Note: This is a preliminary transcript and may contain inaccuracies. It will be updated with a final, fully-reviewed version soon.
Apcotex Industries Limited (NSE: APCOTEXIND) Q4 2026 Earnings Call dated May. 07, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Vivek Thakur — Chief Financial Officer
Abhiraj A. Choksey — Vice-Chairman & Managing Director
Analysts:
Purvangi Jain — Analyst
Aditya Ketan — Analyst
Ankit Minocha — Analyst
Sajal Kapoor — Analyst
Mehul Panjwani — Analyst
Farokh Pandole — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q4FY26 earnings conference call of Aqua Text Industries Ltd. As a reminder, all participant 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 this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing Star and then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded at this time. I would like to hand over to Ms.
Purvangi Jain from Valorum Advisors. Thank you. And over to you ma’. Am.
Purvangi Jain — Analyst
Thank you. Good afternoon everyone and a warm welcome to you all. My name is Pratangi Jain from Ballarum Advisors. We represent the investor relations of Apcotex Industries Ltd. On behalf of the company, I would like to thank you all for participating in the company’s earnings call for the fourth quarter and financial year ended 2026. Before we begin a quick cautionary statement. Some of the statements made in today’s con call may be forward looking in nature. Such forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated.
Such statements are based on management’s belief as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the management. Audiences are cautioned not to place any undue reliance on these forward looking statements in making any investment decisions. The purpose of today’s earnings conference call is purely to educate and bring awareness about the company’s fundamental business and financial quarter under review. Now I would like to introduce you to the management participating with us in today’s earnings call and hand it over to them for their opening remarks.
We have with that Mr. Abhirat Choksi, Vice Chairman and Managing Director and Mr. Vivek Thakur, Chief Financial Officer. Without any delay, I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Vivek Thakur for his opening remarks. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Vivek Thakur — Chief Financial Officer
Good afternoon everyone. It is a pleasure to welcome you all to the earnings conference call for the fourth quarter and financial year ended 2026. I hope you had an opportunity to review the financial results and earnings presentation which have been circulated and uploaded on our website and the stock exchange. Let me provide you with a brief overview of the financial and operational highlights for the fourth quarter and financial year ended 2026 for Q4FY26, the revenue operating revenue stood at INR 398 crores registering a growth of 14% year on year.
This was supported by higher volumes and continued pricing discipline while total volumes for the quarter grew by 10% year on year. This reflects steady demand across key segments. Operating EBITDA stood at INR 55 crores up 42% year on year with EBITDA margins which have improved to 13.76% which is driven by higher volumes, better realizations and enhanced operational efficiency. Profit after tax for the quarter stood at INR 35 crores which reflects a strong growth of 107% growth year on year at margins improved to 8.73%.
This performance was supported by a finance disciplined execution across key operational parameters along with a continued focus on cost optimization and efficiency improvements. We also continued to execute our ongoing CAPEX projects with rigor and discipline aimed at supporting strategic growth and capacity expansion during the quarter. The ongoing West Asia crisis led to heightened volatility in raw material prices and some moderation in export demand across select markets. In response, we proactively secured key raw materials to ensure uninterrupted customer supplies.
This strategy has helped us maintain operational stability during the period. While we witnessed some modest impact on export sales, the company continues to remain resilient with limited direct exposure. Demand is stable across key core markets and the proactive risk mitigation measures along with a strong balance sheet position help us navigate this volatility. For FY26 the company delivered a strong performance achieving record high sales volumes up 14% year on year and highest ever export volumes also growing at 14% year on year.
This reflects a robust demand across both domestic as well as international markets. While operating revenue stood at 1442 crores which is a growth of 4% year on year. Operating EBITDA reached a new peak at INR 177 crores up 42% year on year. EBITDA margins expanded to 12.31% for the year supported by strong volume growth, improved margins and higher capacity utilization. Profit after tax for the year stood at 101 crores reflecting a growth of 88% year on year. Fat margins are at 7.03%. Company has maintained a strong liquidity position during the year and remained net cash positive with cash and investments exceeding borrowings by approximately 70 crores.
Our net debt to equity also improved to 0.08 as the board has announced a final dividend of per equity share which is subject to shareholders Approval. This takes the total dividend for FY26 to 8 rupees per equity share including the interim dividend which was declared earlier. Before I conclude, I would like to briefly highlight certain provisions and accounting adjustments recognized during the quarter. Employee benefit expenses include certain provisions of approximately 14 crores which relate to long term incentive plan pending litigations based on external legal advice and higher gratuity and leave and catchment obligations arising from policy changes.
Additionally, an impairment assessment of turbine and related accessories at our Walia facility. It resulted in recognition of impairment loss of about 4 crores which has been charged under other expenses. Further, following an internal technical assessment we revised the useful life of certain plant and machinery resulting into additional depreciation of about 2 crore during the quarter. These accounting adjustments better reflects the economic life of these assets. Some of these items are one off and may not recur with this.
Now I open the floor for question and answer session. Thank you.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and then one on their touchstone pole. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star. And two participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants are requested to limit themselves to only two questions each per participant and may rejoin the queue for any follow up questions.
