thank you, Lizanne, and good morning, everyone. Apologies for the delay in starting the call.

We have the senior management of APL Apollo Tubes, represented by Mr. Sanjay Gupta, the Chairman and Managing Director, Mr.

Rahul Gupta, Director, Mr. Deepak Goyal, the Director Operations, Mr.

Anubhav Gupta, the Chief Strategy Officer, and Mr. Chetan Khandelwal, the Chief Financial Officer.

I'd now like to hand over the call to Anubhav for his opening remarks. Over to you, Anubhav.

Thanks, Pallav for hosting Apollo Tubes for its quarter one FY27 earnings call. I apologize to all the participants for starting this call a bit late.

There was a technical issue with the operator. Thanks for joining in.

Just to highlight that Mr. Rahul Gupta, the Director, and Chetan Khandelwal, the CFO, they have gone for an urgent meeting.

The call is being attended by Mr. Sanjay Gupta, myself, Anubhav, and Mr.

Deepak Goyal, the Executive Director. Quarter one FY27 was a mixed quarter.

Hello, can I go ahead?

quarter one FY27 was a mixed quarter, wherein the volume was below expectations, but the profitability was better than expectation despite declining the quarterly volume. We have to decode the volume of 745,000 tons for the quarter, and if we map it with quarter four FY26 volume, there were three-four factors which impacted the volume.

Number one, of course, being the UAE operations, which were hit because of the geopolitical situation there, and we lost almost 25,000 tons quarter on quarter. Number two reason was decline in the volume of LG premium brand, which of course is in competition with the secondary material.

Because of a price gap, which was pretty high, the volume suffered there. Number three reason was the energy crisis in India, which impacted our volume for some of the products like rustproof pipes and roofing products.

There also we lost 25-30,000 tons volume. The last reason being high factor inflation during the quarter, which led to the softer demand in the construction industry.

It impacted both primary sales and secondary sales. Primary sales because prices were pretty high and there was fear of correction in commodity.

This led to destocking by our channel partners, and secondary demand, which comes from the EPC contractors and real estate developers, and not only structural steel pipes, but other construction materials like cement, tiles, plywood, plumbing pipes, cables and wires, electrical fittings, bath fittings. Every construction material product, prices went up.

The EPC contractors and developers, they kind of delayed their purchases, which impacted the secondary sales for Apollo steel pipes. Now the run rate was around 250,000 tons per month for the quarter one.

Our focus was on maintaining the profitability because the situation was so uncertain because of the ongoing geopolitical situation. We chose to focus on profitability, and as a result, you would see that our gross profit per ton increased by thousand rupees on quarter-on-quarter basis.

This was, of course, due to our better pricing power as we were holding on to prices. If steel prices were going up by thousand rupees per ton, we tried to improve our prices for our product by plus 100, plus 200 rupees per ton over and above steel price increase.

Because of our strong brand positioning and pricing power, we could sustain that. Because of improvement in gross profit by thousand rupees per ton, our EBITDA per ton was flatish above 5,500 rupees per ton on QoQ basis, despite the negative operating leverage, which arose because of 20% decline in volume on QoQ basis.

Now that scenario is slightly improving. We are again focusing on volume growth, and in month of July, the volumes are up by 20% on month-on-month basis.

We, of course, tweaked some pricing for some of the product categories, we do expect that our EBITDA spreads will remain in range of 5,000 rupees to 5,500 rupees per ton throughout the year. For full year, we do expect and we are confident that we will be able to achieve 20% growth in absolute EBITDA quarter on quarter basis.

It is tough to anticipate absolute volume and absolute EBITDA per ton, but we are confident that for the full year we will be able to achieve 20% EBITDA growth for FY28 versus FY24, in FY27 versus FY26. Now the capacity which is coming online, whether it is Gorakhpur, which is 200,000 tons plant, then Siliguri, 300,000 tons plant, then new Malur, which is almost a 1 million ton plant, and another 0.5 million ton plant, which we are contemplating in either Maharashtra or North Karnataka, put together 2 million tons plant capacity will come online over the next two and a half years, and over and above 1 million ton of new capacity through debottlenecking across the plants.

With this 8 million tons, our share of value-added products, which right now is 65%, it will increase to almost 75-80%. As a portfolio, we are continuing to de-commoditize, so that impact of steel price volatility and gap between primary and secondary steel, it continues to have lesser and lesser impact on our performance.

On balance sheet front, the working capital days remain below zero, and the cash on books, which we hit 15 billion INR in March 26, it remains at similar level at 14 billion INR in June quarter as well. We continue to remain prudent in our working capital efficiencies.

All in all, we can say that quarter two will be better than quarter one in terms of volume and absolute EBITDA. Second half, the macro factors should come into play in positive manner, which will boost second half performance for Apollo, better than H1, and it will give us room to achieve our annual guidance of 20% EBITDA growth.

