Note: This is a preliminary transcript and may contain inaccuracies. It will be updated with a final, fully-reviewed version soon.
Nelcast Limited (NSE: NELCAST) Q4 2026 Earnings Call dated May. 19, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Abhishek Bhatt — Investor Relations
P. Deepak — Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
Analysts:
Praneeth — Analyst
Saket Kapoor — Analyst
Kairav Sundar — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and Gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Nelcast Limited Q4NFY 26 earnings conference call. 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 touch tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Abhishek Bhatt from ENY.
Thank you. And over to you sir.
Abhishek Bhatt — Investor Relations
Thank you. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us. On behalf of Nelcas Limited, I extend a warm welcome to all the participants on the quarter four and FY26 earnings conference call. The results and investor presentation have already been shared and are available on our websites as well as through our filings with the stock exchanges. Joining us today to discuss the company’s performance and outlooks are Mr. P. Deepak, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer and Mr. S.K. Shivakumar, Chief Financial Officer.
Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to the standard disclaimer. Please note that any statements made during this call, including those in our presentation materials that reflect our outlook for future or may be construed as forward looking statements, should be considered in conjunction with the risk that Company faces. The statements may not be updated from time to time. Further details are available at the end of the investor presentation and also in other filings on our website@www.nelcas.com.
Should you have any queries or require additional information following this call, please feel free to reach out using the contact details provided in the investor materials. With that, I would now like to hand over the call to to Mr. P. Deepak. Over to you Sir.
P. Deepak — Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
Thank you Abhishek Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us. FY26 has been a year of steady progress for Hellcast as we continue that transition towards a more efficient and value driven organization. While revenue growth remains stable during the year we delivered meaningful improvement in our profitability driven by better utilization, cost discipline and improving product mix. The domestic demand remains strong through the year, particularly in the MNHCV segment supported by healthy freight movement and infrastructure activity.
The tractor segment also remained stable and with continued support from rural development showed growth. This helped us maintain steady volumes and improve plant utilization across our facilities. On the exports front, While demand remained below last year’s levels for most of the year, we saw a clear pickup towards the end of the fourth quarter. This was primarily Led by the US market, partly supported by pre buying ahead of the upcoming emission related changes, along with the gradual normalization of customer schedules, overall sentiment has improved and we expect this momentum to continue into FY27.
Operationally, one of the highlights of the year has been the progress on our strategic initiatives. The ramp up of the Pedaparya plant along with continued progress in our new product development program is now beginning to translate and we will see tangible gains. We are seeing increasing contribution from higher value and more complex products which is supporting margin improvement and enhancing our overall operating profile. While EBITDA per kg moderated in Q4 due to a lower export contribution and an increase in raw material prices, the Overall trajectory through FY26 reflects a structural improvement in our operating performance across the company.
Our priorities remain unchanged. We continue to focus on expanding our value added product mix, strengthening our export relationships, improving utilization and maintaining tight cost discipline. These initiatives remain central to driving sustainable margin expansion and improving overall operating efficiency. Our investments in technology and processes continue to position us well for the future. We are also advancing our sustainability agenda including our 1 megawatt solar plant at Pedaparya.
Today, around 70% of our power requirements are met through renewable sources, reflecting our commitment to cost efficiency, sustainability and long term competitiveness. During the year, we also took conscious steps to strengthen our balance sheet through disciplined debt reduction. This has helped improve our financial flexibility and created headroom for future growth. Combined with better asset utilization, this has resulted in steady improvement in our return metrics with both ROE and ROCE trending upwards.
From a cost perspective, the structural initiatives we took in areas such as productivity, power optimization and overall operating efficiencies are now visible in our performance and are expected to support margins on a sustained basis. Looking ahead, the overall demand environment looks constructed. Domestic demand, particularly in the CV segment is expected to remain strong supported by macro tailwinds, while exports markets are also showing signs of recovery. New product development remains on track.
With the scale up of the several new programs along with improved utilization, we believe we are well positioned for the next phase of growth. While we remain mindful of near term uncertainties including geopolitical developments and broader industry wide operational challenges such as labor availability impacting the start of FY27, our strengthened operating foundation include improving sport outlook and focused execution positioned us to deliver a stronger performance in FY27. Coming to the financials for the full year in FY26 our total revenue stood at 1342.4 crores reflecting a growth of 5.8% year on year.
EBITDA increased to 124.5 crores which was a growth of 17.8%, with EBITDA margin improving to 9.3 compared to 8.3% in FY25. EBITDA per kg improved to 13.6 for the full year up from 12.6 in FY25, reflecting the benefits of improved product mix, better utilization, cost optimization. Profit after tax grew strongly by about 29.9% to 48.4 crores with the PAT margin improving to 3.6%. From a balance sheet perspective, we continued our focus on deleveraging with debt to equity improving to 0.4 times as of March 26 compared to 0.5 times last year.
This along with improved operating performance has translated into steady improvement in return ratios. ROE is now at 8.1 and ROCE at 11.4 compared to 6.7 and 9.5 in FY25. Overall, the year reflects improved operating efficiency, better cost management and strengthened financial position which provides a strong foundation for growth going forward. With that I would like to conclude my remarks and open the floor for questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you very much sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star N1 on the Touchstone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue you may press STAR and two participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question is from the line of Praneet from SJ Investments. Please go ahead.