Our first question comes from the line of Aditya Ketan from Smiths Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Aditya Ketan
Thank you sir for the opportunity. Just a couple of questions and congrats on a good set of quarters. Sir, during the quarter I didn’t understood this employee benefit expense. You had also mentioned in your footnotes that this some 13 crore of additional cost has been taken towards some pending litigations. Only on legal advice toward gratuity leave. We have not seen this sort of increase. When we look at the history over the last five, six years with additional numbers. What is exactly? If you can quantify what is this based on?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Sure. Yeah. And what’s your second question? You said you had two questions.
Aditya Ketan
The second question I would like to know. So this quarter again like this policy changes in depreciation. Like suddenly while we are changing some policies on depreciation. Like in a quarter where we are able to get good benefits. But still these sort of some provisions, some one offs and other expenses also of some four crores. If you can also quantify what is the turbine related losses. Exactly. And also why there is a policy change in depreciation particularly only in this quarter.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
So I’ll answer both questions. I think these are all everything to do with certain provisions that were made and I realize that they are higher and other people may have questions, questions on the same. So maybe I’ll spend a little bit of time on this and hoping that everyone else also, whoever has similar questions, those are also answered. So first, to answer your question on the employee benefits expense, there are three or four provisions that were taken by our, of course, the Management Auditor Audit Committee Board.
It’s gone through the whole process. It was the end of the year, so they were all provisions that were taken, thought it was prudent to take them. For one was a new policy on long term incentives for certain senior management employees that we have just introduced in the last quarter. It is to be paid out over a period of five years. So that provision has been made that has been paid out in the fifth year in 2030. So that provision has been made this year and that will be made every quarter from now on.
Obviously this year, since it happened at the end of the year, the entire year’s provision has come into this quarter. Going forward, the provision will be every quarter will be less. So that’s on long term, sort of incentive. That’s one reason. The second reason is there are some pending litigations that were against the company. And again, this was discussed with the Auditor Audit Committee. It was transparently discussed with the board as well. And we thought it was prudent to make a provision at this stage.
Unfortunately, I can’t talk a lot about it since the matter is in the courts. And I think in the next two, three years or whenever it is, some clarity will emerge. At that point we will see. But at this point, again, we thought it was conservative. It was a conservative call, but a prudent call to take that provision. The third thing was some changes in gratuity policy that happened this year. This is not a. It doesn’t. It’s neutral to the company. It’s just that actuarial valuation change due to certain gratuity policies that we have undertaken.
Obviously the new wage code that has come about sort of triggered this discussion. So we made some changes in our gratuity policy as well. And as a result of which we’ve had to make a provision of that as well. Again, the numbers are in the notes for all those three and all those three together have had that impact on employee benefits. That line item. The second question on the depreciation, actually, this is a cogent power plant that we had invested in a few years ago. Now in the last few quarters we have not been using the turbine because coal prices have been.
The power available from the grid is significantly cheaper than generating our own power. When we had made the investment at that time, coal prices are lower so it made sense and the grid power prices were higher. So as a result of which again we found it prudent to kind of impair this turbine, which at some point we may even sell it. Right now we’ve just kept it as a backup, but we may choose to sort of liquidate that as well. And so as a result of that, all the cogent power plant assets which were sort of, you know, the depreciation was taken over 40 years has been reduced to 15 years.
So that’s resulted in the change in depreciation. So it’s linked to the two. So we felt that, you know, it was the end of the year sort of and we wanted to sort of clean up whatever pending issues that were. And so these were one mostly, you know, one off nature and we don’t expect them to be recurring.
Aditya Ketan
One more question. Sorry
Operator
To interrupt Mr. Ketan. Let him
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Answer since this is. Let him ask one more follow up please Sagar and then we can move on.
Operator
Sure.
Aditya Ketan
I wanted to know is it possible to quantify the inventory gain during the copper and on nitrile metrics or any update like where are we standing today in terms of utilizations and what are the, what is the oversupply situation today and what are we expecting like to ramp up or to get some operating leverage for 27 and 28? Yes, thank you,
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Thank you, thank you. So inventory gains. Yes, there has been some inventory gains. I don’t think there’s been significant. Perhaps there has been a giant February kind of in March there was some run up I guess. But Honestly, you know, March 1st is when the whole war situation started. So I would say there was not a significant inventory gain but some inventory gains. I think largely there has been margin expansion in line trial latex. That has definitely been one of the reasons for a good quarter the war situation.
We were actually better placed than some of our competitors in March, in the month of March. So that helped for sure in nitride gain as far as nitri latex margin. But as far as long term is concerned it still remains in oversupply. We are running at almost full 100% capacity utilization now for nitride latex and at least going forward we expect to run it full 100% capacity utilization. So from a capacity utilization Standpoint, no issue. But from margin standpoint, short term margin has certainly improved right now because of the war situation and some of our competitors have not been able to consistently supply material to our customers.
So that helped long term as I’ve been mentioning is that it’s improving slowly and we expect it to continue to improve. There might be some short term gains due to this war situation in terms of margins for Apcotex.
Aditya Ketan
Thank you sir.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Thank you Aditya.
Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from Ankit Minocha from Adizi Ventures family office. Please go ahead.
Aditya Ketan
Hi, good afternoon, can you hear me?
Ankit Minocha
Yes, go ahead Ankit.