The new capacity expansion, which will start coming in phases from second half of this year till FY28, we will continue to improve our financial performance over the next three to four years, from FY28 to FY30. That's all from our side.

We'll be happy to take questions now.

Yeah. Thank you and congrats for the good set of numbers despite tough macro.

Thank you Anubhav, thank you Sanjay

ji. Sanjay ji,

I have a question with you. Sanjay ji, हमारा beginning of the year expectation था कि 15-20% के आसपास का volume करेंगे साल में.

Yes, अभी भी वही है. तो sir, 1Q, तो basically हम कह रहे हैं कि लगभग 20%

in the next nine months कर सकते हैं हम.

Shaleen, मोटा-मोटी we are trying our level best to achieve these numbers, 15 to 20% in the volume growth and 20% and above EBITDA growth.

Okay. आप अपनी guidance maintain कर रहे हैं?

101% कर रहा हूँ.

Okay. That's very good to hear, sir.

Sir, second thing I want to understand is Dubai, UAE as a market, right? Where is it right now?

Secondly, is it right to assume that there will be a pent-up demand as well as a reconstruction demand going forward? Second part of this would be...

Yeah.

Go ahead, sir. Second part of that question is...

Yeah,

yeah, first you complete. हाँ,

then I will answer. तो पहली बात ये है कि वहाँ पे एक pent-up demand होगी क्योंकि पिछले तीन-चार महीने से I don't know, आप बताएंगे कि काम कैसा चल रहा है.

दूसरी बात, obviously Middle East में जो भी issues हुए हैं, उसके वजह से reconstruction demand आएगी. तीसरा question ये होगा कि उस demand में हम participate कैसे करेंगे?

सिर्फ वहाँ की capacity से या फिर हम यहाँ से export भी कर सकते हैं. तो उस पे ये question है.

Shaleen, first of all, ये Dubai में जिस पर हम almost zero पे पहुँच गए थे, पाँच-छः-सात महीने पे पहुँच गए थे, क्योंकि वहाँ incoming और outgoing दोनों बंद था. Now from July onwards incoming तो हमारे जो transit में material था, काफी आ गया, but हमको उसमें कुछ pricing में hit लेना पड़ा, damages हमारी ships पर काफी लगे हैं.

We have a stock of almost 70,000 ton in transit in our plant. तो अभी दो-तीन महीना तो हमको वहाँ पे कोई दिक्कत नहीं है और जुलाई में we have done 15,000 ton, 10-12,000 ton in the month of July.

This month we are targeting 16-17,000 ton, हमारा plant पहुँचेगा वापस. और August में, September में हमको लगता है वापस हम 24-25 company capture किया तो वो कर लेंगे.

Demand वहाँ पर local demand बहुत अच्छी create हो रही है. वहाँ पर हमारी एक ही थोड़ी problem है कि अब हमारे पास 70,000 का अभी raw material का कोई lineup नहीं है.

तो अभी जैसे-जैसे scenario improve हो रहा है, तो हम raw material वापस lineup करेंगे. Dubai से we are very hopeful कि हमारे margins भी और demand भी अच्छी रहेगी.

Number two हमारा गोरखपुर जो नया area है इस zone में, हमारा September में किसी भी time चालू हो जाएगा. तो Q3 में वो भी हमको पूरा ramp up volume देगा.

Q4 में हमारा Siliguri ramp up volume देगा हमको. और हमारे कुछ अपने ABPL में एक line हमारी roofing product की चालू हो रही है, वो भी हमको 20,000 ton का ramp up volume देगी.

These three-four extraordinary things, and plus marketing में भी काफ़ी aggressive हो गए हैं July से, I don't think I will have any problem to cross 15% volume growth. हाँ, कुछ tailwind, शर्त चाहिए होगा 20% cross करने के लिए.

वो थोड़ा भी मैं confidence से नहीं कह सकता, 50% I can say confidently. सर अगर साल का

15% करेंगे तो next नौ महीने में

20% तो हो ही जाएगा. हाँ, मालूम है, सर, four million से cross करना पड़ेगा.

बिल्कुल number, समझ रहा हूँ मैं भी. क्या बोल रहा हूँ वो भी समझ रहा हूँ मैं.

So

basically we are confident because of the new capacity coming. Q2 में

10 lakh ton cross करने की पूरी कोशिश कर रहे हैं. हमने इस साल July में three lakh ton plus कर लिया है.

August में we are targeting 330-335. September में we are targeting 350-360 के आसपास करके 10 plus करेंगे.

So बाकी फिर scenario थोड़ा-सा काफी तेजी change होता है तो ज़्यादा confidently मैं ये numbers नहीं बोल सकता. But मैं full year के लिए एकदम confident हूँ कि मैं अपने जो guidance दे रखा है, उसको किसी भी तरह से achieve करूँगा.

That's very good to hear, sir. Sir, एक last thing, because the commodity price inching up, the gap between Patra and steel again increases.