Praneeth
Hi Management, thank you for the opportunity. So first I’d like to understand how the capacity utilization is at each of our plants for the full year and for the quarter itself.
P. Deepak
Hi Praveen so in terms of capacity utilization for the for the plants I think Gudur was at about overall our capacity utilization was at about 65%, our guru plant was at about 55 ponary plant realized nearly 100% capacity utilization and our Khyd plant for the for the year was at 27% capacity utilization.
Praneeth
Understood. I think in the just not to ask the same question again the past comment you mentioned that we get to the 40% mark at least by the end of the year terms of the Peddaparai at least and as I see right now Kuduri also had lower utilization. So could you explain why is the fact that Kudur also reduced utilization and Pettibaraya is also still at the levels we had last year?
P. Deepak
So Gudur Also I think the Gudur plant actually is largely an export driven plant. I think if you look at from a production perspective I would say about 60 to 70% of the production of the Gudud plant is an export driven product. And the impact of the tariffs especially in the third quarter had the biggest impact on the Goodoor plant. So we did see the utilization of the good, good plant lower than what we would have liked or primarily driven by that reason coming to the Pedrapariya plant. I think towards the end of the year, I think our utilization in Q4 actually came up to 35% despite the year average being at 27.
So that’s what pulled the average up. And we expect that pedaparya now with the new product launches that are happening over the next in the current and the next quarter, the new product launch and ramp up that will happen will bring this number up for that to be on 40%
Praneeth
In terms of fixed cost absorption. So I just wanted to understand. So you mentioned in the past I think around 40 or 50% of transition will start breaking even for the plant. Could you explain how the fixed cost is for that plant? So for us to get in perspective because till now over the last few years we want at least as an analyst I want to understand how much fixed cost is still getting absorbed in the pad right now today. So how much more is left to go in terms of utilization of whatever it might mean because that could be a huge turning point for the company’s profitability.
Right. So wonder what is fixed cost right now and when do you think will absorb it at existing changes with whatever is happening.
P. Deepak
So I think from a fixed cost perspective I’ll break it up into two parts. I think from an EBITDA perspective if you were to look at the Pedro per year plan at 35% we are able to achieve positive EBITDA. So that’s definitely a positive sign. I would say that we are there and able to achieve a positive ebitda at this 35% number that we managed to achieve in Q4. Now of course the, you know, beyond the EBITDA level there’s also obviously interest and depreciation costs which still are not, not yet. Don’t get fully absorbed into it at this level.
But I believe that at about 40 to 45% we will be able to break even at a PBT level.
Praneeth
So and do you think we’ll be able to get there in the end of the year? Especially with that? I think we have a, the oh like high half a Ton and ton. No, not half. So we have the large order, 500 kgs and all of them. So I was just curious. Yeah, how did they.
P. Deepak
Those products are now just starting their early stages of ramp up. It will be a fairly slow ramp up. That will happen over the next two to three quarters. But once that’s done, we absolutely believe that we will be at that 45% kind of a thing by the end of the year.
Praneeth
In terms of the last customer guidance, like how has it been. Because there’s been a lot of geopolitical uncertainty in terms of them also. And so I was just curious on have there been any change of plans from customer side? And in terms of the guidance,
P. Deepak
It’s not really changed much with the geopolitics that’s happening. We are seeing that domestically the tractor numbers do still seem to be fairly strong. We’re also seeing that the commercial vehicle numbers, which typically taper off in April, May are a little stronger than usual because I think some of the pipelines of finished goods that the OEMs as well as dealers maintain seem to be a little lower because they were able to sell through quite well in Q4. So given that we are seeing reasonably positive numbers.
But I think some of it is, I think we’ve been shielded in India a little bit with the impact of the fuel costs. So I don’t know how that will as maybe that more and more of that comes through, we don’t really know how that will impact the industry. When we look at the US market, we’re seeing a very strong pickup in the US market primarily. I think that’s driven by a little bit of a pre buy as well as some delay purchases from last year. So that’s something that we think will continue at least for the first two quarters or maybe up to the early part of the third quarter.
So the demand still seems to be very, very, very strong,
Praneeth
But for the full year. So in the last con call you mentioned for the temporary next two quarters as the new product comes.
Saket Kapoor
Praneet,
Operator
Your voice is not audible. Your voice is breaking. Praneet, you are not audible.
Praneeth
Is my voice audible?
Operator
Yes, now please go ahead.
Praneeth
Okay. Sorry for that. So I just was answering. In terms of the last con call, the management has mentioned that for the next few quarters the growth could show up, but on the annual basis there’s still some kind of uncertainty in terms of the final customer and guidance and all of that. So could you elaborate on what has anything changed from that guidance from the last quarter? Is there anything more to it in terms of new or anything more updates?
P. Deepak
Yeah, so I think in terms of the new products that we have developed that we are launching, we have a very robust pipeline this year. I think that pipeline still appears to be on track. We’re watching it very closely because we are very close to the launch. We will be the major ramp up of many of these products starts over the next month or two and as I said it would likely be a gradual ramp up happening over the next six, seven months. So we are working very closely on that.
