Privi Speciality Chemicals Limited

Privi Speciality Chemicals Limited

3,250.20
INR
-80.40
(-2.41%)
113.20BMarket Cap
Oct 29Next Earn

Q4 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptMay 12, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Privi Speciality Chemicals Limited Q4 and FY 2026 Earnings Conference Call. 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 touch-tone phone. From the management, we have with us: Mr.

Mahesh Babani, Chairman and Managing Director; Mr. R.

S. Rajan, President; Mr.

Sanjeev Patil, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Biotechnology; Mr. Narayan Iyer, Chief Financial Officer; Ms.

Ashwini Shah, Company Secretary and Compliance Officer. Before we begin the conference call, I would like to mention that some of the statements made during the course of today's call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as on the date of this call.

These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. I now hand the conference over to Mr.

Mahesh Babani, Chairman and Managing Director of Privi Speciality Chemicals. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Mahesh Babani

Good evening to everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I would take this opportunity to take you beyond our strong FY 2026 performance.

I would like to inform you about Privi's position today and strength of the foundation that we build for the future. Over the past years, we have strategically transformed Privi into a more resilient, diversified, and forward-looking speciality aroma chemicals platform.

Today, our company is far better positioned than ever before, supported by our robust diversified portfolio, deep customer relationships, strong R&D and innovation, and notable global footprint that allow us to navigate external uncertainty with confidence. With that, I hand over my team, Rajan, Narayan, and Sanjeev, and Ashwini, to answer all the investor questions.

Thank you.

Sanjeev Patil

Thank you. This is Sanjeev here.

Good evening to all. I believe that you all have had a chance to go through our financial results and investor presentation.

I will briefly take you through the operational performance for the quarter ended March 2026 and the entire year as well. The industry tailwinds remain firmly intact.

Demand for fragrance and flavor ingredients continue to grow, driven by rising consumption, trend for premium products, and increasing focus on wellness and personal care. In addition, global supply chain are undergoing a structural shift with customers increasingly looking for reliable, high-quality, and compliant partners, a space where your company Privi is strongly positioned.

Operationally, the quarter reflects steady execution across all key priorities. We continue to see consistent traction across our core aroma chemical portfolio, supported by steady demand from global customers.

At the same time, our efforts towards increasing contribution from downstream and value-added products are progressing well, and this is gradually reflected in the overall mix. From a manufacturing standpoint, plant utilizations remained healthy across major product lines.

Our teams continued to focus on operational excellence through process optimization, yield improvement, energy efficiency initiatives, and debottlenecking programs across the plants. These initiatives have helped us improve throughput while maintaining strong cost discipline.

On capex front, we are on track to complete the first phase of our capex expansion by 30th June 2026. Total installed capacity will increase to 54,000 metric ton per annum after this phase of expansion.

We are now entering a calibrated ramp-up phase and expect these additional capacities to be commissioned progressively over the coming quarters in line with strong demand visibility across key products. In parallel, Phase 2 of our multi-speciality aroma chemicals project is progressing as planned.

These investments position us well to drive the next leg of growth with phased and meaningful contribution to both revenues and profitability ahead. The joint venture with Prigiv.

In quarter four, Prigiv turned the corner and reported profits for the first time. Further, additional capex of ₹50 crore is being implemented based on the equity infusion by Privi and Givaudan in the ratio of 51% and 49%.

Going forward, the joint venture will gain further traction on growth and robust profitability. Overall, our focus remains on driving volume growth in core products, improving product mix through higher share of value-added products, and maintaining cost discipline and operational efficiency.

As we enter the next phase of growth, we remain focused on disciplined execution, strengthening our product mix, and driving operational excellence. We believe this approach will allow us to deliver consistent profitable growth while continuing to create long-term value for all our stakeholders.

With that, I hand over to our CFO, Mr. Narayan Iyer, for the financial details of the company.

Narayan Iyer

Good evening to all, and thank you, Sanjeev, and a warm welcome to all of you. We are pleased to report strong financial performance for the financial year 2025–2026, delivered in a dynamic and evolving macro environment.

Our performance reflects strong execution, disciplined cost management, and the continued strength of our diversified product portfolio. Our performance for the quarter and the financial year 2025–2026 highlights our ability to protect profitability across cycles and reinforces our confidence in the structural strength of our operations and the organization.

Let me give you a glimpse on the key highlights for the year 2025–2026. We have reported strong growth despite subdued market.

A 22% revenue growth on a year-on-year basis was what we have achieved during 2025–2026. We have delivered a 25% plus margins consistently across all quarters and for the financial year 2025–2026 on the EBITDA numbers.

We expect to sustain a 20% plus EBITDA margins going forward, which is driven by operational efficiencies, improved product mix, and increased capacities, which is coming over in the next few quarters. Our JV with Prigiv is also shaping up very well, and we expect meaningful contribution in the coming years.

