Differentiated product portfolio:
Aether's products are used in a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals,
agrochemicals, material science, coatings, high performance photography, additives,
and oil and gas. They are primarily focused on the production of advanced intermediates
and specialty chemicals, which require complex and differentiated chemistry and
technology as core competencies.
Aether has achieved these market positions by developing differentiated processes with the use of their core competencies of chemistry and technology, which helped them to optimize the use of conventional raw materials, improve atom economy, enhance yields, reduce effluent discharge, and increase cost competitiveness. Based on the technical expertise they have developed over the years; they are able to carry out these processes for their products at global scale capacities.
In CY2020, they were the sole manufacturer in India of 4MEP, MMBC, T2E, OTBN, NODG, DVL and Bifenthrin Alcohol, and they were the largest manufacturers in the world by volume for 4MEP, T2E, NODG and HEEP. They have emerged as one the biggest competition and threats to the Chinese specialty chemical companies for these products and the Chinese customers are dependent on Aether for supplying these products
Long standing relationships with diversified customer base:
Company’s Top-10 customers contributed approximately 55.76% and 56.23%, respectively;
and their Top-20 customers contributed 72.93% and 73.50%, respectively. They enjoy
relationships in excess of 5 years with 7 out of Top-10 customers.
Their customer engagements are dependent on the company delivering quality products consistently. Due to the resources involved in engaging with new suppliers, customers are less inclined to pursue alternate supply sources. This provides company with an advantage over new entrants that would need to make significant investments and endure a long gestation period with potential customers in order to effectively compete.
Company’s customers include over 160 multinational, global, regional and local companies. As of March 31, 2022, their product portfolio was sold to over 34 global customers in 18 countries and to over 154 domestic customers.
Indian | Global |
---|---|
Pharmaceutical Companies
|
Generic Pharmaceutical Companies
|
Business model that combines large-scale manufacturing, CRAMS, and contract
manufacturing:
Aether is among the few Indian speciality chemical companies to have successfully
launched 3 separate business models – its own products, contract manufacturing
and CRAMS – in just 5 years of its incorporation. It helped Aether in cross-selling
its products and services across its verticals, which benefitted the company in
achieving large scale production and negotiating better prices with its suppliers
& clients.
Aether’s intermediate and speciality chemical customers are also targeted customers for CRAMS and contract manufacturing businesses, while CRAMS business allows Aether to work with innovative global companies on cutting-edge new products which enhances the company’s own R&D skill sets to develop new products for intermediate and speciality chemical segment.
Expanding the Product Portfolio and diversifying into additional business segments:
Aether plans to continue to expand their product portfolio both in line with
their existing new competencies but also by adding new competencies. In the next
3 years, they expect to invest approximately INR 12.5 crore towards R&D in the
1 st year with an increasing trend of 30% to 35% in the next 2 years.
Some of the key APIs for which they expect to launch advanced intermediate products in the next year during Fiscal 2022 and Fiscal 2023.
In addition, they intend to continue to add new core chemistry and technology competencies, which will lead to additional product line developments. They are considering producing pharmaceutical active ingredients (APIs), which represents a forward integration for them from their current product spectrum of advanced intermediates.
In such APIs, they would produce the key advanced intermediates themselves and, thus, they will be backward integrated all the way to commodity chemicals. Another segment they are actively considering is the advanced organic silicone products market, which lends itself into high-end high-value applications in material sciences, coatings, advanced electronics and other similar applications.
Expanding Manufacturing, R&D and Pilot Plant Capacities:
To meet the growing demand from existing customers and meet the needs of new customers,
they intend to and are currently expanding their manufacturing capacities for existing
products such as 4MEP and BFA. They also intend to expand manufacturing capacity
for their new product line, which they are developing and commercializing.
To achieve these expanded capacities, in August 2021, they commenced construction of a new manufacturing facility at a 3rd site near their existing manufacturing facilities in Sachin. They are also in discussions with relevant authorities for acquiring land located in Sachin for a 4th facility, where they intend to manufacture other intermediates for applications in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, coatings and oil & gas sectors.
