BirlaNu Limited

Arun Maroti

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Arun Maroti

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Baidik Sarkar

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Baidik Sarkar

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Nikhil Gada

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Nikhil Gada

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Parin Gala

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Parin Gala

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Parin Gala

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Parin Gala

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And therefore, the primary stockings are not happening, there is a weak sentiment in the market and companies are losing on inventories because they have materials bought at higher price.

— Baidik Sarkar

So, for Parador, quarter 2 is the weakest in the whole year, quarter 3 is slightly better, but December is weak because of Christmas.

— Nikhil Gada

So, probably right now I mean, times are difficult due to whatever is going on, but they always say, right, that opportunity lies in crisis.

— Parin Gala

So, we will bridge the gap even though situations are difficult.

— Parin Gala

In the meantime, the summers have been extremely weak, and therefore, we have been in trouble in July and August, which I already spoke about.

— V.P. Rajesh

Dhirup Roy Choudhary: India Roofing is about the same, I would say, Y-o-Y, though the sentiment in the market on prices is extremely weak.

— Aejas Lakhani

See, when the pent-up comes up, if we have destroyed the fabric of Parador, it will be difficult to come back.

— Mohit Khanna

Q

My question is with regard to the Parador operation that we can see that the energy prices in Europe and all the things. But what is the next I can say that the step to mitigate in a moderate manner that okay, we will not get affected much? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So, Arun ji, thank you. You touched on the energy. Let me tell you that this calendar year towards January, February, I've taken a call to pre-book our energy prices for Parador. So, we consume electricity in our production, and we do not use gas. Our energy cost is 2.5% of revenue. We have already hedged our energy requirement for the

Arun Maroti

Sir, you told about that the Government has given us some scheme that only we need to pay the 60% done in the production in order to not working. So, how much did already happened in that case for the current quarter? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So, not much in the current quarter. We have taken these calls in the second half of September, and you would see some reduction in manpower costs in the coming quarter. We are monitoring the production based on the demand scenario and sticking holistically so that the inventories are not raised up unnecessarily. So, all of that is a work in progress. So, by

Q

Mr. Choudhary, thank you for the call on the update, appreciate very much. So, by way of demand substitution, how much of the opportunity loss in Germany do you think we can recoup from sales to, say, Spain and the Nordic regions? And is it fair to assume that we will be significantly away from break-even for the rest of the financial year as far as Parador is concerned? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So, Mr. Sarkar, thank you for your question. We are definitely in a bad shape in Q2, but we do not want to be in a bad shape in Q3 and Q4, and therefore, all actions towards that is happening. Demand have

Baidik Sarkar

If I can just squeeze in one more question on the India front. You did mention the fact that ocean freight rates are still high. Anecdotally, we were of the understanding that there was some situation softening in the oceanic freight rates. So, is this route specific for us given that we operate from Latin America to India? Or is this a generic trend that you're seeing? Point number one. And point number two. As far as the demand in the saliency per se for Roofing Sheet is concerned in India, how is that? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Very good question. So, yes, you're right, absolutely. Some of the

Q

Sir, my first question is so now that we are seeing such a surge in the gas prices and the demand is also sort of slowly and steadily coming down, what are the plans in terms of running operations as in? are we also planning to take some amount of periodic shut down for a month or so? And secondly, when we say that the demand has already gone down, and then we are going to see the winter season where as such, our demand for Parador is also on the lower side. So, how do you see this navigating through this, if you can help us. Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So, Nikhil, 3 things you’ve touched on, if I h

Nikhil Gada

Yes, sir. Sir, just on the fuel cost, you mentioned that we generally use electricity and even those prices are up by close to 4x in Germany. And when we look at our power and fuel cost on the subsidiary side, it's close to 2.5% of our total sales. So, is it fair to assume that this has sort of also gone 4x? Or when we say that we have hedged 60%, 70% of the requirement, is it at a better negotiated price? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Yes, it is at the old prices. So, then we are getting hit only for this remaining 20% to 30% of the requirement? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: You're right, the direct hit. But

Q

So, probably right now I mean, times are difficult due to whatever is going on, but they always say, right, that opportunity lies in crisis. So, when things are going bad and there must be a lot of these other competitors or some other segment altogether, which you were earlier interested into. And with a strong balance sheet that you have right now, you see a scope of some more inorganic opportunity, whether it's the same segment or different and where you can probably up the time for your $1 billion target that you are looking out for? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So, a very interesting question, a

