Thank you very much for that kind introduction. Good evening to all of you. This Gauri Kirloskar, Managing Director of Kirloskar Oil Engines. Thank you all for joining the call today. I have with me Rahul Sahai – our B2B CEO; Aseem Srivastav – our B2C CEO; Ankur Gupta – CFO (B2B Business); Mr. Smita Raichurkar – Company Secretary; and Amit Gupta – CFO of Arka. We also have on call with us Mr. Sachin Kejriwal. As you all must have gone through the Stock Exchange notice that we gave yesterday, Sachin has joined us as CFO with effect from today. As usual practice, I will start with the business update first, followed by a quick overview of financial performance and then we will go on to the question-and-answer session. As evident from the figures, this quarter has been remarkably prosperous for Kirloskar Oil Engines. We've achieved the highest quarterly sales in KOEL's history. Moreover, when considering the entire year's performance, it also marks the highest annual sales ever. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the entire KOEL team and express gratitude for their unwavering support. This success is undoubtedly a collective effort with every member of the team contributing to their utmost. I firmly believe that this milestone signifies just the beginning of our journey ahead. At KOEL B2B, we are transitioning from a diesel engine manufacturing company to a technological leader in power and energy systems. We are doing this by focusing on our internal R&D, making progress on our technology tracks and encouraging innovation within our team. Coming to business updates. Overall demand has stayed strong this quarter too. If we look at the macroeconomic indicators, India's economy outperformed the expectations in Q3 '23, '24 with 8.4% GDP and was at a 6-quarter high. This trend continued. It was evident in the Q4 demand across sectors with high demand coming, especially from construction, infrastructure and railways in particular. In power generation, Q4 demand, in particular, was a mix of CPCB-II and CPCB-IV+. As we approach the deadline of June 2024, we expect the CPCB-IV+ demand to start gathering momentum. On the industrial side, we saw strong demand from our construction OEMs and government sectors such as Railways and Defense. Another noteworthy update is on the international business side. This year, we crossed the Rs. 500 crore international sales mark for the first time, taking the overall share of exports to approximately 12% of total sales. As the CPCB-IV+ norms have opened up a lot of new avenues for our products internationally, I believe this is a beginning of the exciting journey ahead for us in the international markets. If we look at the business unit-wise breakups for the quarter as well as the full year, most of the businesses have grown double digit year-on-year. On the B2B side, I will talk about also the new and alternate fuel products first. The Optiprime series is gaining good traction. We shipped 17 Optiprime products, including 4 2,000 KVA gensets during the quarter. Gas genset sales have also been encouraging, and we expect the demand for natural gas gensets to increase going forward. We sold 229 gas gensets during last year. Remanufacturing is now part of our offerings through the launch of the New Life brand. Last year, we offered 110 New Life products to our customers. This quarter, the International business unit clocked a 70% growth over last year's Q4, making the full year performance at Rs. 520 crores, a 32% growth year-on-year. Please note that these are standalone numbers.
Now coming to the B2C business
Overall, the B2C growth was 7% quarter-on-quarter, mainly backed by a strong growth of Water Management Solutions. The farm mechanization business continues to decline for the quarter and also for the full year. We continue to increase market share in WMS due to our deepening and widening strategy, 83 deepening channels contribute to Rs. 22 crores and 91 new channels through the widening effort contributing to Rs. 26 crores. As you know, our focus has been on the profitability of the segment. We have been taking a series of steps to improve margins. The PBIT margin has improved 25% for the quarter and 73% for the full year. I will now briefly update on the Financial Performance on a quarterly and year-to-date basis: These are standalone numbers. So, first, a review of the Q4 FY '24 Financial Performance on a standalone level: Net sales is at Rs. 1,378 crores for Q4 FY '24 versus Rs. 1,141 crores for Q4 FY '23, a 21% increase year-on-year. EBITDA is at Rs. 178 crores for Q4 FY '24 versus Rs. 129 crores for Q4 FY '23, a 38% increase year-on-year. EBITDA margin is at 12.8% for Q4 FY '24 versus 11.2% for Q4 FY '23. Net profit is at Rs. 118 crores for Q4 FY '24 versus Rs. 93 crores for Q4 FY '23, a 26% increase year-on-year.
