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TVTranscript
00:00We are joined by Mr. Kunal Rai, who is the Director and CFO at CrossLimited, who joins
00:04us now.
00:05Welcome to the show, Mr. Rai.
00:07You know, overall, if we see your financial performance in the past three years, the kind
00:12of growth that you've seen is extremely, you know, impressive, but Q1 somehow has remained
00:17muted.
00:18Revenue growth was only 2% and net profit was down around 4%.
00:22So I want to understand as to, you know, how has Q1 performance overall been like and how
00:27is FY25 shaping up?
00:30Hi, good morning.
00:32So the last three years have been good.
00:35We've seen a CAGR of around 44%.
00:39But Q1 has been, you could say muted.
00:43But if you compare it to quarter one of the last financial year, you know, we've seen
00:50a 2% growth.
00:52And the MNHCV segment, you know, in H2 should be performing better.
00:58Not to forget, we had elections during the first quarter and the impact of elections
01:05were there probably on the infrastructural activities and there were a lot of apprehensions.
01:10So quarter two, sorry, H2 should be better than the H1.
01:16Namaste, Rai, good morning and thank you so much for joining us today.
01:20Firstly, many congratulations on, you know, listing and this is your first conversation
01:24post-listing as well.
01:25So many congratulations for that.
01:27I just wanted to take, you know, a step back from Q1 because you have mentioned that, you
01:30know, the first half has been very, you know, subdued for MNHCV as well as, you know, the
01:36tractor segment.
01:37So that will affect you as well and H2 is what you are targeting for a better recovery.
01:41I just wanted to understand the current split between, you know, the commercial vehicle
01:46segment and the tractor segment for you because the kind of components that you supply to
01:51the MNHCV side is much higher and please correct me if I am wrong, compared to the tractor
01:55segment.
01:56So what is the current split between them and is margin also largely stable between
02:00the 10 to 12 percent for both these segments?
02:03Yes.
02:04So the margins are quite same if we compare it to the MNHCV component business and the
02:10tractor business.
02:11The tractor business in H1 is doing well.
02:15I mean, you know, till the time the rains are there up to Diwali, the tractor OEMs are
02:22performing well.
02:23However, the MNHCV segment has seen a bit of a slowdown and degrowth in volume, especially
02:31in the month of July and August.
02:33But as far as our revenue split is concerned, within the MNHCV sector, we are also there
02:38in the trailer segment.
02:40That is with the tractor trailers, manufacturing trailer axles and suspensions.
02:45And what is happening in the industry is that there is a huge shift happening towards higher
02:52tonnage vehicles.
02:53The OEMs are seeing a requirement which is growing for higher tonnage vehicles, that
02:58is 40 tons and above.
03:01And that's where the volumes are increasing.
03:05And on the revenue split, we are still at around 44 percent of our revenue coming in
03:10from the trailer segment and close to 9-10 percent from the tractor segment.
03:15The balance is with the MNHCV OEMs and the large tier one companies in our component
03:22business.
03:23Right.
03:24So take a point, H1 likely slow.
03:29How strong is H2 going to be and how strong will FY25 full year be?
03:33Can you do 25 percent plus on your top line for FY24?
03:38See, as far as FY24 was concerned, the MNHCV segment didn't see any growth as such again.
03:46But our tractor trailer segment grew by around 38 percent and we saw growth of 27 percent.
03:54So even if there is no growth in this year, we'll still try to be doing better than what
04:01the last year has been.
04:03And H2, yes, the numbers which are being indicated are better from the OEMs, but we'll have to
04:10wait and watch how it pans out in the next six months of the year.
04:17Sorry, so slightly softer guidance coming in.
04:21I want to understand, will it be double digit at all in FY25?
04:25Is that something that one can expect?
04:28In the industry?
04:30For you in particular?
04:33As I said, yes, we would be trying to do a double digit growth.
04:38But also it depends on how the balance six months goes with the MNHCV segment, the tractor
04:46segment.