The good news is that Prigiv has earned profits in Q4 on its own, and we expect to maintain and improve on the same going forward. Additionally, during the year, we continue to make progress on the proposed merger of Privi Speciality Chemicals Limited, Privi Fine Sciences Private Limited, and Privi Biotechnologies Private Limited with the parent company.

This consolidation is aimed at simplifying the group structure, enhancing operational synergies, improving scalability, and creating a more integrated platform for future growth. We are also pleased to share that the company has recently received an observation letter with no objection from both the stock exchanges, namely BSE and NSE, marking an important milestone in the merger process.

We shall now go ahead filing with the NCLT the scheme, and we expect the approval, final, coming from NCLT during the financial year 2026–2027. Coming now to the financial key highlights, I will touch base on the quarter four results first and then go to the year at large.

During the quarter four, the total income achieved by the company was ₹725.70 crore, with a growth of 15.29% on a year-on-year basis. EBITDA achieved during the said period was ₹184.41 crore, registering a growth of 25.09% on the previous year.

EBITDA margins achieved was 25.41% for the quarter, and we expect the company to maintain such similar margins going forward. Profit after tax for the quarter was a strong ₹95.66 crore as against ₹63.57 achieved during quarter four of 2024–2025.

Coming to the annual numbers for the financial year 2025–2026, the overall income achieved by our company was ₹2,582.92 crore as against ₹2,121.84 crore achieved last year, indicating a growth of 21.73%. EBITDA achieved during the year was ₹665.45 crore as against ₹474.15 in the previous year, indicating an increase of 40.35%.

EBITDA margins achieved was 25.76% for the year 2025–2026 as against previous year's 22.35%. Profit after tax for the period was ₹327.54 crore as against ₹187 crore in the previous year, indicating an astounding increase of 75.16%.

During the year, the total volume of sales achieved was about 42,389 metric tons, which indicates an increase of 6.5% over previous year's volumes achieved. My dear friends and shareholders, the overall growth of our company was driven primarily by volume growth, price increase, and an improved product mix.

This growth was supported by sustained demand across key end-user industries and an increasing traction in our speciality and value-added product segments. While input costs remained relatively stable during the year, we continued to focus on operational efficiencies, cost optimization initiatives, and improved capacity utilization, which supported the margins.

We have been able to bring down the manufacturing and other administrative expenses, which has enabled to improve the EBITDA margins further during the year. Now coming to the balance sheet numbers, as a company, we continue to maintain a very prudent capital structure.

I am happy to inform that due to the excellent management and constant monitoring and focus, we have been able to bring down our overall working capital cycle to 117 days during the year 2025–2026. Our net debt as of March 2026 stood at ₹876 crore.

This is of course net of cash and surplus money deployed in mutual funds, with a net debt to an EBITDA ratio of 1.33, reflecting our focus on maintaining financial flexibility while supporting growth investments. Our net debt to equity ratio was a very healthy 0.62, reflecting good generation of profits.

As you may have noticed, we continue to improve our ROE and ROCE, which during the year we achieved a number of 22.05% and 22.42% respectively, thereby reaffirming our visionary Chairman's vision that going forward the company's ROE and ROCE is poised to be in excess of 20%. During the year, we generated healthy operating cash flows of ₹550 crore, maintaining a comfortable liquidity position.

Our focus remains on investing in high-return growth opportunities, particularly in expanding our speciality chemicals portfolio, enhancing the backward integration, and improving operational efficiencies. In line with our commitment to shareholder returns, the board has recommended a dividend of ₹10 per share for financial year 2025–2026 with a dividend payout of 100% of the face value of the share, which reflects our confidence in the business outlook and cash flow generation going forward.

Looking ahead, we remain confident in our ability to deliver sustainable growth. Our strong balance sheet, robust cash flows, and disciplined capital allocation strategy position us well to capitalize on emerging opportunities while navigating external uncertainties.

With the planned capacity expansion of existing products and the introduction of new speciality products, we have established a clear roadmap and are on track to achieve the vision, the foundation of which was laid by our visionary Chairman Mr. Mahesh Babani, of the ₹5,000 crore of revenue and ₹1,000 crore plus in the EBITDA numbers over the next 3 to 4 years, which represents a growth of about 2x.

With this, I would like to conclude the presentation as of now and open the floor for questions and answers. Thank you.

Over to you, the moderator.

Operator

Thank you very much, sir. We will now begin the question and answer session.

Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. If you wish to withdraw 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.

The first question is from the line of Sumant Kumar from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.

Sumant Kumar

Sir. My question regarding the gross margin.

We have seen a significant dip in gross margin sequentially. Any specific reason for that?

Sanjeev Patil

Yeah. Sumant, as our business is so structured that 70% of our revenues come from export, and most of that are through contracts.

In the fourth quarter, and if you see historically also, that's where there is an overlap of sometimes the raw material contract getting into the fourth quarter, that is first quarter for the calendar year. Because of this overlap, sometimes you have this kind of situation.

