Allcargo Logistics Limited (ALLCARGO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

August 16, 2021

National Stock Exchange of India IN Industrials Air Freight and Logistics earnings 63 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Operator

operator
#1

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q1 FY '22 Earnings Conference Call of Allcargo Logistics posted by PhilipCapital (India) Private Limited. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions and expectations of the company as on date of this call. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vikram Suryavanshi from PhilipCapital (India) Private Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Vikram Suryavanshi

analyst
#2

Yes. Hi. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for being on the call of Allcargo Logistics. We are happy to have with us the management of Allcargo for Q&A session with the investment community. From the management, we have with us Mr. Suresh Kumar R., CEO of our India business, Mr. Tim Tudor, CEO, ECU Worldwide; Mr. Ravi Jakhar, Chief Strategy Officer; and Mr. Deepal Shah, Chief Financial Officer. Now I'll hand over the call to Mr. Ravi for their opening comments, and then we will have question-and-answer session. Over to you, sir.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#3

Yes. Thanks, Vikram. Good evening, everyone, and good morning to some of the friends from U.S. Welcome to the earnings conference call to discuss the performance for our first quarter of FY '22. I trust all of you and your dear ones and colleagues and everyone at home is keep safe in these challenging times. I also hope you had a chance to look at our results and the earnings presentation, which has been uploaded on the exchanges and the company website. We have had some challenging times given the second wave of pandemic in India. And with our experience and transformation initiatives, which have been initiated over the last 12 to 15 months, we, as a company, across businesses have been able to continue the momentum, which was built, and it is rather a gathered pace as we enter FY '22. And we remain much more confident in building up from here through multiple transformation programs going on to drive growth and keep the business performance significantly strong. To begin with, let's run through some of the financial highlights and to take you through them, I would request my colleague, Deepal to share brief highlights on the financial performance for the quarter. Over to you, Deepal.

Deepal Shah

executive
#4

Thank you, Ravi. Let me first take you through the key consolidated financial highlights for the first quarter of FY '22. The total consolidated revenue from operations stood at INR 3,449 crores as compared to INR 2,078 crores for the corresponding period last year, which is an increase of 66%. EBITDA, excluding other income for the quarter was at INR 217 crores as against INR 131 crores during the corresponding period last year, which is an increase of 66%. EBITDA margin stood flat at 6.3% Y-o-Y. Profit before tax, before exceptional items and profit from associates grew by 3.5x with its highest level since 2021 at INR 125 crores. Reported profit after tax stood at INR 106 crores for the quarter, which includes exceptional gains and profits from associates and JVs. Exceptional gains are largely pertaining to profit on sale of land to the extent of INR 11 crores and recording of the CFS revenues of prior year established by court order. Now I would like to hand over the call back to Ravi to take you through the key business segment highlights and key updates for the quarter.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#5

Thank you, Deepal. Coming to business updates. During the quarter, we have had some exciting times, driving organic growth as well as building on our aspirations with some strategic acquisitions. As we have been highlighting over our past calls as well, at Allcargo, our focus is on being asset line being ROCE-focused, and we are extremely focused on being growth oriented and we focus on businesses which can be driven with digital enablement. And therefore, the focus has largely been on the core businesses, which is Multimodal Transport Operations or the Ocean Freight business operating under the ECU Worldwide business, the Container Freight Station business and the express in Contract Logistics business, which operates under Gati and Avvashya CCI. We have great confidence in the growth in trade in the country. And therefore, we continue to remain very focused on growing the CFS ICD business. In this regard, we have also announced acquisition of 85% controlling stake in Speedy Multimodes, which gives us an access to 2 additional CFSs with very strategic asset capabilities and a good business at the largest container ports of Mundra and JNPT, which will provide great strategic impetus to our growth plans and allow us to consolidate our market leadership position in the CFS business in the country. So to -- first of all, to begin with the India businesses, besides CFS and ICD to also share updates on the other businesses, I would request my colleague, Suresh, to share further updates from the strategic intent in the acquisition of Speedy Multimodes and also to share the highlights on key business developments and the performance for the quarter. Over to you, Suresh.

