Unimech Aerospace and Manufacturing Limited

Quarter ended Jun 2026

2026-08-04 Transcript PDF
Moderator

Thank you so much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with the question-and-answer session. Our first question comes from the line of Akshay with AK Investment. Please go ahead.

Akshay

Hello sir. First of all, thanks for giving me the opportunity and congratulations on the great set of numbers. Sir, my first question is what is the approximate order execution timeline for the current move that we are having and also what are the current order pipeline and how many orders can we expect in the FY '27 going ahead? And also let me complete. So nuclear order book is also INR87 crores. So, going ahead, how do we see the demand and traction over there also? Thank you.

Rajanikanth Balaraman

Okay. Akshay, thank you. Can you just lay out the first question and then move to the second question there will be like, I get that many questions there back then.

Akshay

Yes, it's all about the order pipeline and execution timeline and also about the nuclear order book.

Rajanikanth Balaraman

Okay. So, starting with the timeline for execution pipeline. So, firstly, what I want to say is that in the, INR280 plus crores order book that we say, these are confirmed POs. Some of forecast standpoint, like if I have to basically talk about FACC and several other things that we're working on, the order book is even larger, which includes the forecast, right? So, this INR280 crores is the confirmed order book. And as part of that we are looking at some of the tooling which basically will get consumed within the quarter. Most of it will get consumed in the quarter. Nuclear, that is the INR87 crores will be across by H2 next year. So, yes, nuclear would be -- some part would be H2 and the remaining part would be next year. The on the on the precision parts it's basically for the next six months or so. And on the nuclear -- we continue to be looking at newer bits and we continue to look at that. There is some new bit that is coming in.

Management

It's going to come up. It will update once.

Rajanikanth Balaraman

Yes. Yes. So, these are organic bits that will basically come in and then the pipeline gets built up based on the bit constraints.

Akshay

Okay. And sir, my second question is about the growth expectations. So, how much revenue growth and EBITDA margins we can expect?

Rajanikanth Balaraman

Akshay, we can't give you well, Akshay, can you be loud? We, we, very, very feeble.

Akshay

Yes. Hello, am I audible now, sir?

Akshay

Okay. Sir, my second question is about the revenue growth expectation and the EBITDA margin. So, how much revenue growth are we expecting in the FY '27 as you have already highlighted the quarter two and quarter three will be strong and also the -- our gross margins were 68% this quarter. So, what is the range for the gross and EBITDA margin that we can expect for FY '27 and going ahead? And also, as we have highlighted that we are seeing a very high demand, so are we expecting any capacity addition in the near future capex plan? Thank you.

Aakash Jaiswal

Akshay, so we'll go one quarter at a time. As we maintained last quarter, we were expecting quarter one to be a healthy quarter and hence we maintained saying quarter one would be a good enough addition. Similarly, quarter two also is looking better. Prime indication that I can give right away is, Hobel contribution only came in for two months in this current quarter. The next quarter we are seeing three months of full consolidation coming. In the tooling business I should say demand momentum continues. We are seeing constructive discussions ongoing with the customers and even with the forecast available with the end consumer se gment, we see this business also to be doing well. PCA business, as we have always maintained, it's a business that we are growing right now. This business will continue to see more qualifications and that will be our approach going forward. Most likely, what you will see H2 will be a much heavier PCA-led revenue contribution coming. On an overall basis, if I should say, all the business engines or the growth drivers that we have enabled in the Unimech business platform, it's continuing to shape up well. You will see a meaningful growth happening in this financial year compared to the last financial year.

Akshay

Okay, sir. And about the EBITDA and gross margin?

Aakash Jaiswal

So, gross margins, yes, so the number that we have always been talking about on a blended basis, we see 65% as a good sustainable numbe r for this year. You should also appreciate that our business involves more qualification orders as well as more prove -outs. Hence, we are also enabling the pipeline of first articles to strengthen the future business revenues. That will continue. To speak on the capacity right now, though we still have some capacity to be utilized, but we are also seeing enough demand traction coming across. To be ready for the upcoming demand because customers appreciate that we have available capacity or dedicated capacity to serve them, we will have to plan something early to remain in this demand cycle and to take benefit of the future revenues that we want to undertake. So, having said that yes, we will be open to any further investments that will be needed for the business growth.