In addition, they look to build strategic alliances with innovator companies across end-user industries. They are also expanding the capacity of their R&D laboratories by adding an additional 30 fume hoods. This expansion is already underway and is scheduled to be finished by December 2021. In addition, they are expanding their Pilot Plant by installing additional trains of pilot scale equipment which will triple their current capacity.
Peer comparison
Particulars (Rs. in Crores) FY21 | Revenue CAGR (FY19 - FY21) | PAT CAGR(FY19-21) | RoE (%) | RoCE (%) | EPS | PE (x) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aether Ltd | 50.00% | 75.00% | 40.80% | 20.00% | 7.45 | 86.17 |
LISTED PEERS | ||||||
Clean Science and Technology Ltd | 29.00% | 60.00% | 36.74% | 60.50% | 18.68 | 82.00 |
Navin Fluorine International Ltd | 13.00% | 21.00% | 15.76% | 19.20% | 52.03 | 69.00 |
Vinati Organics Ltd | 13.00% | 7.00% | 17.45% | 26.50% | 26.20 | 60.00 |
PI Industries Ltd | 23.00% | 28.00% | 13.82% | 17.30% | 49.92 | 47.30 |
Fine Organic Industries Ltd | 10.00% | 8.00% | 16.45% | 21.50% | 39.25 | 79.60 |
Aether Industries Limited (“Aether”) is a specialty chemical manufacturer in India focused on producing advanced intermediates and specialty chemicals involving complex and differentiated chemistry and technology core competencies. Company’s business was started in 2013 with a vision to create a niche in the global chemical industry with a creative approach towards chemistry, technology and systems that would lead to sustainable growth. In the 1st phase of their development through Fiscal 2017, they focused on building their team and infrastructure and on their R&D centered around building their core competencies. Company’s revenue generation operations commenced with their 2nd phase in Fiscal 2017.
The company operates under 3 business models:
Own intermediates and speciality chemicals (FY21 revenue contribution of 73%), CRAMS
(FY21 revenue contribution of 8%), and Contract/exclusive manufacturing (FY21 revenue
contribution of 19%)
Aether has 8 chemistry competencies to use for their wide array of products, which enables them to cater to niche and advanced intermediate requirements of a wider range of end-products and applications. All these competencies have been developed inhouse, which is one of the core strengths of their R&D team.
The details of 8 Products, their applications, their market position globally and in India:
Product | Industry Application | Company Global Market Position* | Global market size (MT)* | Quantity Manufac- tured by the Company (MT)* | Company India Market Position* | Launch Year | Volume Produced in Fiscal 2021 (MT) | Volume CAGR (Fiscal 2019 to Fiscal 2021) | Revenue Fiscal 2021 (₹ Cr) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4-(2-Methoxyethyl) Phenol (4MEP) | Metoprolol Succinate / Metoprolol Tatrate | Largest manufacturer in the world (with 28% market share in CY2020) | 1,750 | 488 | Only manufacturer in India | Dec’ 2016 | 611.89 | 44.15% | 94.44 |
3-Methoxy-2- Methyl-benzoyl Chloride (MMBC)^ | Methoxyfenozi de | Second largest manufacturer in the world (with 14% market share in CY2020) | 1,750 | 238 | Only manufacturer in India | Sep’ 2019 | 237.60 | NA | 69.48 |
Thiophene-2- Ethanol (T2E) | Clopidogrel, Ticlopidine APIs | Largest manufacturer in the world (with nearly 50% market share in CY2020) | 780 | 392 | Only manufacturer in India | May 2017 | 42.03 | 20.18% | 68.22 |