How is it impacting us? बहुत बड़ा

impact है, शालीन. अगर impact नहीं होता तो मैं confidently 25% का भी growth बोल देता, जो ये जनवरी, मार्च में चल रहा था, तो I can say 25%.

But इसमें hopeful thing क्या है कि अगर आप देखोगे तो steel capacitys बहुत build up हो रही है, शालीन. उसके लिए maybe मेरे को एक- दो quarter, three quarter और pain झेलना पड़ सकता है.

But जिस हिसाब से steel capacity across the India आ रही है, तो I am very hopeful. This is a matter of time.

मैं उस time का wait कर रहा हूँ कि जहाँ पर आके ये gap, आप देखो कि steel plants में जिस हिसाब से 15-20,000 EBITDA आ रहे हैं, तो capacity तो हिंदुस्तान में आएगी ही आएगी. और capacity आएगी तो secondary तो खत्म होनी ही पड़ेगी, क्योंकि उसकी cost primary का तो बहुत ज़्यादा है.

The real tailwind is Apollo का तभी आएगा, जिस capacity का मैं प्यार बैठा हूँ. अभी मैं से पूछो तो I am passing the time.

I hear you, sir.

I hear you. Okay.

बहुत जबरदस्त तरीके से अब जितनी भी steel की capacity शुरू हो रही है, हर तरफ से announcement आ रही है. Reliance Steel ने 15 million ton का capacity announce किया हुआ है, उसमें बहुत तेज काम चल रहा है.

एमरस ने भी Visakhapatnam में 10-12 million ton का capacity लग रहा है. JSW बहुत capacity announce कर रहा है, Tata capacity announce कर रहा है, JSPL capacity announce कर रहा है, JSL का इंडिया plant मैंने भी देखा, Dusty, read कर रहा था, Nagpur के आसपास आ रहा है.

तो जिस हिसाब से capacity आएगी तो हिंदुस्तान में downstream का time तो आएगा. अगर आप patra material देखो तो study करोगे, तो हिंदुस्तान के अलावा patra कहीं नहीं होता, ये हमारे 30% business में बड़ा impact है इसका, no doubt.

हम plan A और plan B दोनों लेके चल रहे हैं, दूसरी तरफ अपने आपको non-patra segment में भी काफ़ी हम अपनी capacity बढ़ा रहे हैं, जिससे हमारा इसका impact भी खत्म हो जाए. तो अगर ये तो आ गया तो हमारे लिए सोने पे सुहागा है.

Okay,

okay sir. Today, sir, I think that's it from my side, sir.

I'll join back the queue, and congratulations on a good set of numbers. Thank you.

Thank you, Shaleen. Maybe आपको निराश नहीं करेंगे, हमारी पूरी team लगी ही है.

For sure, sir. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Good morning team, and thank you for the opportunity. Couple of questions from my end.

One is you clarified the guidance already. I would like to ask, sir, you also mentioned that Tata, Jindal, everyone is adding capacity on the upstream segment.

What we also understand while doing channel checks is, example Tata is expanding capacity from 2 and has planned to even go to up to 4 to 5 million tons into pipes also. They are also getting aggressive with respect to servicing.

What's your take on the competition intensity in the coming sector? How is it at this point of time?

How is it likely to be going ahead? What are the measures that we are taking in order to retain market share and in fact keep improving?

That's first.

Good morning, Srinya. Steel capacity तो आई रही है.

अभी pipe पे भी I also read that Tata is also adding capacity of 4 million tons. I don't know उसको पूरा डिस्क्राइब नहीं किया कि कितना structural tube है, कितना automotive tube है, कितना API tube है.

अगर आप देखोगे तो और भी बहुत सारे pipe sectors हैं. हमको इसी sector में हैं.

तो इस sector में उनका कितना है, उनका target I don't know. But अभी तक हमको market से sense feel आ रहा है किसी भी competitors का.

अभी तक हमको ऐसा feel भी नहीं कि हमको market share use कर रहे हैं. ठीक है dealers थोड़े-बहुत ऊपर इनसे करते रहते हैं कि ये आ गया, वो आ गया.

It's a part of life and business. और बाकी hundred percent market share तो हम कभी ले ही नहीं सकते.

कोई भी pillar आएगा, तो अगर हम 60-65 percent अपना market share ले जाते हैं, 50-55 से, this is good enough for us. तो 35 percent में कौन आता है, नहीं आता है, we are not bothered of.

उतना सही उसके लिए कोई game plan बना भी नहीं सकते. Our target is to maintain our 60-65 percent market share.

Understood, sir. Sir, while you are already showing optimism that 20 percent growth will be achieved in nine months, how has July been for us?

What has changed between June to July? ऐसा क्या हुआ है, which is further giving optimism?

जैसे April start हुआ था तो you already hinted for a slower quarter. आपने बताया था ढाई लाख ton हुआ है.

If at all you could tell us that how July month has been and why you are so optimistic with Q2 onwards, things are looking up. Changes क्या हुए between June to July.