Management

Q

I appreciate you taking time out and updating the investors on what is the situation. Thanks for that. Most of the questions have been answered. Just one question is considering the current situation, our competitors or the smaller people or the smaller business units would be definitely going through a lot more trouble considering we have a strong balance sheet and decent cash flows. Once the tide turns, we should be coming out much more stronger. Is that a correct assumption and directionally right thinking? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So, Amit ji, thank you first of all, for your question. I will

Amit Vora

My question was more to do with European operations. India, I am pretty comfortable, not worried at all. And you did touch upon the $1 billion sales, which includes your consolidated entity. So, do we change any of these timelines or if it is too early to take a call on that? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Sir, would you allow me to change the timeline. I'll ask that question to all investors. And the answer would be no. So, I'm here to exactly work what the investors want me to do and we will do it exactly that way. Excellent. Reassuring again, thank you so much for the call and your time and all the

Q

And we really appreciate you doing this call. My first question is you mentioned that Austria is doing well. So, if you can just elaborate why that part of the business is doing well because the energy cost has had an impact in the entire Europe? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So, Rajesh ji, Austrian operation is doing well, what I said. That means we are full up on manufacturing. And that was what I said. The reason for that is most of engineered wood orders come from international market, international to Germany and Austria. And therefore, that particular country hunting, if I can use the word hunti

V.P. Rajesh

So, just to repeat what you said. In Germany, both demand and cost is an issue. In Austria, the demand is not an issue because we're getting orders from other parts of Europe that are coming into us, but the cost is still an issue. Is that the right way to understand it? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Right, thank you. Very well said. And then on the Germany, you said that you used to get 20%, I wasn't sure if that demand is 20% down from last year or from Q1, if you can just clarify. Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So, demand is down by 20% from last year is the right statement and also from Q1. So, we were ver

Q

Just want to get a sense and could you speak about the debt levels currently and has that gone up since the previous quarter. Do you expect debt cost to increase for this quarter and the next? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Lakhani ji, this call was only for Europe. Therefore, my apologies, if I'm not ready with the numbers, but I can answer that the debt in Q2 always goes up. We borrow money in Q2. Q1 was debt-free as India. Q2, we have borrowed money. I think about Rs. 50 crore has been borrowed till now in India, but we will be able to pay back. This is cyclic in India, and we pay back by Q3, Q4.

Aejas Lakhani

Sir, could you just also give some color if India Roofing is down Y-o-Y? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: India Roofing is about the same, I would say, Y-o-Y, though the sentiment in the market on prices is extremely weak. So, every competitor is taking panic decisions, which I don't understand why because their costs are also high. But we are not sinking to that level.

Q

First of all, best wishes to the team to tide through this current challenges. And my question was more or less regarding the Europe business. So, I wanted to understand, given that now the demand scenario is certainly so challenging, are we rolling back some of the price increase that we had taken earlier? And secondly, on unit profitability basis, are we able to make profit at gross level in the current scenario? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So, Subham ji, thank you very much for your good wishes. I need it, as I said, the team needs it. Yes, a drawback on prices is evident and eminent because when

Subham Agarwal

And in the current scenario, how are the competitors faring? Is there any chance of some competitors going out of business or something like that? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Sir, there is an overcast in Europe to talk about competitors. You are aware of the rules. But we do have a very good sense of how our competition is doing, and they are all in terrible, terrible situation.

Q

I just wanted to understand that after this mayhem settles down, what do you think will be the first step or the strategy for HIL to recoup the lost business? How about to capture the highest incremental share of the incremental demand or the pent-up demand that would come up, especially focusing on Europe. And then what is the progress on the Chinese JV? Is there any mitigation effect from the Chinese JV for the European business? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Thank you, Mohit ji. Good afternoon to yourself. So, yes, we have converted crisis into opportunities in India. You would recall last couple o

Mohit Khanna

And as the Chinese JV, is there any -- Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Chinese JV, sorry, I didn't answer that. So, China is still closed in many ways. Traveling is not allowed them. That's something that has not taken up as much. We have, in the meantime, opened up 42 POS in China, but their footfalls are low, and so the requirements haven't shaped up. But I'm going to speak to them very soon to find out ways to excite this. And the last one if I may squeeze in. Sir, you say that if you do get orders from greener pastures, you would get back on the production and the manufacturing front. So, in that se