BirlaNu Limited

Baidik Sarkar

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Baidik Sarkar

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Baidik Sarkar

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Baidik Sarkar

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Baidik Sarkar

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Baidik Sarkar

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Baidik Sarkar

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Baidik Sarkar

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Rajat Setiya

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Amit Vora

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There are fixed costs within Europe, which everyone is aware, which are difficult to be controlled beyond the level.

— Baidik Sarkar

But we have a huge differential with the rest on market prices, on NSRs, which is difficult to sustain beyond the level that our attempts on brand, our attempts of direct connect with the retail, direct connect with the consumers is something that we are harping on to continue this spree.

— Baidik Sarkar

So the Brazilian, therefore, found it difficult to satisfy everyone.

— Baidik Sarkar

On Parador, given the environment right now and given the fact that competitors are also in a weak footing, is it a time to play offense and take any strategic decisions you believe?

— Ashwin Reddy

So let me go back a few months back and draw you to the stress that we had during the onset of the war, where there was absolute scarcity of wood.

— Amit Vora

Or because when we look at even at the gross margin levels as well for Parador itself, then there also we are seeing some pressure.

— Amit Vora

So therefore, these are cost elements, which is very, very difficult to be recovered from the market with NSR, and that's what's creating the downsize.

— Nikhil Gada

So when we look at our margins for the current quarter and when we look at what we achieved in Q2 of last year, there's a significant decline.

— Nikhil Gada

Sir, my second question was like we seem to have a weak brand in terms of pipes in North India.

— Pavnish Kumar

Or would you say we need one more pillar in order to strengthen the P&L, balance sheet, in order to compensate for such volatile events whenever they happen?

— Nikhil Upadhyay

But the last 2-3 years have been difficult, first COVID, now the war.

— Nikhil Upadhyay

This is a very, very difficult, but very interesting segment.

— Nikhil Upadhyay

So putty, to take it beyond a certain level will be difficult because there are big players there.

— Nikhil Upadhyay

My earlier estimate was INR 600 crore, but I would soften that a little bit, but we will grow.

— Nikhil Upadhyay

So I am not defending where we are, but I am just saying, no matter which segment you look at if you were there, situations were difficult.

— Nikhil Upadhyay

Q

We understand operating conditions have been challenging overall, and we hope to get better. So a couple of questions, how has demand salience been in the Parador side of our business in October and November so far? We understand in your September update call, you had mentioned about a lot of initiatives about expanding the market in the Nordics and Spain and the Americas. Have they began to yield any result? So some color on that. And would you reckon Q3 this fiscal will be a breakeven quarter for Parador? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So your questions are all on Parador. Let me try and answer them

Baidik Sarkar

On the profitability front, Mr. Choudhary, would you reckon we are significantly away from breakeven and is that something that can be expected by Q4? I mean I know it is early days, but given the cost control initiatives, you have spelled out in the September call, any comments on that? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Well, our attempt is exactly on that direction. There are fixed costs within Europe, which everyone is aware, which are difficult to be controlled beyond the level. A lot of cost-saving aspects have been taken including permission from the government to go for, short-term work for a few p

Q

My first question is on Parador. On Parador, given the environment right now and given the fact that competitors are also in a weak footing, is it a time to play offense and take any strategic decisions you believe? Or is it still a time to play defensive and see how the market goes out? So actually I'm saying the on Parador, so is this a time to be aggressive in the market and take any steps in terms of back integration on competition? Or do you think it is still a time to be defensive given uncertainty? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Very, very interesting question. And let me answer this to you. I h

Ashwin Reddy

contracts with big building houses, contractors, builders, influencers like the interior designers, architects, and build the brand further to be ready to absolute kickstart as soon as the situation is ready, we are taking the second. Okay. Got it. That is helpful. No, I am saying you also mentioned that even the suppliers are facing difficulties in your case, in some cases, as you mentioned. So is this also a time to backward integrate? Or there is no need for you to backward integrate in Parador? I mean, are there any inorganic opportunities which you see to make your business more stronger

Q

First of all, I would like to appreciate the management's efforts to always keep investors updated about what is coming and being quite appreciative about this, over the past 3 quarters, you've been very clear that, yes, there is a problem and you've been updating us. Firstly, the question is on Parador, again, revolving around this. Are we seeing any kind of inventory that we have stacked up or that is there, which can come as a write-off in the coming days? That's my first question. And the second question is on the Building Solutions where we have done extremely well, and it looks like the