Praneeth
So how many products are we. So I think products do we have in the pipeline for this year? Because in the past also I think we had like some projects with like the electric vehicle and how have they ramped up so far? Could you give some updates on those?
P. Deepak
So we’ve got three, three large ramp ups that are happening in this year. Three large programs. So each program is a little different. One program might be let’s say five part numbers and another one might be seven or eight part numbers. Right. But three large programs that are going into the ramp up stage in the next few months. And so that’s, I don’t think it necessarily makes sense for me to talk about number of part numbers because that’s, you know, there’ll be some, some 20 something program
Praneeth
Wise. It’s fine.
P. Deepak
Yeah. About three large programs that we, that will gradually go into production as I said, over the next three to six months.
Praneeth
Okay. And these are all are going to be one was in tractor and the other two are commercial vehicles. Is it all of the other
P. Deepak
Two would be in tractor and one would be in commercial vehicle. Two are export programs and one is a domestic program. But the end market even for the domestic program is an export.
Praneeth
Okay, so but so let’s say even though these to be exported vehicles do the margin are also similar to the export one. So it’s a margin similar to the domestic domestic supply. For us
P. Deepak
I think it’s probably a little more similar to the domestic supply. But just given the complexity, the margin profile is a little higher than the typical domestic just because it is a more complex product.
Praneeth
And one last thing is last time you mentioned that with the new programs we want to actually reduce our amount of receivable day. So let’s say they improve the working capital. So have there been any progress in terms of that with our existing customers and new customer programs like broadly what is that based with that?
P. Deepak
So some of them. So like I said, the two export programs that we have here, we’re working with Customers with you know typically on exports to match their, you know like to like working capital cycle is typically averages at about 150 days. In this case we are working with customers between 75 to 90 days is the in the terms. Right. So it should be a better. We will
Praneeth
See maybe next year.
P. Deepak
Yes.
Praneeth
So we’re planning the new. Mr. Praneet
Operator
Maybe please request you to rejoin the queue sir for the follow up. Yeah,
Praneeth
Yeah, we have several meeting.
Operator
Thank you sir.
Praneeth
Thank you.
Operator
Next question is from the line of Dheeraj Kumar Reddy from Alpha Square. Please go ahead.
Saket Kapoor
Yeah, hi, thanks. Thanks a lot for taking my questions. I have three
Operator
Questions. First one being how are we actually different from some of our competitors like Magna or any other competitors? Because I see the margin structures for them are way different to what we operate in. And how do you justify, how do you justify that?
P. Deepak
Yeah, so I mean I think we’re very different in the type of products that we make. I think the size, the process, the volumes. So since you mentioned Magna, you know, one of the things you know that would differentiate us from Magna is Magna is typically more of a low volume, high mix type of a product. I don’t believe that they. So we don’t really ever compete with them. And they’ve got you know, a couple of different things that they do. One is furon sand and one is some lighter casting. So it’s a very different profile of products that we have in comparison to them.
I think what we look at is to be able to find more of a mix of parts that have probably a medium to high complexity but also have a reasonable amount of volume. And that’s what we’re looking to do.
Operator
Mean that the castings which they do will have an 18 to 20% margin whereas what we do will have 9 to 12% margin is that is my understanding. Right. Because of those whatever differentiating parameters which you mentioned.
P. Deepak
Yeah, so I mean obviously our goal will be to push our margins higher and higher. Again that will depend on the product mix and I think that’s one of the areas where our pedaparya plant really helps us in terms of unique capability of being able to produce large castings very efficiently. And as our utilizations go up as well, we expect that our margins will also continue to go up. So our goal would be to try to push that number from you know, what is currently around 10 to about 15 or so. You know, currently I think what we’ve stated is about a 15 rupee per kilogram is roughly, you know, where we look at our steady state scenario, without any, you know, raw material impacts, we believe that we’re going to move that towards 18 and then eventually we’ll push that.
Once we get to 18, we’ll work on pushing that towards, towards 20 as well. So that’s roughly what
Operator
Is it? Or is it more like a product level? I mean the new product level?
P. Deepak
No, this is at the consolidated level. Right. This is for the overall company as a whole.
Operator
Understood. And if you may understand here, like what will really drive this, Deepak? Because see on one side, you know, because we are working in the commoditized space, of course, like high volume and you know, how will, how will we push this 13, 14 rupee per EBITDA to say 20, 22. What will be the key drivers in achieving this?
P. Deepak
Yeah, so the push from, you know, from what is about, you know, I guess 13.6 was the year as a whole. That was despite a bad quarter because of a couple of quarters because of export market reaction. But to push that towards 20, I think there are a few things. The primary one is in terms of utilization, which is going to help us in terms of our operating leverage. The other one is going to be in terms of operating efficiencies that we are continuously working on and the product mix as well. Some of these new products that we’re getting in are much better suited for our kind of products and will yield better margins.
Operator
Understood, Understood. And can you, can you please walk us through like how the new product. Because at this point of time, in this 1300 crore, how should we understand the mix between normal products and probably products which have some complexity? And how do you see this growth inside this new product division and hence how should one think about like building a model for the next three years? Deepak?
