Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Astral Limited Q3 FY24 earnings conference call, hosted by Investec Capital Services. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ritesh Shah, Head of Mid Market Coverage and ESG at Investec Capital Services India. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Thank you, Seema. Welcome all to Astral's Q3 FY24 conference call. We have with us, from the management, Mr. Sandeep Engineer, Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Kairav Engineer, Executive Director, and Mr. Hiranand Savlani, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer. I'll request the management to start with initial remarks, post which we can have a Q&A, please. Over to you, sir. Thank you, Ritesh. Thanks, everyone, for joining the earnings call of Q3 FY 2024. As we had communicated, in Q3, the demand scenario is very robust, and we are able to deliver 15% volume growth in Q3 and 24% volume growth in first nine months of FY 2024 in plumbing business. As you are well, very well aware, the market situation still continues to be volatile as far as the pricing is concerned, and particularly the downward polymer and chemical pricing situation, within which we have to continuously work and deliver numbers. During Q3, also, the PVC price was down by almost 7% and CPVC prices were down by 5%, which normally affects the margin, and, and the channel also is continuously destocking the inventory in such conditions. But in spite of that, I am very happy to share that within all these, with all these challenges and volatility, we at Astral are always trying to mitigate these challenges and deliver a consistent performance within our guided numbers and guided ranges. The results are in front of you. And once again, in plumbing business, we are able to deliver EBITDA margin of 16% in Q3 and 17% on nine-month basis against our guidance of 15%-17% EBITDA margins. The margin is after charging a few... One of the expenses, a loss of Bathware business, which Hiranandbhai will explain in his remarks, and the expense incurred towards the celebration of 25 years of the company's completion of 25 years and the event which we celebrated for the company and its staff at Jaipur. Pipe business. As communicated in last conference, due to robust demand in pipe vertical, company has decided to aggressively move into expansion, expanding its capacity. As communicated earlier, we are putting three new plants, and all are going as per schedule. Guwahati plant, 22,000 metric ton plant, already started production on water tank last quarter, and from the month of January, we have already rolled out our pipes so that we can. So we are expecting some sales in the last quarter from this plant. Hyderabad plant, 70,000 metric ton and Kanpur plant, 60,000 metric ton. Expansion activities are going on in these two locations in full swing. Hyderabad first phase of construction is almost getting over by March, and in Q1 we'll be starting putting machines, and by Q2 end June, commercial production will start. Kanpur plant layout is in progress, and shortly the construction work will be started. During first nine months, we have increased the capacity from 2.9 lakh metric tons to 3.29 lakh metric tons, 30,000 metric tons increase in the capacity. As a part of our commitment to the society and to our customers, we are happy to share that we have recently received Green Product Certification for our Astral CPVC PRO and Astral DrainPro products from CII Green Products and Services Council. Adhesives and cement. Our state-of-the-art plant at Dahej is in operation and giving good results in terms of energy saving, cost reduction. What we originally planned and what we are are being reflected in numbers is going to be exactly seen in the coming quarters, after one or two quarters, as the plant gets fully functional at the scale and the inventories of different plants, which has already been there and made at the older locations, is sold in the market. Our Indian Adhesive operation has given excellent growth in Q3, with top line growth of 17% and on the nine-month basis, 15% in value terms. In volume terms, it is much higher due to fall of chemical prices. Even EBITDA for the quarter was very healthy at 16.55% in Q3, and on nine-month basis, it was 16%. Our UK Adhesive top line has grown by 9% in value terms, and in volume terms, it is growing much faster. But in EBITDA terms, it has given a negative 3% EBITDA in last quarter, mainly due to inventory loss and heavy Forex loss due to the fluctuation of GBP and U.S. dollars. If we remove this, remove that, the UK, UK EBITDA was on a higher single digit number. This also will be explained in detail by Hiranandbhai in his remarks. In nine-month basis, EBITDA was 5.3% and top line growth was 10% at our UK plant, UK/US operations. Paint business. In paint business, we are getting ourselves ready with lots of new products at the plant and various systems and MIS in the back office. At the same time, we are creating a team to launch Astral brand in few states from Q1. So in Q1, we are coming out with our launch of Astral brand products, and we will be addressing a few markets at the phase one of it, and slowly and steadily increasing the reach to different markets. And almost completing our reach to the entire country in coming, 1-2 years with the new brands, new products and new things, new complete range of, product, new complete range of product line. Due to this, we are confident that Q1 next year, we will see a substantial improvement in numbers and presence of brand Astral in market. We are in the last leg of production, which will be done in Q4. Post that, we are forging a continuous journey of growth and the paint business has always been in positive EBITDA numbers and always, if whatever the sales have been happening and happen, is always in a positive EBITDA number. Bathware, we are continuously seeing quarter-on-quarter improvement in this business, and now slowly we are seeing the product is visible in the market. Also, our branding team has started working on this segment, and we, for first time, showcased our products in ACETECH with exclusive booth for the faucet and sanitary ware product lines. We are taking part in various exhibitions. We are of the view that it will convert in numbers in coming time. Compared to last quarter sale of INR 17 crores, this quarter, the Q3 sale was INR 