GE Power India Limited (NSE: GEPIL) Q4 2025 Earnings Call dated May. 30, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Puneet Bhatla — Managing Director
Aashish Ghai — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Rahul Kapur — Analyst
Venkatraman — Retail investor
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Earnings Conference Call in respect of Financial Results for the Financial Year and Quarter Ended on 31st March 2025, hosted by GE Par India Limited. 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 the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this call is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr Puneet Batla, Managing Director of GE Par India Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Puneet Bhatla — Managing Director
Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, dear investors and dear good evening to all of you. Thank you for joining today’s call where we will discuss our performance for the 4th-quarter and the full-year ended March 2025. We believe you all have reviewed our results and investor presentation, which are available on our website as well as on all the stock exchanges. I’m joined today by our CFO, Mr Ashish Gai, to update you on our performance across the business and to address any queries you may have. Before we discuss the quarterly and the annual performance, we would like to briefly touch upon the broader economic context. The global economy today stands at a critical juncture in the last year, we have witnessed a series of unprecedented shocks that have tested the resilience of economies across the world through 2024, global growth remained stable but modest and below potential. Now we are seeing a shift in the landscape. The introduction of new tariff measures by US and the subsequent responses from major trading partners have added fresh players of uncertainty.
Trade policies are evolving rapidly and the wide range of outcomes remains possible. In the face of ongoing structural shifts, items, uncertainties and persistently deep growth, the path forward must focus on restoring confidence, strengthening stability and addressing global imbalances. After all, we need policies that can sustainably lift growth and support long-term economic resilience. Looking ahead, while global growth is expected to moderate — to moderate slightly up from an estimated 3.3% in 2024 to 2.8% in 2025. It is projected to regain momentum rising to 3% in 2026, reflecting continued resilience and the potential for the steady recovery in the medium-term. This represents a cumulative downgrade of 0.8 percent points compared to January 2025 world economic outlook projections of 3.3% for both the years.
Though the projection remains below the historical average of 3.7% during 2019, the regions are broad-based across countries and reflect direct and indirect effect on the new trade measures, heightened uncertainty and sentiment. But on the positive side, the global inflation outlook continues to improve. Headline inflation is forecast to ease to 4.3% in 2025 and further to 3.6% in 2026, reflecting a progress towards stabilization even if full normalization to pre-pandemic level is still underway. Within global context, India’s economy continues to demonstrate robust growth. India’s real GDP rate is projected 6.2% in 2025 and 6.3% in 2026. The growth outlook for India is described Described as relatively more stable compared to some economies supported by private consumption, particularly from the rural sector. In the month of March 2025, India’s power consumption increased by nearly 7% to 148.48 billion units as compared to the previous year. The highest supply in a day also rose from 221.68 gigawatt in March 2024 to 235.22 gigawatt in March 2025. Pea power demand is expected to touch 277 gigawatt in summer of 2025. Coal demand in India continues to rise steadily, reaffirming its position as world’s second-largest coal consumer. In 2024 alone, demand grew by about 5.5% or nearly 14 million tons, marking a new all-time high record. This growth was driven by strong economic activity, which boosted coal news both in power as well as industry sector. The power sector accounting for nearly 3/4 of the total coal demand saw coal-based generation rise by about 5% in-line with the growing electricity. A major factor behind this rise was intense and the prolonged was in the month of May and June, which significantly up the power demand. That being said, this rapid growth came with the environmental cost, India’s energy-related carbon dioxide emission rose by 3.5% in 2024, the highest among major economies highlighting depressing need for stronger emission control measures. Now coming down to Japan, as we enter the new year, we are pleased to report that business strategy we outlined earlier focused on new growth areas and reducing exposure to working capital, projects is starting to deliver results with loss — with losses narrowing and revenue streams getting stabilized. Coming to our business performance, I am pleased to report that we have had yet another strong quarter showing signs that our efforts are moving in the right direction. Operational excellence resulted in 12 points increase on actual margins in the. As many of you would be aware, the first-half of the year, we took some bold decisive steps to create lasting value for our shareholders. This included the strategic sale of our hydro business and gas business. As a result, the standalone net-worth of our company stands today at INR233 crores versus INR57 crores as on, 31 March 2024. As we work towards stabilizing our business and building a strong order book across four key growth areas, core services, upgrade services, FGDs and our operation, it becomes all more important for us to enhance shareholder value and affect greater investors’ interest. I’m happy to report that company has received its highest-ever order intake in the current financial year from continuing operations since the financial year 2019, 2020. Please refer to the presentation on our website or stock exchange for the further details. Your company is supported by a healthy backlog of for about two years now with the order intake of more than two times due to the continued operations as compared to the previous years. I would specifically like to call-out our team’s efforts in the geographical extension, we have increased orders from five countries so-far, Saudi, Turkey, Australia, UAE and Malaysia intervention to about 6 gigawatts of the installed-base. With the renewed operational results and a sharper focus on the financial discipline, we are entering the new financial year with confidence and purpose with our product offerings in the renovation and modernization of steel turbines. We have supported our customers by — for a reduction of about 0.8 MMPs per year of carbon dioxide by increasing the efficiency of their assets by 5.5%. Further, our DLOC offering will support the customer with a total saving of about 6,000 metric tons per year of NOK upon completion of the project. Thank you for your patience. And now I will hand it over to Ashish, who will share the financial updates with you. Over to Ashish.