04:47The trailer segment, we are already doing well in it.
04:50As I said, it's constituting 44 percent of the total top line.
04:55And our focus is towards the exports as well, you know, with the customers in Sweden and
05:02in Japan, things have kicked off there.
05:05We're doing mass production for these two customers as well.
05:09And we are focusing on our projects.
05:11We're looking into getting into the axle beam extrusion soon, that would benefit our top
05:18line and margins as well.
05:19Right.
05:20So, Mr. Rai, as of now, your manufacturing capacity stands at roughly 60,000 trailer
05:25axles and suspension.
05:26I want to understand what is the capacity utilization like right now.
05:30And by the end of FY25, where will it be at?
05:35So, on the capacity utilizations, we are at approximately 70 percent, okay, and we plan
05:44to be getting into the axle beam extrusion by this year end.
05:50And that would take our capacities even higher for our trailer axle manufacturing.
05:58As far as the capacity utilizations are concerned, we really split it into two.
06:03We're investing in our forgings.
06:06We're getting a couple of forging presses as well from the IPO proceeds.
06:12And we already are in manufacturing castings as well, and we're setting up a new line in
06:19the foundry as well.
06:20So, from the forging and casting point of view, we're looking at utilizations of around
06:2565 percent, machining with around 70-72 percent.
06:30Now, just a couple of questions, Mr. Rai, on firstly, your manufacturing facilities.
06:35Now, you have all five of your manufacturing facilities in Jamshedpur itself, and we did
06:40speak about this in your pre-IPO conversation as well.
06:44How are you effectively competing with most players, especially in the southern market?
06:49Because we have seen that, you know, wild players in the northern market have been doing
06:53well.
06:54The western market has been doing well, much better in the western part of the country.
06:57So, just wanted to understand that you also are investing in a new plant with the IPO
07:03proceeds.
07:04What is the future plan to diversify away from, you know, the concentration of manufacturing
07:08plants in one, you know, in one part of the country as well?
07:12And how are you dealing with competition bases on this part?
07:16So, you know, since the beginning, we've been, we've concentrated on all the manufacturing
07:23being at one location, that is in Jamshedpur.
07:26Now, having a different forging setup and a casting setup, these are all, you know,
07:32very high asset valued, and it cannot be at different places of the country.
07:38So, we've basically got everything integrated at one place.
07:43Also, what helps us in being competitive is being backward integrated.
07:50We set up our casting unit in 2022 only to manufacture brake drums and hubs for our trailer
07:58axles segment.
08:00So, we are competitive because we've got everything in-house, right from machining and heat treatment
08:08and castings and forging.
08:10So, diversification of plants is not going to be happening out of the city.
08:17We've got warehouses close to our customers to serve them with deliveries.
08:23Right.
08:24Mr. Rai, you know, your top five customers right now contribute roughly 66% to your total
08:29revenue.
08:30So, I want to understand that how are you planning to diversify your customer base,
08:34you know, because this could be a bit risky, you know, top five customers, you know, contributing
08:40almost 66% to your revenues.
08:43So, it's not that we have a very large plan to change that, you know, we look at not that
08:51as a risk, but it's only opportunities.
08:55All these OEMs and big, large tier one companies, we've been associated with them for many,
09:00many years.
09:01Okay.
09:02It's been more than 20-25 years that we've been associated with them.
09:06And in our top five customer lists, it's not that there's only somebody from the MNHCV
09:12segment.
09:13We've got Tracto OEM in that, we've got MNHCV companies in that.
09:17And we also have trailer axle and suspension fabricators, trailer fabricators in that top
09:26five customer list.
09:27So, we've been quite diversified as far as our client base is concerned.
09:32Our top customers is just at 19-20% of our total top line.
09:37So, we're not looking at it as a threat from there.
09:41But going forward, we want to expand on our exports.
09:44Sure.
09:45Thank you so much.
09:46It's been a pleasure speaking, understanding CrossLimited better.