Everest Kanto Cylinder Limited (NSE: EKC) Q4 2025 Earnings Call dated May. 27, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Puneet Khurana — Managing Director
Sanjiv Kapur — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Mitesh Jain — Analyst
Deepan Sankara Narayanan — Analyst
Shrey Gandhi — Analyst
Reet Jain — Analyst
Aswath Damodaran — Analyst
Vidhi Shah — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the earnings conference call of Everest Canto Cylinder limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will remain 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 the operator by pressing Star then zero on your touchstone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now hand the conference over to Mr. Mitesh Jain from CDL India for his opening remarks. Thank you. And over to you, Mitesh.
Mitesh Jain — Analyst
Thank you, Ryan. Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us. On average, panto cylinders Q4 and FY25 earnings conference call. We have with us today Mr. Puneet Khurana, Managing Director and Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor, Chief Financial Officer of the company. We will win. We will initiate the call with opening remarks from the management following which we will have the forum open for a question and answer session. Before we begin, I would like to state that some statements made in today’s call may be forward looking in nature and a disclaimer to this effect has been included in the results presentation shared with you all earlier.
I would now request Mr. Puneet Khurana to make his opening remarks.
Puneet Khurana — Managing Director
Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us on our earnings conference call. I will begin by sharing an overview of our performance for the period under review following which we will have a QA session. We are pleased to share that FY 2025 has been a year of strong growth and consistent execution for EKC. In FY25, consolidated revenue grew by 22.6% to Rs. 1499.2 crores with Q4 revenue increasing by 29.5% year on year to Rs. 422.2 crores. This performance was supported by healthy demand across both our domestic and international businesses, particularly in this US standard of revenue growth was also robust with FY25 revenue increasing by 22.6% to Rs.
946.2 crores. Q4 standard revenue rose by 23.1% year on year to Rs. 276.2 crores reflecting a strong volume traction. While realizations remain under pressure during the period under review, margins compression was limited and absolute profitability remained healthy on the back of strong top line growth. Consolidated pat for the year stood at Rs. 97.7 crores. Q4 Pat came in at Rs. 13.3 crores impacted by exceptional losses of of rupees 6.4 crores related to the impairment of for ideal asset and capex under progress, our US business delivered an exceptional performance in FY25 with revenue rising by 42% to Rs.
742 crores and EBIT increasing by 86% to Rs. 58 crores. While quarterly trends in this region can be lumpy due to to the nature of order booking and dispatch cycles, the full year performance has been strong. With the policy emphasis on make in America by the current administration, we believe the outlook for this vertical remains encouraging going into the FY26. On the domestic front, the outlook remains equally promising. India’s CNG market witnessed remarkable growth during the year driven by increasing consumer preference for cleaner cost effective mobility solutions. The government continues to push towards expanding the CNG infrastructure in playing a key role in accelerating adoption across both the passenger and vehicle SPAC commercial vehicle segment.
These structural tailwinds are expected to sustain growth in domestic market and we believe that EKC is is well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity given our scale, capability and customer relationships. In line with our long term growth plans, we continue to expand our manufacturing footprints upcoming facility as Mundra is on track and will play a key role in enhancing our domestic capacity and serving export end markets more efficiently. Meanwhile, our Green Field project in Egypt is progressing as planned and is expected to be completed by Q3FY26. This facility is strategically positioned to support Egypt’s national objectives of expanding CNG adoption.
The government’s strong push to convert vehicles into CNG align well with our goals and we are committed to playing a key role in meeting the growing demand in this region together with initiatives further to strengthen EKC’s position as a global supplier of high pressure gas cylinder solutions. I am pleased to share the Board of Directors has recommended a final dividend of 0.7 per equity share for FY2425. This decision reflects our disciplined approach to capital allocation, ensuring we maintain a financial flexibility to support ongoing growth initiatives. In closing, FY25 has been a year of meaningful progress across markets, operations and strategic initiatives.
As we move forward, we remain confident in the long term growth perspective of our business supported by strong fundamentals, scalable infrastructure and focus on innovation. We appreciate your continued support and interest in ekc. For that I conclude my opening remarks. I request the moderator to open the floor for questions. Thank you.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you May press star and 2. Participants are requested to use their handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder. If you wish to ask a question, please press star and 1. The first question comes from the line of Dipen Sankara Narayan from Trashline Holdings Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
Good evening everyone and thanks a lot for the opportunity. So firstly from my side, what are the key reasons for this 700bps drop in India business margin? And how was the mix between CNG and industrial cylinders for the quarter?
Puneet Khurana
So, you know, we have some long term contracts which are under some pricing pressure. So that’s the reason that we have some squeeze in the margins on those orders.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
Okay. So it was specific to this quarter. And then we will be coming back to our normal margins of 12 to 15% in from next quarter onwards.
Puneet Khurana
Yeah, definitely there will be an improvement.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
Okay, okay. And what is the key reason for this 23 increase in these other expenses during the current quarter?
