JKLAKSHMI Q1 FY27 earnings call.

Guidance to track

• First year of three-year capex cycle (Rs 1,500 / Rs 2,000 / Rs 1,500 crore) to fund Durg kiln expansion (9+ MW), grinding capacity at Patratu and Madugula, and Northeast 1.5 MT plant. Excludes land acquisition costs for Nagaur and Kutch.
• Company maintained its 30 million tonnes capacity target by 2030, with 18 MT expected by FY27 year-end. Net debt/EBITDA ceiling of 2.5-2.75x will be maintained during the expansion phase.
• Current renewable share (solar 129 MW, WHR 45 MW, wind 4 MW, thermal 74 MW) with 42 MW solar SPV investment (~Rs 20 crore) expected to yield Rs 1.65/unit savings, operational from Q4 FY27 or Q1 FY28.
• Targeting ~30% growth from Rs 613 crore in FY26 to Rs 800+ crore, driven by continued expansion in RMC and value-added products.

Risks flagged

• Fuel cost expected to rise from Rs 1.65 to Rs 1.80-1.85 per unit in Q2, coinciding with monsoon-driven demand weakness. Management acknowledged this will 'hit margins' but expects industry-wide pass-through to occur. Packaging costs also up Rs 3.5-4 per bag (from Rs 134 to Rs 145), adding ~Rs 80/tonne.
• Villagers near the Garbhali plant site (Mahabal Cement subsidiary) filed a PIL in Gauhati High Court claiming land ownership. JK Lakshmi was added as respondent since Mahabal is a subsidiary. Management characterized this as routine land acquisition disputes but noted it adds regulatory uncertainty to the Northeast timeline.
• Middle East conflict has disrupted imported coal and petcoke supply chains, disproportionately impacting northern plants that relied more on imports. Petcoke mix increased to 40% (from 14% YoY) as substitute, but imported coal at $130-135 remains elevated. Diesel price inflation partially offset by lead distance reduction.
• International proxy advisors recommended negative votes on AGM resolutions despite full legal compliance. While all resolutions passed with mutual fund support, institutional investors with foreign linkages followed proxy advisor recommendations. Management expressed frustration at inability to engage proactively before recommendations were published.

Key quotes

• Typically July, September is cyclical, you know, cyclicity, demand cyclicity. So we all of us take maintenance during this time. So that definitely impacts our margin right now as I said before that on energy front fuel front there is an uncertainty if things improve then I think it's going to be good and also this is impacting across industry then pass through also definitely will happen that is what I believe so going to kind of hit our margin we'll try to pass it on to our customers because absorbing this much cost is not possible.
• North has been impacted the most because we were importing coal and pet coke. So to my mind I think PU has not happened in north so north is a better headroom to increase prices than others. If you look at the lowest price which is existing in entire India is eastern part of India and particularly in Chhattisgarh.
• Geomix is not about doing this in a jerk... this is a very systematic approach and perhaps you may be hearing from me that we are working on this for the last more than couple of years. During demand months we have an opportunity to further kind of improve our geomix so in lean months since you want to utilize your capacity then you go to some other market also but during demand months you have an opportunity to maximize.