StockAxis

Finolex Cables Ltd

Cable

MILARS Portfolio

CMP
Rs. 655.90
Rating:
Buy
February 16, 2023

Stock Info

BSE
500144
NSE
FINCABLES
Bloomberg
FNXC
Reuters
FNXC.NS
Sector
Cable
Face Value (Rs)
2
Equity Capital (Rs cr)
31
Mkt Cap (Rs cr)
10,276.76
52w H/L (Rs)
700.00 - 343.50
Avg Daily Vol (BSE+NSE)
1,150,997

Shareholding Pattern

(as on 31-Dec)
%
Promoter
35.92
FIIs
10.22
DIIs
18.1
Public & Others
35.77
Source: Ace equity, StockAxis Research

Price performance

Return (%)
1m
3m
12m
Absolute
20.73
27.88
45.92
Sensex
1.97
-0.97
5.39
Source: Ace equity, StockAxis Research

Indexed Stock Performance

Finolex Cables Ltd Sensex
Finolex Cables Ltd
Source: Ace equity, StockAxis Research

Strong Position In The Electrical Cables Segment & Demand Roll-out in 5G Services Sector

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

·        Strong position in the Electrical cables segment and well-established brand name

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.

·        Robust Distribution network

The company has 5 manufacturing facilities with 28 depots, 1.5 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.

·        Diversified product portfolio

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. Currently, in Q3FY23 the sales volume of fast-moving electrical goods got affected by rising inflationary pressure. However, 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 the revenue break-up of the company was between electrical wires & cables, communication cables & copper, and rod & other products for 85%, 10%, and 5% respectively.

·        High Operational Efficiency

The company has made robust sales growth from FY16. In FY16 the sales of the company were Rs 2360 crores and it has now increased by 612% by March 2022, with a sales figure of Rs 3768 crores in FY22. Further, it has well maintained its EBITDA margin in line with 11-14% on an average five-year basis. The reduction in EBITDA margin was on account of inflationary pressure faced by the company in raw material prices. However, the manufacturing and other costs of the company are well maintained which has always given a profit margin in line of 13-16% on an average of five years.

Financial Analysis

The revenue and PAT CAGR for the period of five years (FY17-22) are 9% & 15% respectively. The revenue of the company in FY22 was Rs 3768 crores. EBITDA for FY22 stood at Rs 429 crores with an EBITDA margin of 11%. The PAT in FY22 stood at Rs 599 crores, increased on account of another Income gain of Rs 398 crores. The five-year average EV/EBITDA, ROCE & ROE of the company stood at 12.31x, 13% & 12% respectively.

Q3 FY23 Analysis

The revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 1150 crores, an increase of 18% & 5% on a YoY & QoQ basis respectively.

 The EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs 146 crores, an increase of 23% & 128% on a YoY & QoQ basis respectively. EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 13%, an increase of 100 bps & 800 bps on a yearly and quarterly basis respectively. PAT for the quarter stood at Rs 154 crores, an increase of 8% & 180% YoY & QoQ basis respectively.

Risk & Concerns

·        Exposed to fluctuating copper prices

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.

·        High competition

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.

·        Economic Slowdown

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 (16% of revenue) 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 will 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 655, the stock is trading at 14x its FY25E earnings.

We recommend a 'BUY' rating for the stock.

Consolidated Financial Statements