Astral Limited — Q2 FY24
Astral delivered a strong Q2 FY24 with consolidated revenue growth of 16.3% YoY and EBITDA margin expansion to 17.1% (up 390 bps YoY), driven by 28% volume growth in the core pi...
bullish
high
✓ 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.
68%Questions answered3Evaded / deflected11Questions auditedMixedNumbers vs filing
Partial answer
High priority
Confirm inventory loss of INR 20 crore and PVC loss timing.
Asked by Shubham Aggarwal, Axis Capital
Management did not explicitly confirm the INR 20 crore figure, instead explained the dynamics without giving a specific number.
did not confirm INR 20 crore numberblamed price protection for wiping out gains
Read the exchange
Question
Just wanted to reconfirm the inventory loss is INR 20 crore, right? And there's no inventory loss in PVC going to be this quarter. The whole inventory loss in PVC will come in October.
Hiranand Savlani, CFO & Executive Director
So in fact, PVC was some gain in the beginning, but because what happened that in the last month of September, everyone has to give the price protection to the market... So whatever some gain we get, that was wiped out because of this, protection which we have given to the market. Otherwise, there was a slight gain in the beginning of 2 months. So now this gain, loss is purely because of the CPVC.
Answered
Medium priority
Will government CapEx slowdown due to elections affect growth?
Asked by Shubham Aggarwal, Axis Capital
Management directly stated low government dependency and provided reasoning, fully addressing the question.
Read the exchange
Question
So just wanted to take a sense from you, do you expect any growth to slow down going into Q4 of FY 2023 and Q1 of FY 2025?
Sandeep Engineer, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director
So I don't think it is going to affect too much because of the election. The reason is very simple, that our company's dependency on government project is very, very thin. Except, Rex product... we have converted sizable business of Rex also into the private projects.
Answered
Medium priority
Is 85% capacity utilization achievable given high volume growth?
Asked by Vineet Shah, Shah Group
Management confirmed 85% utilization is possible and explained the conditions, directly answering the question.
Read the exchange
Question
Is it possible to achieve this kind of utilization of machines given shorter change over time of fittings, et cetera, or am I missing something?
Hiranand Savlani, CFO & Executive Director
Yeah, 85% is possible, if because more and more utilization will increase, the same machine will manufacture the same dia pipes. So naturally, 85% we can reach that.
Answered
High priority
Is CapEx guidance revised given INR 300 crore already spent in H1?
Asked by Vineet Shah, Shah Group
Management clearly explained the additional CapEx and revised the total, directly answering the question.
Read the exchange
Question
So second half of financial year 2024 CapEx is just like 50 crores. So is there any revision in the CapEx or, is, is, is your-- are you going ahead with 50 crores itself?
Hiranand Savlani, CFO & Executive Director
So, CapEx will increase to the tune of INR 75 crore additional because there is a land which we acquired for the corporate house... So that is the additional CapEx, which was not originally planned.
Answered
High priority
How has channel reacted to sharp PVC price cut? Any destocking?
Asked by Keshav Lahoti, HDFC Securities
Management directly stated no destocking and explained the situation, fully addressing the question.
Read the exchange
Question
Just wanted to get a sense, how has the channel reacted to the sharp cut in the resin prices on PVC side? Should we expect some channel destocking?
Sandeep Engineer, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director
Right now, I think PVC has mostly bottomed out. So the price drop that came, it came very rapidly... channel, is still buying, you know, there is no destocking as such.
Declined
Medium priority
What was the volume growth in adhesive segment?
Asked by Keshav Lahoti, HDFC Securities
Management explicitly declined to provide a volume growth number, citing product heterogeneity.
refused to provide volume numbercited product diversity
Read the exchange
Question
Any idea about what would be the volume growth on the adhesive segment side?
Sandeep Engineer, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director
Adhesive, very difficult to give a volume number, because there we are selling different chemistries. Some are solid, some are liquid... So very, very difficult to quantify the volume number for that.
Answered
High priority
What was the CPVC price correction in Q2?
Asked by Keshav Lahoti, HDFC Securities
Management provided a specific percentage range, directly answering the question.
Read the exchange
Question
What has been the CPVC price correction in quarter two?
Hiranand Savlani, CFO & Executive Director
I think we have dropped closely about 7%-8% in the market.
Answered
High priority
What is the reason for CPVC price reduction and outlook?
Asked by Praveen Sahay, Prabhudas Lilladher
Management explained the reason and gave outlook that prices have bottomed out, directly answering.
Read the exchange
Question
What is the basic reason? It is a demand-supply mismatch which has led to the-
Sandeep Engineer, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director
The base raw material for CPVC is PVC. Now, PVC, if it is bottoming out internationally at a $750 level, then one cannot expect CPVC to hover at $2-$2.1 levels. No, that much delta should not be there.
Evasive
Medium priority
What is the current CPVC resin price?
Asked by Praveen Sahay, Prabhudas Lilladher
Management avoided giving a specific price, citing variation, which is evasive.
no specific number givencited variation among suppliers
Read the exchange
Question
Numbers, can you give? Like, what is the pricing of CPVC ratio right now?
Sandeep Engineer, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director
It varies from company to company, because multiple companies are there. Every company's price is different.
Evasive
Medium priority
What is the capacity utilization level for adhesives?
Asked by Praveen Sahay, Prabhudas Lilladher
Management did not provide a specific utilization number, only qualitative statements.
no specific utilization percentage givenvague language
Read the exchange
Question
How is the utilization level at the company level for the adhesive, you know, capacity?
Sandeep Engineer, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director
At present, the utilization is good, but not... We can even increase it to a good level. But with the hedge coming in, we'll have a good capacity and the utilization will obviously go down.
Evasive
Low priority
What is the bathware revenue mix and geographical spread?
Asked by Praveen Sahay, Prabhudas Lilladher
Management declined to provide specific mix or geographical details, giving only general comments.
no specific mix or geography numbersvague response
Read the exchange
Question
What can you give some more color on the mix of the premium or, you know, the economy segment right now you are fetching? And also, if you give some geographical color as well, where you are-
Sandeep Engineer, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director
So right now, geographical color is very difficult to give because we are now selling to almost all the states... premium product category will not sell automatically.
Answered
Medium priority
What was the reason for 44% YoY growth in other expenses?
Asked by Akash Shah, UTI Mutual Fund
Management explained the reason for the increase and provided context, directly answering.
Read the exchange
Question
Sir, just want to understand, sir, what was the key reason behind 44% growth in other expenses on a YOY basis?
Sandeep Engineer, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director
So what happened that in many time, the event which we have worked out for the promotional activity or maybe a branding activity... So because of that, the branding costs and the promotional activity goes high.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume growth 29% YoY in plumbing segment in H1 | 29% | 16.3% | Overstated vs filing |
| EBITDA margin maintained at 18% | 18% | 17.1% | Overstated vs filing |
| Bathware run rate INR 8 crore per month in September | ₹8 cr | ₹1,363 cr | Understated vs filing |
| Adhesive India margin 15.5%, UK margin 10% | 15.5% | 17.1% | Understated vs filing |
| UK business grew 17% in top line this quarter | 17% | 16.3% | Matches filing |
| Volume growth 20%+ tonnage growth guidance for full year | 20% | 16.3% | Overstated vs filing |
| H1 FY21 to H1 FY24 tonnage CAGR of 20.5% | 20.5% | 16.3% | Overstated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.