P. Deepak
Yeah, so what we are seeing is, I mean it’s. So we look at complexity as a spectrum, right? It’s not high complex, low complex that we look at, you know, so we look at, we look at it a little bit more as a spectrum, right. Let’s say if you take a scale of 1 to 10, I would say that, you know, probably 90 or 95% of, maybe 95% of what we do would probably fall into that medium complexity or a medium to high complexity type of product. I think going forward, looking at some of the products that we are developing, I think, you know, there’s, you know, maybe about 30 to 40% of our new product would fall into high complexity in the way that we define complexity.
But then there is other ways to Also define complexity. I would also look at, let’s say, competition, because some of these products are very unique, that we can make them. And, you know, we don’t really have any competitors in the space. So those are. So that if you look at, you know, what is in the pipeline, I think there we’ve got a lot more of the new products that are in that pipeline. Right. I would argue that of the three large programs that I mentioned, I’d say, you know, 60% or 70% of those products would fall into that category.
Operator
If you can talk about these products, why do you think there is no competition? And what kind of products are these, which we are working on, which are differentiated compared to the market and where. What is the end use case of these products?
P. Deepak
Yeah, so some of these products are, as I mentioned, two of the programs go into the tractor industry, and these products are large. Right. Large in either weight or dimension. And one of the unique things that I would say that we have for the Indian market is that we have a productive line that can produce parts that are up to 1.8 or 1.9 meters long, whereas I think the closest that anybody else can do productively in India is about 1.1 meters. So these are larger products, and it’s not just the length, but also the width and the height that we have in our line is very unique.
I don’t believe there’s anything else like that in the country, and there’s probably half a dozen like that in the world. So that gives us, I think, a good advantage in order to get these parts. So one of the parts I mentioned on previous calls is, you know, parts weighing 500 kilos. Right. But not just that one part that’s weighing 500 kilos, but we also have several parts weighing between 350 and 400 kilos that are part of this. The system. And then we also have several parts which are very tall, though may not necessarily have the weight.
You may be able to make more than one in the mold, but they might not be heavy, but they’re tall. So they can’t fit into other people’s molds, whereas they can fit into our molds. Right. So this gives us a couple of advantages which are very unique and ensures that we are the. We are the single source for these products going forward.
Operator
This across the globe, Deepak, or is this only in India? I mean,
P. Deepak
Like I said, in India, where the. I would say we’re the only one. If I look across the globe, it’s probably half a dozen.
Operator
Got it. And My last question, Deepak, is if I have to. Again, this could be a naive question. If I have to understand how are. How is the value chain completely decoded today where like we are part of the some. How is machining and sub assembly and integrated assembly? How are the margin structures different for these four or five areas? Because eventually one day, you know, you, you will keep migrating into towards like complexity areas. Right. I don’t know. Today, Bharat Coach is probably one player who, who is the only player probably who is doing integrated assemblies.
Right. We just wanted to understand like how do you see these four categories and how are the margin structures different for these four categories? Sure.
P. Deepak
So if I look at, if I look at casting, I would say casting has. Would in general would have a lower margin percentage but a higher asset tons. Right. If I look at machining, it would be the exact opposite. I think you could expect to see much higher margins and a lower, lower asset ton. Right. I think in machining, if you get anywhere between 0.8 to 1 asset terms, typically it is considered to be pretty good. But in terms of EBITDA margins, then you would expect, I’d say you’d be disappointed at 20%, you would expect at least a 25% kind of a thing.
Whereas when you get into assemblies, maybe there the margins are better without having heavy investment in assets, especially in sub assemblies. And then when it comes to final assembly, I think that there are, I think there’s a lot more operating leverage of volume because I think once the volume is there to absorb fixed costs, I think the margins could be the highest over there. So that’s how I look at the hierarchy on these four.
Operator
So the sub assembly and integrated assembly, you mean to say there’ll be more than 25% in margin structures.
P. Deepak
Yeah, you could get the higher margin structure. Exactly. And sub assembly, I think, you know, the investment might not be as, as heavy. Right. Maybe final assembly, they might be a little heavier.
Operator
Understood. And Deepak, my final question again, because Bharat4 also has been there in the industry for last 20, 25 years. We have been there, I mean, for more than three decades now and see the next. Again, this is more a vision state vision question which I have. How do you see the next 10 years for Nelcast in terms of, you know, it’s more about building a capability which is more unique for Milcast and building those strong moats around.
P. Deepak
Yeah. So I, I mean, I think the. Hello?
Operator
Yes. Yes, I’m.
P. Deepak
You can hear me, right? Okay. So I would say I’m I’m incredibly excited about what the next five to 10 years holds. I think it’s a really, really exciting time. Certainly in the casting industry. Right. Maybe I won’t speak about other industries, but I think the opportunities that are there are quite staggering. What we are seeing happening in the overseas markets, especially in Europe, where there are a lot of financially stressed foundries that are there that we believe are already on the verge of closing down or some that have even started that process.
That is something that is, you know, that’s going to drive a lot of business to come to India. And we believe that given our position in the industry and our experience working with global OEMs, especially in North America, we have a very strong chance of converting that. The US market we’ve already established ourselves well and one of the areas that we are now really, I think looking to exploit over the next two, three years is actually getting to parts that go into larger tractors that are sold in the US and European markets.