Aashish Ghai — Chief Financial Officer
Thank you. Thank you, Panik. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining the earnings call today, first of all, and I would like to add the data points to the commercial update which has shared following by the financial performance of the company. During the current quarter, the company got orders worth INR285 crore compared to INR232 crores in the corresponding period of last year. This marks a 22% increase quarter-over-quarter for the preceding period. And for the complete financial year, we have booked orders worth INR283 crores like has mentioned, vis-a-vis INR1,171 crores in the previous year. This is almost a 2x growth year-over-year that we have seen. And Puneet also mentioned that this is highest since 1920. So I think that goes back to the commercial teams and teams who have worked on it. Amongst the orders booked in the year, the key ones are actually EP orders which you book from where they actually seem turbine upgrade from NTPC and seem turbine upgrade from Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited.
We also booked orders worth INR548 crores in core services pillar of our portfolio strategy in ’24 ’25 versus INR501 crores last year. These orders provide a sustainable runway for future revenues. As at, 31 March 2025, your company, like Puneet has mentioned, has an order backlog of INR662 crores, roughly INR2,700 crores worth of order backlog, which stood at INR1,587 crores as on, 31 March 2024. So the company is trending towards a growing and healthy backlog with better margins. Coming to the financials, we are seeing a steady and favorable shift in the sales mix where we continue to progress on execution of FGD equity contracts and convert it into sales, while the high-cal businesses like core services are increasing. In the current quarter, we reported revenue of INR266 crores, which is an 8% increase compared to INR247 crores in the corresponding period of last year. Revenue for the financial year ’24-’25 sustained at INR1047 crores versus INR1039 crores in the previous year.
However, important to note that the mix is moving towards the services business with around two-third of the sales coming from it. We also saw a strong focus on execution and profitability with better margins, better portfolio mix and focused efforts resulting in operational performance for. The minority shareholders supported with the approval towards lump sale of hydro and gas business undertaking. And as a result, like we estimated and be informed, your company was successful in completing these transactions. We completed the hydro business transfer resulting in a gain of INR219 crores in the P&L as on, 31 March 2025. We also completed the gas business undertaking from sale on 30th September 2024 earlier in the current year. Profit before-tax for the quarter stood at INR189 crores positive against a profit of INR23 crores in the same-period of last year. The exceptional gain from the closure of the Hydro business transaction amounted to INR219 crores as mentioned above.
And when I compare the profit before-tax for the full-year, it stood at INR224 crores in the year against a loss of INR177 crores. The exceptional gain from sale of hydro and gas business amounted to INR262 crores in the current year. I’m also happy to share that the company on their cash performance has a surplus net cash position of INR433 crores in the balance sheet of, 31 March 2025 and we are in investment position. Before I open the forum for Q&A, I want to emphasize again that your company is on-track on this strategy announced in beginning of the current year and has consistently conveyed that this is a long-term transformation to sustain a healthy top-line, profitable and cash surplus business and we are going strong on it 1/4 at a time. We are now open for the Q&A.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press R&1 on the touchdone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press R&2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles ladies And gentlemen, to ask a question, please press on your phone now we’ll take our first question from the line of from Sushil Finance. Please go-ahead.,
Unidentified Participant
Hi. I think it has been around 15 quarters. Our company has not performed well and the conditions in India, I think are very nice as compared to other power companies. So where are we lacking? Can you throw some light on it?