Has the primary and the secondary steel spread reduced? Has the demand on ground increased?

Infra spend बढ़े? What are the things we would like to hear?

देखिए, ऐसा कुछ बड़ा

change नहीं हुआ है कि steel price is still up, but April में तो मेरे को hint आ गया था क्या कि price is of, में इतना almost 8-7-8,000 की price increase हुआ था Q4 में. तो everybody is thinking कि कुछ price soften होगा.

तो मेरे को मालूम है dealer अपने को restocking करेंगे, चाहे हम कुछ मर्जी कर लें. उसके लिए मैंने पहले ही थोड़ा-सा soft volume का indicate कर दिया था.

Demand कभी भी इतनी updown नहीं होती है. ये जो dealer restocking और restocking होता है न, उसमें हमेशा demand up और down का फर्क पड़ता है.

अगर आप last level पर demand तो होगी तो उतनी रहती है. उससे hardly 5-7 percent, 10 percent का फर्क पड़ता है.

But जो dealer सब restocking और restocking करते हैं, जो बड़े players को थोड़ा उसकी का impact आ जाता है. अब क्या है कि price downward जाने का सारा जो movement था खत्म हो चुका है.

Everybody is feeling कि price down नहीं जाएगा. तो वापस से demand pick-up होना शुरू हो गया, dealers अपने normal stock position पर जाने लग गए हैं.

और July भी we have done three lakh ton plus, हमने July में अच्छा किया है, और in the scenario we are very hopeful कि आगे भी हमारी demand अच्छी रहेगी और हम उसको पूरा कर लेंगे.

Understood. That was quite helpful, sir, of three lakh tons volume in the month of July.

Last question from my end. You gave the guidance that आप लोग value-added product segments में you're adding capacity, जिसमें आप share of value-added will go to 75-80 percent.

Could you help us? What are the things that we are doing value-added?

Example, one thousand by one thousand, which we recently launched. Which are the other products, like roofing products, you said one.

the value-added portion add करें, which will take this portion higher?

See, हमारा जो Gorakhpur plant आ रहा है और Siliguri plant आ रहा है, these two plants in the totally different regions, जो हमको हमारा सीधे volume increase directly impact पड़ेगा. क्योंकि अभी हमारा market share वहाँ पर कुछ भी नहीं है और negligible है.

तो जब हमारा freight cost इतना ज़्यादा होता है कि we are unable to service. और जो हमारा Malur plant आ रहा है, this plant is totally different.

ये one million ton का... इतना detail product मैं नहीं दे सकता हूँ.

Anubhav can talk one to one. But वो जो हमारा one million ton का product totally value-added product है, जहाँ पर we are thinking कि हमारा जो EBITDA margin 8,000 plus रहेगा.

Understood, sir. That was very helpful.

Thanks a lot, sir. I take the rest with Anubhav.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All the best.

Thank you.

In a very challenging quarter, very difficult conditions, I think APL Apollo Tubes has performed with great degree of aplomb, I must say, because this has not been an easy quarter to deal with, with too many variables and too many challenges around. While there may be perception of some volume decline, but I would say it is a very creditable delivery in a very, very difficult quarter, where too many things were deflecting, moving part, challenges.

Sanjay, at what stage? Believe me, sometime next year, can we say that the focus on quarterly or periodic steel price fluctuation, volume up and down due to demand conditions, we can reasonably leave behind and we can purely, confidently focus on profitable growth in a very considered, predictable way, with the rising share of value-added products, etc.

तो अगले साल में हम कह सकते हैं कि शायद we should be at that situation where of course volumes will grow with the strategy in our strong product portfolio, but profitable growth in a very predictable way हम अगले साल से शायद वो स्थिति में पहुँच जाएंगे. Bharat bhai, आप अगर देखो

last one and a half year से, पहले we are selling for 4,000 rupees per ton of EBITDA. Then we increased ourselves to 4,000 to 4,500 rupees per ton.

From 4,500 to we stable ourselves to 5,000 rupees per ton EBITDA margin. Now we are trying to reach the 55,000 rupees EBITDA per ton quarter on quarter basis.

हम उसको पिछले दो-तीन quarters से काफ़ी try कर रहे हैं कि हम 5,500 rupees margins को stable रखें. जिसका पहले इस quarter में आप देखोगे, in spite of the cost increase by 1,000 rupees per ton due to low volume, फिर भी हमने अपने margins को 5,500 पर maintain करके गए हैं.

तो अब margin संभाला धीरे-धीरे मेरे को लगता है stable होता जा रहा है. Volume there is no doubt कि scenario के हिसाब से थोड़ा-सा up-down हो रहा है.

उसको भी मेरे को लगता है जो मेरा Malur वाला plant जब आएगा अगले साल July-October quarter में, तो 27 Q3 से मेरा ये भी challenge खत्म हो जाएगा और हम काफ़ी stability volume as well as margin पर काफ़ी हमारी stability आ जाएगी जब हमारा पूरा 7

million ton का

capex plan खत्म होगा तो.