As we always say that you should judge Privi on an annualized basis, and this trend you will find in the last few years also, if you look at the last two, three years also, you'll find a similar trend because the way the prices move for the annual contracts for both raw material and finished goods, such an overlap and distortion can happen. That's only part of the thing, and you should look Privi always on annualized basis.

Sumant Kumar

Regarding capex, in Q3 FY 2026, you have given all the timeline of capex. That capex plan intact or any changes?

Sanjeev Patil

It is intact.

Sumant Kumar

Thank you so much, sir.

Mahesh Babani

It is intact. We are confident of showing a growth of 20% in the coming year, and we are hopeful we'll also be able to maintain similar EBITDA margins.

Operator

Does that answer your question, Mr. Sumant Kumar?

Hello. Thank you.

The next question is from the line of Rohit Sinha from Sunidhi Securities. Please go ahead.

Yeah.

Rohit Sinha

Thank you for taking my question, and congratulation for a good set of numbers, sir.

Narayan Iyer

Sir,

Rohit Sinha

first question, sir, on the guidance side, as we are looking at a 20% kind of growth and a 24% kind of margin, a similar kind of margin. Although we have got the approval of the amalgamation of our Privi Fine Sciences and other business, does we take into account this number also on this 20% growth, or it would be purely from the existing business only?

Narayan Iyer

Rohit, thank you. The numbers are appreciated.

The 20% growth that Mr. Mahesh Babani talked about is on the standalone basis as it is today.

As and when the scheme of merger happens, then of course we'll be consolidating it later on.

Rohit Sinha

Got it. Secondly, just wanted to know how we should see the engagement with the MNCs during this tough time of war and how the spot customers behave during this time and how we are looking at going forward in the coming quarters?

Mahesh Babani

Spot customers, these are all very delicate questions. These calls are recorded, we won't be able to say, but we have very healthy relationship and very transparent relationship with our customers.

They are also able to see that these are changes which are once-in-a-lifetime kind of impact that is there. Because of our transparency and trust, we are able to pass on, and it is accepted from our customers.

Sanjeev Patil

I don't see any reason that we will not be able to pass on the price increase. We are confident that we'll be able to pass on the price increase and because you see, I would here tell you, I'm not saying I'm the most competitive, but I am definitely in the league.

People do have confidence by paying 1% or 2% higher, Privi is a better supplier. We have that confidence that people will pay up, and we do have customer relationship so strong that when we sell a basket, we make sure that the customer has a happy ending and a good smile on the face.

Somewhere we have extra margins, we do give something cheaper, something. As a basket, we are keeping our customers happy.

That's our strength. We have 75 products, 15 more in the pipeline, 10 more under development.

100 products from one doorstep is a great strength to have.

Rohit Sinha

Great, sir. Great.

On the Prigiv side, as we have invested another ₹50 crore for the capex, is it more towards the revenue improvement or it would be on the margin improvement, anything on the backward integration kind of angle?

Sanjeev Patil

There is no backward integration here. The thing is, we are bringing in new additional products and additional revenues.

In fact, this year we expect almost ₹130 crore of sales instead of ₹55 last year. We are working in a bigger direction to see at least in next 3, 4 years we should be at least ₹300 crore

Narayan Iyer

of

Sanjeev Patil

revenue and with decent margins obviously.

Rohit Sinha

Great, sir. Great.

One last question from my side. As our working capital days now stands at around 111—117 days, do we see any increase in this number due to the current situation, or it will more or less remain in the similar level?

Sanjeev Patil

Even if it increase, it won't be more than 3%, 4% because when you increase prices, a person makes late payment. Even if it increase, it won't increase more than 5% or something like that.

Narayan Iyer

We're

Sanjeev Patil

confident we'll be able to manage this situation, and we always want to see a happy customer. A smile on his face keeps our day and keeps our balance sheet very alive.

Rohit Sinha

Got it, sir. That's it from my side, sir.

Thank you and best of luck.

Sanjeev Patil

Thank you. Thank you,

Narayan Iyer

Rohit.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohit Nagraj from 360 ONE Capital.

Please go ahead.

Rohit Nagraj

Thanks for the opportunity, and congrats on a very strong set of numbers. Sir, first question is on the raw material sourcing side.

If you could give us a flavor as to how are we protected in terms of inventory, our current sourcing situation, and on the entire aggregate raw material basket, what is the kind of cost inflation that we have observed over the last couple of months? Thank you.

Sanjeev Patil

Sure. There are two categories of raw material, we can say.

One is the renewable raw material for which we have annual contracts. Based on those annual contracts, typically we hold about 1, 1.5 to 2 months of inventory, and then there is always inventory in transit because most of these are shipped from Europe or from US, you have another 1 month of inventory there.

We are covered for almost a quarter for regular raw material which are contracted. The other raw materials, we are covered for about 3 months in stock and another 2 to 3 months in pipeline.

That's the way we plan our raw materials. For non-pine-based products, whenever we get into annual contracts, that typically 6-monthly contract, we keep and maintain visibility for those many months.