R. Kumar

executive
#6

Thank you, Ravi. Good evening to the participants in this part of the world in India and good morning, good afternoon to the others. It is the first time I have the opportunity to interact with you. It is a privilege for me. I'm talking to you, even as in the country, the pandemic second wave is waning and all of us know it has brought in new dimensions to our business as in every other industry and we look forward to continue contributing to the Indian economy in a strong way and participate in the next chapter of the India growth story. We certainly believe India's favorable demographic, geographic and regulatory acquisitions help us to continue the growth story and be the fastest growth country in the pack of developing nations. Allcargo India business would like to ride the wave and achieve newer milestones in the period to come. I will first talk to some of the highlights of the businesses and then talk to you about Speedy Multimodes, like my colleague, Ravi had spoken. So Q1 FY '22, some of the highlights in our CFS and ICD business. We exited Q4 with our highest ever volumes. And in Q1, there was a little slowdown triggered by the second wave of COVID at 2.75 million TEUs, major Indian port volumes registered Q-on-Q degrowth of about 7% to 7.5% with Mundra and Pipavav declining at a much faster rate. Our volume degrew by about 10% to 10.5% from the previous quarter high of 92-odd-thousand TEUs to about 82,465 TEUs. If you look at it versus the previous year, we had a 1.7x growth. In that, we know that the last year AMJ quarter was the first wave of lockdown. So that quarter had a drop in volumes, but increase in revenues due to ground rentals, which I will take you through when we talk about revenues, which is INR 122 crores in this quarter versus the INR 128 crores for the corresponding period last year. It's a 4% reduction and ground rental accrual is what causes that difference. The EBIT for the quarter was INR 34 crores as against INR 51 crores for the corresponding previous period, lower by 33%, and the EBIT margin stood at 28%. The decline in profitability is also directly linked to the ground rent accruals that we received in the same period last year. The annualized ROCE, which is a thing that we constantly focus on, like what Ravi said, for the segment remains healthy at 34%. So that's been the CFS/ICD business highlights for the first quarter. I will take you through the Logistics Park business next, where our total revenue for the quarter stood at a quarterly run rate of INR 21 crores as against INR 9 crores for the corresponding period last year. Our reported EBIT stood at INR 6 crores for the quarter. Blackstone covers our Logistics Park across the states of Karnataka, Haryana, Goa, Hyderabad and some parts of the Jhajjar warehousing, which post the deal would be 90% held by Blackstone and 10% by Allcargo Logistics. The construction costs funded by the company continues to be repaid by way of refinancing through lease rental discounting facilities that are well served by rental that we receive. Post the completion of the deal, we had endeavors to reduce the debt on consolidated books constantly by the end of FY '22. The transaction has seen some delayed due to COVID impact of working on various offices, especially the approving authorities. However, major approvals in place, construction and development work is now progressing steadily. So that's with our Logistics Park business. A quick update to you about our projects and engineering solutions. And here, we see a slight difference of the impact of the pandemic. As we see the total revenue for the quarter stood at INR 94 crores versus INR 64 crores for the corresponding period last year, which was marked by a lot of lockdown. So it is a 47% year-on-year growth that we have. The utilization levels have steadily improved from the low levels of 42% last year same period to over 75%. Our strategy to trend down loss-making and low-yield assets, steadily aiding EBIT improvement, the losses in the segment narrowed to INR 12 crores for the quarter. ROCE has remain stressed due to significant depreciation on equipment. However, the Project Logistics order book remains healthy at INR 1.8 billion. Focus on infrastructure growth and development of new metro and renewable power projects is likely to provide good opportunities in the near future. So this brings to an end of the highlights on the 3 business segments in India. I would like to quickly talk to you about Speedy Multimode acquisition that we are planning. This is CFS facility in Nhava Sheva that we are evaluating and this adds to the presence that we already have with the Allcargo CFS. In a highly fragmented market, this gives us many advantages and builds on the asset-light, ROCE-focus and the digital enablement plans that we have overall for the group. Strategically located closer to the port, in fact, the Speedy Multimode CFS facility is the closest to the port, and with a complementary set of customers and with a higher percentage of business coming in from export, this business fits in very well with the position we have and will help us grow market share to the levels of 15% and more that we would like to have in the CFS portion. 15% and excess would also make us the largest CFS in the JNPT Nhava Sheva area, and that is also an added incentive for us to be looking at this acquisition favorably. With that, I come to an end of my portion, and I'll request Ravi to explain certain developments in our global MTO business. Over to you, Ravi.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#7

Yes. Thank you, Suresh. Let me now talk briefly about our MTO division, which is largely the ocean freight business operating under the ECU Worldwide setup. As we announced recently, we have acquired a 65% stake in Nordicon, which is the market leader and command significant 40% of the neutral consolidation market in the Nordic region, which is Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. This acquisition has allowed us to continue on our growth path of expanding our presence across the globe and bringing in a strong player like Nordicon would help us reach our strategic goals of further strengthening our market leadership. The business segment continues to perform well for us on the back of transformation and to provide more information on the transaction as well as on the key highlights for how the business has been operating, I request my colleague and the CEO for ECU Worldwide, Tim Tudor, to share brief insights with you. Tim, over to you.

