Apar Industries Limited — Q3 FY25
APAR Industries reported Q3 FY25 consolidated revenue of INR 4,716 crore, up 17.7% YoY, driven by strong domestic volume growth in conductors and cables.
neutral
medium
✓ Verified against BSE filing
Claim Ledger
Did management answer the analysts?
Every material analyst question, graded on whether management actually answered it — with the verbatim exchange and quantitative claims checked against filed numbers.
75%Questions answered2Evaded / deflected12Questions auditedContradictedNumbers vs filing
Evasive
High priority
View on US market post regime change and opportunity size for re-conductoring.
Asked by Amit Anwani, PL Capital
Management acknowledged the question but gave no concrete assessment, only generalities.
no specific impact givendeferred to time
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Question
My perspective is if you could highlight on how the view on the U.S. now post the change in regime there, and is the opportunity size remained the same for us in terms of re-conductoring all of the opportunities which we are building in.
Kushal Desai, Chairman and Managing Director
So the change in government and the change in policy based on some of the statements the president has made generally, there's nothing specific that's come about with respect to India. I guess only time will tell in terms of where that finally settles down.
Answered
High priority
Why premium product sales growth is soft despite strong domestic market.
Asked by Amit Anwani, PL Capital
Management explained the retendering issue causing softness in premium products.
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Question
So is it right understanding that this is getting impacted because of the exports market? Because what we understand, I think last time we discussed, there was more growth for premium products happening in the domestic market, and domestic markets are actually doing pretty strong for us. So what should one understand on the premium product sales getting soft and quarter on quarter?
Kushal Desai, Chairman and Managing Director
Some of the conductor tenders and other infrastructure like substation, various things have gone into retendering simply because our budget was set up based on some historical costs, and the costs have gone up with respect to copper, aluminum, steel, and various other components.
Answered
High priority
Guidance on conductor EBITDA per ton and cable margins.
Asked by Amit Anwani, PL Capital
Management reaffirmed guidance and explained quarterly variance due to mix.
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Question
Lastly, on conductor EBITDA per ton, do you have any thoughts now on 29,500 EBITDA per ton which we have been guiding? And second, on cables margins which are keeping very low from past two, three quarters versus FY 2024 and 2023, if you could give some perspective on these two elements.
Speaker 18 (likely Ramesh, CFO)
So on the conductor margins, we continue to have the same guidance as we have been saying earlier, about 28,500. And that too, typically, we look at these margins on an annual basis.
Partial answer
High priority
Is lower profitability a new normal or will premium mix recovery restore margins?
Asked by Nitin Arora, Axis Mutual Fund
Management did not directly say if lower margins are temporary or permanent, but cited nine-month margin near double-digit.
no direct answer on new normalfocused on nine-month margin
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Question
Does that also look like that this is something, a new normal of kind of a profitability one should work with, or do you think once the premium mix starts coming back, we should again start going towards 35-37 where we were delivering?
Kushal Desai, Chairman and Managing Director
So looking at the relative size of the cable business... If you take the nine-month margin for cables, we are at 9.6%. So we are just a little bit away from the double-digit period.
Answered
High priority
Are inquiry levels increasing in US for cable and conductor post new regime?
Asked by Nitin Arora, Axis Mutual Fund
Management confirmed inquiries are increasing, though no timeline for rebound.
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Question
But generally, the sense which you're getting now post the new regime coming in, are the inquiries level increasing both at the cable and at the conductor division, which you think can rebound, or do you think it will take at least two, three, four quarters, and then we'll see?
Kushal Desai, Chairman and Managing Director
The inquiry levels are continuing. In fact, they have been increasing with time. There was a much bigger lull and a greater worry one year ago compared to what it is today.
Answered
High priority
How does margin differentiate between India and US for cables?
Asked by Natasha Jain, PhillipCapital
Management provided a clear 3-5% margin differential for US vs India.
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Question
In terms of U.S., can you, first of all, give us any broader sense as to how the margin differentiates between geography, India included, compared to what we get in U.S. for cables? Any broad sense would do.
Kushal Desai, Chairman and Managing Director
So usually, you would end up getting 3%-5% plus differential for a like-to-like product for the same application because the U.S. specifications are far more stringent.