That's the way we function. That's how we try and mitigate the risk of the volatile situation what we are facing right now.

Narayan Iyer

We position our contracts as per the raw materials in hand. We don't take too many contracts if we reduce our market share with some contracted customers if we see contracts are overburdened.

We maintain a fine balance. We keep our eyes on the ball to maintain the fine balance between customer relationship and sales.

Rohit Nagraj

Sure, sir. Got that.

Sir, second question, in terms of the FY 2026 top-line growth of 22%, if you could give us a broader understanding how much was driven through volumes, pricing, and the product mix, that'll be helpful. Thank you.

Narayan Iyer

Rohit, as indicated, it is about 6.5% on account of volume growth, and the balance is on account of the product mix and about 8% odd increase in the prices, in fact.

Rohit Nagraj

Sure. Just to clarify, was there any material benefit from the forex gains during last year?

Narayan Iyer

Definitely, because we are a net exporter per se, there is some amount of forex gain that has happened in 2025–2026. I think what we are reported is close to about ₹14 crore or so.

Rohit Nagraj

Sure, sir. Got that, sir.

Narayan Iyer

Which falls under other income. Yeah.

Thank you.

Rohit Nagraj

Got it. Got it, sir.

Thank you.

Narayan Iyer

Yeah.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ram Arvind from iThought PMS.

Please go ahead.

Ram Arvind

Hi, am I audible?

Sanjeev Patil

You're audible. Yes, please go ahead.

Operator

Yes, you are.

Ram Arvind

Hello, am I audible?

Sanjeev Patil

Now there is a slight echo in your voice.

Operator

Mr. Ram Arvind, yes, please go ahead.

You are audible, sir.

Ram Arvind

Thanks for the opportunity. The question I had was specifically on the new products that are going to be coming about, which is the ethyl maltol, maltol, and cyclopentanone.

I wanted to know if the Phase 2 and Phase 3 of capex is taken into consideration specifically for these products, or is the Phase 2 and Phase 3 going to be for the existing products? That'll be my first question.

Sanjeev Patil

Shall I answer first question, then we'll come to the second question? Yes.

We are working, and these projects are already underway. As you will know, typical projects of this size do take 12 months to 15 months for implementation.

We are at very advanced stage in terms of detail engineering, the structural design, equipment design, procurement for some equipments have started, other equipments we are still in that phase of detail design. All the three products design projects are in full swing.

Ram Arvind

Right. Sir, could you give any timeline as to when these products might be commercialized?

Yeah.

Sanjeev Patil

We are targeting to do by the end of first quarter of next financial year. By June of next financial year, we are targeting to complete these projects, mechanical completion as we call it, so that we can start taking the trials.

Typically within a month's time after those trials, we are in the business of commercial production.

Ram Arvind

Right. Just to follow up on cyclopentanone specifically, do we have to wait for certain approval periods for this molecule to some of the clients who we are going to be selling it to?

Will we have any approval periods for this?

Sanjeev Patil

Yeah. We, as we always have been saying, that when we develop a product, we do it in the lab and then in the pilot, and our lab samples are approved.

Our customers are aware of this product, and they have seen our samples, approved those. We are doing that homework simultaneously.

Ram Arvind

Sir. The second question was to do with furfural.

Where do we see the timeline of this furfural backward integration, could you give some timeline and will this fall in the capex plan of Phase 2 and Phase 3, or is that completely separate?

Sanjeev Patil

Yeah. We will first establish the finished goods, and then we'll go for backward integration.

In the meanwhile, we are trying to get into contracts for buying furfural from outside agencies. If you want me to talk about the timeline for furfural, it will be post, I would say, 2 years, or it's only after 2 years that we will get into that particular act.

Ram Arvind

Sir. Anytime around FY 2028–2029, we can expect furfural.

Sanjeev Patil

Yeah. You can expect that project to be there.

Correct. That's correct, yes.

Ram Arvind

All right, sir. Lastly, just one thing on the biotech side, which is there's been mentions of biomass conversion, right?

Biowaste into value-added products. Could you just talk a bit more on this?

Yeah.

Sanjeev Patil

Yeah. We continue to work—this is a very complex technology, we continue to work on that.

Right now, we're working on setting up a demonstration plant which has a capacity which is significant. That demonstration plant is being put up with a capex of around ₹70 to ₹75 odd crore, which will then do this thing on few tons per day basis so that we have products coming out of that plant and all the three products will happen simultaneously, energy conservation will happen, and a lot of data will be available.

That demonstration plant project is also underway right now. We are at a stage at which we had done the basic engineering, we are in the process of doing the detailed engineering work for that.

Ram Arvind

This is separate from the ethyl maltol and maltol projects, is it, the biowaste products?

Sanjeev Patil

It is completely separate. That's correct.

That's correct.

Ram Arvind

Yes. Just on a final note, what could be the end capacity figure let's say after all these three phases of capex is done?

Sanjeev Patil

Yeah. Narayan will answer here.