Tim Tudor

executive
#8

Yes. Thank you, Ravi, and hi all. It's a pleasure of mine to be with you for the first time for me. It gives me great honor to be on this call. A little bit more color on the Nordicon deal because it's very exciting for us, indeed. It fills a white space for us where we had the availability to improve our market presence in the region. And this partnership brings together 2 real leaders, ourselves at Nordicon in the fast-growing global LCL segment, which creates a better platform to grow both Ocean LCL and FCL businesses as well as rail freight from China across to Europe, which we have a significant market share in that as well. Nordicon itself holds a 40% market share in the region for the ocean freight consolidation and the deal is really a fantastic entry for us into the new geography where we will continue to build our global strength in the region. The partnership will give freight forwarders and other clients a much required flexible and time-bound logistics solutions into the Nordic region. It's not just 2 market leaders, I should say, we will be leveraging the geographic presence for both ourselves and Nordicon as well as also leverage our technology -- technological capabilities, providing customers the ease of transaction. Nordicon will continue to use its existing customer service platform, which they call, Mynordicon, and we'll integrate it into ours, which we call ECU 360, and we will run a truly global tech network. Let me run you through some of the key highlights with us in regards to the MTO business, which are operated under the global brand of ECU Worldwide. Total revenue for the quarter stood at INR 2,935 crore as against INR 1,737 crore for the corresponding period last year, an increase of about 69%. With -- year-on-year would not be the right comparison as we have maintained the growth momentum quarter-on-quarter as well, which grew by 8%. Volumes year-on-year are up roughly 20% for the LCL and 30% for the FCL. Those volume growths are on top of the lockdowns from the pandemic from the previous year. But it's interesting to note that our growth is actually, now when we compare against 2019, we're outperforming the performance of 2019, which is important to note prior to the pandemic. EBIT stood at INR 136 crores against INR 79 crores for the corresponding period last year, an increase of 72%. And improved profitability at a similar asset-based result on return on capital employed improved to its highest level of 36%. Contributing to these results, of course is, as you mentioned, the transformation projects that we have underway inside the organization. We have a lot of transformation work streams happening. Among them, we have sales acceleration and cost optimization and other long-term driving plans that will continue to drive both growth and cost maintenance down the line. We are also participating right now in a very buoyant ocean shipping global environment, which is leading to higher volumes and higher margins. And this trend should continue through the end of Q4 for us and into the beginning of the 2023 reporting year. We're also extremely focused on technology and digitalization which is key for logistics providers across the globe. We are leading the market with our product called ECU 360 which, as I mentioned before, with our new acquisition, will tie into MyNordicon. But on a global perspective, it is by far the market leader for LCL transactions for ocean freight. I think that covers it, Ravi. So back over to you for -- to continue the updates. Thank you very much.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#9