Aditya Ketan
Yeah, hi. So congratulations on the good set of numbers. I mean just looking at your I think EBITDA for Q4 I believe it’s like amongst the highest numbers in the last few quarters. So would it be safe to assume this as like the new base for say the upcoming four quarters ahead for Q1 to Q4 or do you see some kind of margin compression and paper decrease ahead?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Yeah, as you know we generally don’t give any guidance for future quarters. Our business is fairly volatile quarter on quarter. There are some quarters and we’ve had seven, eight difficult quarters in terms of margins also this quarter. Obviously margin has been margins EBITDA margins have been much better. Difficult to say given the current war situation. But look, I would say strategically as we are at a higher capacity utilization levels, we expect margins to be better than the average of last year at least for this coming year.
Quarter on quarter. That’s really difficult to say because there are so many uncertainties in the business first and if you see the last one year there’s been so many things from tariffs to this war to lots of raw material issues in general, so difficult to say, quote unquote.
Aditya Ketan
Sure, thanks, that’s helpful. And secondly just want to understand your latest read on the ADD that was kind of scheduled. So any read if it’s coming in or not or if you already built in that benefit into your benefit or lack of benefit into your FY27 planning.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Yeah, I mean we never built it into the planning anyway it was something that we wanted our some support from the government. Unfortunately the finance as I mentioned in the last con call as well the Finance Ministry did not notify the anti dumping duties that were recommended by the BGTR which is part of the Commerce Ministry Ministry. There are some other legal cases on the same issue. Not aquatics but there are, they are ongoing. So we’re waiting and watching on what happens there. In one or two cases a High Court has actually given an order to levy provisionally and provisionally levy anti dumping duty, but it hasn’t happened yet.
So I’m not sure how it’s going to going to play out. If it makes sense, we will see if you want to go legal. But however, we have not built that into our plan, into our plans. We continue to expand and we continue the expansion project for NBR which will almost double our NBR capacity by next year. And we feel fairly confident that, you know, as far as the return on investments, with all the work that we have done over the last few years, with or without anti dumping, it should be good. But you know, obviously, yes, we wanted some support from the government for a period of five years since we were coming up with a significantly large NBR plant.
Aditya Ketan
Thanks and wish you guys all the best.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Sajal Kapoor from antifragile thinking. Please go ahead.
Sajal Kapoor
Yeah, hi, thanks for the opportunity. Just two questions. Can the existing assets support further growth or has utilization already entered the constrained zone because the new CAPEX is further away and so going into fiscal 27, I mean how do you see at an overall aggregate basis and the capacity that is still available?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
No, you’re right, it is so for us capacities, you know, we have four or five different plants in our two locations. Five different plants in our two locations. So I would say in one or two plants we still have some capacity available. But for NBR for example, we were at 100% capacity utilization for a few quarters and will continue to be so for the next four quarters until new capacity comes up in Q1 of the following year, following financial year. For synthetic latex, we, we are building new capacity again which will come up in the following financial year.
There we have some leeway and we can grow in nitrile latex. For Q4 we were at almost full capacity utilization. So that will continue to be at full capacity utilization. But there we hope margin expansion will be there over the next four quarters. So it’s a, you know, every business has, we are running at fairly high capacity utilization. Yes, that’s true. So there is some leeway for growth. Fortunately for us, some of the, you know, we were anticipating, when I look back, of course in 2020 hindsight, we were anticipating to reach full capacity utilization in some, some of our products by Q2 or Q3 of this financial year 26, 27.
But fortunately Q4 was very strong for us. So yeah, that’s where we are today.
Sajal Kapoor
Sure, that’s Helpful. And what part of the current margin expansion you think is structural operational improvement versus temporary raw material spread? Kind of a tailwind because there is a lot of chaos and disorder happening globally as you have acknowledged over previous earnings calls as well. So given that the world is still very fragile and random, I mean, how much of this improvement we should take as structural and how much is just pure luck or cyclical?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I think if you see Jan and Feb were fairly stable months. Right. The tariffs were gone. There were no major wars. So I think January for us were very good months. Sure. In the month of March we did have. We were better placed than some of our competitors. We took some really good decisions in the past that paid off. So there might be some amount of, as you would say, cyclicality or temporary benefits that would have come hard to quantify. But in this quarter I think not a very large amount in Q4.
Sajal Kapoor
That’s
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Helpful.
Operator
That’s all from my side. Thank you. Thank you. The next question comes from the line of mehul Panjwani from 40 cents. Please go ahead.
Mehul Panjwani
Congratulations on a great set of members and thank you for the opportunity. Thank you. Sir, what are the current utilization levels across capacity?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I would say we are in for Q4. I’m talking about Q4. Yeah. Not for the whole financial year, but for Q4 we were between 90% and 100% across all our plants, all our
Mehul Panjwani
Factories. And sir, are we planning any capex which is going to bring up some more capacity in the new FY27?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
FY27? No, most of this capacity will come on stream in FY28. So in FY27 we will have growth for the whole year. And yes, there are some debottlenecking projects which will help a little bit. But yes, you’re right. There is no major capacity expansion plan or project that will come on stream in FY27.
Mehul Panjwani
And so which quarter of FY28 will choose more additional capacity?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I think the Q1 of FY28.
Mehul Panjwani
Okay, okay. And sir, how. How with the kind of current geopolitical scenario are we having any. I mean now that most of it is out of it, but still there is some kind of conflict going on. So I believe that we had, we had inventory of raw materials earlier on. So how are we placed for the upcoming two quarters?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
A great question. Look, I think as there are, the way we look at it, there are two kinds of raw materials. One or three kinds rather ones that are available in India. Those obviously were better placed. But even for those raw materials that are available in India. You know, their upstream supply chain sometimes is an issue when they’re importing, especially from the Middle East. Then second set of raw materials that we were importing directly from the Middle east, from Saudi Kuwait that were affected immediately.