Yeah. After all the first three phases of capex expansion, as also mentioned in our investor presentation, Privi will have on its own about 72,000 metric tons of capacity.

Ram Arvind

Right. The timeline for this, sir?

Sanjeev Patil

It is somewhere around 2028 June, optimistically, maybe September 2028 more realistically, I'll say that.

Ram Arvind

Okay. Thank you very much, sir, and all the best.

Sanjeev Patil

Thank you.

Narayan Iyer

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rohan Mehta from Ficomm Family Office.

Please go ahead.

Rohan Mehta

Hello, sir. Am I audible?

Sanjeev Patil

Yes, please.

Rohan Mehta

Perfect. Thank you so much for the opportunity, and congratulations on a good set of numbers.

In 2025 annual report, it references a lot of molecules, including silver amber, amber silk, as well as Privi Light and Privitolide. Should we read this as a deliberate shift towards: a) a deeper value chain integration; and also, structurally higher gross margins going forward?

Also, I wanted to understand what is the commercialization timeline for these products, and how do these factor in to your FY 2027 revenue and capacity utilization?

Mahesh Babani

Yeah. I will pass the first part of margins, because obviously you can realize that it is very important for us to maintain that confidentiality.

These products are already being commissioned right now. One of them is already commissioned, and the other ones will be commissioned during the course of this financial year.

I would hesitate to give you margins around that. You have summarized it well, so that's where it stands.

Rohan Mehta

Sure, sure. Thank you.

My second question is on raw material and fuel alongside logistics outlook for FY 2027. Given the recent volatility in crude prices as well as overall energy and freight cost, could you give some sense of when it comes to your fuel source, what part of your fuel source is currently crude-linked and how are you mitigating that risk?

Secondly, when it comes to CST and GTO sourcing, how comfortable are you when it comes to sourcing these, and should we think about any margin headwinds from input cost in FY 2027 or are you comfortable on that stand so far?

Sanjeev Patil

I think we answered this question partially earlier that 70% of our revenue does come from contracts that is already made, and those are in place. Now in terms of shipping time, there could be a delay.

To say that there is no delay at all is not correct, but there will be a delay, but that's about a week or two, and we are well covered for that because we always maintain the stocks which are mentioned in the earlier answer. We maintain that stock, and that's how we try to mitigate the risk of such an event that is black swan event like this war.

That's where we stand. About the raw material pricing and everything, Mr.

Babani already told you that we're having very good relation with the customers and it's a very transparent relationship built on huge amount of trust. Therefore, wherever it makes a case for us to get a higher price, we do get that.

Yeah.

Rohan Mehta

Sure, sure. Thank you so much for the opportunity, and wishing you all the best.

Sanjeev Patil

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mann from GrowthSphere Ventures.

Please go ahead.

Mann Ashar

Hi, Sanjeevji. Hi, Babani.

Congratulations for great set of numbers and pleasure to hear from you once again.

Sanjeev Patil

Thank you,

Mahesh Babani

Manan.

Mann Ashar

Sir, actually, I have three, four questions. I'll start with my first.

Sir, realizations for us actually tend to be in the range of ₹560 to ₹590 per kg kind of a region, and as we are saying that it has increased approximately by 6% to 8% this year, how do we see this moving considering that we have 70% of our revenue as exports and which is actually dollar-denominated and hence you would be getting some sort of forex benefit out of it as well, and you are moving towards higher-value products? How should we model this around and how should we see the quality of business going ahead around the pricing?

Sanjeev Patil

Yeah. Two things.

One is that, yes, as rupee or dollar appreciates against rupee, there would be slightly higher realization. You have to always remember when you do the P&L part that our raw materials also 70% of our raw materials are imported.

To that extent, it does get balanced, and also we have some amount of forex debt and all that. There is obviously a benefit of rupee weakening or rupee depreciation, but it is only calibrated.

It is not something that everything comes to us, because we also import raw material. That's answering your question about pricing.

Realization will go up if you see the trend for the last 3 years. It has been or even 5 years you can take, it has been steadily going up barring a couple of years in between, but it is going up from about ₹450 to about ₹525 to ₹600 in the last financial year.

It is going up, and going forward we have both categories of products. We have majority of the products would be higher-value products.

For cyclopentanone, obviously, is not a product which is of high value, although very good margins, but in terms of its pricing it is lower. You will find growth going forward definitely in this number, but it will be calibrated.

Mann Ashar

Got it, got it. Sir, second question that I have: considering the crude oil has gone bonkers and due to that GTO prices have also increased a lot.

Sir, for us, we have majority of our capacity benchmarked to CST, and the raw material for CST sort of a waste product that is basically imported from Western countries. Considering that our end value is increasing and we have sort of a non-linked crude raw material of some quantities, do we expect the gross margin which has increased by I think 150 odd basis points this year increase in next or probably next to next financial year by any chance?

Mahesh Babani

No, I think you should consider we always play safe. We will assume that the gross margin remains at similar level.