Answered
High priority
Why is US export not picking up if Chinese players are absent?
Asked by Natasha Jain, PhillipCapital
Management stated US market has turned the corner with sequential growth and expects further improvement.
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Question
Now, you just mentioned in your opening comments that 50% of the demand for U.S. is still imported, and it's a big market. And also, there are not a lot of Chinese players because of tariffs, etc. So just trying to understand then what is the problem? Why is U.S. export not picking up if it's sitting at a most favorable position given Chinese players are not there in the U.S.?
Kushal Desai, Chairman and Managing Director
So the U.S. market for us has started, it has already turned the corner. So as I mentioned in my commentary that for cables, there is an 8.5% sequential growth between Q2 and Q3, and we expect Q4 to be higher than Q3.
Partial answer
High priority
Will current order book improve conductor margins from current level?
Asked by Maulik Patel, Equirus Securities
Management gave a range but did not confirm if margins will stabilize at current levels or improve.
no clear stabilization level givendepends on mix
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Question
So the current order book, what you have, it's relatively will further and increase your margin from the current level, or it is still at an, as you mentioned, the competitive intensity from China has gone up. So the margin will now probably stabilize at this 25,000, 30,000 kind of range.
Speaker 18 (CFO)
The blended margins could be anywhere between 30,000-35,000 per metric ton. But that will not only be the entire part of it. We'll have some orders also coming up during the quarter.
Answered
High priority
Why did margins drop despite US recovering quarter on quarter?
Asked by Levin Shah, Motilal Oswal
Management cited Red Sea freight impact and domestic mix shift as reasons.
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Question
So when we look at margins, there has been a big drop both in cable and conductor. You explained some of it, but despite U.S. recovering quarter on quarter, the margins have gone down substantially. So can you help us explain what's impacting the margins despite U.S. improving?
Kushal Desai, Chairman and Managing Director
So in the short term, there was an impact on freight for shipments that went to the U.S. because suddenly you had this Red Sea issue, and freight rates in the short term had really shot up.
Evasive
Medium priority
How much of cable revenue is related to IRA benefits in US?
Asked by Levin Shah, Motilal Oswal
Management did not quantify IRA-related revenue, only described product diversity.
no specific percentage givendeflected to product mix
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Question
So what I was trying to understand is how much of our cable segment because I understand conductor segment may not be impacted with this IRA going away if at all that happens. But how much of the cable segment revenue today would be related to this IRA-related CapEx?
Kushal Desai, Chairman and Managing Director
So we have a full mix of cables going in there, right? We have medium voltage cables going in there. We have photovoltaic or PV cables, which are for renewables. We have cables that go into building and other infrastructure. So it's not all focused only around renewables.
Answered
Medium priority
Strategy to compete with Chinese in markets like Australia and Africa.
Asked by Nikhil Poptani, Kizuna Wealth
Management clearly stated they avoid competing at a loss and divert capacity to India.
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Question
We said that Chinese players are entering the market where they have a fair position, like the markets in Australia, Africa, and Latin America. So what is APAR's strategy to compete with them in those markets?
Kushal Desai, Chairman and Managing Director
So we have seen these cycles in the past come and go. Over a period of time, these are not sustainable... So we feel it is better not to participate just for the sake of competing and incurring losses. It's better to divert our capacity to the next best realization market, which is the Indian market.
Answered
High priority
How much of $20bn US cable import is addressable given product portfolio?
Asked by S Karlekar, HSBC
Management quantified addressable market as over 50% of $20bn.
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Question
You highlighted $20 billion U.S. cable imports as a large opportunity. So may I ask how much of that is really addressable considering the product portfolio that APAR has and the certification that you already have?
Kushal Desai, Chairman and Managing Director
In terms of the addressable products which we have, it is catering to over 50% of the market. In terms of the means, the categories that we have UL approval for is almost 50% of the U.S. market.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cable division nine-month margin at 9.6% | 9.6% | 8.5% | Overstated vs filing |
| Cable division top-line growth guidance of 25% on value | 25% | 17.7% | Overstated vs filing |
| US cable sequential growth of 8.5% Q2 to Q3 | 8.5% | 17.7% | Understated vs filing |
| Wire segment growth of 46% in nine months | 46% | 17.7% | Overstated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.