on, are now starting to become interesting and relevant. Even in carbon capture, eventually, after you capture, you will need some monetization on, "How do I monetize this carbon capture? How do I utilize it?" Many of those utilization pathways also, Thermax has got current experience and also working with global licensors on potential technology partnerships as well.

Hardik Sharda
Analyst, MAVIRA AMC

Yeah. Got it. Thank you, sir.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya Sahu from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Aditya Sahu
Research Associate for Institutional Equities, HDFC Securities

Hi, sir. Thanks a lot for the opportunity. A while ago, you had mentioned that, you know, the data centers in the U.S. are different. So, is it possible if you can throw some light and elaborate a little on how the data centers are different in the U.S. versus Europe or versus Asia?

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

I'll leave it at that. Yeah. I think give us a couple of quarters. Let's see how much of a, a headrun do we have. And then we can come and talk about it. Yeah?

Aditya Sahu
Research Associate for Institutional Equities, HDFC Securities

Sure. Sure.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

I think that's it. No more questions?

Operator

No, sir. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I would now hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.

Ashish Bhandari
Managing Director and CEO, Thermax Limited

So thank you very much to everyone that's on the call. Appreciate your patience also. I guess your patience also in terms of how we work on our numbers and everything. To me, the quarter was okay, not great because on revenue and profitability, we should have done better. But I take continued strength from A, the order book, the quality of our order book. I guess not having negative surprises is also a good thing given how we have disappointed in the past. I would say of the, I mean, the categories in terms of NRL, BioCNG, and FGD, they remain. We haven't added anything to the list. All three of these categories, we continue to work them down, down, down, down to the point that at least internally and I would add FEPL to this also, which is a different kind of a thing.

But again, places where we need to continue to improve execution. So to that list, nothing got added, no negative surprises. I really like how we have been able to win internationally against global competition, being able to open up new application sets. I'm excited about that possibility and continue to be bullish on orders in the short to medium term on what we have. Yeah. So that's it. Thank you very much for listening to us. I look forward to sharing more as we continue to make progress. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, sir. On behalf of DAM Capital Advisors Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.

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