Company Profile
Finolex cables Ltd. (FCL), was incorporated in 1967. The company is engaged in the manufacturing of electrical and telecommunications cables in India. It is operating for more than five decades now and the company is headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra. The company holds a leadership position in manufacturing of most diversified wires and cables in India. Apart from the manufacturing of wires and cables the company also engaged in the manufacturing of fast-moving electrical goods and home appliances in both retail and institutional markets.
Manufacturing facilities: The company owns five manufacturing plants across India.
Investment Rationale
FCL holds a market leadership position in the manufacturing of electrical cables. Its strong position in the market is backed by years of experience and legacy in the industry with a robust distribution network and highly integrated operations. Its strategic approach in operations of the business includes backward integration which assures a timely supply of copper rods which offers an added benefit against unorganised players in the industry. Another benefit to backward integration is easy maintenance.
The company has 5 manufacturing facilities with 26 depots, 1.75 lakh retailers, and 5000 channel partners. The company caters to a 22% market share in the organised wires industry. The company has launched its own e-retail site to cater to the demand from e-commerce platforms and penetrate the retail segment further. Management has a vision of increasing the number of retailers from 1.5 lakhs to 3 lakhs with a focus on increasing the wallet share per retailer. An increase in wallet share per retailer will facilitate growing sales of the company with a significant volume increase in product distribution.
FCL has a diversified product portfolio catering to various types of wires and cables. Apart from manufacturing wires and cables company is well-focused on manufacturing of Fast moving consumer goods and copper rods, along with other products. Demand prospects under this product segment are high for the company and the company is expected to witness robust growth under this segment going forward. For FY22-23 the revenue break-up of the company was between electrical wires & cables, communication cables & copper, and rod & other products for 82.20%, 12.92%, and 4.88% respectively.
Finolex cables has in-house manufacturing of compounds, copper rods, glass fibres and many other raw materials enables them to ensure raw material availability, control quality and provide superior products at a competitive cost.
Q1 FY24 Financial Performance
Finolex cables reported healthy earnings growth in Q1FY24. Consolidated net sales rose 19% to Rs.1204 cr YoY as against Rs.1016 cr in the same quarter of corresponding fiscal driven by electrical cables (revenue up 22%, 13.1% EBIT margin). Robust traction in wires industry is helping Finolex cables to grow faster than in its earlier years. Gross (21.1%) and EBITDA (12.2%) margins were broadly stable. On the operational front, consolidated EBITDA witnessed a growth of 40% YoY to Rs.183 cr. PAT saw a growth of 39% YoY to Rs.132 cr aided by healthy revenue growth and strong operational show.
Management has guided for Rs.10-11bn revenue over next 4-5 years at sustainable 13-14% Op margin.
Risk & Concerns
The company’s primary raw material is copper which accounts for 75% of its total raw material requirements. Copper prices are exposed to price fluctuations, which impacts the profitability of the company as the company is not always able to pass on the prices to end customers.
The industry of cables and wires is very competitive, filled with several organised and unorganised players, which creates pricing constraints for the company, which may impact the operating profitability of the company.
The demand of cables and wires is majorly in the real estate and industrial sectors. Any slowdown in the economy impacts the growth and demand prospects of these sectors in place, which may further impact the business of the company.
Outlook & Valuation
We like Finolex cables because of its strong brand recall, clean balance sheet, expanding product portfolio, and strong cash flow generation. Its diversified product portfolio strengthens its growth prospects in the future. The company is focused on improvement in geographical coverage and increasing wallet share from retailers. The communication cables segment is expected to grow on multi-fold levels with an expected demand rollout in 5G services in the country and government’s thrust on digitisation and we expect FCL to be a key beneficiary of this demand. We expect near-term margin pressure to ease gradually & volume will increase due to a revival in real estate.
At a CMP of Rs 1138, the stock is trading at 22x its FY25E earnings.
We recommend a 'BUY' rating for the stock.