Akshay

Okay, sir. Okay. Thank you so much and all the best.

Moderator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Kishore Kumar with Unifi Capital. Please go ahead.

Unifi Capital

Yes, thanks for the opportunity, sir, and good morning. So, my first question is on the tooling business. So, can you, can you actually help me understand how much of the revenue typically we get from the engine tooling versus airframe tooling? And we also have close to 5,000 SKUs.

So, going forward, will the growth be dependent on deepening the project that we already working on, or will it be actually coming from expansion of this SKUs as well as entering more with more customers or wallet share expansion? Just wanted to understand this growth prospects for the aero tooling business.

Aakash Jaiswal

Starting with this what we see is expansion of SKUs is always beneficial for the business growth. Over the journey of last 10 years, if I should say, Unimech has qualified over multiple SKUs starting from low value, low complex products to now what we are delivering is high value, high complex products. So that has always been the nature and journey and this will continue. Going forward as you understand, there is still enough type of product that we have to capture and then address. So, this will also be one of the growth drivers in terms of SKU expansion. Parallelly, underlying growth in the business or in terms of the end consumer demand will also continue to be a factor of growth. Having said this, it will always be a combination. One side, Unimech will continue to expand its SKU base. Secondly, it's the underlying demand momentum that we'll continue to take advantage of.

Unifi Capital

Got it. And, and on the mix of engine tooling versus airframe tooling, how should I look at that way, actually?

Aakash Jaiswal

See we would not want to qualify what would be the mix because it's a very heterogeneous structure to name. There has been enough number of SKUs that we have to prove, but to give you a very I should say an overarching statement, we are dominated with aero engine components or the aero engine tools that we supply right now. And this is going to be the meaningful chunk, but there is another opportunity on the airframe tooling side that we continue to explore. As we continue to add more products, we'll let you know how the progress has happened.

Kishor Kumar

Got it. Understood. So, the second question is on the precision component space. we are actually engaging with a lot of customers in the emerging space like semiconductors and energy. So, actually, how are we placed in the value chain? Are we in the Tier-4, Tier-3 category, and how important are we in the chain? Is there any possibility of Unimech moving up the chain and directly engaging with the OEMs, if not already?

Aakash Jaiswal

Just to clarify, we are already in the Tier -1, so we are directly dealing with the OEMs in this value chain segment. In terms of when you speak on PCA, when we speak of the semiconductor industry, we are already in the Tier -1. Yes, in terms of aerospace, I should say, we will largely fit into the Tier-2 structure.

Rajanikanth Balaraman

In some places we are also Tier -1 in aerospace as well. There are multiple OEMs that we are working with where we are working directly with them. And some places it's Tier -2, and that's because how aerospace industry is basically structured and based on that, you have several Tier- 1s which are multi-billion-dollar Tier-1s and OEMs.

So, we basically operate in that space. Semiconductor largely Tier-1, and nuclear also we work with the OEMs are the government and nuclear power program. Sometimes with their Tier -1s where there is EPC involved, where we ended up working the Tier-2 space on the nuclear side.

Kishor Kumar

Got it. sir, on the Hobel Bellows acquisition in the last call, you mentioned that we already receiving, good conversations from the existing customers on this product being cross-selling to the other industries. And you also said that we need some kind of qualifications for that. So where are we in that, actually? And is there any more engagements happening with other customers or other industries?

