Praj Industries Ltd Q2 FY23 Earnings Conference Call Insights

Key highlights from Praj Industries Ltd (PRAJIND) Q2 FY23 Earnings Concall

Q&A Highlights:

• [00:12:20] Dhananjai Bagrodia from ASK Investment enquired about negative operating cash flow in 2Q23 due to higher receivables. Sachin Raole CFO answered that more than higher receivables, PRAJIND has gone ahead with the increased inventory. Receivable days are flattish vs. last quarter. The increased working capital is mainly on account of inventory pileup.

• [00:13:48] Dhananjai Bagrodia of ASK Investment also asked about payables reducing and if the dependence on suppliers is increasing. Sachin Raole CFO answered that there are various means PRAJIND is using free cash on balance sheet. When the company has any negotiation happening with the vendors, it also goes for early payment with cash discount.

• [00:16:16] Shailesh Kanani with Centrum Broking enquired about the current ethanol production capacity. Shishir Joshipura MD answered that from a capacity perspective, PRAJIND need to go to 20%. So the company is halfway mark in terms of what is required.

• [00:20:56] Shailesh Kanani of Centrum Broking asked if there is availability of feedstock on a sustainable basis. Shishir Joshipura MD replied that, the excessive sugar production and export is an indicator of availability of feedstock. And secondly, the biggest opportunity is going to be the lignocellulosic feedstocks.

• [00:22:09] Ravi Dharamshi from Value Quest queried about CBG, if the company is starting to see any traction on the ordering front. Shishir Joshipura MD said PRAJIND is beginning to see some activity developing. PRAJIND added that a very supportive policy by UP government is about two weeks old and will take a bit more time to give a affirmative answer.

• [00:23:55] Ravi Dharamshi with Value Quest asked if the company will be able to stick to 10% plus margins going forward. Shishir Joshipura MD replied that PRAJIND is not giving any guidance on what it will look like. One point is that highly volatile commodity price changes are behind the company and it should have a clear bearing on margins.

• [00:24:58] Vikram Suryavanshi of PhillipCapital asked when can the pickup in export be seen given the geopolitical situation. Shishir Joshipura MD answered that in 2H23, PRAJIND expects to start seeing change on the order booking side. It’s not that the order book is low, but domestic and export is progressing at different speeds.

• [00:32:03] Isha Agarwal from VT Capital asked about the rationale behind 2G plant. Shishir Joshipura MD replied that most importantly the 2G technology actually reduces emissions of Co2 by over 85% which is not possible by 1G technology.

• [00:38:26] Lokesh Maru of Nippon India asked about any guidance or comments on other expenses as a percentage of topline. Sachin Raole CFO replied that other expenses are completely related from the business activity point of view and major component of that is sitting in the project activity. So on doing more projects, absolute number will change but percentage will remain almost same.

• [00:44:14] Amish Kanani with JM Financial asked about the average execution of the outstanding order book as of Sept. Sachin Raole CFO answered that on an average it will be in the range of 12-15 months. However, some might go beyond 18 months but not necessarily of bioenergy.

• [00:45:08] Aman of Goldman Sachs enquired about the CPES segment, what equipment is PRAJIND supplying. Shishir Joshipura MD clarified that modularization is a big offering from that business. Given a process, which is not PRAJIND’s, it’s able to conceptualize an engineer, a plant that gets modularized so that the site work is reduced to minimum.

• [00:49:49] Amit Anwani from Prabhudas Lilladher enquired about the competitive landscape. Shishir Joshipura MD said that PRAJIND saw its market share move up, especially for the domestic business, in excess of 66%.

• [00:51:40] Amit Anwani from Prabhudas Lilladher asked which kind of customer profile PRAJIND is seeing the maximum traction for the grain based plants. Shishir Joshipura MD replied that current year was a special year and as sugar supply starts to stabilize, PRAJIND will see a lot more sugar diversion taking place for ethanol production. So there might be a balance coming back.