Salzer Electronics Limited has informed the Exchange about Transcript of Analysts/Institutional Investor Meet/Con. Call
“Salzer Electronics Limited Q4 FY-22 Earnings Conference Call”
May 23, 2022
MANAGEMENT: MR. RAJESH DORAISWAMY – JOINT MANAGING
DIRECTOR. MR. BASKARASUBRAMANIAN SANKARA IYER – DIRECTOR (CORPORATE AFFAIRS) & COMPANY SECRETARY. MR. MURUGESH K.M. – ASSISTANT COMPANY SECRETARY.
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Moderator:
Ladies and gentlemen good day and welcome to the Q4 FY22 Earnings Conference Call of
Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
Salzer Electronics Limited. 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
this call. The statements are not the guarantee of future performance and involve risks and
uncertainties, that are difficult to predict.
As a reminder, all participants’ 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 the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing ‘*’ then ‘0’ on your touchtone
phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.
At this time, I would like to hand the conference over to Mr. Rajesh Doraiswamy Joint Managing
Director Salzer Electronics Limited. Thank you and over to you sir.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everybody and thank you all for joining us today to
discuss the audited financial performance for the fourth quarter and the full year ended March
31st, 2022. It is a pleasure to speak to you again, this quarter. I hope you all are safe and well.
I have with me today, Mr. Baskarasubramanian – Director (Corporate Affairs) and Company
Secretary, Mr. Murugesh – Assistant Company Secretary of our company and Bridge IR, our
investor relations team.
We have already shared our results update presentation, I hope you all must have received it and
gone through the same. Before, we discuss the financial performance for the fourth quarter, I
would like to share some the key developments during this year and the market scenario with
you. As you all are aware effects of the pandemic continued to be felt during this fiscal as well.
The second wave led to lockdowns in various parts of the country, including Tamil Nadu during
the initial months of this financial year.
While logistics and supply chain were ramped, business subsequently regained the moment
gradually across the world and in India. Luckily, the third wave did not prove to be as impactful
as the previous one.
Consumer sentiment also started rebounding fairly quickly and we see an uptick in demand from
domestic as export markets. I am very happy to share that we have received two patents in the
recent period which were pending since some time, one for the integral cam-operated rotary
switch and another for motor protection circuit breaker with increased air gap. The rotary switch
product is one of the legacy products providing substantial revenue contribution and margins for
the company. The patent protects our IP and reinstates our focus on R&D and new product
development and reinstates Salzer as one of the technical product leaders in the country today.
On another exciting note, as you might be aware during this year, we forayed into electric
vehicles vertical in line with one of our growth strategies for adding new products and entering
new and promising business verticals. In a nutshell, these two joint ventures one with Austrian
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Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
company Kostad and another with an Indo-Austrian start up EMarch LLP. Through our JV with
Kostad from Austria, we will be manufacturing DC fast charges for the electrical vehicles. With
Kostad’s technical know-how, we shall be manufacturing EV charger for the Indian market and
South Asian markets. Through our JV with EMarch LLP, we will manufacture electric
conversion kits for autorickshaws, buses etc. We foresee a definitely shift in the automotive
industry towards EVs specially in the public transport going forward. As of now the progress on
both the JVs are a bit slow due to the initial technical teething issues.
Coming to our existing products portfolio, the domestic markets have continued to cover well
over the last quarters which especially reflects in our switch gear business where we are
witnessing robust demand. We are optimistic the demands for these products will come to gain
momentum in the coming years, The volatility in raw material prices such as that of copper,
silver, plastics steel etc., continued to increase this quarter. We have been passing on this price
hike to customers at various points. In some of our product’s lines, we have already increased
prices. However, the margins have impacted to a great extend due to a lag in passing on these
price increase. The lag in passing the price hike, this quarter was mainly because of the high
volatility in the input material prices which we did not expect and we could not pass on,
However, in April and May, we have increased the finished product’s prices of Salzer by 6%-
10% on all products. Also new product introduction of panels which contributed at least 4%-5%
of revenue this year is yet generate EBITDA margins due to the initial teething issues. This
couple with increased cost of freight, subcontracting charges and one-time product development
expenses are some of the main reasons for a poor Q4 margin figures. All this combined pulled
down EBITDA margins by at least 8% in switch gear division. However, we are hopeful that for
the coming year we should see improvement in the margins.