Right. As soon as the war started, within the first week, as soon as the paid of war was. So that remains an issue and it remains a challenge. Fortunately we were, you know, we’ve been able to run our plant without one, even one day of shutdown because we were able to take some bold calls. In early March we covered material, as Vivek mentioned in his opening remarks, that we took a risk, covered a lot of the materials so that we could keep the plants running in March and April as soon as the materials stopped from the Middle East.
The third set of materials is that comes from other parts of the world, which continues. Obviously their prices have gone up, but availability so far is not a problem. The problem is even though there is a ceasefire today, the state of hormones is still closed. The state of hormones being closed. There are a lot, not only oil but a lot of petrochemicals that the world is dependent on the Middle east region for those petrochemicals. Of those, we don’t know what the long term impact of that is. As of now it seems that we have managed, managed it quite well.
But honestly it’s kind of day to day. You know, I would not say day to day, but week to week, you know, situation so far we feel fairly confident that we are covered up to the end of June.
Mehul Panjwani
Right, right, right. Sir, appreciate your transparent response on this one. Thank you so much.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Ankit Kanodia from Zen Nivesh. Please go ahead.
Aditya Ketan
Yeah, thank you for taking my question. This FY26, we have generated 200 plus crores of cash flow from operating activity. So now and I see around 50 crores of that is because of working capital adjustments. So how do we see it directionally from here? Should we consider this? How much of this should be structured and how much of this can be one time or if you can just throw more color, that would be very helpful, sir.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Nothing is one time or very little is one time. Because it’s, I mean the whole year in fact was a challenging year in some sense. Only in March you can argue there were some perhaps short term benefits. But the remaining 11 months, you know, were sort of regular 11 months with challenges. So we expect it to only improve.
Aditya Ketan
Okay.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Generation that you mentioned on an annual basis.
Aditya Ketan
Okay, okay. So I think basically the, when I look at the working capital situation over here, it is a positive number in this compared to the general sense of always working capital being negative. So that was my main question.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Okay. Some of you are right that way. Because working capital requires raw material, prices were fairly muted for about nine or 10 months of the year. That definitely helped with sort of cash generation, so to speak. Now obviously in the current context it’s exactly the opposite where the prices are the highest in many, many years. So some of it now will be sucked back into working capital. From that point of view, yes, but I meant from a profitability point of view. We only expect it to improve.
So overall working capital requirements may go up and down based on sort of raw material pricing and volatility. But overall, I think structurally from a profit point of view, we expect things to only improve from last year.
Aditya Ketan
My second question was related to APCO build. So we had a good run on appco build for three, four years and I think this year probably we have not grown that much. If you can throw more color as to how do we see that and what are your views over the next two, three years? Directionally in general, I’m not asking for any guidance. And how is the competition shaping up in this field? That’s it.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Actually, even Aquabuild we’ve had, we finished the year quite strong so we’ve had double digit growth. There were some internal issues for us in terms of manpower at the beginning of the year, but that’s been now corrected. We have looked at, relooked at our distribution channels. So I think we have a fairly good team in place. We have a new leader who’s taken over last year. So we feel fairly confident that we will continue to grow at double digits given as I said, we are in a niche space in a few geographies, a few products.
We are trying to improve and grow in that. And as and when there is any additional information that is material in nature, we will let you know.
Aditya Ketan
Thank you so much and all the best. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Saurabh Shra from qrc. Please go ahead.
Aditya Ketan
Yes, hi, good afternoon and congratulations to the team on a great set of numbers. Abhiraj, first question on Nitrile latex is how, how is sort of profitability shaped up in that quarter and now is that contributing to overall profitability?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Yes. The short answer is yes, of course. We’ve had just to recap the history that when we commissioned the plant in April 23rd or March 23rd, obviously it was at the down cycle it was the lowest and in all of 23, towards the 23, 24 and 24, 25 the margins were the lowest they’ve ever been. Even pre Covid Then things started started improving in 25, 26 and every quarter we have seen a gradual improvement in margins. In Q4 there was a significant improvement but as I mentioned to one of the callers earlier, especially the month of March could have been a little bit of a blip because we were better placed than some of our competitors.
We got excellent margins so some of it may again come down in the coming few quarters. But as of now, now Nitride Latex structurally remains still a challenging business but temporarily it’s been very good for us in terms of margins.
Aditya Ketan
That’s great to hear. And secondly on the new capex that we are doing, which is obviously 12 months away so maybe slightly medium term question on that given the geopolitical challenges etc, the world that we are living in, maybe we assume that this is status for that things are not going to be normal let’s say for a while any sort of medium term plan on how we are placed. Do we need to do something to de risk ourselves? Are there suppliers we can sort of engage with? Just want to understand big picture on the two, three main raw materials that we use.
How the team is thinking about that, please?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
No, you’re right, I mean look, it’s as I mentioned to one of the previous callers, very difficult because I’ll just give you an example of one raw material called styrene that we were importing largely from the Middle East, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Obviously those with the state of almost being closed, those avenues are closed right now. So large chunk is coming from China now. So so far so good. We’ve been able to get it and I think we covered till the end of June. It’s so hard to predict what will happen in the future.