What we actually do, and that's what defines Privi, is that we always look internally and try to improve the efficiencies. That's what we have done in the last quarter, and we will continue to do that and improve our efficiencies and improve our margins.

Mann Ashar

Got it, got it. Sir, for the new products, right, maltol and ethyl maltol, maltol, cyclopentanone, if you can explain to the investors what is the actual benefit to Privi for basically making this products because as far as we have known, this products are basically imported to India and now there is some CBAM norm is also coming.

Could you explain a bit in depth as to what would actually be going on in the industry post CBAM norms and how is Privi differentiated in this new products?

Sanjeev Patil

If you really look at it, it is strategically similar to what we have been doing so far, that is converting the waste into wealth, that's what we define internally. Like we do CST, which is a waste, into value-added aroma chemicals, similarly, we will be starting with furfural, which is made from waste, that is corncob, and go all the way from making buying corncob to adding value to make these flavor chemicals and a speciality molecule.

That's the way we have positioned ourselves. When we are getting into this vertical which will be ultimately valued up at up to ₹1,000 crore in revenue, we are fully backward integrated and we will be the only one of that type.

We also have a proprietary technology for making cyclopentanone. Based on this, we are differentiated from what others do.

Mann Ashar

Got it, got it. This would also be export-focused, right, as CBAM norms have come that would actually help us against our peers?

Sanjeev Patil

Yes, yes. You're right.

You're right.

Mann Ashar

Got it, got it. Sir, last question for me is, if we see standalone margins of Privi as a entity, they are actually 27%, 28% kind of a range, and as in the speech you said that now Prigiv has also started to become profitable.

Can we expect the total or the consol margins to tend towards what standalone entity is quoting at right now? Not exactly 27%, 28%, but the direction towards it?

Narayan Iyer

Yes, there will definitely be an improvement in the consolidated margins going forward, now that Prigiv is also turning itself to positive.

Mann Ashar

Got it, got it. That's it from my end.

Congratulations again for great set of numbers and all the very best for the year ahead. Thank you.

Narayan Iyer

Thank you.

Sanjeev Patil

Thank you.

Operator

Participants who wishes to ask a question may press star and one now. The next question is from the line of Prateek Shrivastava from Niveshwisdom.

Please go ahead.

Prateek Shrivastava

Hello, sir. Again congratulations on a great set of numbers.

Sir, I just have a little more follow-up on the raw material, especially on the gum turpentine. At least from what I know that China is the global dominant supplier with around 60% to 70% of world's gum turpentine.

Is that also our supplier for GTO?

Sanjeev Patil

No.

Prateek Shrivastava

Okay. All right.

At least we have derisked our pipeline from that, right?

Sanjeev Patil

Yeah.

Prateek Shrivastava

When we say, sir, China plus one, do we have any new customer who has moved away from Chinese suppliers to us?

Sanjeev Patil

You see Mr. Babani's interview in the morning on CNBC, he actually has very nicely stated that we were born out of China plus one.

It is now fashionable to say China plus one, but the necessity of having an alternate supplier for aroma chemicals arose many decades back, and that's how Privi came into being. In terms of acquiring new customers as it is, I think all the F&F companies as well as majority of FMCG companies which buy aroma chemicals, we are supplier to them, and they are more than happy to have a source which is independent of Chinese source.

Even in case where we are saying China plus one strategy, we never forget about getting back to basics, and I explained in the previous question that we would be fully backward integrated. That is what gives us the strength.

It's not just that we depend on China plus one, but it also make ourselves very strong in terms of being fully backward integrated to get into the products that we are getting into.

Narayan Iyer

To add to what Sanjeev is stating, I'll literally say that we are indeed China plus one. On a lighter note, because we are backward integrated, we are definitely China plus plus one now.

Prateek Shrivastava

Great, great. Great to hear that, sir.

My second question is on the amalgamation of this proposed merger between this Privi Fine Sciences and Privi Biotechnologies into Privi Speciality. Any timeline for NCLT approval?

Sir,

Narayan Iyer

as indicated in my opening remarks, we expect that to happen by this financial year. Maybe it can come in the third quarter of this year is what internally we are targeting, in fact.

Prateek Shrivastava

Got it. Thank you.

Thank you so much, sir.

Narayan Iyer

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mehul Panjwani from 40 Cents.

Please go ahead.

Mehul Panjwani

Sir, thank you so much for the opportunity, and pardon me because I'm new for this company. Sir, are the new speciality projects which are in pipeline and also the Prigiv expansion, all these would translate into revenues in FY 2027, all of them, or I heard that Prigiv is already contributing?

Sanjeev Patil

I think Mr. Babani explained in the previous question that in the current financial year Prigiv will give about ₹130 odd crore of revenue, and as against ₹55 odd somewhere in the current financial year.

The other speciality molecules are still the projects are being implemented, and you will find revenues coming from those in the next 18 months or so or 18 months onward now. Right,

Mehul Panjwani

right. Thank you so much, sir.