Ortho Tolyl Benzo Nitrile / 4’- Methyl- 2-Cyanobi-phynyl (OTBN) | Valsartan, Telmisartan, Olmesartan, Losartan, Candisartan APIs | Market share of 8% in CY2020 | 5,045 | 417 | Only manufacturer in India | Dec’ 2018 | 404.56 | 291.52% | 62.08 |
N-Octyl-D- Glucamine / 1- Deoxy-1- (Octylamino)-D- Glucitol (NODG) | Naproxen, Dexketoprofen APIs | Largest manufacturer in the world (with 46% market share in CY2020) | 845 | 396 | Only manufacturer in India | July 2015 | 451.97 | 23.20% | 28.99 |
1-2- (2Hydroxyethoxy) Ethyl Piperazine (HEEP) | Quetiapine, Hydroxyzine APIs | Largest manufacturer in the world (with 34% market share in CY2020) | 500 | 171 | One of 3major manufacturers, only manufacturer in India to be back- integrated into key raw material | May 2018 | 156.08 | 53.08% | 18.24 |
Delta-Valerolactone (DVL) | Coating additive, speciality monomer, electronic chemical | Second largest manufacturer in the world (with 13% market share in CY 2020) | 650 | 84 | Only manufacturer in India | Sep’ 2016 | 112.41 | 46.17% | 12.48 |
Bifenthrin Alcohol | Bifenthrin | Negligible | 3,250 | 144 | Only manufacturer in India | Aug’ 2021 | NA | NA | NA |
Aether is the sole manufacturer in India of critical chemicals, such as – 4MEP, MMBC, T2E, OTBN, NODG, DVL and Bifenthrin Alcohol, and the largest manufacturer in the world by volume for 4MEP, T2E, NODG and HEEP. In the past 4 years, Aether replaced the entire imports of these products from China and also started exporting them to 17 countries. Exports contributed 56% of FY21 revenue. Over FY19-21, Aether’s revenues/ EBITDA/ PAT grew at a CAGR of 49.5%/ 53.6%/ 74.5% respectively, while EBITDA and PAT margins improved by 132bps (to 24.9%) and 421bps (to 15.8%), respectively.
The Company have delivered good growth in Sales over past few years along with stable margin profile. At the upper end of the IPO price band the stock is offered at 64x its FY22E annualized earnings.
Although the issue is aggressively priced & leave little scope of upside in the near term, considering the growth opportunities for speciality chemicals in pharma, agrochemicals & FMCG space, and improving prospects for contractual manufacturing & CRAMS under Make-in-India initiatives, we recommend a “Subscribe” rating to this IPO with long term horizon in mind.
Particulars (Rs. in Crores) | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | H1FY22 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Revenue from Operations | 201.18 | 301.81 | 449.82 | 442.54 |
COGS | 109.58 | 156.16 | 230.69 | 214.88 |
Gross Profit | 91.61 | 145.65 | 219.13 | 227.66 |
Gross Margin (%) | 45.53% | 48.26% | 48.72% | 51.44% |
Employee Benefit Expenses | 10.95 | 13.38 | 22.11 | 21.29 |
Other Expenses | 33.15 | 60.52 | 84.86 | 80.39 |
EBITDA | 47.51 | 71.76 | 112.16 | 125.99 |
EBITDA Margin (%) | 23.61% | 23.78% | 24.93% | 28.47% |
Depreciation | 6.41 | 7.85 | 11.01 | 11.42 |
EBIT | 41.10 | 63.91 | 101.15 | 114.57 |
EBIT Margin (%) | 20.43% | 21.18% | 22.49% | 25.89% |
Finance Cost | 10.60 | 9.38 | 11.32 | 10.04 |
Oher Income | 2.10 | 1.98 | 3.98 | 6.77 |
Profit Before Exceptional Items & Tax | 32.60 | 56.51 | 93.81 | 111.31 |
Exceptional Items | - | - | - | - |
Profit Before Tax | 32.60 | 56.51 | 93.81 | 111.31 |
Tax | 9.26 | 16.55 | 22.69 | 28.41 |
Effective Tax Rate (%) | 28.41% | 29.29% | 24.18% | 25.52% |
Profit After Tax | 23.34 | 39.96 | 71.12 | 82.90 |
PAT Margin (%) | 11.60% | 13.24% | 15.81% | 18.73% |
Earnings Per Share (Rs.) | 7.45 | 7.36 | 4.24 | 2.48 |