20 crores plus, which is very healthy and continuously improving. Since this is a new segment for us, we don't want to rush, and we want to grow slowly, steadily, with a steady and consistent growth. Now, I hand over to Mr. Hiranandbhai, our ED and CFO, for his opening remarks on numbers, and then myself, Hiranandbhai, and Kairav will answer all your questions. Once again, I thank you all for joining and trusting Astral. Thank you, everyone, for joining this earnings call for Q3. Numbers are in front of you, so I'm not discussing any of the numbers, but whatever the key highlights for the quarter, I want to discuss with you. FY 2024 started with a very good note, and momentum is still continuing. We all know last year, Q3 base was very high due to continuous price rise of PVC and CPVC due to the loss of that restocking demand was there. In spite of higher base, current year on a higher base also, we are able to grow 15% in volume and on a 9-month basis, 24% in volume. Our margin front also, we have maintained our guidance of 16%-17% in the pipe business. On a 9-month basis, our margins are 17%+. As you all know that last quarter, that is Q4, has always delivered a good volume and good margin for our company, and we are expecting to repeat the same in the current Q4 also. So if we consider that, we may surpass what we have guided in our guidance. This quarter, few items were one-off, which I wanted to highlight. The INR 11 crore we spent on the Jaipur event, that is our 25th anniversary, and INR 4 crore loss on the Bathware division, because we have spent some money on the branding activity in this quarter. Because of that, INR 4 crore loss is there. And thirdly, the inventory loss of PVC and CPVC. It is difficult to quantify, but it should be in the range of somewhere around INR 20 crore. So in spite of all the INR 35 crore of one-off item, we are able to deliver a very, very healthy margin. Last three quarters, continuously, we are seeing pressure on reduction in polymer and we are incurring the losses, but in spite of that, we are able to maintain 17% healthy margin. Q4 will be last quarter, where we are seeing there will be a minor reduction in the polymer price, but Q1 onward, that will be the bottom, and Q1 onward, we will not be having any polymer pressure, and that will be the bottom, and from there, we are seeing upward journey of polymer. Our value-added products are giving a fantastic result. Because of that, in spite of pressure on the polymer price, you will see that we have maintained our margin, and we have maintained our realization also. We have never, ever seen such pressure in polymer price in last so many years, which we are seeing since last 3 quarters. All our new products in plumbing, whether it is valve, water tank, Silencio, RainPro, now even the fire sprinkler, all are contributing a good number, and that is, are reflected in the margins. Because of competitive environment, we will not be able to give you the number of each product, but we can... confidently say that all those new products are giving us a very, very healthy growth in the Q3 and will continue in the coming time also. Bathware, as per the plan, we are going steadily and consistently. As Sandeep said, being a new product, we don't want to rush, but we are going quarterly, quarter-over-quarter, and you will see a good number in the coming time. Now, INR 20 crore run rate quarterly is already established, so we are of the confident that next year we will be at least triple digit number on a full year basis. Adhesive division in India is doing excellent progress, and as communicated earlier, we are going on as per guidance of 15%+ revenue growth and margins also, as we guided 14%-15%, we will be touching to that, even will be higher than that also. The first nine months, India operation has already delivered 16%, so we have surpassed the guidance of 14%-15% for India operation. The only little bit hiccup came in the U.K. adhesive, which is a challenging year due to drop in the silicone price, where our company's highest weightage is there and maximum contribution is coming. So because of that drop, the inventory losses, and particularly in the Q3, we have incurred a 2.3% negative EBITDA because of this inventory losses. And there also Forex losses, we are accounting into the margin, so that has also contributed, and that is the reason it is a negative EBITDA of 2.4%. But still, we have maintained 9% growth in the top line, and we are of the view that we will be coming out from these problems from the Q4 onwards. Nine-month basis, our EBITDA was 5.35 in the U.K. operation, but on a full year basis, we are expecting we will improve a lot in Q4 numbers. Paint has delivered a revenue of INR 47 crore in this quarter, and with an EBITDA of 18.5%, we are now almost on the verge of correction, and we will see a sizable improvement in number from Q1 onward. That is from next year, first quarter. As we are planning to introduce a lot of new products and with Astral brand launch in few states, additional few states, which will give us a good number, and we, we will quarter-over-quarter, we'll keep updating you. Last but not least, business sentiment on ground is very, very robust, and we are fully geared up with the capacity in all verticals, and we will definitely deliver a good number in the coming time. You can clearly see we are gaining market share in both our flagship verticals, that is pipe and adhesive. Once our 2 new plants, that is in Kanpur and Hyderabad, become operational, we will be gaining good market share in pipe vertical in that particular geography. Further, I can add that we had given a guidance of in FY21, first time, to double our revenue in next 5 years. That was our first long-term guidance, and I'm very happy to share that we are going much, much ahead of what we have guided. At the same time, we are working for a new product in all the verticals. Time will come, we will unlock one by one, and that is going to give us an additional booster to our growth. With this, I want to thank everyone for once again for joining this call and opening the floor for Q&A. Over to moderator. Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We take the first question from the line of Sujit Jain from ASK. Please go ahead, sir. Congratulations, sir, on a fantastic set of results again. Volume for number of new strong sales. Can you speak little loudly? We are unable to hear you. Yeah. Can you hear me now? Yeah, yeah. Better. So congratulations on a great set of results again, on your volume part. For plumbing, just wanted to understand what should be a fair OE pattern we should be taking for the plumbing business going ahead, 'cause that's been a little volatile, even after accounting of inventory loss and gain. I think we have multiple times communicated that the per kg understanding will be very difficult for us also and you guys also. So we are always guiding the EBITDA percentage. Because so many polymer we are dealing today, it is very, very difficult to maintain the per kg EBITDA. So we always request every analyst that please take the number with a percentage EBITDA rather than on a per kg basis. Because if you see last year, the Q4 is always loaded with a higher CPVC and the value-added product, it shoot up like anything. Yeah. First half is always higher loaded with the PVC product and the other product. In that case, maintaining per kg EBITDA will always be a challenging, and it will always going to be a volatile. Please look at the number with the percentage EBITDA rather than per kg EBITDA. Okay, and what would that number be, guidance going ahead, adjusted after forward PA, for percentage? So we have guided 16%-17% plumbing EBITDA. Right now, we are working on a higher side, and we will be closing the full year on higher than 17%, because Q4 is always robust in our industry. And, this adhesive and the sealant business, we have added 14-15% EBITDA. We are at a 13.8% right now on nine-month basis, but we are confident that we will be moving between 14%-15% EBITDA on a full year basis. ... Okay. And, both Bathware and Paint, any, I mean, they're relatively small right now, so would there be any, like, guidance on what could be, like, two years, three years in terms of numbers? Or is that too early to discuss it right now? I think it will be too early to discuss because still the base is very low, and the paint also, we are coming up with a lot of new products and Astral brand also. So once we will launch these products in the market, after working couple of quarters, we will be able to guide you that this is the trajectory where we want to grow. But I think it will be too early at this stage. But definitely our expectations are very high from that division. Bathware, I think slowly and gradually, every quarter's run rate is growing. So already this quarter, INR 20 crore run rate is there. That's why I say at least INR 100 crore plus we will be doing next year. But again, it is a very low base, so very, very difficult to predict at this stage. But again, there also our expectations are good in terms of numbers. But give us few more quarters. Once we will create a reach and make the certain base, then after, I think giving a guidance will be the right way to do. Okay, sure. And sir, lastly, what would be your CapEx number for 2025 then, 2024, 2025? 2024, 2025, we will be somewhere around INR 250 crore-INR 300 crore. Okay, thank you. Mainly in the pipes, mainly in the pipes, because other divisions we have almost done the CapEx. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahul Agarwal from InCred Equities. Please go ahead. Hi, very good evening and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, three questions. Firstly, on pipes and adhesives, you, you obviously mentioned in terms of what margins you're looking for, which are more sustainable in long term. Just on the growth rates, on volumes and revenue for either segment, for pipes and adhesives, some outlook will help for fourth quarter and FY 25, 26. Based on your capacity increases, you know, both in plumbing as well as adhesives, just help with some growth rates, that will be helpful. That's the first question. So I think this year we have already given the guidance of 20% plus volume, and nine months, already we are on 24%, so higher probability that we can cross 20% also. So, but our guidance is definitely we have given 20% volume, which we revised last quarter. And as far as long-term guidance is concerned, I think looking to the current situation on the ground, 15% plus volume should not be a challenge. And for adhesives? Adhesives also, we have guided 15%-20% kind of run rate. Okay, get it. On the U.K. business for adhesives, could you just help me with the 3Q margin? You said -2.5%. Is that correct? Yes, yes. So this quarter, INR 81 crore was the top line. Again, that is INR 2.4 crore was the loss, so roughly about 3% negative. Okay, get it. Last question on the Dahej plant. I mean, what is the status there? So Dahej, yes, we have completed that plant, but the synergy will come in the coming quarter, because once the volume will start picking up. You can see in the number also, this quarter itself, our margins are 16%. So synergy has already started working in our favor. But the, what we have originally planned, I think it will take another one year or so, once we'll reach at a certain level of scale. So I think we, we are very happy, and in coming quarter you will see further improvement. You know, what is the final CapEx for the plant? Because my sense was about INR 1,000 crore of top line we expect from whatever machines we have put as of now. Could you help me with the final CapEx number, and does that include the land cost as well? I think we have already incurred INR 200 crore plus, 200 something on this plant. There's no land included here, right? Yeah, including land. Yeah. Yeah, including everything. Okay, what is, what will be the land cost? Land cost number, because we have bought long back. Land was taken around 10 years back, so. will be negligible. For some other chemical business. So land cost is not so high here. If I, my memory is right, it will be somewhere around, originally cost was INR 5-6 crore, and when we transferred to this company, that time it was around INR 7-8 crore rupees. Got it, sir. No, why I'm asking was it just to, you know, calculate that, you know, what could be a revenue put the asset turn for the business, basically. But anyway, I get it. I get the answer. Thank you so much. All the best, and- But that plant, we have kept the provision for the paint also. Remember, it is not only for the adhesive, that we have kept certain space for that also. So in future, if required, we can manufacture paint also from the Dahej. And also, we can have a massive plant of our solvent cement and some other chemistry. Correct. We have enough land bank still with us at Dahej plant. Perfect. Got it. All the best, sir. I'll get back in the queue. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Neha Talreja from Nomura. Please go ahead. Sir, thank you a lot for the opportunity, and congrats on strong volumes. Just two questions from my end. I think in your opening remarks, you mentioned that, you know, prices, raw material prices are expected to bottom out in Q1. Does that mean currently your restocking is on and is expected to continue for Q4? Oh, no, it will bottom out probably in this quarter, and Q1 it will stabilize or start moving up. Okay. And one more thing, ma'am. It won't be a huge bottom out this quarter. It is already- ... at a very comfortable level, so it will be in the range of a- Plus, with this, Israel war, there has been a Red Sea blocked by Iran, so that is also causing, some logistical issues with regards to raw materials. So maybe, maybe some polymer and chemical prices could also see an upward tick depending on geopolitical factors. So we don't know what is the impact, but, and when it can happen, but it, it seems likely that small impact may come. So in anticipation of that- Near term also. Right. So the idea was in anticipation of the same, has channel started picking up inventory compared to last quarter? Channel is picking up inventory. There has been no real channel de-stocking. It is very evident in our volume numbers also. As you know, Astral has a healthy retail and more project mix. We are not only a project company, so if the channel was de-stocking, then these volume numbers would not have been possible. Understood. That was helpful. So secondly, also on your teams, I just wanted to, you know, seek some guidance. Where are we right now, and what's the path ahead? When are we launching it at a pan-India level? Some guidance here would be helpful. See, when we bought this company, we needed some systematic correction, strategic correction, safety measures, so bringing in staff, proper systems, so all these things have been done. Now, they had a market channel of their brand in South, which also we are strengthening and it is strengthening, and there the sales numbers have started coming in a healthy manner. There were collection cycles which were disrupted, which we have corrected. We have made a few products, not few, many products, which are made now and tested to be launched. So we have done a lot of work there, and our strategy launch of products in the brand name and of Astral Umbrella is almost getting ready. And in Q1, we'll be going ahead with this launch also in a big way. But we will be moving from market to market. We will take at least two years to reach a pan-India level. We don't want to mess up, rush, and say we are pan-India. We'll put one zone, three, four states, see that everything is properly working there, reach is there, we have dealers there, we are delivering proper products at time, and then move to another zone, then another zone. And so we want to go step wise with correct measures. And you can see the way Astral is doing adhesive business. And our way of working, our way of taking a business ahead reflects our capability from adhesive business and the way we are doing it. The good thing is that in adhesive, as we have a very good manpower at senior level and junior level, in paints also we have got a good manpower. These manpowers are already working with us in the C-suite and preparing strategies to move in the market. Understood, sir. We will be doing it, and we'll be always communicating things. I can, I can add that, you will be seeing that our employee costs are going up. That is mainly because of this new vertical. We are adding the good people with us. We are increasing our management bandwidth. Not only the new vertical, even existing vertical also, we are adding the senior people. Because of that, our manpower cost is also going up. Looking to the long-term pictures, which we are foreseeing in the next 3-5 years, I think this cost right now looks higher, but once we'll be absorbed with the growth, I think it will come down to the normal level. That is going to take the company to the next level. We are incurring intentionally the higher cost, considering the future growth in mind. Understood, sir. Sir, thanks. Thanks a lot, and all the very best. Thank you. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Praveen Sahay from Prabhudas Lilladher. Please go ahead. Thank you for taking my question, and many congratulations on good set of numbers. So sir, first question is related to the volume growth guidance. As you have done a better than the 20% of our growth, and now guiding for a similar number, even though there is a you know, also discussion related to the channel picking up inventory, demand is very strong, and your peers are also giving a guidance of a 30-35% of the growth for the fourth quarter, but you are giving on the lower side. Why is it so? We have not given for the lower side. We had earlier gave the guidance for the volume at 15% at the start of the year, which was then revised to 20%. And at nine-month basis, we are at a 24%-25%. And even this quarter has started on a positive note, and it is matching as per the nine-year average. So we can also deliver higher than 20% at the end of Q4, but we don't want to get over-optimistic because we don't know... We are sitting in a commodity industry, we don't know how the pricing of the polymers will behave. The general sentiment sometimes change overnight, which is very hard to predict. ... And, then what happens is that even Holi falls towards the end of month of March, so we don't know. Plus, there is an election period also being talked about in the month of April and May. So we don't know what all factors will contribute to the building material industry as a whole and how this will affect our volumes. So we are giving a little bit of a conservative guidance, but we will, as always, try to beat our guidance in this quarter also. And Praveen, I can tell you, it, it is not that we are strict to 20%, we are ready for the higher growth also. And even in the month of January also we have maintained 20%+ run rate. So nothing to worry on the volume, but don't go by only guidance of the management for particular quarter. Look at the bigger picture for next 3-5 years. Yeah, yeah. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Got it. The second question is related to the Gem Paints This quarter is INR 47 crore. Okay. With a margin of 18.5% EBITDA. Yeah. So even if I look at the top line numbers for paint is quite is stagnant, but the margin profile is sequentially has improved. So is there anything we have done so far or we yet to do something? Margin has naturally improved. Margin has naturally improved because, this chemical prices substantially come down, because all are through derivative. So because of that, the margin has improved. But next year onwards, we are going to go in aggressively in the market, so may not be maintained this 19%-20% margin, which we have done in 9 months, 9 months margin is 19.38. So will not be like that level margin, because then a lot of branding costs and everything will be there. A lot of marketing efforts will be there, because now we, our focus will be going for the growth and the volume. But yeah, this year, because of benefit of the raw material side, we, we are in a good shape. Second, the stagnancy which you are seeing is there because as Astral came in and runs the unit, we did lot of correction on the credit cycles and all. So now whatever the sale is happening is with the maintaining of the proper cycles of payments and things. It's not that somebody has a payment and he, he wants an order, and then we go and supply and then he... Everything is falling in the discipline, how the Astral works for the other segments also. Right, sir. I think it is recalling all this adhesives story when we, in 2014, we acquired adhesives also. The couple of years were like that only because we have to correct lot of systems, and that is exactly happening right now. But we are looking for the long-term benefit. So for that, we are sacrificing right now short-term growth. But we are confident that once these systems will be on the place, then growth will come auto rather than depending on human. We, we are more depending on the systems. So we are creating right now system. That's why short-term pain is there, but we are confident that long-term it is going to pay us. And as I told you in the opening remarks, we have, we have completed everything. A few things will be in line in this quarter, and we are already planned the products, planned things, designs, communication to market, strategies of launch, branding strategies, and which will all be unveiled with the new product line, the new brands and things in the first quarter of Q1 next fiscal. Okay. And the last is around the, sealant, the UK business. How is the situation now? Like, how is, you know, the... Because we had, incurred losses because of our silicone prices or, GBP, USD fluctuations. How is the, because the Jan- There is so no problem of any business growth. It is the whole in, after our acquisition, in the whole of the history, this is the first quarter this has happened, and this is mainly due to the steep fall of silicone prices, nothing that inventory losses. And if we take out the currency loss, it is not at loss, but we are accounting it in the margin. So there is nothing to worry about any situation there. There's nothing alarming. For one quarter, whatever it is, we are putting forth as with you, but it is not an alarming situation at all. I think at 9%, the company is growing there. Okay. Okay. Fine, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Therefore, we are expecting a positive EBITDA, close to about 7%-8%. That kind of, they have worked out the budget, that they will work in such a way that they will deliver 7%-8% minimum EBITDA in the last quarter. So absolutely nothing to worry, as Sandeep rightly said. This year also we are growing, and growth is also not a... You see, a country like U.K., where the economy is not growing, still this company is growing at a double-digit. So what else we can expect from that country? So we are very happy with the performance. This is the one where the $8.5 silicone has come down to $2.3. So naturally, that kind of situation has to be created, and inventory losses will be there in the system. But I think now everything is said and done, so we will be coming back. Next year, we are going to be a double-digit growth in top line, as well as we are expecting double digits EBITDA margin also. With even such a steep fall of the raw material, the top line has grown by 9%, so you can imagine the volume growth is even much better. Yeah, yeah, volume growth were very, very on a higher side of double digit. 18, 19% kind of error. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you for taking my questions. Okay, thank you. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Achal Lohani from JM Financial. Please go ahead. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Just a quick question with respect to CPVC price. You mentioned something in the opening remarks, the price was down QOQ some 5%. So just wanted to clarify, was that about CPVC or PVC you were talking about? CPVC was down by 5% in last quarter, and PVC was down by 7% in last quarter. Understood. You know, what was the price action in 2Q for both CPVC and PVC on a QOQ basis, sir? So CPVC, every company to company price will be different. So very, very difficult to predict what will be the price of individual company, because there is no benchmark. As far as the PVC is concerned, yes, PVC prices are published by Reliance, so there we can say it was around, somewhere around INR 85.5 in the beginning of the quarter, and at the end of the quarter it was INR 79 point something. So 6 would be net decrease drop was there. So in percentage, somewhere it will work out to be 7%. But CPVC, I think every supplier has a different price. Fair point. There is no benchmark price where we could say. We have worked out our average price, and based on that, we have calculated 5%. Fair point. Fair point, sir. Because another peer actually mentioned about a 10% price correction in 2Q, and prices were stable in 3Q. So I was just curious, the extent of price drop, is it similar 10% over two quarters or it's lower than for us? No, no, no. For us, Q3, there was a down in CPVC also. Understood. Understood. I think about it. Thank you so much. Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec Capital. Please go ahead, sir. Yeah. Hi, sir. Couple of questions. Sir, first is on the bathroom side, can you indicate how far we are on the number of SKUs, number of stores, and any timelines by when we'll stop building at a vendor level over here? And if you want to, highlight anything on the management changes, which will be at senior level departure, et cetera. One is bath where the display is continuously growing. But only growing display is not important. We are now strategically going with two markets. One is retail-based market. We have ordered, we have added one more product line here, which is on the lower end in the pricing, which was also to be addressed, and we have the top range also with us. So we have completed complete range, which the competitors offer. And we have complete range of products, and few new designs and products will keep coming as years pass, as the months pass. So things are very positive. Now, team-wise, we have a senior person coming. I cannot disclose the name for the developer, for the marketing and sales. A very experienced person is joining shortly, and has a rich experience of the product line for almost 25 years plus, and will add a lot of value on the growth, product segments, strategies, and going to the market. Now, coming to the second thing, we have already started branding. You can see Astral Bathware at various airports and various places, and also in the exhibitions. ACETECH was a flagship exhibition of Mumbai, and where we had only a bathware display booth. So similar booths are coming up at various exhibitions. So the bathware is steadily growing. Acceptance is very good. We don't push and sell the product. Whatever sales, secondary we give, and lot of pro-projects are that we have approved and parts supplies have started. We have around close to INR 60-90 crore worth of projects lined up for buying Astral Bathware products. We are gradually, as the demands come, we have started supplying to these products. There is nothing that is going wrong in this segment, and we are continuously seeing a growth on the upper end of this segment and acceptance of the product. This segment is very different than the other segments we operate in. Paints, adhesives, and pipes, you know, the sales operate in a very different manner. This operates in a very different manner. We are a front of the wall brand here, and there is a lot of things that go into creating and developing a market for this product. So it is unlike our other products, you know, getting that number moving very fast overnight is not possible unless we sell in a very haphazard manner, which we don't want to do. We want to grow slowly and steadily at a different pace for the coming 5-6 years, to establish a base on which then we can do a expo- exponential growth. The first 5-6 years of creating the base is very important in this product. So just a follow-up question on here. Are we already incentivizing our existing plumber network to cross-sell bathware? Has that process started? Yes, we are, yes, we are doing that, but as you know, you know, plumber plays a very small role in this particular product segment. ...No, no house owner will blindly trust a plumber when he says to use a particular brand of bathware. Every house owner wants to feel and touch and see the product in person before they decide. So even though we are incentivizing, plumbers play a very small role in this particular segment. Sure. Particularly, Ritesh, in the, Ritesh, particularly in the replacement market, you are right, the plumber play role, but on a new project side or new construction, plumber role is very limited. But replacement market, yes, definitely, and that is why we are giving focus on the retail market. I can share you yesterday's experience with me personally. I took my architect, because my house is getting built up, so I took my architect to the Astral display center. He was amazed to see our He says, "I was not aware that Astral is manufacturing such an excellent product." Because he was so far using the Grohe and other brand. So I said, "No, I don't want to use the Grohe because Ast- I want to use Astral in my home." So he was shocked, literally shocked. So from there, I come to know that basically we have to create a lot of awareness in the market among the architect and the, this community connect, otherwise this brand will take more time. So now we are going to act on that also to create the awareness among all the stakeholder. But otherwise, he was very shocked to see the product. He was amazed! He was telling me 10 times at least that, "I was not thinking that Astral has made such a great product. I am in the local market, but I am not aware about the Astral product." So that, that flow we have to create in the market. Sure, sir, this is helpful. Sir, my second question is basically on the Agri basket. I think couple of quarters back, you had indicated that we will go, we'll look at Agri, as a product category, and you are also had indicated that we will add extruders specifically to cater to this particular category. Any specific updates over here? So I think that volume is increasing year on year basis, and once these two new plants will come up, then it will further improve a lot in the next year. Because these two locations that is in Kanpur and, this, Telangana, both are the good agri market. So we are expecting a reasonably high growth in the next year onward. But this, this year is also a very, very healthy growth in the agri side also. Otherwise, 24% kind of volume growth is not possible in nine months basis. So, Ritesh, we want to also say that, you know, we are selling agri in a different application. We are selling agri in the building application. We are not selling... We don't want to sell agri in the agri application because there you have to do arthiya business, business, and we are not—we don't want to do arthiya business, business, and we want to cut corners in our quality and all that. So we are focused on the building material, this building, project side and retail side agri business. So that's useful. And just last question for Sandeep, Sandeep, you did indicate that synergy benefits from the Dahej are yet to come. Possible to give some timelines and quantification, like, how should one incur the synergy benefit? Is it, probably from a procurement, logistics standpoint, how it can potentially help? Thank you. from next year, Q1, complete benefit will be seen from Dahej. This year, there will be overlap of stocks already made at the old plants, which are already in stock, and