So we’ve got. And that’s driven by the uniqueness of the facility at Pedopardia. So I think we have a lot of things that we are very positive about. Of course, the domestic market also we believe will be strong over a period of time. It will have its ups and downs, but I think having a good diversified global business will help us be insulated from these vagaries of the market.
Operator
Is there any equation for your thinking as well, Deepak? I mean, acquiring some of these trust assets in Europe to enter into defense or any other categories, is that something also in your mind? Not probably in the next one year, but probably in the next two to three years.
P. Deepak
See, we keep getting a lot of opportunities and we keep evaluating them. I think we’ve not found anything compelling enough to get serious about, but we have over the last several years received a lot of opportunities. None that we have felt compelled to act on.
Operator
Got it. But that’s there on your mind. That’s all. That’s all I wanted to understand.
P. Deepak
I mean, when the right opportunity is there, we will definitely take the time to evaluate. Right. So we have evaluating, but like I said, it’s not a priority for us to say that we have to do it. It’s also not so it’s really purely on the merits of what benefit we would get out of it.
Saket Kapoor
Got it. Is there any way investors can actually come and do it? Sorry to interrupt. Mr. Reddy.
Operator
May we please request you to rejoin the queue, sir, for the follow up question?
Saket Kapoor
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Next question is from the line Of Murtaza from Pinpoint X Capital. Please go ahead.
Saket Kapoor
Hi sir. Good morning. Congratulations on the good set of numbers. I had a handful of questions starting with
Operator
Firstly, there was a certain commentary in the press release regarding the labor availability. So I just wanted to understand is it the typical disruption because of the summer or is it something else and how significant is it, will it be impacting us in a major manner?
P. Deepak
So the labor availability? I think it is, I would say fairly typical. Now in the month of April and May, sorry, it is typically there during the month of April and May. I think that’s typically due to the summer and post Holi. So that’s something that we are, that is there this year as well. And I think this year I would say maybe moderately a little bit more, little higher, maybe driven by some of the elections that were happening across the country, we expect that situation will normalize by June.
I think this is a fairly normal annual cycle that happens. There are some impacts, but what we are working on is with more and more automation, the impact of this actually sort of gets minimized as we, as we move forward.
Operator
Understandable. And secondly, regarding raw material prices, I just wanted to understand what sort of hype have been there and have we been able to pass through the cost increase in terms of domestic and export? Like where exactly are we there?
P. Deepak
Yeah, so we do have formulas to pass on the price increases for all the material costs that are there as well as any fuel costs that are there. So we have, There is a 1/4 lag in passing it on. So whatever was there for the previous quarter and a big chunk of that was driven through the war in from mid February and March. So a lot of that has already been passed on now for April. But of course I think given the way that the system works, there is the lag that is there and you pass on the average.
Right. So the average of Jan, Feb, March is what the pricing that’s been passed on for April, May, June. So there will be probably a small impact of it that will still linger into Q1. But I think going forward that’s that, you know,
Operator
It will
P. Deepak
Be set right.
Operator
Understood. But the pass on is for 100% of a contract.
P. Deepak
Yes, is 100% pass through.
Operator
Okay, okay. And secondly, sir, as the earlier participants had asked regarding the peda per year ramp up, as of now it was roughly 30% broadly. So I just wanted to understand with the new, newer programs coming in, like how do we see the ramp up now? Like in FY27 and 28 numbers. So I think with,
P. Deepak
With, with the product mix that we’re seeing today, if the ramp ups happen the way that we forecast, by Q4, I think we will be at about 45% utilization. Q4 was at about 35. We pushed Q4 a little bit more, even a little bit beyond the demand that was there just to kind of get into that, to start that ramp up trajectory process. Because the ramp ups this year on some of the products would be a little bit more severe. So we see that maybe by Q4 we should be at about that 45 percentage, kind of a mark.
Operator
Okay, perfect answer. Regarding our exports, I just wanted to understand what sort of concentration does North America have in our exports? Revenue and what exactly.
P. Deepak
So North America is about, roughly about 80% of our overall export mix is coming out of North America. And you know, the while we have been trying to work actively in Europe, we’ve won some business and we are, you know, even if you look at North America and how we grew our export business, it was really, you know, you start with one product, you take a little bit of time to develop, validate it, then you know, you prove yourself in it and then you get, you get a much bigger order and an even bigger order for more products.
Right. So I would say we’re sort of in that first stage now in Europe where we are getting some orders, we’ve won some orders and that gives us the opportunity to play in a much bigger field in the next couple of years. So Europe, while it might still be a little slow right now, and the numbers might not show it, over the next couple of years there will be a steady ramp up that will happen in Europe. And I do believe that within the next five years, when you look back, it will look like explosive growth.
But and talking about the US market, even though like I said, we’ve got fairly high concentration in the U.S. There’s also a lot of new business that we have won in the US and some of this new business is coming from other sectors, not just the truck, but also in terms of the agri sector and a little bit more, we are working on some new programs for the light vehicle sector, which is pickup trucks, suv. So we’re also not just looking at it from a geographic risk, but also within the geography, the sector risk, and try to diversify with all that.