I wish I could but you know, we feel fairly confident the way things have been initially in the month of March, obviously there was a lot of panic but I think supply chains in the world are quite resilient and thanks to the Chinese overcapacity in most manufacturing we’ve been able to ride through that. Some other raw materials like butadiene are available in India so as long as they don’t have an issue with their upstream supplies we don’t expect any issue there. And most of the others also as of now they the issue in getting material doesn’t seem to be an issue.
And we’re hoping that in the next few weeks, if the war ends and the state of hormones opens and things normalize, then of course, then everything is back to normal soon, hopefully.
Aditya Ketan
Understood. Congratulations and a great show on the cash flow in these tough times. I mean, it’s an outstanding work by the team to pay down the amount of debt that we paid down and the balance sheet is as strong as ever. That’s great. Job done.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Yeah, I mean, that’s the idea. That was the idea. Like, we want to keep a strong balance sheet even in the most difficult time. And as you rightly said, the team deserves all the credit. We work day and night in the month of March and April to ensure that our customers won’t suffer. Our plants keep running, our customers plants keep running. So that’s been the endeavor and I’m glad it’s worked out. Another thing I’ll mention though is that, you know, and some of this doesn’t get reported, but managing risks, and I’ll give you a small example, is both our plants run on multiple energy streams.
So for example, our Taloja Valia plant, we can use gas, we can use coal. And so in this context, when in the month of March and April, as you knew, there was, as you know, there was a shortage of gas and we were able to, you know, manage without even a single day of production loss, whereas I know many other companies, especially in Gujarat, had to cut down production by 50% and more. So our team has worked really hard to manage this.
Aditya Ketan
That is indeed heartening to hear. Thank you very much and all the best for the next few years.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Pandole from Avesta Fund Management. Please go ahead.
Farokh Pandole
Hello?
Ankit Minocha
Yes, Farooq, good afternoon.
Farokh Pandole
Yeah, yeah, good afternoon. Hi, Abhiraj. Congratulations on the excellent numbers. I just. Some of my questions have been answered. My first question was on Nitrile latex. You know, when we had initially commissioned the project, we had spoken of a sort of step up increase in capacity at a very low cost. Is that still applicable? And could it be possible that in the next six, nine months we could get some capacity there, all going well with growth and margins and et cetera. Is that a possibility or will that too, if it has to happen, get pushed into the following year?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
So the question is yes, absolutely, the plan is ready. We are ready to sort of go ahead and do that. We were waiting just to see how margin improvement happens. Honestly, the margin improvements, as I mentioned to a previous caller, have been better than expected. In Jan and Feb were good. March was excellent, April was also is excellent. But that may be partly because of this war situation. So we’re waiting to see how things land once things normalize. Otherwise we are ready to go ahead with it.
And it’s almost already a question of bringing in equipment. And just as long as the lead time is just the equipment lead time, ordering and delivery of equipment. So that we expect will be eight to nine months in the current context. I think we will probably take a call on that in the next three to six months. But again if that capacity comes on stream it will be in the next financial year, not this financial year.
Farokh Pandole
Got it. And then I just had a question on some of these numbers that you mentioned in your sort of initial comments. Firstly, where are we with regards to net cash? You know, we have all our investments and cash etc. And then we’ve got some debt. So where are we on a net cash basis? And you know, relating to the earlier comments, apart from the litigation based provision which you have taken, what else from all the numerous provisions that you’ve mentioned are non recurring.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
The litigation is also non recurring.
Farokh Pandole
Right. So apart from that, what else is non recurring?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
The long term incentive will be recurring but the difference will be that I think for the long term incentive. Vivek, are you on the call? If you. If I think it’s that will. That 2.7 crores is for the whole year and going forward it will be done every quarter, right? Yes, correct. Yeah. So that will be recurring. And the other thing was on gratuity policy changes that was also a one time thing that will be non recurring.
Sajal Kapoor
Right. The
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Asset, that one asset turbine is non recurring. Of course it’s a one time thing.
Sajal Kapoor
Correct.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Depreciation we have taken for the year, I guess that will be kind of recurring because we’ve reduced the useful life from 40 years to 15 for a few assets that were linked to the turbine.
Farokh Pandole
And just to that
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I would say majority is non recurring. There’ll be some amount. There’ll be 3,4 crores that may be recurring.
Farokh Pandole
Correct. So the end of 260 lakhs which was the incentive, that is that will still be. Obviously it won’t be 260 lakh, it will be 260 lakhs per annum. That’s the rate at which the expensing will happen.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
There’s an accounting thing about sort of time value. So that may differ every. Every year but yes, per annum. Correct, it’s per annum. So for now from now onwards we will be providing it for it every quarter.
Farokh Pandole
Sure. Providing it. Providing for it every quarter. But the amount will be on relating to this amount up or down on a per annum basis. The total amount. Got it? Yes, exactly. And the cash position or the other net debt position.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Vivek, do you have that number for as on March 31st and it’s only improved since then. But as on March 31st.
Vivek Thakur
As of March 31st we have a total debt of about 90 crores. And our investments and cash bank balances are 160.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
It includes working capital loans as well. Right?
Vivek Thakur
It includes all the loans. Entire debt is 92 crores, term
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Loan and working capital.
Farokh Pandole
So we are positive by about 70 or 80 crores.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
That’s correct.