Yes. Thanks, Tim. Commenting on the extras and contract logistics businesses that we operate through our subsidiaries, Gati and ACCI. Gati's performance in quarter 1 was impacted by the second wave of COVID. However, revenue for the quarter adjusted for the Gati Kausar divestment still stood at INR 298 crores as against INR 164 crores for the first quarter in the same period previous year, which was hit by an even more significant early impactful first wave. However, we have seen that the trend had already started to improve towards the end of the quarter, and it has continued to sustain the improvement as the economy is getting back and trade and logistics is opening up. So as we speak, we already see that the business has revived to its normal or almost near normal levels. The transformation exercise continues to gain momentum. And we are on track for achieving the sustainable growth targets that we've been speaking about. And we are happy that the transformation program across operations, sales and even digital enablement has been working well, particularly on the digital implementation, our WhatsApp chat bot, Genie, which was launched has been very successful and has seen significant adaptability in the market and very strong customer satisfaction scores. Our digital cash collection initiatives have also been very successful with now already more than 30% of cash transactions collected digitally and this would continue to go up. We also have the privilege of welcoming Phil as the CEO for Gati. And under his leadership, we believe that Gati would continue to gain momentum from here on and drive growth. On the Contract Logistics business, which is under ACCI, along with the CCFF business, also witnessed strong growth despite the pandemic and the challenging environment. ACCI registered year-on-year growth of 150% and 32% growth quarter-on-quarter. The growth was largely driven by the continued momentum in the e-commerce as well as strong performance in chemical vertical, which is the core and wave in the market leaders as well. We have also been running the transformation program and I would also like to highlight that in the ACCI, we're also trying to bring in sharp business focus on growth segment of Contract Logistics and therefore, we have filed for a scheme of demerger by which the ACCI business would be demerged wherein the contract logistics business would get transferred to Avashya supply chain, which currently is a wholly owned subsidiary of Allcargo would be the vehicle for demerger and the CCFF business would remain under ACCI. This, of course, is subject to the due process being followed, the demerger scheme has been initiated. This will allow the business to have stronger focus on the high-growth Contract Logistics segment. So with this, I would like to express that the business performance continues to remain strong across all business segments, and particularly in India, now we see that the economic activity is back, and the business continues to be at normal levels and driven towards strong growth on the back of transformation. That is all from our side. Thank you very much. And now I would like to open the floor to any questions that you may have.

Operator

operator
#10

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Keshav Garg from CCIPL.

Keshav Garg

analyst
#11

So wanted to understand that this Speedy Multimode, sir, what kind of profitability does this company enjoy?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#12

Yes. So basically, Speedy Multimodes is a -- has 2 CFSs, 1 in JNPT and 1 in Mundra. In the period of FY '21, the company has registered revenue of approximately INR 250 -- approximately INR 188 crores, and it has an EBITDA of approximately INR 25 crores to INR 30 crores, that's the range we would like to share. And we believe that with the acquisition by us, we see some opportunities to transform the operations and also improve the operating margins. So we believe that this transaction can be highly value accretive for us.

Keshav Garg

analyst
#13

So we'll be taking over some debt also of this company?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#14

No, there is no significant debt in the company.

Keshav Garg

analyst
#15

So that's great that we are paying INR 102 crores to acquire a company with INR 25 crores, INR 30 crores of EBITDA and so that's very good news.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#16

Yes. So we are acquiring 85% share in the company at an enterprise valuation of INR 120 crores, and it would certainly be value accretive. And like I said, the company currently has CFS operations, and it's an asset-light facility, which means that it has contracts to operate the CFS on these facilities. One of the contracts has an extension due in 2026 and the other one has more than 25 years of the lease period left. So we also believe that those automatic renewals, which are subject to satisfactory operations would all be taken care of with our efficient management. And certainly, there are opportunities to really drive strong performance. And therefore, it can be very highly value accretive, particularly if you look at the capital that we're employing towards acquiring these and the returns that it can generate for us. So yes, we do expect this to also add strong volumes. And like my colleague, Suresh, mentioned earlier, also a very interesting mix of the new set of customers and also the contribution from export side.

Keshav Garg

analyst
#17

So that's great news. And sir, coming to our MTO business, sir. So this quarter on a consolidated basis, we did INR 136 crore of PBIT with a significant improvement year-on-year. So you think that this level on a quarterly run rate, INR 136 crores whereabouts is sustainable?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#18

So I would say that the performance is driven by a combination of various factors. There is a volume growth which is driving it. There is a transformation initiative, which is helping us to not just grow sales but also optimize costs. And there indeed has been some contribution through favorable environment as my colleague, Tim, spoke about, so it's a combination of all factors. But as we foresee, the transformation initiatives will gain momentum and continue to have deeper impact. So these performance levels are indeed sustainable.

Keshav Garg

analyst
#19

So that's, again, very encouraging. And sir, lastly, coming to our Project and Engineering Solutions, sir the losses have reduced quite substantially. And if the trend is anything to go by, it seems that in very near this segment will breakeven. So you think that we are on line to breakeven?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#20

So we have continued to look at rationalizing the fleet in the Projects and Equipment business and which is allowing us to also focus on utilization. So therefore, the profits have been going up. And at the same time, we are trying to bring down the asset base as well, which leads to a higher depreciation, which largely is the reason causing a negative EBIT. If you look at the EBITDA level, the business has been providing strong cash flows. So it's not like a business which is draining cash from the company. It's been contributing cash flows. But because of straight-line depreciation over the asset life, which is longer in reality as compared to what it is in books, it appears that thing. So yes, as we move forward, the losses should continue to narrow down at EBIT level. But I would like to reiterate that these losses are not at the EBITDA level. At EBITDA level, the business continues to contribute strong cash flows.