Operator
That’s great, sir. And so this one final question regarding our asking revenue, so we were earlier trying to target it to get to 10% of our revenue in the coming few years. So I just wanted to understand how big? Sale on track. And what exactly can we say is the bottleneck? Is it the approvals, customer approvals or the production lamp up or is it logistics? Sorry,
P. Deepak
Which revenue were you talking about? I think I didn’t hear you clearly.
Operator
The large casting revenue.
P. Deepak
Large casting. Large casting. Okay, so. So yeah, I think that’s the goal. I think we’ve got several large castings that will go into production in this, this year. I think yeah, overall our goal would be to get that to about a 10% ish kind of a number. It might be a couple of years before we can get there, but we believe we’re moving in that direction.
Operator
Okay. And so just one final question. You said about 70% of energy is coming through renewable energy. So just wanted to understand what is the relative comparable foundry which actually runs on a power grid. What sort of a cost differential is less between us? And
P. Deepak
So it’s, you know, it can, it can vary quite a bit. Again, depends on the contract, depends on the age of the contract. That’s the PPA that’s there, the specific state that’s there, all of that. Right. So there’s a wide range of numbers that will be there. But I think. And the, the other flip side of it is there is a minimum agreement that of certain of what we have to. What do you say? Offtake. Right. So when you. 100% of the units that are generated at this group captive plant have to be taken by us.
So there are, you know, some pluses and minuses. But if I look at it overall I would say there’s a minimum of a 10% in terms of savings in terms of energy.
Operator
Right. So just my objective was just to understand if you’re planning to like probably push this 70% number even higher and are we planning to do some capex for some small capex for this? Just wanted to know that.
P. Deepak
Yeah, So I don’t, I. We might, we might do something small. We might not do anything major. I would say in this year we just came online for our voodoo plant with a fairly large power plant that was, that was there in which is a hybrid of wind and solar and that just came online about six months ago or so. So that, so I think this year we might not do anything significant. We would like to let that stabilize for some time and get a better understanding of the picture. There’s also other regulations.
The governments are making it less and less attractive to put up renewable energy, especially because they’re losing revenue for their discomfs. Right. So certain things like for Example real time metering and all of that do make it less attractive to do significantly more investment. So I think in the long term we would say we probably targeting to be at about 80% but I don’t believe that a number beyond that is realistic.
Operator
Sure, sure. So thank
Saket Kapoor
You very much. All the best for the future. Thank you.
P. Deepak
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Before we move to the next question, a reminder to the participants to ask a question. You may press star and one next question is from the line of Deban Channa Chatterjee from Spark Capital. Please go ahead.
Kairav Sundar
Yeah, hi, I’m sorry I joined late so I might have missed up on a lot of things, but that’s okay. I just wanted to know on a couple of things and that is you earlier mentioned the 7.7% of CAGR, you know, over, over FY24 to 28. Do you maintain the same over 26 to 28 now what kind of. Sorry,
P. Deepak
CAGR of what Sorry.
Kairav Sundar
Revenue. Revenue and ebitda.
P. Deepak
Our revenue. Okay. No, I, I mean I think so. We believe that, you know, this year will be a year of growth. I mean we will see the ramp ups happening this year over these next two to three quarter, three quarters. I think we will see the start of the ramp ups. I think we expect to be at a much higher level for the next financial year. Right. So I think our goal will be to. For at least a minimum of 10% CAGR. I think that’s what we would expect over the next three years. Minimum
Kairav Sundar
Three years from FY 26 to 29. Is it a 10% kg?
P. Deepak
Yeah.
Kairav Sundar
And what kind of EBITDA by kg you are looking to maintain excluding. We are,
P. Deepak
We are targeting to get to about 18 rupees per kg as an EBITDA in that, in that period of time.
Kairav Sundar
18 rupees per kg by which year?
P. Deepak
In, in this, in this same three year period. Right. With that we’re talking about 29.
Kairav Sundar
Okay. And since currently I think it pushed up to some 16 EBITDA per kg last quarter. But that was on a very low. Yeah. For the, for the
P. Deepak
Whole year it was about 13.6. I think if you will look at it, you know, in the last quarter and third quarter, I think as I mentioned we got a little bump from weaker, softer raw material prices, maybe by about 1 rupee. I think this time we’ve probably taken a, you know, couple of rupee hit by. Because of raw material prices. So roughly about 15 I think is what we believe our current steady state is. You know, without raw Material prices really having an impact. So a long term steady state would be at, at the current level.
So we had about 15. We’re looking to bring that up to about 18 is what we believe we can get to.
Kairav Sundar
So this 18 will be achievable over FY28 to 29 period of time. Right?
P. Deepak
Yeah, that’s, we believe that that’s true.
Kairav Sundar
Okay, and what kind of capex are you planning, are you planning for any heavy capex in future? I mean like, or do you want to like maintain the same thing?
Operator
So I think in the current year
Kairav Sundar
Also regarding your Europe diversification because the US still becomes kind of an uncertain market scenario. So in earlier concourses you mentioned you are looking to, you know, go in with Europe to any particular country or have you made any particular investment there?