some of these products are made. Slowly, all the chemistries of epoxy and the wood and other some products are going to be shifted to Dahej completely in this quarter. So from Q1 next fiscal, you will see complete benefit of Dahej coming. Sir, any scope of quantification? Quantification would be always a positive increase in the data, which you are already started seeing, and it will be more visible in the Q3 or Q4 of this fiscal. From Q1, you will see a quantified increase in number. But, give us one or two more quarters, and we, we see the benefit, but, and we are already seeing benefit not only in the product consistency, the speed, the reduction of the time limits to make products, but also in the margins. But we'll quantify and let you know. We won't quantify individually, but you've seen the numbers as a totality, the increase in the data. Sure. This is very helpful. Thank you so much. All the very best. Seema, over to you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Pinaki Banerjee from Aum Capital Good evening, sir, and congrats for the good set of numbers. Actually, just first question is now, the PVC prices, considering the fact that the Middle East is still facing a lot of tensions, so basically you would aim to grow more on volume-wise than keeping in mind that the PVC prices might be under pressure. Is it fair to assume that? We don't see that polymer price will be further pressure from here on. I think almost we are on the verge of bottom. INR 1-2 here and there can be possible because it is very difficult for anyone to predict, but at least we are not seeing a upward revision from, or downward revision much from this level. Sir, secondly, just after the Union Budget. So, like, normally, election affects more to the government projects. Okay. Election doesn't affect to the private project. Our sizable sale, I can say almost 95% of the business is with the private project. ... Okay. Dependency on the government project. I don't think we are going to be affected much because of the election, but yeah, definitely many companies who are more dependent on the government side of the business or project business, they may get affected because the decision making will get slow because of this Achar Samhita - Also, also what happens during election period, sometimes these laborers, they go back to the natives. So the building- Right. The construction industry slows down. Sir, now for the complete process of the elections to be over, it will be around, from three months from now, say May, middle of May. So expecting so actually the pickup, in your volume should be from the second quarter of FY 2025? It won't affect that much, so don't worry about it. Okay. I can tell you, we are lucky that this is going to happen in Q1. Even if it is not going to affect, first of all, much to Astral, but even if little bit it affect, it is going to affect in the Q1. Q1 is historically, you see, our numbers are always low. Okay. Out of four quarters, Q1 is the lowest. Even if it is going to affect, it's not going to affect for the full year number. Okay. At least in Q4, there will be absolutely no effect. Okay, sir. Thank you. Don't worry, there will be all this growth. I am confident. Don't worry at all. Okay, sir. Okay, sir. That's all for my answers, and all the best, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Venkatesh from Axis Capital. Please go ahead. Yeah, thank you for this opportunity. I just had a couple of questions. Is it possible to share what was the revenues and EBITDA in the bathware segment in this quarter? This quarter revenue was INR 20 crore and loss was INR 4 crore. Okay. Now, on the broader business, I mean, how do you look at the business? You know, is there like a, you look at it retail and projects, and within projects, is there? Do you have any element of government projects, or it is entirely non-government projects? And is it possible to give a breakup between retail and projects? And how has these two categories been growing? Has one category been growing faster than the other? We are selling to all type of projects, government and... And, you know, government supply also in Astral, if it happens, it happens via distributor. We don't sell directly. So a lot of our distributors are working with the government projects. A lot of our distributors are working with the private projects. A lot of our distributors are only retail focused, and we don't give the exact breakup between retail and projects, so it's very hard to find out the exact breakup between retail and project, because the sales are handled by our distributors. Okay, okay. Now, but I'm not asking for any hard and fast number, but for example, in this quarter, if you have grown volumes at 15%, is it like projects is growing at 20-25, and retail is growing at 5%? Both segments are growing at the same pace. It is at present a very small number, and both are growing. He's talking about total piping. Total piping or only faucet you are asking? No, no, I'm only talking about pipe. Pipe, it- Retail. Pipe, we don't disclose all these numbers. Both the segments are growing at the same pace. Okay, okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. The next question is from the line of Nikhil Agarwal from VT Capital. Please go ahead. Good evening, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my question was related to the adhesives business. Are we seeing any impact of the Red Sea crisis on the adhesives business? Any impact on, because of the raw material? No, there is no impact. Okay, okay. Any possibility, I mean, because of the silicone prices, they're so volatile, so any impact on that? Possible impact or anything? I don't see us having much issue on that. Okay. Sir, you had said that we saw sizable inventory losses in Q3. So could you please quantify that on the adhesives business? That is only to the UK operation, not to the India operation. Okay, and what would that be, if you could quantify? Well, I don't have it ready, but that, that is the reason our EBITDA was negative by 3% from the U.K. operation. Okay, okay. So you guided for 15% revenue growth in the adhesives business or the UK adhesive business? All, all put together. Okay. Okay, great. That's it from me, sir. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. A reminder to all the participants, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. The next question is from the line of Akash Shah from UTI Mutual Fund. Please go ahead, sir. Hello. Hi, sir, am I audible? Yes, yes. Sir, thanks a lot for this opportunity, and congrats on a great set of numbers. So just one thing, wanted to check, what is the 9 revenue from UK business? 9-month revenue from UK business is INR 270 crore. Right, sir. Nine months EBITDA number? I mean, margin. 5.5, 5.5. Sure, sir. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Manan Madlani from KamayaKya Wealth Management. Please go ahead. Yeah, congratulations on great set of numbers and thanks for the opportunity. I just had one question. You said that in the paints we are going to start with the two states. Can you name those states? ... So we cannot. Okay. Yeah, but I- Not 2 states, 1, 4. Literally 2 or 3 or 4 states, people. Okay. Yeah, and what would be your, our top line guidance for, let's say, FY 25 or 26 for the paint business? We will, we will give you on paints only. Sorry? One for paints only, no? Yeah. We'll give you after this fiscal is over. We'll give you in the analyst meet, complete guidance. Sure. Sure. Okay, thanks. That's it from my side. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Rahul Agarwal from InCred Equities. Please go ahead. Yeah, thank you for the follow-up. Hiranand, I just wanted to revise the capacity expansion plan. The Hyderabad plant is basically going to see a CapEx of INR 130 crores. Is that correct? Yeah. It will be maybe INR 130 crore-INR 150 crore. Okay. And the start of operations, we are looking at March 2026. Is that correct? It has phase one and phase two, right? No, no, no, no. Hyderabad for construction will be over by this March, and by June 24th, this plant will be operational. Realistically, you can count Q2 of next fiscal. What capacity is this, like, for the phase one? So, out of total 70, we'll start with 40. All right. 40 will be the next phase. That next phase comes on stream is about March 2026. Is that correct? Depends how the demand is there and how fast capacity utilization is happening, because normally the building will be ready, only left out will be the machinery part. So it is then when the demand will pick up, we'll add the machines. Right. And similarly for Kanpur, how is that? I think it was about INR 90 crore, and that also comes in phases, right? So that will also come in phases, yes. And the first phase we are in, originally we are targeting to complete by March 2025, and first quarter of FY 2026, though, so maybe June 2025, it will be operational. The first phase capacity is? That will be again at 25,000 metric tons, 25,000-30,000 metric tons. Okay, and this is at INR 90 crore, right? It will be little higher than 90. Okay. Maybe around INR 100 crore-INR 125 crore. Okay. Okay. Okay, perfect. Thank you so much, Hiranand. Thank you. I'll come back in the queue. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Mr. Ritesh Shah from Investec. Please go ahead, sir. Hi, sir, just one question. Sir, what do we make of competitive intensity? Are there any specific categories that you would like to avoid because the competitive intensity is high because of practices or any other reason? No, no, we don't want to avoid any particular segments. We will evaluate as time comes and decide whether we want to enter or not. Competitive intensity is going to remain forever, so that, that we are not afraid of competition. We take competition head-on, and you can see in our volume numbers that, you know, in this highly competitive market also, we are gaining market share. Let me put it the other way. Sir, I think one of the largest South India-based companies, they had internal issues. Has Astral benefited, either by shifting dealer loyalty or any, any market share gains or have we absorbed? We have, we have benefited. That is why you can see that, you know, the guidance of 20% volume, in nine months we are at a 24% level. So we have obviously benefited from our competitors becoming weaker. Okay. There are a lot of things which help to grow business. It's not somebody's weakness always is important. But where things are important are the consistency of quality which Astral maintains from its inception. You must evaluate that, and consistency of service. Third is the branding consistency. Fourth is continuously putting plans, evaluating and putting products which still people struggle to come. RainPro, people are still struggling and thinking how to make it. Silencio is growing. Valves business completed one range, entering into second range, getting multiple approvals for various products. So what we do is, we don't say that somebody's weakness is my strength. My strength is my strength, and I want to grow on my strength. And I don't see right, left, I just see straight, and that's what Astral has been and has been growing for. New products like people say about the future of certain products, O-PVC and various products, Astral will always evaluate, always come and communicate it right way. But wherever we'll come, we'll come with our technologies. Technologies are proven also, but cost effective so that the margins are coming. So continuously we are working and always doing something on the back, but the first priority remains for Astral is a good product, viable product, and something which new technology. So that's always going on that end. Wonderful, sir. Thank you so much for your detailed answer. Over to you, management, I think, if you have any closing remarks, we have no further questions, so I'll just hand over the call to you. Thank you very much and, for the call, and we look forward to see you all in again person after the fiscal year is over. And as we meet in person, we are eagerly looking forward to work hard for our Q4, and then see you in person at Mumbai on our analyst meet. So thank you everyone for supporting us, and thank you for this call also. Thank you, Ritesh, for hosting this call, and thanks to all the participants. If any answer we are unable to give, please call me on my mobile number. If any number is left out, I will be happy to share with you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. We are committed to providing industry-leading growth as always, and we will work hard and come with a good set of numbers in the next quarter. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. On behalf of Investec Capital Services, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.