27 Q3 मतलब December 26 की बात? Next year December तक.

हाँ, December 27 की बात कर रहे हो ना? Yes,

yes, Q4. Q3, Q3.

हाँ तो वहाँ पे हमारा जैसे बस

7 million का हमारा पूरा

capital plan पूरा खत्म होगा तो हमारा जो

business plan है उसके हिसाब से हम इन चीजों से भी बाहर आ जाएंगे. बिल्कुल.

मतलब second half या last quarter of next year?

Q4 27-28 में Q4. हमारा एकदम stable quarter होगा जहाँ पे

stocking, discount हो गया, prices ऊपर-नीचे हो गया, ये सब कहना छोड़ देंगे. बिल्कुल.

मतलब वो quarter से, Sanjay ji, हम वो स्थिति में होगे कि profit pool predictability and its growth will be almost reasonably under our control rather than worrying about many of these other variables which have engaged our mind time to time, sometime or the other. That would be fair?

Yeah, अभी भी है but ठीक है अभी I can say कि 70-75% है. वहाँ पे 100% हो जाएंगे.

बिल्कुल, समझ गया. और Sanjay ji,

value-added product का share जो हम 75-80% कह रहे हैं, वो कब तक हम expect करते हैं? वही हमारे मालूम प्लान से आएगा.

This 27 December तक. Q4 next year हमारा value-added product का share जो है 75-80% आ जाएगा.

Fantastic. नहीं.

Once again Sanjay ji,

Q4 next year, 2027-28 में Q4 quarter से हमारा value-added का product का जो ratio है 75%

cross कर जाएगा. समझ गया.

Thank you Sanjay ji, and once again compliments to you and APL Apollo team in very difficult situation, very, I would say, impressive performance. Congratulations.

Thank you, Bharat, thank you Bharat for showing confidence on us. ठीक है कभी एक अलग quarter ऊपर-नीचे हो तो हमको माफ करना, बाकी हम अपने तरफ से कभी कोई नहीं छोड़ेंगे.

नहीं, मैं तो कल, आज और परसों भी मानता हूँ कि Sanjay

ji एक unique entrepreneur रहे हैं देश के. So,

thank you. Like you, Balubhai, हमारी पूरी कोशिश होगी हम अपने तरफ से कोई कमी नहीं छोड़ेंगे.

एकदम हमारे approach से ही बाहर हो जाए,

but हमारे efforts में आप 0.1% भी कभी नहीं लिखा पाओगे. जी, जी, जी.

Thank you and all the best.

Thank you, Bharat.

Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity and congratulations on some good set of numbers in difficult times.

Sir, my first question is about EBITDA per ton. As you have already guided that 5,000 to 5,500 will be the range for FY27.

Going forward in FY28, FY29, how much EBITDA per ton are we expecting? How much year-on-year increment in EBITDA per ton are we expecting going forward?

So

Akshay, see, right now the focus is to maintain EBITDA spreads between 5,000 to 5,500. Of course last two quarters have been good at 5,500 per ton, but now that for the next nine months we need to cover up on the volume which we lost.

There could be some tweaking which we did in our pricing, and there could be 100-200 here and there for possible couple of

also. Then

again as the volumes ramp up, we could gain traction from the operating leverage benefits, which could come as a surprise. We'll wait for that, how much it comes up.

Going forward, as our value-added product portfolio keeps on increasing, right, idea is to improve EBITDA spreads 100-200 per ton on yearly basis. Our target is that Apollo at 8 million ton should be generating 6,000 rupees per ton EBITDA, right, over the next two-three years, then we ramp up this capacity.

Sir. Fair enough.

Thank you for the opportunity. All the best.

Hello? Hello?

ahead. First congratulations on fantastic set of numbers on EBITDA per ton in such a tough environment.

Wanted to understand in pre-engineered buildings, do we have any thought process on how that could be for us? Let's say a year from today, is that a segment we are looking at actively growing it?

B, with steel prices stabilizing, should then we be targeting a higher EBITDA per ton? So

Dhananjai, currently, for the pre-engineered building structures, 20% is steel pipes, okay?

Yes.

It's a 100-ton structure, 20%, 20 ton is approximate steel pipe which is used, right? The sizes range from 150 millimeter by 150 millimeter.

It goes up to 1,000 millimeter by 1,000 millimeter, with thickness starting from 4 in general and goes up to 40. Right?

In this category, our market share is again 65-70%. All the top PEB companies in India, they will be buying 65-70% of the requirement from APL Apollo.

They buy from us directly also and they also buy from our distributors. Larger players, they want to have contracts directly with Apollo, and medium to small-size players, they buy through our distribution channel.

It's a growing segment, right? It's a growing segment, and we continue to focus heavily to service this industry.