Puneet Khurana
One second. Yeah, yeah, Sanjeev will answer that.
Sanjiv Kapur
Yeah, yeah, depends. So since the revenue overall has been a little lower because of the pricing pressure, I mean the cost look higher. Otherwise it’s normal. If you compare from the higher turnover, it would have been comparable.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
Okay, okay. So we are happy to see that we are reporting stronger growth in all these regions. But still in terms of margins. Hello.
Puneet Khurana
Yeah, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
Yeah, but still in terms of margins, we are yet to improve. So are we seeing any visibility in terms of margin improvement in near term over next two, three years going back to this 15 to 18% levels and what are the challenges we are facing in that and how are we addressing that?
Puneet Khurana
Yeah, so you know, margin improvement is a continuous process. And so the idea will be, of course focus on more products where, you know, the company has a better, you know, margin and a better position in the market. Definitely this is, you know, and we are continuously striving to introduce new products in the market. So margins definitely will, you know, and new products will definitely be better and improve.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
Okay. And can you throw more light on this exceptional loss on this impairment on property and equipment? What is that regarding?
Puneet Khurana
So this is. Oh yeah, sorry.
Sanjiv Kapur
It’s a provision. I mean, you understand, I mean the. As per the accounting standards and we have gone as per the accounting standard 28, that is impairment of assets. So based on that, assets have to be looked upon at the end of the year to ensure they carry the realizable value. So it’s a provision. So it’s maybe if the asset gets utilized, I mean the value may be back. So there will be a reversal there.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
Okay. This is for which region exactly?
Sanjiv Kapur
This is in our plants in Gujarat only. So obviously somewhere once they get utilized or once it’s off and running. So then the provision which we made may be reversed.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
Okay. Okay. And lastly like what is the kind of capacity utilization currently we are having in overall India? And overall
Puneet Khurana
In India it’s around 70%.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
Okay.
Puneet Khurana
Overall UAE is around 50%. And even in the USA it’s around 50%. So those two units are at 50%.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
What is the mix between TNG and industrial cylinders? Currently.
Puneet Khurana
70K. Around 60. 40. 60.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
40. Okay.
Puneet Khurana
Yeah.
Deepan Sankara Narayanan
Okay. Thanks a lot. I’ll join back with you.
Puneet Khurana
Thank you.
Sanjiv Kapur
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question please press star and one. Once again a reminder ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and 1. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question please press star and 1. The next question comes from the line of Shrey Gandhi from CR Kotari Stockbroking. Please go ahead.
Shrey Gandhi
Thank you. For the. My first question is regarding the order book. Can you specify the order book for USA, UA and India specifically?
Puneet Khurana
So US is around 55 million.
Shrey Gandhi
Okay.
Puneet Khurana
India, UAE around. India is around 300 crores. Yeah. In UA and UAE is around 100 crores.
Shrey Gandhi
Okay. And how much capex is done currently and what is pending for Europe and Mundra? Egypt and sorry.
Puneet Khurana
It’S in the first place. So how much pending is around 50. 50 is pending. So Egypt around 50 of capex is still pending.
Shrey Gandhi
Okay. And for Mundra.
Puneet Khurana
Around 50cr is still left.
Shrey Gandhi
50Cr is left. Okay. And another question is for the UAE business. Why there is a drop in revenue and margin through ioi.
Puneet Khurana
So again they are also facing some pricing pressures for orders that they had taken from the market where they are finding it. The pressure on the pricing for the product.
Shrey Gandhi
When do we accept this to debt normalize.
Puneet Khurana
I think maybe from coming quarters things will start normalizing.
Shrey Gandhi
Okay. What was the purpose of borrowings which you raised recently? Purpose of borrowings.
Puneet Khurana
Borrowing. Say that again. You said the borrowings.
Shrey Gandhi
Yeah. What was the purpose for raising funds? Like that you said raising funds.
Puneet Khurana
Yeah, raising funds. Okay.
Sanjiv Kapur
Term loan has been for the project.
Puneet Khurana
We have only taken a term loan here. Nothing else. I think 20 crores. Right. We’ve only taken a term loan of 20 crores. Remaining water is all the CC limits and anything in UAE and US they’re using the CC limits.
Sanjiv Kapur
5 million.
Puneet Khurana
Yeah. Yeah. Is there any term loan in UAE in Egypt project? Very small term loan in Egypt for the project. How much is that? Seven. What? Seven crores. Okay, so no, you know, we not taken any long term capital. Is not there much? Yeah, about 27 crores is what we can. We can see in long term capital.
Shrey Gandhi
Okay. Okay, got it. Thank you. That was from my side.
Puneet Khurana
Thank you. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and 1. The next question comes from the line of Reet Jain from First Water Global. Please go ahead.
Reet Jain
Yeah, hi sir. We are scrabbling in UAE in terms of margin. So as we said previously that we are facing some pricing pressure. So I want to understand what could be the reason for this pricing pressure. Are there any cheap imports in UAE or some other reason?