Nikhil Gada

Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Absolutely. I will be happy to highlight all of this to you. First of all, and as you spoke about electricity, yes. For this calendar year, up to December, it's 100% locked at very favorable rates than what is there presently. And for next calendar year, it's locked up to, say, average 50%. The other part we still have to lock it. And in the present rate, we are unable to lock it for next year because that's a huge, huge cost. So we are waiting for the government to take the right decisions, which I am confident Germany and Austria will take in times to come, and we will

Q

Good morning Mr. Choudhary and thank you for such comprehensive, detailed analysis of the business performance. And I can very well understand the kind of difficulty which the company is going through, but you all are relentlessly fighting to make the company profitable once again. So congratulations once again. Sir, my question was like asbestos sheet has always been, there are always apprehensions around the future of asbestos sheet it being cancerous. So do we have a plan B in case in future government bans asbestos sheets? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Kumar saab thank you for your good wishes, in

Pavnish Kumar

Fair enough. Sir, my second question was like we seem to have a weak brand in terms of pipes in North India. So do we plan to strengthen it further in North India? And also do we wish to outsource the production in North India of PVC and CPVC pipes? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Thank you again. I'll take the second question first. We have 3 manufacturing units for pipes and your question is going to be on pipes. Because putty, we are actually very good as a brand in North India, and we have secured good market of putty in North. Let me come to pipe specifically, that's your question. We have 3 locati

Q

I just have 2 questions. One is specific to Parador. In the opening remarks, you mentioned that the problems which we are facing, many other competitors are also facing. So over a long period, if we look at Parador has 2 manufacturing lines, 1 in Germany and 1 in Austria. Now if you get from manufacturing lines in some other region in Europe, which probably helps you reduce the logistics costs and help to expand the market faster, would you be open to any acquisitions of that sort in Parador? Or is there anything of that sort in terms of acquisitions to build or strengthen our logistics or sup

Nikhil Upadhyay

But our wood plant is fully utilized. So we are actually having order backlog up to end of February there. And we are definitely looking at some companies from where we can possibly source some part of this. Though the brand plays a bigger role, the brand is so well established, we don't want to dampen the brand and its value, therefore, buying from anyone else, selling will not be our course of action. We would be doing majority value add in our factories to continue the brand spree. But your question on whether we can look at constructively to buy some company during this distressed time, ye

Q

Yes. So the question, particularly with respect to Roofing segment. In your initial comments, you mentioned that apart from the raw material impact and all those things, there was high competitive intensity because of this there was a pricing pressure which have impacted the margins. So at a general level just trying to understand, at what stage of the cycle do you see the current situation now, this competitive intensity related pricing pressure will continue to stay in the system? That is first one. Second thing is to what extent the pressure is also because of demand-supply scenario and imp

Management

Q

First of all, really appreciate you explaining the current situation in such detail. Sir, most of my questions have already been answered, but one more question I wanted to understand is related to the fiber prices. So you mentioned that Y-o-Y, it has gone up by 15%. But if you can give me some more detail around the current situation or the magnitude of the problem. Do you see the Brazilian supplies increasing in order to capture the growth in the demand? And when do you expect the Kazakhstan or Russia supplies to come back? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: Thank you, Subham. Fiber price escalation was

Subham Agarwal

When do you expect the supplies to come back from Kazakhstan and Russia? And is there a possibility of a Brazilian entity increasing the supply to reduce prices? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So I think the Brazilians would look at improving their capacity because they are now full up with orders. There are a lot of people crowding on them for more. So if I was them, I would increase the capacity. That's what I would say. It's on their hands. I don't buy from Kazakhs at all, so I can't give that answer to you. You should ask some of our other competition who regularly buy, but I think they're having p

Q

My question is regarding Parador, we can see that demand is scarce. What is your sense still, when would you see a DIY demand to be scarce, first? Secondly, would you look for acquisition of brands in Europe and this is adding on to that distress acquisition question, that one of the listeners already asked you. So would you be acquiring more brands to become a consolidator in the European market? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: So Mohit Ji, thank you for your question. Part of it I have answered, but I don't mind repeating any bit of it just for clarity. First of all, demand definitely has gone down mo

Mohit Khanna

Fair enough. I was just actually trying to understand that you have already explained that you have spent quite a bit of time in Europe. So from that perspective and the gas prices, which is causing inflation and eating into wallet share of the consumers. So on that front, do you see really concrete steps taken up by the government in Europe to lower gas prices and situation might be better controlled starting Feb? Dhirup Roy Choudhary: What they have done is close to nothing because they have passed on a EUR 200 subsidy to all individuals in the last month, which is neither here nor there. So