Rajanikanth Balaraman

There are very good engagements that are happening, but before I basically go into that, I just want to educate on what the Hobel Bellows plans are. Our foundational plan is to expand in the same industry that we are operating, which is, you know energy, gensets, and locomotives. So that's an area where A ) we would want to expand within the customer and increase the wallet share. B) we would want to look at other companies in the same market and try to basically expand market share. This is the near term. In the medium term, we want to look at for example, nuclear and other partners and get qualified. In the long term, we would want to basically get qualified in programs like aerospace, semiconductor, but we also understand that this is a higher qualification. There is AS9100, there is NADCAP approvals, then you basically get them onboarded. There is a long term for them to basically share RFQs, then you work with the team and for each of the process, there are qualification cycles. So, that's largely that takes a longer time. Having said that there have been a couple customers that we are working in the same space that we are operating and potentially that that is actually turning into good discussions. We've also started having conversations with you know, nuclear and started the engagement with our aerospace customers, but we are also telling them that the required certifications and all of that will happen and the engagements have started.

Kishor Kumar

Got it, sir. Thank you so much. All the best, sir.

Moderator

Our next question comes from the line of Chirag Kalantri with Nuvama Wealth Management Limited. Please go ahead.

Nuvama Wealth Management Limited

Thanks a lot management for this call. My question is regarding how is the nuclear order book outlook ahead and what will be the percentage of nuclear orders two years down the line? And also, comparing it with aerospace and semiconductor business, how is the EBITDA margins looking in nuclear business?

Aakash Jaiswal

Okay. So right now, we have nuclear orders worth INR87 crores. I should say close to around 50% of the existing order book to be executed in this financial year, but largely this will happen in the second half of this financial year. For the new opportunities, as we have understood, there is four new nuclear reactors coming up in the space and we are eyeing that opportunity also. Obviously, there has been enough qualifications which enables us to participate in those programs and also with the previous participation on the tenders, we see that that can be a

stronger opportunity. On the overall margin front, we would like to maintain that we don't want to disclose margins on each businesses rather than only on a consolidated basis. And on a consolidated basis, as we had always indicated we being a margin-focused business, we will continue to see 30%-32% plus margins. However, this financial year, we are seeing a better performance. So, close to around 34%-35% of margins is what we will be able to deliver for this financial year.

Nuvama Wealth Management Limited

Okay. Thanks, thanks a lot.

Moderator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Charchit Maloo with Genuity Capital. Please go ahead.

Genuity Capital

Hi, sir. Thanks a lot for the opportunity. My first question is regarding Hobel. So, in Q1, what was the revenue from Hobel and what was the margin from this?

Aakash Jaiswal

Though we can discuss on the revenue, but as we maintained on the margins going forward as a policy, we will not want to disclose a margin separately for each business. On the consolidated business, we have done 36.5% of quarterly EBITDA margins this quart er. In terms of revenue, I should say, for the two months, it has contributed close to around INR22 crores.

Genuity Capital

And going forward, we are going to maintain the same kind of growth in FY26 and FY28 from this segment?

Aakash Jaiswal

Yes. So, what we see in this business, growth can be closer to 15%-20% that we understand. But we are also at a stage when we are integrating this business and it might be, can be qualified as a premature growth indication. But on an understanding basis, yes.

Rajanikanth Balaraman

I mean, just historically speaking, between last year to now, this year, it's been about 15%-20% growth.

Genuity Capital

Understood. And in the earlier few calls, we have mentioned that the other income will be normalized going forward. So, like, are we still intact on that? Or like FY27?

Aakash Jaiswal

Yes, you have already seen quarter one to other incomes to come down. This was largely because our investable funds have also reduced because we have acquired the new business. Going forward in quarter two onwards, you will see a much lesser other income from here on.

Genuity Capital

So, we will see like, YoY, like decreasing other income, right?

Aakash Jaiswal

So, last year, we did closer on INR46 crores. Obviously, quarter one has still been on a higher side in terms of other income that we delivered. But going forward in quarter two, you can expect actually half the number of what we did in quarter one.

Genuity Capital

Great. Understood, sir. Just one last question…

Genuity Capital

Understood, sir. So, just one quick question.

Moderator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sajal Kapoor with Antifragile Thinking. Please go ahead.

Antifragile Thinking

Yes, thank you for taking my questions. I've only got two. First, you now have more than 6,300 qualified SKUs and are targeting a significant increase in FAIs this year. So, of the SKUs qualified over the last two to three years, what proportion have actually converted into recurring serial production orders? And is that conversion rate improving with each qualification cohort? That's my first question.