Farokh Pandole
Great. All the best. And once again congratulations. Thanks a lot.
Operator
Thank you. Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Rudraj Raheja from IPART Financial Consulting. Please go ahead.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Sorry, I didn’t hear the name. Can you repeat? Sagar Asha.
Operator
Sure. It is the line of Mr. Rudraksh Raheja. Sorry to interrupt. Mr. Rahija, you’re sounding a lot distant. If you’re using a speakerphone or any external headset may we request you use the handset please?
Aditya Ketan
Yeah. Is this better?
Operator
Yes, it’s much better.
Aditya Ketan
Yeah. I wanted to ask on a basket basis how much percentage increase have we seen on the raw material side?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Sorry, can you repeat the question? I didn’t.
Aditya Ketan
How much increase have we witnessed on the raw material side prices.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
In which. Are you talking about Q4 or.
Aditya Ketan
Yeah. Yes. Q4. Yes.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I mean I don’t have the. Average increase in raw material prices in Q4 compared to Q3. Could you have that number?
Vivek Thakur
I don’t have the blend but I think it was in line with the increase in crude prices. We have seen the crude prices have gone up by about 70% in a couple of months. So that’s about round about the increase we are also looking at in raw prices.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I think what Vivek is saying. If you were compared. If you were to compare the raw material prices on general 1st and March 31st. Obviously it was a huge jump. But the blended average of Jan. 7 March. And there’s so many raw materials that we have. I mean honestly, you can just look at the cost of materials cogs and you just. You will see the blended. Right. That’s the increase.
Aditya Ketan
Understood, sir. Understood. And since we have been able to maintain or I would say we have improved our margins we have been able to pass on increase on the Finished wood side as well. So my question is do you see like more resistance from customer side if we further have to increase prices going forward?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Short answer is yes, absolutely. I think that’s, that’s a big worry because in the long run I don’t know what these kind of high energy prices and high petrochemical prices. I don’t know the or nobody knows. I don’t think anyone can predict what the demand destruction will be. In some industries they are price inelastic to some extent so there may be won’t be but in some industries it’s, you know, I know some of our customers who for example supply to the automotive companies are really facing the brunt because they’re not getting the price increases from automotive companies and all their raw materials have gone up.
Not just our products but all other products as well. And they say they’re being squeezed really hard. So I don’t know how they’ll react. Some of them have even decided to run the plant at losses for one or two months. But I don’t know if that’s sustainable. Obviously that’s not sustainable. So it’s very difficult to say. But I would say in the long term I think with inflation due to this issue, I think it’s definitely a big cause of concern and it should be for all industries, not just ours.
Aditya Ketan
Understood sir, One more question from my side. In what situation sir would you expect that margins would deteriorate from here sharp further increase in crude prices or a sharp fall in crude prices?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I think look a fall will definitely hurt us because we are covering some material. The call we have taken is that we have are, you know, we’re going to cover raw materials and ensure plants are running and we’re not going to take a call on where crude prices and petrochemical prices go when once you’ve decided that obviously as I mentioned to one of the previous callers that we have covered till June. Now suddenly if prices were to fall and we are stuck with high cost raw materials, we will be there could be a quarter or a few months a few months or a quarter where we would have to margins and that’s fine and that’s the nature of our business that there are some quarters that could be really good in some quarters that we’d have to keep it going and protect our market share.
We’d have to take that call. So I would say obviously a sharp drop in prices will definitely affect margins in the short term. Increase in prices, I’m not sure I think be able to pass it along but if he can’t then it could also impact. You know.
Aditya Ketan
Makes sense. Makes sense. And sir, this last question. Sorry
Operator
To interrupt. Mr. Raja may be requested. Okay,
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Let Mr. One last question.
Aditya Ketan
Yeah, thank you. Sir. Yes. Hypothetically, had we operated on a 100% capacity capacity utilization in this quarter across all plants, what would be our revenue levels in that scenario? Assuming current prices,
Abhiraj A. Choksey
You know we are a very high capacity utilization anyway. So assuming current prices, you could assume a little bit more. I don’t think we have too much room to grow, but maybe 5, 10% more.
Aditya Ketan
Understood.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
No, I don’t have the answer. I’m just guessing. I shouldn’t be guessing, but I’m just guessing a little bit more.
Aditya Ketan
Perfect sir, perfect. Thank you.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Yeah,
Operator
Thank you. The next question comes from Darshan Gala, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Aditya Ketan
Hi. Actually most of my questions are already been asked and answered. So I have no questions.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Thank you Darshan.
Operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Aditya Ketan from Smith’s Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Aditya Ketan
Yes, thank you sir. For the follow up. So just a couple of questions sir. On nitrile it takes a possible to quantify for this fiscal FY26 what will be, what would be the top line contribution and similar EBITDA contribution. And secondly sir, onto this, suppose for this quarter like we have done a 15% EBITDA margins. So base business margins versus the Nitro Nitx margins. How are these two margins today as on date? And also sir, you had also said to an earlier participant that demand improve or the price or the margin improvement into the nitro latex.
That seems to be more of a temporary in nature. Structurally though it has not been improved actually. So what are the levers? You see whether this business can improve or it will continue to remain in over supply mode and things will continue to like go back when the crude prices fall and all things will go back to normal.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Okay, sorry. So answer your last question first. I think you misunderstood structurally also there was an improvement right. Over the course of the year, every quarter there has been a structural improvement in margins. Sometimes we were at. There were few quarters, we were at 0% EBITDA margin that had improved in Q3, Q4. Of course in the month of March there was some benefit that our company had especially in nitrile latex. But that only for that one month in the whole of the last year where you could say it’s not structural.