Our export markets have also recovered well with significant demand coming in, have the
impacts of the pandemic subsides slowly in the global markets. Export demand is likely to be
stable and positive in the near future. Our growing export market complements the domestic
market to help us grow at a faster rate giving an upbeat view for the coming fiscal year. We
expect good growth in volumes in the coming quarters. The company is well-positioned to cater
to higher demands from customers and pious to take up new opportunities.
Now coming to the quarterly financial and business performance:
During the fourth quarter our revenues increased by 20% year-on-year to Rs.228 crores from
Rs.189.69 crores the previous year. Growth was on account of increase in volumes coupled
higher product prices. The EBITDA for the quarter stood at 12.89 crores as compared to Rs.16.6
crores in the corresponding previous period. The EBITDA margin stood at 5.7% a decline of
287 basis points year-on-year mainly due to continued increased in raw material prices coupled
with freight and other cause as explain earlier. The price increase on all our products to the tune
of 6%-10% has been done from May 2022 onwards. The profit after tax at 3.83 crores in Q4
FY22 as against Rs.6.99 crores in Q4 FY21.
Now coming to the full year results FY2022:
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Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
In the year ended March 2022, the revenues increased 29.39% year-on-year to Rs.783.63 crores.
Primarily due to strong demand for the industrial switch gear products and increased volumes
as well as price. EBITDA excluding other income stood at Rs.5.78 crores in FY2022 as Rs.61.7
crores in FY2011 year-on-year growth of 3.22%. FY2022 EBITDA margin at 8.14% year-on-
year which is a decrease of 206 basis points. On account of input material cost, freight cost and
one-time product development expenses which are barring on the margins. Profit after tax was
Rs.2248 crores in FY2022 as against Rs.2067 crores in FY2021, a year-on-year growth of
8.75%.
Moving on to the breakup of revenues as per the business division:
The industrial switch gear division contributed 48% of the total revenues in this quarter and 50%
during the full year. This division EBITDA margins stood at 5.23% in Q4 and 9.7% for the year
FY2022. Wire and cable division contributed 44.6% to our revenues this quarter and 4.2% during
the full year. There is an increase of 2.1% year-on-year in this division during this quarter. Wire
and cable division EBITDA margin has been steady at 6.6% in Q4 and 7.3% for the full year
FY2022. Building product division has contributed 7.2% in the quarter and 6.5% for the full
year FY2022. At Rs.16.53 crore for Q4 FY2022, the division has grown by 40% year-on-year.
The EBITDA margin stood at 2.5%. The fourth is the energy management division during this
quarter also we did not receive any new orders from the government as they were no tenders
issued during this period. Of the export front, despite slight headwinds due partial lockdowns
across the world, we were seeing steady growth especially from the US and the European
markets. Export to the Americas grew 84% year-on-year in this quarter. Export to Europe grew
52% year-on-year in this quarter and for the Middle East also grew 81% year-on-year in this
quarter. For this quarter the export share of the revenue was 20.43%. For the full year, it stood
at 23.29%.
On another note, our recent joint ventures to enter the electrical vehicle space are both on track
as explained earlier, we are excited about this line of business as it is high growth potential
vertical and we have strong technical alliance in the form of JVs to get an early start in the
market. On behalf of the company, I thank all the stakeholders of Salzer Electronics Limited for
their continued support and faith in our company and wish all of you a very good health.
This is all from our side for now, I would once again like to thank everyone for your time and
attention. We can now take questions.
Moderator:
Thank you very much. We will now begin the questions and answers session. The first question
is from the line of Niteen Dharmawat from Aurum Capital. Please go ahead.
Niteen Dharmawat:
Couple of questions, you mentioned that the exports have done really well in some of the
geographies. So just wanted to understand the revenue distribution between domestic and the
export. What is the percentage that we are having?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Okay, our export percentage right now for the full year, this is around 23.2% of the revenues.
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Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
Niteen Dharmawat:
And the trail that we have witnessed in the last quarter is it continuing now as well or we are
seeing some sort of slow over there in export?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
No, exports have been steady for the last full year and it continues to be like this. As of now, we
are not seeing any slowdown as of now.