Rajanikanth Balaraman

Thank you, Sejal. So, on the SKUs, the SKU number that you quoted is a combination of all our businesses together. That is tooling, efficient components, and everything else, right? And then when you ask about serial production, it's largely PCA business, which is serial production. And tooling business is more of, depending upon what is required, that gets ordered, right? So, a large part of that 5,500 that you spoke about largely belongs to tooling. The PCA business is a very young business, right? It's an 18 -month-old business. And what we are seeing there is that most of the qualified things are actually moving into serial production. I would say 80% of the PCA qualified parts are moving into serial production.

Antifragile Thinking

Thank you. Second question I have is related to the asset terms and the ROCE. So, as utilization improves from roughly 50% towards 60% and beyond, working capital days may simultaneously increase from 120, 125 days to maybe 150, 160 days. So, what should investors expect this combination to do to the incremental ROCE over the next two to three years? And at what utilization level should the investments already being made producing materially higher asset turns and ROCE?

Aakash Jaiswal

Sure. So, just to relate to the asset turn number, we are slightly over two times of asset turn with the current delivery. What we see the current investments or capex is able to deliver anywhere lesser than three times of asset turn. But just let me qualify one more thing. Historically, aero tooling as a segment has always provided a better asset turns. However, since we are moving aggressively into the precision component side, there we expect a two times of asset turns. So, hence, on a two to three year basis, we can expect asset turns roughly between a 2.5% to 3% or more likely closer to a two and a half times to say so.

Aaksh Jaiswal

And ROCE, right now, as we indicated, it was close to around 15%, 16%. And this will remain for this calendar year also. As the utilization improves, this can go up to or beyond 20%, 21%.

Antifragile Thinking

Best wishes. Thank you so much. Yes, that's helpful.

Dev Thacker

Thank you for the opportunity, sir. So, I wanted to understand the agreement we signed with FACC. Like you mentioned that as of now, this order is around USD7.5 million. So, what could be the scope of this order maybe going to three years down the line?

Rajanikanth Balaraman

Sorry, the question is what could be the scope of?

Dev Thacker

Scope of the agreement we signed with FACC for the aerostructure components two, three years down the line.

Rajanikanth Balaraman

Okay. You mean in terms of revenue?

Dev Thacker

Yes, in terms of revenue, in terms of longer-term scope?

Rajanikanth Balaraman

Sure. Okay. Firstly, typically, when you sign a particular, agreement, it's for that particular wave of RFQs and the win that you had on that. But as you know, one of the things that's happening in the order book is, can you hear me? Okay. But as you can see in terms of order book, there is newer RFQs that come in and newer programs that come in and typically, the kind of revenue that you are going to basically make keeps increasing. The second part is that from a qualifications perspective, getting qualified across OEMs enables us to basically get new business. So, from that perspective, this opens doors for us to basically not just with FACC but also work across other tier ones and the OEMs that we are basically getting qualified.

Dev Thacker

Got it. Thank you.

Moderator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Harshit Chheda with Centra Insights LLP. Please go ahead.

Centra Insights LLP

Congratulations personally on the amazing results. My first question is, as Unimech already entered into talks with the leap engine OEMs? And if yes, how much are you expecting to benefit from it?

Aakash Jaiswal

Can you repeat the question, please?

Centra Insights LLP

All right. As Unimech already entered into talks with leap engine OEMs and how much do you expect to benefit from it?

Rajanikanth Balaraman

So, we are hesitant to basically talk about specific customers because, we are bound by confidentiality agreements that we cannot actually talk about any particular OEM. And like on the tooling side, it's the licensees who basically, for specifically leap engine that you are talking about, licensees are the ones with whom Unimech works in where Unimech works in the Tier - 2 side where leap engine OEM is basically, OEM and then there's a Tier-1. And typically, we work with the Tier -1. And in the tooling business, that's largely PO to PO business. But we have made progress in the sense that we have signed agreements and forecasted orders for engine stands that is ongoing.

