| The company held its AGM on 8 May 2019 and was addressed by MD Rajeev Jain.
Key highlights
During CY 18, the company received various small orders from chemicals, oil and gas and infra capex.
Order book is healthy. Healthy order book is likely to result in double digit sales growth in CY 19
Apart from the nuclear power corporation (NPC) order of Rs 440 crore in CY 17, no major orders were received from NPC in CY 18. The company has bid for couple of them.
Engineering, standard pumps, Oil & Gas, construction and nuclear pumps are driving growth.
During early CY 18, the Shirwal plant in Pune commenced its operations. The plant is for manufacturing large pumps for Nuclear power plants, Oil and Gas, Energy etc.
The company has shifted its business from a product to more of a project and solution business. The project business is more for large orders. This would result in some increase in working capital for the company. For execution of NTPC order in particular, the company would require additional working capital
Momentum is slowly catching up and order inflow should need to remain strong for a consistent increase in sales going forward. The company has participated in bids and the orders should get tendered out in 3-4 mths.
While competition remains high and margins are under pressure, volumes and cost control measures will lead to higher margins. Raw material price increase is a worry if goes beyond the current levels. Most of the orders are fixed in nature though some orders have variable clause as well. Generally, too much volatility in raw material would hurt margins in short term |