But

is this a sector which we would look to directly speak to an end customer? Because if we have the raw material, we have the know-how, is that something would we look to do more in depth?

No, no,

no. We are happy servicing this sector and that's all.

Fine. Sure.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for the opportunity. My question is to Anubhav.

Just wanted to understand what's happening between quarter 1 FY26 to quarter 1 FY27 on a year-on-year basis. We have seen that the volumes have declined, but EBITDA per ton have increased.

If I see the branded products where we earn higher premium, like APL Apollo brand and Dubai operations, the volumes have decreased, but despite of the lower operating leverage and higher cost, our EBITDA per ton has increased. Within this specific brand, APL Apollo brand, what's happening?

Are we able to generate EBITDA per ton because of the product mix?

Hello, is it audible now?

my question is to Anubhav. I want to understand on a year-on-year basis if we see the EBITDA per ton has increased despite the drop in the volumes.

Within volumes also if we see the branded products like APL Apollo brand and Dubai operations, the volumes have decreased. Despite the lower operating leverage, our EBITDA per ton has increased.

I understand that we are increasing our value-added products, but on the face of it if we see the absolute volumes of APL Apollo brand and UAE operations, those have decreased. What explains this EBITDA per ton increase on a year-on-year basis?

Aditya, this pertains to our pricing strategy which we adopted in the month of January of 2025, wherein we decided that we need to reposition APL Apollo branded products in the market, and we increased the pricing by almost 500 rupees per ton. That is what boosted our EBITDA spreads starting Q4 FY25 and all four quarters of FY26.

You saw the better spreads, right? It continued in quarter one of FY27.

Despite the dropping volume, our better pricing strategy has worked to boost the EBITDA spreads.

Understood. Second question, Anubhav, is on the solar opportunity.

If we refer to your slide, we are saying almost 30 to 35 gigawatts of annual solar additions, and that translates to almost 830 KT of addressable market. Far, are we catering to?

Far, have we started supplying to this market? Out of the total opportunity, how much is our share?

So

yes, there are two types of products which we have launched in the market and which is supporting this industry. The traction is there, right?

Right now the contribution is a bit low, but over the next two-three years, we expect this to contribute 4-5% to the total volume.

Understood. Why am I asking?

Because this solar capacity addition, NEP has huge targets. This theme of solar capacity addition will persist for next five years and more.

This will be an additional lever for our volumes, if I understand.

Definitely yes, Aditya, and that's why we got into this space and, like I said, we are as optimistic as the government is to boost the renewable energy contribution in India, and we have a good portfolio to support this industry also.

Thank you. Thanks so much.

Hi. Thanks for giving the opportunity.

My first question was for this SG Premium brand. How should we look at the realizations?

What are the current realizations, and what kind of EBITDA per ton do we make in this product? How would that product go as a percentage of total volumes for FY27 and 28?

That was my first question. Hello.

Darshan. SG Premium right now, the current pricing will be around 58,000 rupees per ton, which is almost 6-7% lower than brand APL Apollo products.

EBITDA spreads range from zero to 1,000 rupees per ton depending on market opportunity, what kind of volume we want to gain in one micro market. EBITDA spreads would vary from micro market to micro market.

We also use this as a strategy to boost volume, to cut down competition, to take market share from Patra players. It plays differently in different micro markets.

Okay. Currently, as you say, it is hovering around zero to 1,000 rupees per ton depending on the market conditions and volume you choose to make over here.

Can, let's say, in next two years, I'm referring to, let's say after FY28, can we see this 1,000 rupees per ton increase to maybe around, let's say, 1,200, 1,500 per ton? How are you looking at this product?

Will you be making higher EBITDA per ton, or is it something to control the Patra players? Whenever you think you want to control Patra players, that is when you start delivering high volumes on this side.

I just want to understand the strategy for this product.

Darshan, good morning. इसमें भाई कोई strategy नहीं है.

This is totally play and capture the market share, and this is totally dependent on the pricing of different between the primary and the secondary. अगर primary और secondary में gap, जिसका आज के date में 10-12 rupees किलो का है, तो इसमें हमारे हाथ में कोई ज़्यादा play नहीं है और हम कोई cash loss करके हमको माल बेचने का कोई benefit नहीं है.

This gap when comes down to, like quarter 4, 3-4 rupees, 5 rupees kg, then this becomes a master stock. तब इसमें हमारा EBITDA margin भी 1,500-2,000-3,000 भी आ सकता है और इसमें हम बड़ा volume भी खेल सकते हैं.

This strategy is totally dependent on how the secondary ends up, primary pricing, difference between the secondary and primary pricing. क्योंकि आज 10-12 rupees का gap है, हम 2 rupees किलो सस्ता भी करके बेचते हैं, तो हमारे ज़्यादा volume नहीं होगा.

But जब हमारा gap 4-5 rupees किलो का होगा, तो हम 2 rupees किलो सस्ता करके बेचते हैं, तो हमारा volume बहुत होता है. तो इसमें ये जो हमने plan बनाया था, this difference of gap between the secondary and the primary can't work.

