Anil Jain, Managing Director of the company addressed the call

Highlights of the call:

For the quarter ended September 2014, it registered a 14% rise in consolidated sales to Rs 605.05 crore. OPM grew 20 basis points to 14.3% which saw OP growing 15% to Rs 86.37 crore.

Consolidated Net profit went up 16% to Rs 25.51 crore.

Six months results

For the six months ended September 2014, consolidated sales grew 15% to Rs 1174.69 crore. OPM fell 10 basis points to 14.1% which saw OP growing 15% to Rs 165.66 crore.

Consolidated Net profit went up 13% to Rs 46.13 crore.

Packaging segment accounted for 67% of total sales, Life style accounted for 9%, Auto for 7%, infra related for 16% and rest came from new products.

Debt at the end of FY 2015 is expected to be around Rs 820 crore.

The company does 45% of sales and PAT in first half and 55% comes in second half. Thus the company expects Rs 2400-2500 crore sales in FY 2015 and PAT will also be accordingly.

Capex for six months was Rs 47 crore and is expected to be Rs 100 crore in FY 2015. In FY 2014 it was Rs 118 crore.

60% of capex will be maintenance capex and rest to develop new products.

FY 2015 there will be debt repayment of Rs 155 crore and Rs 125 crore in FY 2016.

Telecom battery business is doing very well as the telecom companies are buying batteries as they have come out of cash flow issues. Telecom Battery business did sales of Rs 118 crore against Rs 90 crore and the company expects the same growth rate to continue for the rest of FY 2015.

It should end with Rs 250-260 crore in battery business which was much lower last year.

Domestic capacity utilization will be 80-85% in FY 2015.

Happy with the fall in crude price though in many cases the company has to pass it on to the customers. However it takes a lag of 1 month time to pass on the benefit. Same thing happens when crude price goes up.

Composite cylinders did not do much of a business. Q1 it did 10000 cylinders and Q2 it did 18000. It has orders for 200000 cylinders to be supplied by the end of next year. It cannot disclose name of the customer. Plus it is looking at another 50000 cylinders from one customer and 40000 from another.

Current capacity is 300000 cylinders. So India capacity will be full in FY 2015.

Bahrain plant for composite cylinders will come into play going forward.

Composite cylinders business is a huge, huge opportunity worldwide and the company is one of the few established companies in this business. Overseas orders from this business are coming from Fast East and Africa.

Total borrowings stood at Rs 826 crore against Rs 860 crore in FY 2014.

Total borrowing net of cash stood at Rs 763 crore against Rs 791 crore in same period last year.

Working capital days stands at 81 against 82 days.

Overseas working capital cycle is 69 days and for India it is 86 days.

In the Auto sector, the company is more in CV side and not much on the car side.

The company is now working on 2 more products. One for large truck manufacturer in India.

Domestic business gives good EBITDA margins than overseas business as overseas business has low capacity utilization. Once capacity utilization improves for overseas business, margins should also improve.

There is improvement in demand for pressure pipes thanks to Ganga cleaning and other projects. The company has got good order book in that area.

BASF has started new plant in Dahej and so the company expects to do good business in its packaging segment.

Domestic business accounted for 69% and rest 31% came from overseas business.