Niteen Dharmawat:
Wonderful. What is the revenue target that we are having from EV segment, you mentioned that
it is right now slow, because of variety of teething problems? But what is the revenue target that
we are keeping from the EV segment?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
I think it is still in a very initial stage so I think it will be a difficult for us give u a revenue target
from those two JVs as of now. May be a couple of quarters down the line, we will have better
idea on how this product comes out and how the market accepts these products, then we will be
able to give you a good guidance on that.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sreeram Ramdas from Green Portfolio. Please
go ahead.
Sreeram Ramdas:
On the EV business, I think we suppose to have shipped our first EV charging unit in April. So
can you explain, where is the delay, I am sure we have not recorded any revenues but do we
have any order book that is now being build up in the EV segment?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
No. There is no order book as of now because we still perfecting the product that is to be made
in India. The idea was to build the chargers here in India so in line, we have already imported
samples and whatever parts required on a CKD as well as a fully assembled condition and the
team is working on observing the technology and building a charger here at a price point that
the Indian market will accept. So, the delay is in the absorption of technology because it is
complicated product, it is not as simple as any other electronic product because it involves DC
currents and charging of batteries requires lot of safety measures and controls and our
collaborators are coming here quite soon to ensure that things are all on line.
Sreeram Ramdas:
Okay, so when can we expect? Look, testing phase must be done by now, when can we expect
to build order book, I am not talking about revenues but at least order books when can be expect?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
I think from August/September onwards we should be able to build the order book.
Sreeram Ramdas:
What about the EV retrofitting space, there I believe, we already did testing a rickshaw, with
converting a rickshaw, so even there are we facing technical issues, or problem with responding?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
There again we are facing some technical issues because we trying to bring the cost down,
because the costs are not as expected so the cost is still high and we are trying to improve on the
range. So, these are the two things that is going there and I expect that product also, we should
start building order book from August/September this year onwards.
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Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
Sreeram Ramdas:
Okay September/October tentatively we can start to see order book build up for both the EV
units.?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Yes.
Sreeram Ramdas:
Okay, what you think about building segments it has been quite stagnant even the energy, so is
the government issuing more tenders to the energy management or is it still silent over there,
energy management.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Energy management is still not a big focus for us. I think as I said earlier in many calls. It’s a
government tender business. So, it comes as bulk and sometime it is not there for long time. So,
we are not really focusing on that as of now, I think our focus is mainly on the industrial switch
gear and the wire and cable and the building electrical business. On the building electrical, if
you see, this year the segment has actually really grown very well, year-on-year it has grown
around 55% compared to last year and we are seeing improvements in the margins side also on
that segment. So, I am hopeful this segment will start contributing at least 7%-10% on the
revenues going forward with good EBITDA margins.
Sreeram Ramdas:
Okay, last question from my side, the one-time product development cost that we had incurred
which actually is tampering the margins. Can you give some information on the cost that we
incurred for product development?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Actually, these are product development as well as testing charges that we incur when we
develop new products. So, last year I think we have developed a few new products for new
customers in US and Australia. So those testing and approval charges are to the extent of around
Rs.1.5 crores has been spent on this quarter alone because the product was completed and tested
at this quarter.
Sreeram Ramdas:
And which is for the traditional business or for the EV which was it incurred for?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Switch gear business system.
Sreeram Ramdas:
Switch gear, traditional, okay.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sunil Menezes an individual investor. Please
go ahead.
Sunil Menezes:
I have couple of questions on the margin. I think for the last three quarter we are doing guiding
of achieving 10%-11% or then 12% and all margins. But I know with all the current conditions
the costs are going up and then we do not know how the immediate future outlook is, so in this
environment what are we doing to improve the margin if at all, or will it be difficult to improve
the margin in the near term.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Actually, speaking this very unprecedented times that is happening right now, one the pandemic
hit because of that there were lot of logistical issues shortage of various materials which actually
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pushed the input prices higher and during that time, we have also actually increased our prices
sometimes twice or thrice in an year during 2020 and 2021. However, when we thought things
are stabilizing, then the Russia-Ukraine war came. That again, took a big time impact on all the
commodity materials because of the oil, I think the freight cost started going up again, copper,
silver all the metals started going up, again because of the oil all the plastics started moving
again. So, the problem for us was if it increases and stabilizes, we can pass on but if it kept on
increasing every month, every two weeks there was change in price which we did not anticipate
and we could not pass on that quickly this kind of a volatile pricing. So that is one of the reasons,
that Q4 has been poor on the margins but I am confident that we have already increased our
prices and I do not think it is difficult to pass on the price increase because the whole world
today is reeling under inflation and everybody knows what is the input costs impact. So, people
accept price increase and we have done that at the same time internally which is a continuous
process that we are doing of value engineering. There are different teams and different factory
for constantly working to reduce cost, add more value to the product. So that is happening
continuously and this price increase couple together, I think we should be back to the normal
margin levels.