Puneet Bhatla
Thanks,, for this question. I think the — my response to your question would be that we are going very strong with respect to the strategy, which we have already decided by the start of the year, there is four-pillar strategy was discussed and shared with all of you. We are very strong on the core services. You have seen the results that we have grown by about two times. One area where a little bit of a confusion was there at one point of the time over the — over the financial year, wherein some news there with respect to the FGD. Now that those clouds are also cleared and the information which has been passed on from the Ministry of Environment and Forest is that the FDDs are going to stay, which is one of the third pillars of our strategy. So there was a bit of a slowness, a bit of the shift in the tendering, etc. We are moving strong on that also because now the cloud and the quality decisions have been made quite clear moving ahead. And we — and we have also been declared L1 in one of the — one of the FDD projects, which is FDD. So that brings the confidence back to us from the FDD pillar itself.
Unidentified Participant
And also if you can throw any light that the parent company GE Vernova will infuse some money or.
Puneet Bhatla
So, we are a legal entity and we would like to speak only on our behalf. So maybe I’ll — I’ll it this way.
Aashish Ghai
Maybe I don’t adds. So Dhavesh, you see, I mentioned couple of data points and I’ll repeat it. The net-worth of your company as on 31st March 2025 stands at INR233 crores positive. The cash position of your company stands at INR433 crores positive. If you look at the balance sheet post carve-out of hydro and gas, I think it is — it is a much stronger balance sheet from what we were in year before. And also, of course, it is backed by the operational and the commercial performance of the year. So at this point of time, is moving forward with the strategy that we have announced and we would continue to build-on that and stay with us or there. So that is the position right now. I think the balance sheet supports what we are doing and we would continue to give our 100% on that.
Unidentified Participant
But as a shareholder, we all want that balance sheet to reflect in-stock price. So
Aashish Ghai
We sorry, we can’t really comment on the stock prices we don’t control that yeah, but we totally take your point as a shareholder, you would want that capital appreciation. For sure.
Unidentified Participant
Yes. Thank you. That’s all.
Operator
Thank you. Thank you. Before we take the next question, we’d like to remind participants to press RN1 to ask a question. Next question is from the line of Rahul Kapoor from Goldstone Capital. Please go-ahead.
Rahul Kapur
Yeah, good afternoon, everyone. My question — the first question is with regards to the Q4 performance and gross margins are just about 23%, which obviously has resulted in a negative EBITDA. Can we — you know, can you throw some light of why the gross margins are as low as 23% and can we expect better gross margins in the quarters ahead? Hello.
Aashish Ghai
Yeah, I can answer that around for asking that question. So quarter-four particularly, we have seen some prolongations and provisions on the — on the FDB EPC sites which are ongoing, which we have — which we have in this in this quarter. So that is one of the key reasons for what you see. What we have also been actually able to do in the first-nine months of the year is also collect a lot of claims on account of either the fire insurance which happened earlier or price variation clause, which we have not seen in this particular quarter. So you would also see — if you look at the other income particular row from the — from the financials. So it has been the lowest in the year. So we don’t have that recovery of the losses that we have done, but just the booking of the regular prolongation provision in the quarter. So that is one thing which is — which is putting the quarter under pressure by around 30c.
That’s why you see a of negative profit from continuing operation before exceptional items. To your point on shall we be seeing better margins or better operational margins going-forward? Again, we do not — we do not — or we refrain from providing any projections or future statements. However, what I would assure you is that what we have seen in this year is that our top-line, there is a good portfolio mix change towards services. Our top-line has seen 20% change from the historical newbuild HGBTC project to the services project. So we are seeing that change already. And with the — with the commercial performance that we have delivered in this year, we should see more of sales coming from the new strategy versus the four-pillar and legally backed by core and upgrade. So we should see more of the top-line coming from there and those are our high-value business, right? So I would stop it there, I would not be able to give you any particular response on the logistic markets.
Rahul Kapur
I see. But I’m sure while bidding for new project, there some kind of gross margins you would be looking at while bidding for a new project any idea, any ballpark figure as what kind of gross margins will you look at while bidding for a new project you able to hear me? Sorry yes, sorry were you able to hear me?