So at some point of course we feel as the capacity utilization in the world increases for nitrile gloves and nitrile latex margins will go back to pre Covid levels. They were still not at pre Covid levels in February, but at some point in the next few quarters they’ll continue to improve and get to those levels is our contention. It’s already taken three years so we’ve been very patient. Sure there are some short term gains and sometimes, as I mentioned the previous caller, short term losses as well that we may have to sort of live with.
But I do not have a crystal ball. I can, I mean, I don’t you would appreciate in the current scenario who can predict what’s going to happen the rest of the quarter, let alone the rest of the year. So I don’t have any number for you in terms of giving guidance for nitrile latex margins and all of that in the next one year. I hope that answers your question.
Aditya Ketan
FY26, if you can like just follow the direction wise. If you can say like, compared with the base business for margins would be lower.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Structurally it has been lower. Yes, that’s a question I didn’t answer. So compared to the base business margins they have been lower. But catching up again, I don’t exactly know what will happen for the rest of the year, but I expect structurally it will keep catching up and eventually it should reach the base business. I don’t know when that will happen, but that’s what will happen.
Aditya Ketan
Contribution of lighter details in top line for FY26 and on EBITDA also.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
You mean in terms of revenue
Aditya Ketan
And ebitda?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I don’t have the EBITDA number. Overall percentage revenue of nitra latex will be Probably, I’m guessing 15 to 20%. Vivek, do you have a number approximately of how much we expect nitrile latex revenue to be the percentage of the top line? I know none of us, none of our sort of product lines are more than 20% of our total top line. So it will be probably 15 to 20% is what I expect. Vivek, do you have a number?
Vivek Thakur
Yes sir, around two sledges.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Yeah,
Aditya Ketan
Got it. Thank you.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next follow up question comes from Sajad Kapoor from Anti Fragile Thinking. Please go ahead.
Sajal Kapoor
Thanks for the follow up. I just wanted to understand your overall R and D approach and thought process around innovation. I mean how can we structurally transform this business over the medium to long term to make it more sort of value driven rather than volume driven? And any initiative that you are currently very positive about, as far as the R and D innovation approach is concerned. Thank you.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Absolutely. Great question, Sajan. So two, three things we are doing. Number one is see we are in eight different business industry verticals, largely paper, carpet, construction, textile, rubber, footwear, tire and gloves. These are largely eight different industry segments. In each of these industry segments we have multiple grades of products. Some grades are what people would call commoditized, where, you know, sort of me two products and then there’s some grades within each segment that are fairly specialized.
Where we are certainly for two or three customers, we’re making this grade that nobody else in the world makes. For example, specifically around, I can give you some examples, technical textiles, there are a couple of grades. There is a few grades in oil and gas specific application of the oil and gas, which broadly falls under construction segment. But it’s actually a specific oil and gas segment within paper as well. We have certain specialty papers. So that’s how we look at it. There will be parts of the business which will be what we call commoditized.
But even I feel that you can’t call it a commodity product because a commodity is something like cement. None of our products are like cement. Right. None of our products like steel. It’s not as common commoditized, but sure, there are multiple competitors or two, three competitors. And we don’t have that much differentiation as far as product is concerned. So therefore those are commoditized. So for each of those segments we look at which are the where can we move up the specialty value chain and do something for our customers?
Wherever there is a demand. Another new thing is for batteries. We are developing something for battery binders which is very specific for a few customers. So those kind of things will happen. And second thing we’re doing is we’re building a new R and D center this year for which we’ve got approval from the board. And we’re going to spend somewhere between 20 to 25 crores building a new R and D center where not only in our current industry segments, but even in different types of polymers, we’ll be doing new research, new molecules.
And as and when that is commercialized, we will of course come back. Nitrileutex is a good example of something that came from our R and D. These other examples that I gave you for technical textile and oil, gas all came from our R and D. There are many other examples, for example in the NBR space as well. So sorry, I feel passionate about it. So it’s a long answer. And so yeah, we are developing a new R and D center and we plan to spend, As I said, 20, 25 infrastructure and then also in our kind of business it’s very hard to get this kind of talent.
So also we have to actually get some raw talent and groom them and retain them to ensure that they add value and they can add value to our customer not only in India but globally. So that’s a few things that we’re doing. In addition to that we’re looking at obviously brand new areas that we can, that have low competitive intensity that are future something that would be required more in the future. And obviously we’re, we have that polymer capability and expertise and where we can develop that. I hope that answers your question.
Those are the few things we’re
Sajal Kapoor
Doing in
Abhiraj A. Choksey
R and
Sajal Kapoor
D definitely. Such long comprehensive answers are so very helpful. Thank you so much. Very comforting. Thank you sir.
Operator
Thank you. The next follow up question comes from the line of mehul Panchwani from 40 cents. Please go ahead.