Sunil Menezes:
Good, at least we can say that if the situation does not deteriorate as it is, the worst is behind us?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
I am 100% sure about that, yes.
Sunil Menezes:
Okay, regarding the EV business, I think there is so much focus now with the fuel prices going
up the urgency for green energy is further increasing. So, with all that the market conditions, do
you see very contusive for us to enter into this business, especially the timing of entry do you
think it is very appropriate?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
In my opinion the EV business in India is still in a nascent stage, I think it will take a least a
couple of more years before we see the advent of electric cars and buses or public transport in
electrical vehicles, at least a couple of years down the line is what we think. So, in that opinion
they entry timing of ours is quite right or maybe I would say we are behind six months, or maybe
we should have been earlier but still not less I think we are still one of the few players who will
be making easy fast chargers. A charger that will charge a normal car in less than 20 minutes
from 0% to 80%. So that is going to be a business, definitely worth to be in.
Sunil Menezes:
Okay, so the last question that I have is on the FY2023 now, I know that you mentioned, I do
not what the question on what revenue growth we expect because we will be increasing the price
and other stuff, right? So, what volume growth increase we are targeting for FY2023. What do
you think can be achievable?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
I am sure the 25% volume growth is definitely achievable looking at the current demand scenario
from OEMs and the market.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aditya Sen from Robo Capital. Please go ahead.
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Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
Aditya Sen:
Most of my questions are already answered just one more. Broadly, can we understand that there
has been a volume dip quarter-on-quarter this time and the revenue realization has been only due
to price hike?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
No. I think this quarter, actually the entire growth has been because of the volume because this
quarter we did not change price. Whatever revenues we got, is purely volume growth.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rajakumar V. and individual investor. Please
go ahead.
Rajakumar V:
Sir, I have two questions, the first one is on your operating margin for the current quarter it has
come at about 5.7%, there are lot of, you mentioned one-off costs and all that. So just wanted to
know what are your guiding for FY2023, just a band if you could mention that.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
I think we will see a tough quarter FY2023 Q1 will also be a tough quarter but from Q2 onwards,
I think we will be back to normal EBITDA levels of 10%-11%.
Rajakumar V:
Okay, and any benefit Salzer will be getting because of the recent changes done by the
government at the last weekend.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
The GST changes?
Rajakumar V:
No all the import duty cuts and so on forth will there be any benefit for Salzer?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
No. I think it has not impacted any of our products as of now. And already there are lot of things
we are importing on duty-free basis so there is no additional benefit that we might get because
of this.
Rajakumar V:
And the last question, Sir I looked at you return on equity for the last 10 years, it was a kind of,
the average is about 8% that seems very low, like an FD return right? So just wanted to know is
it because of IT capacities or then what plans you have to shore up the return on equity.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
I think that is one of our targets also to increase the ROC margins, ROC percentage,
unfortunately, it has been at a low end as you said, is mainly because of our long working capital
cycle. So, once we improve on that I think then we should see better ROCs and this year we
have seen our inventory days coming down from 110 to close to 100 days and we continue to
push to bring that down to 90 or less than 90 and that is when we will start seeing improved
ROCs.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ankit Kumar from Alphas Capital. Please go
ahead.
Ankit Kumar:
Sir question is on in the PPT you are talking about good improvement in the order book so can
you please explain how much is the order book, now how much it has grown versus last year.
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Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Actually, we do not operate on a large order book because most of our is a 4-6 weeks delivery,
that is how we operate. What we mentioned is, we are trying to pass on this information that
based on the inputs that we have received from our OEMs the forecast that they give for this
year and based on what we see the demand coming from the general open market from the
dealers and distributors, I think that shows that there is a strong demand in the country as well
as from US and Europe, so that is the reason we say that the order book is quite good and one of
the reason that we are also saying that we will be able to get a 25% volume growth in the coming
year.