P. Deepak
Yeah. So let me address this question. So first question I think was on Capex. So roughly speaking, you know we’ll spend maintenance capex slash, which will include some automations that we will do and all of that. Roughly I expect that we’ll be spending about 30 crores a year or so on these kind of capex which are focused on. It’s either a maintenance capex or it’s a automation or some efficiency improvement. Capex rates, these kind of things we expect roughly about 30 crores a year is what we expect that we will spend going forward at the moment for the current year we’re not looking at any large capex in terms of putting up a new line or anything like that.
So there will be some balancing capexes that we will do in terms of capacities that again falling within that, around that 30 crore number. Right. Plus or minus 5 crores. So in terms of Europe we managed to get a couple of orders again relatively lower in volume. But the foot in the door. Right. So we’ve got and some more opportunities to get our foot in the door. So we are, we are working on, we are now working on developing those products and I think once we get into production, which will probably be in 2027 then I think, and we prove ourselves, I think that the door opens for a much, much bigger, bigger opportunity.
Kairav Sundar
Okay, and so, so you are hoping to maintain a 50 crores of capex for this full year as well, right?
P. Deepak
About, yeah, about 30, 30, 30 to 35 crores a year for this year as well.
Kairav Sundar
Okay, and, and what are your like each plant capacities right now and how are they performing? Are they performing like close to 80% level? 60, 65% and during this uncertainty time it went down to 40%. What is the scenario right now?
P. Deepak
So overall if you look at our capacities, the total capacity is 160,000 tonnes. The Guru plant for the year as a whole performed at about 54%. 55% I think for the pedaparya plant for the year as a whole it was at about 27%. Poneria was pretty close to full capacity utilization. 100%. And if we look at that in the pedaparya plant though, even though the average for the year was 27, Q4 was at about 35. I think that’s where we expect a lot of the improvement in capacity utilization will happen in this year.
Is Pedda perria going towards the end of the year, Right? We think it will be at about a 40, 45% kind of a number. Right. So there we are expecting to see good, good growth happening.
Kairav Sundar
Pedoperia went down further to 45% utilization. You’re saying is it?
P. Deepak
No, it was, it was at 27% utilization and it will go up. And if you look at Q4 specifically it was about 35.
Kairav Sundar
Okay. And before this uncertainty period it was somewhere around 60, 65%. Right?
P. Deepak
No, no, no, no. We started the plant only during the COVID period of time. So it’s only been gradually coming up. So pedoparia has always. I think we’ve struggled to get pedoparia beyond 25%. You know what has passed? I think 35 is the highest that we have ever achieved in Pettiparia plant which we achieved last year quarter.
Kairav Sundar
Right. Okay. And what about the borrowing scenario
Operator
Strategy? Please request you to rejoin the Cuba for the follow up question. Thank you.
P. Deepak
I. I’ll just quickly answer that question. Anyways, the net debt. 68 crores. The net debt that we had at the end of the. The year was at 160. No, don’t net debt. Net debt. Not just.
Operator
Thank you sir. Ladies and gentlemen, 68
P. Deepak
Crores. Sorry, the term loan was at 68 crores. Debt was 172 crores. Yeah, please.
Operator
Thank you sir. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all the participants question queue, please restrict yourselves to one question only. Should you have a follow up question, please rejoin the queue. Next question is from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor and company. Please go ahead.
Saket Kapoor
Yeah. And thank you for a very. Thank you sir. Firstly for a very enriching discussion. Although I have been asked to ask one question, kindly permit me to just put forward the points and I joined the queue since the two now the time is also getting to an end, sir. Firstly, if you could just give me how the damages have shaped for this quarter and for the year and also going ahead, what kind of energies are we expecting from all Q1? And then you have also seen the first answer this part said. Then I’ll just put forward the question.
I’m just framing it.
P. Deepak
Okay, so for the.
Saket Kapoor
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
P. Deepak
So for the quarter we, we did fourth quarter a little over 25000 tons in Q4, a little bit more than 25,000 was Q4 for the year as a whole it was a little over 91,000 tons. And in comparison the previous year was at about 83,000. From 83,600 to 91,300 was the annual movement. Q4 specifically was at 25, 25,900. Yeah.
Saket Kapoor
And this was comparable to what number for the last year, sir.
P. Deepak
So last year fourth quarter was about 23,100.
Saket Kapoor
So sir, there is a significant impact. Is there any difference in the product mix that has resulted in the, if I may say that lower EBITDA number since the tonnage was significantly higher.
Operator
For the quarter because of increasing raw material cost in February, in March.
P. Deepak
So there was a significant increase in February and raw material cost. That is one, one part of it. The other part of it is also if you look at it, I think the export mix, if you look at from a product mix standpoint in Q4 last year versus Q4 this year, there is a drop in the exports as well.
Saket Kapoor
Okay, and how will the connect shape up for the ensuing quarter? Taking into account the regimes which you have mentioned about labor and other things, how will aligned for the expected for this quarter?
P. Deepak
So in the current quarter, I mean typically the first quarter is the more sluggish quarter. We see much better tractor numbers in Q2 and then of course commercial vehicle numbers in Q4. We think this quarter will be, you know, 22,000 plus it should be over 20, 23,000 in this quarter. That’s what we are, we are forecasting.