Mehul Panjwani
How do we see our export business? Is it sustainable what we have seen in FY26 or are we trying to go up better than this year?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Great question. It’s been a challenge, especially in the Middle east obviously last two months that remains a concern. While the war is going on, we built a larger chunk of export business is exports to uae, Kuwait, Saudi, Egypt, Turkey, those whole areas. While Egypt and Turkey are not affected by the war. But freight rates have gone up. Our cost of certain raw materials that we are getting from the Middle east are now coming from China. So that’s gone up. So we are quite, that’s one of the concerns for us in the coming year is how one is if those customers themselves are kind of running at lower, what would you say?
Lower capacity. So that’s a concern. And the customers in Egypt and Turkey that are running are getting competitive products now because our costs have gone up significantly maybe compared to some of our Chinese competitors. For the first time we’re seeing in Turkey and Egypt, for example Chinese latex coming in there. So that’s something we’re sort of watching closely. But again that structure, naturally we feel that will completely reverse again. So while there are some structural benefits that we have got from the war, there’s also been some structural, I’m not, sorry, temporary benefits.
Not structural, temporary benefits we’ve got. There have been temporary disadvantages as well from this war. This is a big one. We think that will correct very quickly once the war ends and things normalize in the state of Hormuz. So you know, there are some positives and some negatives. Because of this war as well.
Mehul Panjwani
Yeah, sorry, one follow up on this. How much does Middle east contribute to our top line?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Probably around. I mean, when I say Middle East, I’m looking at Egypt, Turkey, uae, Saudi, all these countries all put together.
Mehul Panjwani
Yes. And
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I said the business is good, but the margins have been affected. So about. Probably we make 7, 8% on the total top line. 12%. 12%, there we go. Okay, so 12%. So it’s definitely a significant number. We’re trying to make that up from other geographies and you know, including India and so far in the month of March and April, we’ve been able to do a good job. We’ll see what happens in the future.
Mehul Panjwani
If the Middle east situation was absolutely normal, then would we increase our export from this region and in all the countries which you mentioned?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Of course.
Mehul Panjwani
Would we. Because, you know, if we. Do we have any incentive to do like higher margins from this region or.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
No, no, that’s not. These are, this is a strategic reason that we have developed over a few years and we’d obviously like to make sure we keep the market share and make sure the customers also are healthy and do well. Some of it is out of our control, but whatever is in our control, we’ll try and do our best.
Mehul Panjwani
Right. And sir, are we exporting any.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Okay, he can finish the last question and then you can.
Mehul Panjwani
Yeah. So how much is the percentage from Europe and US?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
European. US is very less. I would say less than 3, 4% to 3% maybe.
Mehul Panjwani
Thank you so much, sir, and wish you the best.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from Hiten Boricha from Sequent Investments. Please go ahead.
Aditya Ketan
Yeah. Sir, I have one clarification question. So you mentioned we are looking for 5 to 10% growth. That’s on volume number or the revenue number.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
No, I didn’t mention 5% to 10% growth. No, I meant compared to. I mean we expect the growth to be more for the whole financial year compared to last year, but compared to Q4, which is a very strong quarter in terms of volumes. So yes, I mean value wise, very difficult to say because you don’t know what the prices are going to be. So yes, volume wise is what I would. I meant.
Aditya Ketan
So let me rephrase, sir. So almost all our capacities are running at full utilization. So are we looking for same kind of double digit, high double digit volume growth this year?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
So in Q4, I’m talking about Q4, we were running at 90 to 100% Q1, Q2, Q3, we were not right. We were at lower capacity utilization.
Aditya Ketan
Yeah. So what kind of volume growth we are looking for this year, sir? I mean for FY27.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I think if we. As I said the whole world is a little very uncertain right now. But if the demand is there and we do have capacity to grow by another in double digits, low double digits in volume growth
Aditya Ketan
And realization growth will be over and above that double digit. Right?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
It will depend. If the raw material prices crash then it may not be right. So it just depends. If you see this year FY26 compared to FY25 as Vivek mentioned earlier we have 14% growth in volumes but only a 4% growth in revenue. Now it’s just April, right? We’re just one month in the year so it’s very hard to predict what will happen to revenue. I can talk about volume.
Aditya Ketan
Yeah. Understood. Yeah, understood. Thank you.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question comes from Om Prakash Tooth, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Aditya Ketan
Both. Thanks. Thanks.
Abhiraj A. Choksey
Thank you. It’s all about the team. That’s the only disagreement that I have with you. But thank you very much for your kind words.
Ankit Minocha
Thank you. Okay, any other questions or should we end the call? Hello.
Operator
So we will take the last question from the line of Aditya from Securities Investment Management. Please go ahead.
Aditya Ketan
Yeah. Hi sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Just one question on nbr. So how is that product performing for us? Because with rate cost increasing have the imports come down and which is helping us?
Abhiraj A. Choksey
I think in the short term, yes, short term, yes. But I think we are also seeing a pushback on. Because the prices have also been the highest in a very many years or probably the highest I’ve ever seen. So I think overall yes, imports are down but then demand is also quite challenging in the current context. So. But things are margin wise better for the last couple of months. Overall also things are okay. NBR is okay, doing well, steady. We don’t have capacity so we’re running at full capacity. And our main endeavor is to ensure that we run it full capacity every month from now on.
Mehul Panjwani
Thanks.
Operator
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. We will take that as our last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Vivek Thakur
Thank you Sadat. We thank all the participants and investors for attending the conference and for the continued trust and engagement. We also look forward to your continued participation in the next quarter’s earning call. Thank you and have a good day.
Operator
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of Apcotex Industries Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you everyone for joining us. And you may now disconnect your