Ankit Kumar:
And sir very recently government has ban on export duty of steel side, so any worries on that,
can that be a worry for volume growth next year?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
No, the steel prices in the country has doubled as compared to what it was a few months ago. So
that has impacted the material prices of a lot of components. So, this ban on exports might bring
the steel prices a little bit down which can ease the input prices for us. So, in my opinion, I think
it is a good move for us.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Karthikeyan V an individual investor. Please
go ahead.
Karthikeyan V:
Sir, just wanted to understand, we have reduced our inventory holding period and also debtors
to some extent in Q4 but what is the headroom there for us to improve further and what is the
best case working capital cycle, we are looking for may be another one year, two years down
the line.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Currently our debtor days has dropped from 107 to 97 so 10 rate improvement and we can further
bring this down to around 90 or 85-90 as a normal cycle we that we will have and inventory
days, we should bring this down to 80 days. We still have room to reduce the entire working
capital cycle by at least to 30-40 days from the current 107 day.
Karthikeyan V:
So, 170-180 will be the gross cycle that is normal for this business that we will be operating.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
No, 160 minus 30, so we will be at around 120-130, will be the normal.
Karthikeyan V:
Okay and then Sir for this EV division, do we have any PLI scheme that will benefit us here?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
No. I do not think we will be eligible for PLI because the investment requirement for the PLI is
quite high. So, our total capex investment will not be benefit.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Akshay Kothari from Envision Capital. Please
go ahead.
Akshay Kothari:
Sir, you did mention about EV fast charger which can charge in 20 minutes. So just wanted to
understand like are we having patent or how difficult is it to reverse engineer or any stringency
of the enforcement regime which would come in so can you explain regarding that?
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Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Actually, it is a very complicated product if it was easy to reverse engineer, I think, we would
have already done it but then it is not that easy to reverse engineer this fast-charging product.
So, that requires a lot of technical know-how to make this charger and that is why we are relying
upon our collaborator Kostad, who is an expert in this and they have making such fast chargers
for the last 10 years in Austria. Having said that I think there is no IP for us in India but our
collaborator holds certain IP in Europe, which will protect us in India also.
Akshay Kothari:
And which are the geographies we are targeting with us at the outshore.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Right now, our focus is on India but incase we start manufacturing here then we might look the
South East Asian market also, which is also open for us as per the agreement.
Akshay Kothari:
Okay but we will not be going to Europe and that would be our partner’s territory?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Yes, that will be our partner’s territory.
Akshay Kothari:
In the equity there are mentioned of you are some of the murky customers so could you just
elaborate the significant partnership which we have with them and going forward how are we
expecting to grow?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
We already have very strong tie-up partnership with Schneider Electric, that has become much
more stronger after L&T becoming a part of Schneider Electric. So today I think, we will
probably be the largest supply chain partner for Schneider Electric including the L&T business
that we are doing with them. So, the partnership there is quite strong quite good, I think we
continue to get new businesses from various division of Schneider so that is growing good. Apart
from that we also have strong partnership with Honeywell, with Eaton, we are also working with
ABB for export markets. So, all these partnerships have been there with us for the last several
years and they continue to grow quite strong.
Akshay Kothari:
Sir, my last question will be on the raw material side so what are the key raw materials which
we use any commodity and where do we procure them from?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
All our raw materials are procured locally in India, the supplies in India we have, major material
is copper, plastics, copper for wire and cable. For switch gear division it is plastics, silver, steel
and other hardware items.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Panjul Agrawal from Green Portfolio. Please
go ahead.
Panjul Agrawal:
Sir, I wanted to ask how far long are we in the optimization of working requirement, this is what
I see is despite operating on cash profit company still has to rely on short-term borrowings to
meet its working capital requirement. So, how are we planning to go ahead with it.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
I think once the inventory days and data days start coming down, we will see positive cashflows
and that is when we will earn cash profits and we will not be relying the short-term debts.
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Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
Panjul Agrawal:
Okay, and how are we planning to bring it down?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
It is a constant work, unfortunately the last two years have been bad and it worked against us
due to this pandemic and after the first wave. We actually went opposite to our direction and we
started increasing our inventory because we thought, they will be second wave, there will be
further lockdowns. So, we wanted to stock up ourself and that has actually increased our
inventory in FY2021 and FY2022 and now we have started again reducing that.
Panjul Agrawal:
Okay, moving forward we are expecting that the situation is going to get better only.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Yes, it has to.