Another question is about margins. The EBITDA margins, I think I heard that sustainable about 25%?

Sanjeev Patil

That's correct.

Mehul Panjwani

Sir.

Sanjeev Patil

And— Historically we have achieved 25%, and we will endeavor to stay there.

Mehul Panjwani

Right. Great, sir.

Sir, last question about the partnership with the multinationals. Can you please share elaborate a little bit on what are we working with these guys?

Narayan Iyer

That is the JV that we talked about where Mr. Babani also mentioned the numbers.

It is purely manufacturing certain high-ended speciality chemicals exclusively for our JV partner Givaudan SA.

Mehul Panjwani

Right. There are two more, right, or it's only the Givaudan?

Narayan Iyer

Only one. There is only one JV.

The other companies are 100% subsidiary of the parent company.

Mehul Panjwani

All right. Okay.

Sir. Thank you so much, sir.

Sanjeev Patil

Thank you.

Narayan Iyer

Welcome.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Karan Talwar from DAM Capital.

Please go ahead.

Karan Talwar

Yeah. Hi, sir.

Thank you for taking my question,

Sanjeev Patil

and

Karan Talwar

congratulations on a good set of numbers. Just a couple of ones from my side.

We're seeing that in this quarter apparently our other expenses and power together have declined both sequentially as well as YoY despite having a strong revenue growth and the prevailing disruption in the Red Sea route, which should have typically increased your freight and logistics cost. Could you please help us understand what has driven this decline?

Sanjeev Patil

Yeah. On the first part, the power part, I will give all the credit to our engineering team who have been working round the clock in terms of saving steam and power.

Therefore overall fuel cost has come down, and we continue to work on that. We have a program which is called as Promax wherein we keep on working on utilizing the existing whatever is the residual steam that is left, we try and get value out of that, and that's how we have brought down the cost of power and steam.

Going forward, you will see this trend continuing, but these improvements come very slow and steady, but certainly. On the second part of controlling expenses, I think we have hawk here in our CFO who has been controlling all the cost, and I would leave the rest to Narayan.

Narayan Iyer

There has been a constant monitoring and an endeavor, and we have been able to ensure that some of the contracts that we enter into with various CHAs and freight forwarders, the prices have been very, very definitely concisely and precisely negotiated, and you are able to see the better results out of that, in fact. Our endeavor has always been, as also mentioned by me in my initial speech, that it's a conscious decision of the entire management effort of bringing down and keeping all the expenses under control, and that's what you would see that it has helped in improving and increasing the EBITDA margins over the previous years, and we will continue striving for that.

Karan Talwar

That's helpful, sir. Secondly, on the EBITDA upside that you mentioned from the current portfolio, now with the current mix, how should we think about the remaining levers for EBITDA expansion from here?

What I mean to say is have the benefits of probably product mix optimization from your side stream and the operational efficiencies, have they been largely captured or can we see some meaningful upside from here on as well?

Narayan Iyer

This is on the existing— To answer here, the EBITDA margin should remain at these levels. This is our endeavor.

Sanjeev Patil

You can't expect, at the end of the day, I happen to mention in my earlier thing also that we are manufacturers of chemicals and we are not magicians, there could be a particular limit up to which we could strive and get the EBITDA margins going up. With the scale of operations that we're looking at, absolute numbers you will see that it keeps growing around.

Margins, we should be in a position to sustain.

Karan Talwar

That's helpful, sir. Would you want to throw some light on if we are in any active discussions with other MNC players like we did with Givaudan?

Are there any others in the pipeline as well, any discussions that you'd like to highlight?

Sanjeev Patil

Discussions are always on, but at this stage it is too premature for us to say anything. At the appropriate time, we will be bringing the same to the world outside.

Karan Talwar

Perfect, sir. Just last from my end.

What would be the state incentives for this year for this fiscal?

Sanjeev Patil

Sorry, could you repeat the question?

Karan Talwar

What would be the state incentives that we may get in this year?

Sanjeev Patil

For 2025–2026 or 2026–2027?

Karan Talwar

For 2026 as well as for 2027.

Sanjeev Patil

See, last year around the financials which has been audited, on an average we have received about close to ₹13 odd crore as state incentives from both the Gujarat as well as Maharashtra government. Of course, this has been offshoot of a couple of years.

Going forward, we expect as we have stated that these are incentive schemes basis Maharashtra government and state government of Gujarat mentioning, and we should be in a position of getting 50% of the GST amount on sales made in the state within the local state, in fact. We should be in this range only here around.

Karan Talwar

Understood, sir. Thank you so much, and all the best.

Sanjeev Patil

Thank you.

Karan Talwar

Thank you.

Operator

Participants to ask a question, you may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Sajal Kapoor from Antifragile Thinking.

Please go ahead.

Sajal Kapoor

Thanks for the opportunity. I have two questions.