Saket Kapoor
And the EBITDA per kilogram, this number we will hold, sir, 13, 14 rupees or how should we. Again,
P. Deepak
It’s a little early given everything that’s happening with the war and raw material prices. So at the moment it’s a little harder to project the EBITDA. But like I said, all these costs will be 100% passed on to customers. But perhaps there may be some lag in that. But that being said, the cost will be passed on. So there may be again depends on how the material costs move. There may be blips here and there, but by and large we believe that 15 is the number that in a steady state we are very comfortably at.
Saket Kapoor
Okay, so 15, which would be the exit number for the current financial year. That understanding is correct, sir. We should exit this year.
P. Deepak
So I would say the understanding is more to say that in A steady state 15 is the number that we are very. That we are very positive about. In a steady state. Right. Assume that there is no crazy spike or crash in raw material prices. That’s roughly the number over a cycle of ups and downs in raw material price. 15 is the number that we believe we’re at.
Saket Kapoor
It’s not necessarily an exit
P. Deepak
Or an entry price. It’s I would say a blended average over the cycle.
Saket Kapoor
But sir. So I cannot understand the harping part of it. If you could just explain. Just a second. Sorry, I could not understand that. Then what is the significance you are trying to conclude by the 15 rupees number? In what scenario will that play out here? Yeah,
P. Deepak
So the 15 will play out in a scenario where let’s say raw material prices stay stable. So there is neither a benefit nor a negative coming out of it. Right. If there is no impact of raw material prices either upwards or downwards, we expect 15. Some quarters we may see an upward benefit and some quarters we may see a downward drag. Right. But we believe that over the cycle 15 is the number.
Saket Kapoor
And lastly sir, in the diversified customer base we find the mention of automotive export awarding us for the. For the year of 22 and 23. So what, what percentage of our sales are towards the. Towards automotive XLA as a ballpark number. And also sir, with the Pet Peria unit ramping up, are we doing any deemed export work for this unit? Also for this company in particular
P. Deepak
In the pedpar unit. Okay, so I think specific customer you’re referring to is automotive axles. So this we are exporting to them directly to their plant in in U.S. This is the products that go onto the Chevy Colorado pickup truck that we are doing. And there is also some business that we, we supply to them to the plant in India where they do some sub assembly and then export to sub assembly. So they would, they buy the casting from us, they buy gears, side pins, a lot of other things. They do assembly of the, of the disk case and they export that.
So we are supplying to both of those
Saket Kapoor
Units in that program. Sorry to interrupt Mr. Kapoor. Maybe please. Concluding. Thank you
Operator
Sir. Next question is from the line of praneet from SJ Investments, please go ahead.
Praneeth
Hi management. Thank you for the follow up. One question is regarding a land sale. We have a large surplus land that’s left in Tamil Nadu, I think. Right. So what’s the progress in terms of the sale of that land or has there been any change in strategy in terms of selling it? So what’s the thought?
P. Deepak
So there is a. The land is not held in the name of the company. The land is held in the name of subsidiary called NC Energy. There is, I think there is a potential that we could look at. We are interested in it. We are exploring opportunities and I think there’s a possibility that there might be some government acquisition that might happen there for a industrial park as well. But all of those activities were on hold because of the elections here in Tamil Nadu. We expect that in the next few months, once things settle down in the new government, that discussion will come up and some action will take place on it.
Praneeth
So what is the realizable value potentially is a valuable, at least at this point of time for that?
P. Deepak
We, we at the moment we don’t have any reference point that we can use to. To give a better estimation of value other than, you know, the cost price that was there. Right. Which is indicated.
Praneeth
Understood. Got it. So going back to the business side, so you mentioned. So most of our. Right now why right now we’re looking for export programs. Right. In terms of domestic, is there any way that you can take more products on to import capacity utilization at the end of the day? Because overall our tonnage has remained quite similar with like. I think this is a little higher in the last four years. So can we export more domestic programs to improve capacity utilization? So further we can again explore backup exports or what’s the thought for this?
Because we have. Exports have been delaying a lot. So that’s the reason.
P. Deepak
Yes. So I mean domestic programs, I think we are growing even in the domestic programs. I think if you look at what we have done in the last year, I think we had a significant amount of growth in both commercial vehicle as well as in tractor. I think from a tonnage perspective that’s what you talked about. I think we had about a 14% growth in MHCV and about a 7% growth in tractor. Right. So I think it was sort of rejigged in that. In that direction. And we are working on some programs to try to gain some share of business and we’ll keep working on it.
Right. The challenge is to make sure I think also on to maintain competitive margins. And so I think that’s one of the areas that are. That we are working on. Domestic. Domestic distribution is also very important.
Operator
Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Praneet. We will take that as a last question for the day, sir. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraint, we’ll take that as the last question for the day. I now hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
P. Deepak
Yeah. Thank you everyone for your time and your continued interest in LCAST. FY26 has been a year where we focus on strengthening our fundamentals, improving operational efficiency and advancing our strategic initiatives. We are encouraged by the progress made, particularly in terms of product mix utilization and balance reach as we move to FY27. With new product development on track, improving export traction and a stronger operating foundation, we believe the company is well positioned to deliver the next phase of growth.
We appreciate your continued support and look forward to engaging with you in the coming quarters. Thank you all once again and have a good day.
Operator
Thank you, sir. On behalf of Nelcast Limited that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.