Panjul Agrawal:
Sir, on other non-current assets there has been an increase of nearly Rs.3 crores, could you please
give more information on this.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Okay, I will have to look at that figure. I can note down this question and answer you because
I do not have that information right now with me.
Moderator:
Sir, we do have a question from the line of Mr. Hitesh from Aksa Capital Advisor LLP. Please
go ahead.
Hitesh:
Sir, sorry, I joined the call late. Just wanted to understand if our order cycle is about 4-6 weeks
and if we have a very strong position in some of the segments why should it take such a long
time for us to pass on the input price increase to be customers.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
No, it does not take time but there is a process to increase the prices because there are other
agreements that we have with the OEMs so it has to be negotiated pass it on. So, there is a
process and it takes time and if we do it this month. It is difficult for us to go back again next
month for a price increase. So, what we do is we consolidate all our input price increases. We
go and do one-time price increase that is how the industry operates until this couple of year I
think we normally do a price hike only once in a year during April and May but because of this
abnormal time setting we have done 2-3 price increase in FY2020 and FY2021 and again we
have done it now in FY2022 April/May. So that is the reason, we see a lag in passing on the
price increase.
Hitesh:
But is there a formula which you work on with these larger OEMs or any pricing formula that
we have?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
We do have a formula only based on copper pricing but all other material there is no formula,
only copper we pass it on every month, whatever is increased or decreased and that is the reason
we see a stable margin on the wire and cable business.
Hitesh:
So, should the prices of plastic, copper it will not go anywhere from here on probably in Q2, we
should go back to the normal margins that we had is that understanding, correct?
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Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Yes.
Hitesh:
Sir, I think in your presentation you are mentioning about some one-time expense for a new
product development, you share what this new product is what is the quantum of the product?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Actually, we developed some new products for American and Australian markets in the last one-
and-half years and those products have gone through the third-party testing and approvals. So,
all those charges to the tune of around Rs.1.5-Rs.1.6 crores got accounted in this quarter.
Hitesh:
Okay, can you share what is the market opportunities of these products and what is it a
competitive position in them?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
These are some custom-built products for certain OEMs in US and Australia and total potential
for the products that we have developed for these customers both in US and Australia will come
close to around $7-$8 million.
Hitesh:
That is the revenue potential that we have from these customers now.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Yes, from these customers now.
Hitesh:
And where we in terms of commercializing these products or probably converting into sales?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Yes, the testing is over, approvals are over, we should start seeing revenues from this quarter
onwards.
Hitesh:
And lastly Sir, on the EV products, you did mention about the potential that is there, where are
we on the customer acquisition for these products and again revenues coming from the them.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
We are still in the product development stage and I am sure that once our products are developed.
I think there is difficulty in customer acquisition because the market is quite huge and we can
get targeted revenues in the open market for sure of these products. Right now, we have to
develop the product.
Histesh:
Any timeline that you are working on Sir, in terms of commercializing these products.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Definitely this financial year we want to commercialize both JVs.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohit Ohri from Progressive Shares. Please go
ahead.
Rohit Ohri:
Starting questions are related to Kaycee, if you see the yearly margin for Kaycee has started
improving so what is the act that you are doing slightly different over here but the margins have
started coming up?
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Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
On Kaycee, I think as soon as we took over during 2019 September is when we started taking
control of the company. I think in six months the pandemic hit and things took a different turn
but once the lockdowns are open, this financial is the full financial year that we were able to
operate properly except for the first two months. We did a lot of exercise on cost cutting on the
operational efficiency. So, all those things happen and the results of that are slowly being seen
in Kaycee. So that the operating margins of Kaycee are improving and we can see further
improvement of at least 2%-3% on the EBITDA margins going forward. Mainly to fund the
operational efficiencies.
Rohit Ohri:
And anything on the volume front if you would like to guide something for Kaycee.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Kaycee, we are planning to see how we can touch Rs.50 crores in this year. So that is the target
that we are looking at. Current year, we did close to Rs.30 crores. So, we are looking at a growth
Rs.20 crores on this leg that is growth of around 60%.
Rohit Ohri:
Okay what is the capacity utilization at Kaycee right now. Kaycee’s product capacities are quite
dynamic. So, we can add assembly lines or increase capacities as we build on the order book.
Rohit Ohri:
Approximate blended kind of capacity utilization if you can share.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Right now we are operating at around 75%-80% capacity.