The year-to-date or the whole year performance on a standalone basis
Net sales is at Rs. 4,806 crores for FY '24 versus Rs. 4,073 crores for FY '23, an 18% increase year-on-year. EBITDA is at Rs. 578 crores for this year versus Rs. 457 crores for last year, 26% increase year-on-year. EBITDA margin is at 11.9% for fiscal year '24 versus 11.1% for fiscal year '23. Net profit is at Rs. 375 crores for FY '24 versus Rs. 298 crores for FY '23, a 26% increase year-on-year. Just as a note, the above EBITDA and net profit numbers are after adjustment of overdue receivables towards a customer and the detail is in the notes to the financial results. Looking at the working capital. With diligent efforts and regular monitoring, we’ve achieved a reduction of working capital by Rs. 140 crores in the quarter with inventory days down to 48 days from 60 in the last quarter. The cash position now stands at Rs. 269 crores at the end of the quarter. Please note that this cash is net of debt and includes treasury investments and excludes unclaimed dividends. Now I will take you through the business-wise standalone revenue breakup for the quarter and
year-to-date performance
The B2B business reported sales of Rs. 1,210 crores for the quarter, which indicates a growth of 22% year-on-year. The full year sales were at Rs. 4,182 crores for the quarter, which is 18% growth year-on-year. Within B2B, the power generation reported sales of Rs. 518 crores for the quarter, which is 11% year-on-year growth and Rs. 1,905 crores for the full year, which is 15% year-on-year growth. Industrial reported sales of Rs. 309 crores for the quarter, 28% year-on-year growth and Rs. 1,008 crores for the full year and 18% year-on-year growth. Distribution and aftermarket reported sales of Rs. 210 crores for the quarter, that's 19% year-on-year growth and Rs. 749 crores for the full year that's 19% year-on-year growth. International business reported sales of Rs. 173 crores for the quarter, which is a 70% year-on-year growth and Rs. 520 crores for the year, which is 32% year-on-year growth. B2C standalone business reported sales of Rs. 168 crores for the quarter, which indicated growth of 10% year-on-year. The full year sales were at Rs. 624 crores for the quarter, which is 15% growth year-on-year. Within B2C, KOEL Water Management Solutions business recorded a revenue of Rs. 153 crores for the quarter, up by 22% and Rs. 537 crores for the full year, that is 23% year-on-year growth. Farm Mechanization recorded a revenue of Rs. 15 crores for the quarter, down by 45% year-on-year and Rs. 87 crores for the full year, down by 18% year-on- year due to seasonality leading to delay and subsidies from the states in where we operate. Now, I will update you on the consolidated business: LGM sales were flat, but with significant improvement in year-to-date PBT from Rs. 8 crores to Rs. 34 crores. The new plant construction is going as per schedule. LGM export grew at 15% and now contribute more than 30% of the revenue of LGM. Now, I will update you on the consolidated business: For the full year, Arka clocked revenue of Rs. 565 crores, which is a 52% growth year-on-year. The loan book as on 31st March 2024 was at Rs. 5,210 crores, including off balance sheet. Last last quarter, Arka had an exceptional item of Rs. 31 crores towards the provision made for investment in Arka's alternate investment fund due to the regulatory changes announced in December 2023. However, during this quarter, Rs. 15.6 crores have been reversed from that exceptional provision towards investment in Arka Credit Fund I post clarification from RBI. Overall, if you look at the consolidated results, for the quarter, the revenue from operations is at Rs. 1,660 crores for Q4 FY '24 versus Rs. 1,384 crores for Q4 FY '23, a 20% increase year-on- year. Net profit is at Rs. 131 crores for Q4 FY '24 versus Rs. 107 crores for Q4 FY '23, a 23% increase year-on-year. At a yearly basis, on a consolidated level, revenue from operations at Rs. 5,898 crores for FY '24 versus Rs. 5,024 crores for FY '23, 17% increase year-on-year. Net profit, Rs. 468 crores for FY '24 versus Rs. 360 crores for FY '23, a 30% increase year-on- year. Please note that the EBITDA net profit numbers are excluding the exceptional items and provisions and reversals or overdue receivables made for a customer towards sales made in the previous year. And for details, please refer to the notes in the financial results.
In Summary
With 2 years down, the journey of our 2X-3Y strategic path, I am very satisfied with the progress we have achieved. This is despite the last-minute unforeseen changes in the CPCB-IV+ deadline. The deadline change has not just affected us on the top line target, but of course, we had to make a lot of changes on the production line and keep our supply chain agile to manage the transition. I would like to reiterate that this was achieved because of the support we received within the organization as also from our supply chain partners. Amidst managing these challenges, we remain steadfast in our pursuit of new business development and progress in research and development. This underscores the dedicated endeavors of our team in crafting cutting-edge products for the modern era. Our aim is to excel in internal combustion engine technology, spanning alternate fuel, hydrogen blends and hybrid engines. These innovations are tailored to support our customers in their decarbonization journey. In summary, with a strong FY '24 performance, we are very much on track for our 2X-3Y target, advancing satisfactorily on the 5 growth pillars. We have registered a 21% CAGR in the last 2 years on the base of FY '22 revenue of Rs. 3,250 crores. We have reached double-digit EBITDA margins, too, reflecting a healthy above 40% CAGR on the EBITDA numbers. As we move towards the last leg of the 2X-3Y journey, we have our eye setup on the longer path that's ahead of us. We are committed to the strategic roadmap and our technology tracks. You will hear more about these in the coming calls, stay tuned until then. With that short update, I would like to open the floor now for the questions.