Okay. Thank you, Sanjay.

Sir, this is our Gorakhpur capacity would be coming in Q3, you say, right? There are two, and one more capacity you said would be coming

in Siliguri.

Okay. Basically, I think when you are saying this 20% volume growth, I think this both capacities...

20% growth का जो मैं कह रहा हूँ, उसमें मेरा Gorakhpur भी

play करेगा, Siliguri भी play करेगा, and export market, जिस पर हमने काफी काम किया, Dubai and as well as अभी तो India से export बंद हुआ है due to high container prices. वो जैसे slow down होगा

container

prices, तो हमारा export भी बहुत बढ़ेगा. तो ये दो-तीन

factor भी उसमें include है. Sir, earlier I think this, the plant at Vasco, I think we were thinking about Bhuj, right?

Now that Bhuj is out and I think maybe...

We changed our plan from Bhuj to be shifted to our Mumbai plant, because Mumbai plant जो बड़ा था, उसको हमने export पर shift करते जा रहे हैं पूरा. और अभी हम तो Mumbai से Pune market सब cater करते हैं, we have a freight cost of almost 1,100-1,200 rupees per ton.

तो अब हम जो नया plant 5 lakh ton का लगा रहे हैं, हम around Pune corridor के आसपास लगाएंगे, जहाँ से हमारा freight cost भी Pune market के लिए 200-300 rupees per ton रह जाएगा.

Okay. Sir, we have made some investment in this group shared services company.

तो ये company का what would be the function and what purpose will it solve? ये एक छोटा सा

company में चालू किया है, इससे हमारी बहुत सारी जो common activities होती हैं, like HR, IT, branding, ये सब जो हम group level पर इकट्ठा करके उसको पूरे में manage करना चाहते हैं कि हमारा उसको cost अभी हर company का एक अलग-अलग हमारे पास HR head है, हर company में एक अलग-अलग IT head है. तो हमने cost company बनाके सारा उसको context देके अपनी cost को कम करना चाहते हैं.

Okay. We were saying there would be a common HR head for maybe SG Mart and our group company.

APL Apollo as well as Apollo Pipe.

Understood. Understood, sir.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you for taking my question. Congratulations for a good performance in difficult conditions.

I had a very small question. Your employee costs last quarter have gone up significantly.

Is there an explanation of that, and how should we look at this employee cost going forward? Is it likely to remain, and is that going to have any effect on balancing budgets?

Boss, due to low proportionate, employee cost has gone high,

plus some

part of annual increment.

Sorry?

Kuch annual

increment ke

kaaran hi

hamara employee cost bada hai, jo annual increment hota hai. Number two, to humara percent agar aap dekhoge to, ye due to low proportionate employee cost bada hai.

If amount-wise dekhoge to increment ke kaaran bada hai. Theek hai, to matlab ye bilkul normal hai kya?

Isme koi khaas wajah nahi hai iski. Nahi, nahi, normal hai.

Is quarter mein, jaise, matlab volume track pe landing to hamara wapas kam ho jayega. Theek, theek.

Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Good afternoon, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, इस quarter पे अपना value-added versus general product का mix क्या था?

Secondly, like you said, कि previous year आपने conscious decision लिया था कि आप price नहीं गिराओंगे, but looking at current commentary, in order to gain the market share, are we reversing that strategy and now we'll go for a higher volume, even if it is in general category, versus the pricing management?

Sir, define करना बड़ा मुश्किल होता, but some of our product trends of total basket का 15-20% में, we have done some adjusting pricing policy. Vikas this is for only 20% of the portfolio, not across the segment, that we are saying we will reduce the pricing.

Only for the 20% of the portfolio, we have tweaked some pricing to gain volumes. नहीं, क्योंकि अगर मैं देखूँ कि अगर मैं

8 million ton भी इस quarter पे कर लेता हूँ, despite monsoon, मेरा asking rate would be 4 lakh ton per month. This event of 15% volume growth.

तो 8 lakh additional per month मैं कहाँ से करूँगा? It would be more of a general or value-added, ये major concern था मेरा.

Boss, इसको इतना

brief define करना बड़ा मुश्किल है boss. मतलब हमारा इतना clear hai humko कि हमने 3 lakh ton जुलाई में कर लिया है, 3.5 lakh ton we have, 3.25-3.35 के around, 3.5 के around we are targeting August, and September we are targeting 3.5 plus.

अब उसमें किस segment में 10 lakh ton ballastu बिकेगा, किसमें 10 lakh कम बिकेगा, इसको we can't explain, boss. नहीं possible है.

No, समझ गया, sir. खाली इस quarter पे मेरा general product का percentage क्या था, ये बता दीजिए आप.

Total 35%.

35% के आसपास था. Theek.

नहीं, sir, इतने. धन्यवाद.

Thank you.

Hello, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.