Rohit Ohri:
Any new products that you have got on for Kaycee?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
No, right now no new products on Kaycee.
Rohit Ohri:
My next question is related to any value-added product that you have added in the wire segment
a part from wire harness, any new value-added products that you have touched upon or worked
on?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Yes, we have added data cables and CCTV cables, last year end FY2020, we started producing
that so the full 2021, 2022 we saw revenues coming from data cables, which is a much higher
value-added product in the wire and cable segment. So, this year has been the first year and we
saw revenues close to around Rs.20 crores coming from that product and we expect that product
revenues to go up this year close to around Rs.50-60 crores.
Rohit Ohri:
Any thoughts on products like Flame Retardant Wires or something that can be an offering from
Salzer.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
That is already there, Flame Retardant Wires, low smoke wires, they are already there on the
portfolio.
Rohit Ohri:
My next question was related to Valeo. Valeo has come in contact with power back energy that
is Honda and Atul Greentech and they intent to work on some integrated compact electric
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Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
powertrain system. So, any scope for Salzer since Valeo is customer to ours as well so anything
that gets connected, the dots get connected for Salzer, any opportunity over there?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
I think we are working with Valeo on a few new products that is under development. At the end
of this financial year, we will those products developed. I am not sure if it is going to Honda or
any other who you have suggested but it is value of product that then Valeo will start selling to
almost all OEMs.
Rohit Ohri:
Okay, so is this in wire harness that we are working for Valeo or?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
No. They are some switches. We are already supplying wire harness and wires to Valeo.
Rohit Ohri:
In terms of these EV tenders, you started opening up via EESL and CESL. Do we see any scope
for Salzer from these tenders that are opened up are ready for that?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Right now, we are not ready but once the product is developed, I think then we definitely be
ready for the CESL tenders.
Rohit Ohri:
Okay since you are working on electric autos, any thoughts on giving some more value addition
via golf carts as an offering or working towards the golf cart as the beginners.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
That is not on the focus right now, we are only working on conversion kit for an auto. So, we
are not going to build a full auto as of now. So, our focus is only on this conversion kit but going
forward we do not know, we will see, may be it is a good idea that you have thrown now.
Rohit Ohri:
Okay, my last question is related to these orders which are there. I know it is difficult to gauge
but if you can give a break up in the public sector and the private sector. What is the ratio of the
total turnover that comes from the public sector and private sector?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Majority of our business, I would say 95% of our business in private sector. We are not directly
selling into public sector companies that much except for if you consider the railways and
companies like BHEL, they are public sector means, yes, we do sell to them but they are not
very much, I would say less than 10 strength of our total revenues comes from the companies
like BHEL and Indian Railways.
Rohit Ohri:
So hopefully we see good numbers for Salzer coming up. I did not understand one thing is that
when you are saying that you have taken price hikes, you will be able to pass it if at all. Why do
you intent to guide that the numbers will be better in the second half, I did not understand that
statement made by you.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Yes, because we did a price increase only in end of April, starting May, so already April is gone.
So, we will only see the impact of this price increase for these two months and there are still
pending orders that we should be supplying at the old price. So that is why I said that Q1 will
still be a very tough quarter but Q2 we will see the full impact of this price increase as well as
we expect the input prices to reduce also. So, the combined impact we will see in Q2.
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Salzer Electronic Limited May 23, 2022
Rohit Ohri:
But the blended margins for the full year would be in the range of 10%, 11% and 12% that we
generally do every year?
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Yes.
Rohit Ohri:
Sir, one last request that has not been touched upon is the increase in the share holding pattern
which you mentioned that you try to work towards that, any positive output over there.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Yes. There is a positive output but I am not able to give a timeline right now but definitely
looking at increasing the stake, the promoters are definitely looking at that.
Rohit Ohri:
By first half, second half, if you can just mention.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Within this financial year.
Moderator:
Ladies and gentleman, this was the last question for the day. I would now like to hand the
conference over to Mr. Rajesh Doraiswamy – Joint Managing Director Salzer Electronics
Limited for closing comments.
Rajesh Doraiswamy:
Thank you all very much for your interest and your support to Salzer as usual. I look forward to
talking to you again during the next investor call after the next quarter. Thank you very much
for your time and attention.
Moderator:
Thank you. On behalf of Salzer Electronics Limited that concludes this conference. Thank you
for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.
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