Aashish Ghai
Yes, yes, no, I heard your question. So this is Ashish again. Yes, I hear you. Again, I think that first is not a standard margin. We also standard margin out of policy. It is deal-by-deal, we — where we see strategic advantage, we are open to even go, for example, take a market entry. So all those strategic deals, we are — we are more flexible, I would say, in terms of margins versus our OEM own machines where we service, we are not — we are very aggressive there in terms of pricing versus the. So it is very different in all four fillars. And even within the pillar, it is very different depending on what kind of pill it is. So there is no standard answer to that. But what I can share with you is that our backlog which I mentioned of INR262 crores as on 31st March 2025, it is a healthier backlog and we have improved by 2.200 basis-points, in fact, 200 basis-points from where we started that year. We started the year at INR1,587 crores of order backlog and we are anyway strongly — closing it at 2 to 6Q, which is a lot higher. So we are growing and this growth in backlog has come along with 200 basis-points of improved margins on that backlog. So that information, just to assure or we do to give you some confidence I will share if that helpful download.
Rahul Kapur
Okay. Thank you. My next question is about your Durgapur facility. Any color on the utilization levels and can we expect some better utilization there? And If not, then what’s the plans ahead for that facility?
Aashish Ghai
Yeah, fair point, fair concern. We share that concern as well. So and we have been — almost every quarter we get that update. So last two quarters, we have said around 150,000 to 265,000 hours of utilization is what we expect of to delivering in ’24 ’25. We have closed this year at 165. So the utilization for the current year is as per the plan, which was 165,000 and our capacity was around 242,000. So two-thirds we can say is what we have been able to utilize in this in this year. Now having said that, of course, one, it is one-third underutilized, it’s the PAT and it puts pressure on the P&L. So that’s a fact. We are — and the four-pillar which we introduced, which is the developers kind of growth where we are focusing on the non-fossil, meaning pressure and plus the exports from India where the product would be — it would be really steel some bought up, but the projects being manufactured out of.
So we are only focusing on boiler and when we go out of India. So that was in attempt of actually not just feeding the factory, but feeding the factories with some very health and profitable deals. So that was the — that was the endeavor with which we launched that fourth pillar. We did not exist any year back, right? So we have book 18 crore of orders in that pillar in financial year ’24, ’25 and we see a strong pipeline for that. However, having said that, the legalization rules for is not going to go away in a year or a quarter. So that remains to be seen feel that how best do we utilize that factory. So that is something we are trying to solve as well as we enter into ’25 ’26.
Rahul Kapur
Okay. Thanks.
Puneet Bhatla
Gahul,. Gahul, just to add what has said, it’s a journey. It’s — it will take-over a few quarters to get over it. And as we move forward, we have seen that there is more or less like 7% of the order increase at least from the perspective. So we are inching towards it, but yes, I will what Ashish has said. It’s a journey.
Rahul Kapur
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press R and one on your phone now we’ll take our next question from the line of Venkat Raman, a retail investor. Please go-ahead.
Venkatraman
Good evening, sir. Good evening. Yeah, yeah. Sir, just I want to know through curiosity. Is there any possibility we will change our name G for the India Limited like that, rather, strength like that. Any chance is there?
Puneet Bhatla
So we already have a differentiator, power. I think the name and all of course it doesn’t happen doesn’t happen in or the Nova getting I would say launch on day-one, which was second April 2024, we have — they have — they have seen what they had to. So there are no plans as of now for any engine.
Venkatraman
Okay sir, now our company is debt-free company, right? That’s a free.
Puneet Bhatla
Yes, your company is debt-free company. In fact, I’m happy to share that as on 31st March 2025, we were in net investment position. We had invested in a nationalized bank with a FDA of INR264 crores. So it is in net cash flows and investment position.
Venkatraman
Yeah, thanks a lot for entire. We first to achieve these things, sir. And I hope I’m expecting very good results in future, sir. Thank you.
Puneet Bhatla
Thank you. Thank you,. We are working with full for that.
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press R&1 on your phone. As there are no further questions, I now hand the conference over to Mr Puneet Bhatla for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Puneet Bhatla
Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you for your patience and thank you for your questions and thanks to Ashish for supporting me on all these questions. So investors, as we have said earlier also, it’s a journey which we have undertaken for last four, five, six months from July ’24 onwards wherein we are changing our strategy and we are getting towards the high business. We have started seeing the results. We are towards that with stronger results. We would — so we would continue to move on to our strategy as we have discussed beside it so-far as shared with you. Thanks. Thanks for your time. Thank you. Good evening.
Operator
Thank you. On behalf of Jee Bar India Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you