I just wanted to confirm one thing. Actually, it was not audible at that time.

The guidance for this year EBITDA growth for the whole FY27 is 20% and the volume growth guidance is also same, right?

15 to 20%.

Volume is 15 to 20% and EBITDA is

20%.

Sorry, EBITDA is more than 20%. And

volume growth is 15 to 20%. And

what about, sir, next financial year? Any guidance on that?

अभी

boss, अभी कोई एक month का कहना मुश्किल है. हमारा target तो हमेशा 20% plus रहता है.

Okay. Sir.

That's it from my side. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, sir. Good afternoon and congrats on good set of numbers on the margins front.

My question pertains to first, the change in volume reporting, which you have introduced, which I believe is more representative of the business. Would you also like to share the EBITDA per ton number for the segment, as you were declaring earlier, across Apollo Structural, Apollo Red and Apollo Galvanized?

For the new business segments now, the new reporting segments that you have created, would you like to report the EBITDA margin number also? Can I audible?

Rajesh, see, there are four broad categories: Apollo branded products, SG premium branded products, UAE operations and roofing products.

Rajesh, इसमें Apollo

and roofing

product में we are targeting 6,000 to 7,000 rupees per ton EBITDA target. SG premium around 500 rupees per ton.

UAE को अभी कुछ भी define करना थोड़ा समझने में मुश्किल है, वहाँ क्या volume कर पाते, क्या वहाँ पे cost बड़ा proportion रहता है, उसpe बहुत depend करेगा. उसको sir define करना अभी के लिए थोड़ा सा मुश्किल है.

But अगर वो ramp-up हो गया तो वो भी 5,000-6,000 के आसपास आ जाएगा.

Okay. Roofing also you're targeting in the 6,000-7,000 bracket, right?

हाँ, अभी जो चल रहा है,

6,000-7,000 के बीच में चल रहा है. No,

I was referring to earlier in preceding quarters in your presentation, you used to share segmental EBITDA margin. I was talking from that perspective.

Would you like to start with that practice? We have given the volume for past two years for a like-to-like comparison.

Rajesh,

sir, हमारे business में बहुत impact पड़ा था. With the competitors, GG sir, हमारा margin ज़्यादा दिखते थे, वही पर ज़्यादा hit करते थे.

Technically point of view से हमने उसको खत्म किया जानबूझकर. Understood, understood, sir.

Coming on to the volume growth, even if I look at 15% full-year volume growth target, do you believe there is a risk of missing that guidance? Because given the Q2 traction which you have mentioned, volume in Q2 may be higher by 10 to 15% year-on-year, and hence the second half, H2, the volume requirement would be closer to, as one of the early participants asked, the ask rate for H2 will be closer to 4 lakh per ton on a monthly run rate basis.

Rajesh, हमारा main game play करेगा Q4 करेगा. Technically पूछोगे तो Q1 हमारा 7.5 lakh ton के आसपास हुआ है.

Q2 we are targeting about 10 lakh ton. Q3 we are targeting 10.5 lakh ton के आसपास करेंगे target.

Q4 में full capacity जो हमारा 5.2 million ton plus Gorakhpur और Siliguri हमारा start हो जाएगा, तो वहाँ पर full 12 lakh ton करने की कोशिश करेंगे.

Understood, understood. Listen, sir, what will drive the volume growth?

Will Apollo brand or the SG premium will take massive share? No,

Apollo brand, roofing and SG premium का तो अभी हम कुछ नहीं कह सकते, वो तो secondary and primary के defense के ऊपर depend करेगा. Mainly तो Apollo brand, UAE and roofing product के ऊपर depend होगा.

Understood. I was just trying to understand when you write this strong growth, your margins of this 5,500 may not be at risk.

This is what the basic purpose of asking. Sir, अभी दो-तीन चीजें हैं.

अभी के pricing policy के साथ में two-three hundred rupees का hit है हमको, but लगता है हम जैसे operational leverage पर जाएंगे तो वो cover up हो जाएगा. Understood.

Understood. Anything north of 5000 is doable?

No, no, 5000 से ऊपर नीचे जाने का कोई मतलब ही नहीं है. Understood.

Understood.

Rajesh, just to add to it and close your question by saying that we are targeting 20% EBITDA growth on absolute basis, right? That is the goal post for us.

Now volume is 15%, 16%, 17% growth, EBITDA per annum is 5500, 5600, 5400. That will depend on quarter on quarter how things shape up.

Our goal post is 20% EBITDA growth on absolute basis.

Understood. 20% absolute EBITDA growth.

That's great. I'll come back.

Thank you and all the best.

Our target is comeback to over last quarter, ROCE 30% के आसपास था, उसको वापस 40% के आसपास लाने का हमारा target है.

Super. Great, sir.

I'll come back. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks everyone for joining our call and apologize again to start this call a bit late. Thanks Antique for hosting us.

Look forward to see you again. Thank you everyone.

Have a good day.