First, you have spoken about biotechnology, enzymatic chemistry, and renewable feedstock as strategic priorities. What I want to understand is the economic crossover point for which product categories or molecules do you believe bio-based routes are or can realistically achieve cost parity or cost superiority versus conventional petrochemical synthesis over, let's say, next 3 years?

What are the key bottlenecks still preventing wider commercial adoption today?

Mahesh Babani

I'll answer this question. The very purpose of putting a demonstration plant is to assess in detail the overall economics.

As we stand here today, we do see merits in biotechnology route and adding value to that. What is it that Privi does differently?

Majority of work that is going on in biotechnology right now is about making 2G alcohol or a fuel. Whereas what we are doing is actually a refinery where we have multiple products which are of significantly higher value than alcohol, which can at best get you price of ₹105, ₹107 for 2G alcohol per liter.

We are looking at more higher-value products, which is what makes these economics plausible. Then having said that, the technology is very complex, and that's why we're putting a demonstration plant which will come up in the next probably 12 months or so.

Once we operate that demonstration plant continuously, then we will establish these results. One of the reasons why these plants do turn out to be economically unviable is the capex cost.

While on operating basis, most of the biowaste is available at throwaway prices, but it is what you do with it in terms of, one, adding value to it, which is what we're doing. On the other hand, the capex that is required is significant.

That's how the return on capital has to be well-calibrated, which is the reason why we are going for a demonstration plant. It's a very cautious approach, cautiously very optimistic, but cautious nevertheless.

Does that answer your question?

Sajal Kapoor

What I was trying to get from my question was the economic crossover point, because if you see historically, new manufacturing paradigms and biotechnology, enzymatic chemistry in aroma and fragrances is a new paradigm. They only scale when they start to outperform the incumbents on both the cost as well as the performance, because you need to achieve both, the cost parity if not superiority, as well as at least at par performance or better performance using a newer sort of manufacturing paradigm.

I was just trying to frame my question from that perspective. Are we likely to get there in the next 3 years or so,

Mahesh Babani

or is this kind of a more— We are definitely likely to get there because, as I said, one of the key parameters there is what kind of products you're making. When you make premium products, you definitely make the economics turn in your favor, and that's what we are doing.

Sajal Kapoor

If we get there in 3 years, this will be a kind of a paradigm shift in the chemicals manufacturing because the whole world, many materials are currently they haven't got any alternate synthesis route other than the feedstock based on the fossil fuels. If you could crack biotechnology at scale keeping the economics and the performance at par, then I think it can be a game changer.

Mahesh Babani

Yes, indeed. It would be for sure.

Let me give you an example. There are two large companies in our space who have succeeded on six or seven products in this space, on six, seven molecules, which are large, $30, $40, $50.

Now, our challenge is coming when we are doing this. We are confident that about the five molecules we are launching, three of them are below $10 or below $5, but they are one of the items which is few percentage of that volume is at $90, $80, $70.

We want to multiply so much that we don't mind selling it at $50. We are having a lot of challenges in assessing the market.

We have been meeting all the customers, in fact. How will the elasticity of demand span out if we launch it at $45?

Everyone is confident the market will multiply manifold if we launch it. We produce right now only few kilos or maybe 10 kilos, and we are in the process in the next couple of years, we'll produce few tons and then take a market research and then launch it, because we don't want to put any shareholders' money to risk.

Once we are sure of it, we'll go full swing.

Sajal Kapoor

That

Mahesh Babani

may take 3, 4 years. This is beyond 5,000, beyond 5K story.

The top team of Privi is working beyond 5K. 5K, the team is different, and beyond 5K, the team is different.

Sajal Kapoor

No, thanks so much for this comprehensive response. A very sensible thinking, I must appreciate, and look forward to all the execution in the coming years as well.

Thank you so much.

Mahesh Babani

Keep our fingers crossed, we'll surely succeed, and it's our endeavor to do this. We want to bring good molecules on the earth so that we will be making a significant name in the world markets.

Our expectation is to reach beyond the expectations one can imagine.

Sajal Kapoor

Absolutely. Amazing to hear that.

Thank you so much for all the responses. Many thanks.

Narayan Iyer

Thank you.

Mahesh Babani

Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today.

I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Narayan Iyer for closing comments.

Narayan Iyer

Thank you. On behalf of Privi Speciality Chemicals Limited, I thank all of you investors, shareholders, and every person there attending this call and listening to the perspective from the management of Privi.

Thank you, everyone, and looking forward to keep interacting with all of you going forward. Mr.

Mahesh Babani wants to say something.

Mahesh Babani

I would really thank the person who asked that question so that my other shareholders also could listen what we are doing.

Sanjeev Patil

They'll also be able to gain knowledge of

Mahesh Babani

what impossible things we are trying to do. Thank you for that.

Narayan Iyer

On that positive statement and sentence by Mr. Mahesh Babani, our visionary Chairman and Managing Director, we at Privi, the management team, say goodbye as of now.

Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Privi Speciality Chemicals Limited, that concludes this conference.

Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.