Puneet Khurana
So you know, the, the region where they’re working, they have, you know, pressure on their. On their sale price.
Reet Jain
No, I mean why? I mean previously we used to do 15% margin but now we have done 1% only. So what could be the reason?
Puneet Khurana
It’s also the product mix that could be, you know, significant here because the product mix that was probably made in the. In the quarter because the order book only had that. So the margin was affected by, you know, they had taken orders at these prices and this has affected their, you know, affected the margin.
Reet Jain
Yeah, but my question is why we have taken the order at low margin Because
Puneet Khurana
They might not have got the order of the, you know, the higher margin product mix. So they had to, you know, stay with the low margin product mix. And so that affected their, you know, pricing. The margin pressure has come.
Reet Jain
Okay. And any R and D or partnership that we are doing for the hydrogen sectors.
Puneet Khurana
No, we’re not doing any. We are doing only some development work. But we’re not doing any, you know, any joint venture or anything on the hydrogen sector.
Reet Jain
And regarding the new product development, where are we now?
Puneet Khurana
So that’s continuously. We are continuously, you know, working on new product development and introducing new products in the market. So that is a continuous process. We are doing.
Reet Jain
So regarding new product, which sectors are we targeting?
Puneet Khurana
Industrial, automotive, you know, all sectors we are targeting.
Reet Jain
Okay. Yeah, that’s it from my point.
Puneet Khurana
Thank you. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ashwath from Aryan Capital. Please go ahead.
Aswath Damodaran
Yeah, I thank you for the opportunity. I had a question very specific to bottom line margins.
Puneet Khurana
Yeah, yeah, we can hear you. We can hear You.
Aswath Damodaran
Yeah. So we went from 7% to 5.6% on an annual basis. Do we see this shrinking further or Any guidelines improvement now?
Puneet Khurana
There’ll definitely be an improvement in the margin in the coming quarters.
Aswath Damodaran
Okay so for FY26 how much do you guide?
Puneet Khurana
At least double digit.
Aswath Damodaran
Double digit on Pacman.
Puneet Khurana
Yes.
Aswath Damodaran
Okay. And I also wanted to understand our split. If you, if I’m just going through presentation slide number nine. So US and Hungary makeup, makeup of the ebit. So I wanted to understand this split. Where do we see this split in FY26 and 27? Do we see a similar margin pressure from UAE continuing or how is this split going to be like if you could also elaborate on the top line split and the EBIT split.
Puneet Khurana
The split is there. You know only thing is that definitely things will improve in UAE and US will be continuing to be strong and India also I think we should be better off than you know this year on the, on the ebitda even top line. So you know
Aswath Damodaran
When you say better could you just quantify in terms of how do we see that happening? Right. In terms of numbers or I mean
Puneet Khurana
Share specific numbers. But you know I’ve given you. Yeah, yeah, this is the. Yeah. You know 10 to 15%. Yeah.
Aswath Damodaran
All right, got it. Yeah, that’s it from mine. Thank you so much.
operator
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Shreya Gandhi from CR Kotari Stockbroking. Please go ahead.
Vidhi Shah
Hello, this is Vidhi here. I want to understand the GST liability that you mentioned in the Previous call of 126, 127 cr what is the current status of that?
Puneet Khurana
Ma’ am, we have filed a writ in the High court and our hearing is going to be coming in soon. So as the things flow we will inform the investors.
Vidhi Shah
And you mentioned that 50 of Egypt capex is done out of 150 so 75 is pending. And for Mundra 50cr is pending. So this total 125cr how are you planning to fund this remaining Capex?
Puneet Khurana
So I mean we have planned out small borrowing for the term loan from India for another 20 crores. And for the Egypt project we already have a. So we may or we may not, I mean entirely take up the borrowing. But it’s already there. The loan is already sanctioned.
Vidhi Shah
Okay, so 20cr is already sanctioned and the remaining 100cr.
Puneet Khurana
No, the balance also in Egypt also is fully sanctioned.
Vidhi Shah
And so just one last question. The USA business so the margins are quite fluctuating. Previously it was around 5 to 6%. Right now it is 16%. So what is the margin that we can expect ahead for USA and India?
Puneet Khurana
US also will go on similar lines because they are having a strong order book and they are executing, you know, pretty quickly. So we believe that they will continue in the same fashion.
Vidhi Shah
Okay, so 8% for India in the range of 16% for USA.
Puneet Khurana
Yeah. I mean, it can be in that Appropriate ranges. Yeah.
Vidhi Shah
Thank you so much, sir.
Puneet Khurana
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and 1. Once again, a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and 1. As there are no further questions, I will now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments.
Puneet Khurana
Thank you once again for your interest and support. Should you need any further clarification or would you like more about the company, please feel free to contact our investor relation team CDR India. Thank you.
operator
Thank you on behalf of Everest Canto Cylinder limited. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.