Centra Insights LLP

All right. And my second question is, is there any plans to expand into the MRO sector in India?

Aakash Jaiswal

I believe this would be early to say, but always on a longer -term vision, that is an intent. Whenever there is a large opportunity under the MRO, we will be one of the first movers considering our 10 years of experience into this MRO tooling manufacturing segment.

Rajanikanth Balaraman

While that's an overarching statement, what I want to basically qualify is that when there is actually MRO activity, new MROs that has been set up, Unimech has been at the forefront of it. For example, in the past, when we had, the Safran HAL MRO that happened in Goa, we basically supported them with a large set of tooling, over 100 toolings that basically gets deployed for the helicopter MRO. Similarly, any new MRO activity that happens in India or across the world, we work with our licensees to make sure that we are able to supply some of them, both in India and across the globe.

Moderator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Bhavesh Bhatia, an individual investor. Please go ahead.

Good morning, team. Thank you for the opportunity. I have a question regarding the potential imposition of 100% tariffs by the U.S. on India. So, could you please provide an analysis of the impact on our revenues, ordering flows, and EBITDA margins? And additionally, I would like to understand the management strategy to mitigate the risk associated with this potential scenario.

Aakash Jaiswal

Bhavesh, as this being a very grey matter and it continues to undergo change, which each day which we are reading, it will be very difficult to quantify. But however, what we can say, we are enabling enough mitigants around this. There was last year when we were seeing consequences or issues arising because of tariffs, we had initiated a free trade warehouse. Mitigant that, which will enable us or our customers to continue the delivery schedule as planned. So, all these mitigants are there for us to insulate around the tariffs.

Rajanikanth Balaraman

And then if you see the newer engagements that we are having, including the FCC agreement, has been largely with European customers and we continue to do that. And there's obviously Saudi Arabia, where we are setting up the manufacturing footprint, which hedges these kinds of risks. And we will continue to keep doing that. This is a very, very fluid situation. It's evolving and we are figuring things out as it basically happens. But from a long-term perspective, we are setting up enough hedges against a similar volatility.

Aakash Jaiswal

Yes, Bhavesh. So, what we have in place is a board resolution which to raise up to INR750 crores. So, the objective for this initiation is, I would like to call it, this is primarily to provide flexibility as we work towards the achieving of our minimum public shareholding, which is due in the next 18 months. That being one of the reasons. Secondly, as we also see enough demand tailwinds in the business, we don't want to miss this cycle. We want to be early to call for and additionally, with the more capacity and capability development that is required in the business, we will continue to work around. We let the market and as well as the street to know when this capacity or capability expansion will be required. But to just summarize, this is an enabling resolution that provides a strategic flexibility. It should not be interpreted as an immediate fundraising. However we keep on continuously evaluating our requirements and we will let the street know about our plans.

I understand, sir. But is there any plan to do an M&A or inorganic acquisitions?

Aakash Jaiswal

See, the growth opportunity serves on both the segments, it's organic as well as inorganic. In case of capabilities that you have to build up, inorganic is always the best way to do it. Similarly, as I mentioned, enough demand inquiries have been coming, w e will have to commit to new capacity as and when our customers would. So, on both the fronts, we are open. There would be, and as I indicated, immediate fundraiser is not there on the card, but as and when it will be required, we will let the street know what the plans for the business are.

Moderator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anil for the closing remarks. Thank you and over to your table.

Anil Kumar Puttan

Thank you everyone for joining us today and for your continued trust and support. As we progress through FY27, our focus remains on disciplined execution, strengthening customer relationships, investing ahead of demand, and creating sustainable long -term value for all our stakeholders. The momentum we are witnessing across our businesses combined with our growing capabilities and strategic initiatives gives us confidence in the opportunities ahead. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming quarters. Thank you and have a great day.

Moderator

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Anand Rathi, that concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines. This transcript has been edited for readability and does not purport to be a verbatim record of the proceedings. Since it is a transcription, it may contain transcription errors. The Company takes no responsibility of such errors, although an effort has been made to ensure a high level of accuracy