Keshav Garg

analyst
#21

And sir, I wanted to just say that the reason for the delisting was that the market was not giving good value to asset share, but today, the share price crossed its previous all-time high. So I think, sir, that problem is behind us. So if you can convey this message to our promoters, then that would be great.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#22

We will certainly convey our message to the promoters. And as you rightly pointed out, the listing is a matter between public shareholders and promoters. From the company's perspective, I can provide a base view on the process and also for the benefit of all other participants. Since the regulations changed, while the process is ongoing, the process has to be reinitiated under the new delisting regulations, and therefore, it is currently under the shareholder approval. So it has come back to approval for share -- come back to shareholders for approval. And therefore, considering that the voting that counts is only for public shareholders, therefore the decision on delisting would be dependent upon what the public shareholders decide for the delisting process to continue and therefore, not really in the hands of the promoters as well at this point in time. And this is the decision of the public shareholders by way of voting, which is going on at this point in time, approximately between 10th to 15th September as the postal ballot window closes, the company would be in a position to share updates on what happens in that process.

Operator

operator
#23

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Prateek Kumar from Antique Stockbroking.

Prateek Kumar

analyst
#24

My question is to -- sir, so basically, business in MTO segment has been now -- got significant tailwind from the business environment. I think after a while, we are seeing this kind of profits coming in this segment. So how do you think -- I mean, like, first of all, what is the view on the freight rates globally? How do you think the recent closedown of port in China have had any impact on the freight rates? And generally, how does this strong freight environment, like let's say -- I mean, while no one knows, but let's say next year, if this freight rates like sort of normalizes significantly, would that impact our margins also on per -- percentage margin basis? So these are my related questions on MTO segment.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#25

Yes. Tim, if you could answer these questions?

Tim Tudor

executive
#26

Yes. Yes. Sure, absolutely. So there is continual disruption to the industry with the port closures, right? We now have Ningbo moving into some lockdown of some sort. But it's not the entire or the multiple terminals within the Ningbo area. There are different terminals spread across different entry waterways. So there's 1 terminal in particular that's been closed. And yes, it does provide some disruption to the business. And these kind of activities will continue to do so as we have learned with the Suez Canal blockage and what happened. But in addition to that, there continues to be very strong demand for freight movement and continual container shortages where you can't get empty containers. So the upsurge in cargo along with the disruption that happens in the industry, are going to continue to keep the freight rates high. Now will they stay as high as they are forever now, will they stay high as they are now for, let's call it, foreseeable future, if we go out 6 months. Yes, I believe so, and that will move around trade lane by trade lane or cluster trade lanes by cluster trade lanes. And then at some point, the rates will retreat again, but they will not come back to the levels they were at previously. As an example, if a container freight rate from China-based port to European-based port was at $2,000, I'm going to speak in dollar terms, for a 40-foot container and then it went up to $12,000, it won't come back down to $2,000. It will settle at $5,000 or $6,000 or some -- the normalized rate will be a much higher rate level than it was before. So that could erode a little bit of the margin going down the line, but it won't be as much as it was before. I hope that answers your question.

Prateek Kumar

analyst
#27

Like most of them got answered. My second question is on -- so we paid like INR 120 crores for INR 30 crore kind of EBITDA business. So is this -- so how much do we see like accretion in this -- of this particular PFS. And I remember vaguely that this particular CFS was also handling lot of DPD volumes when this whole noise around DPD started. So is it something that which gives a significant advantage versus peers?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#28

So on the DPD side, just to share with you, currently, almost 20-plus CFSs handle DPD. So there's no technical differentiation. However, as my colleague, Suresh, mentioned, this is the closest CFS through JNPT and therefore logistically, it's most convenient and most efficient to use the CFS, and therefore, it has continued to perform well. And we believe that with our participation in managing, we should be in a position to further strengthen the CFS. So therefore, it is likely to continue to exhibit strong performance and will contribute to our growth.

Prateek Kumar

analyst
#29

And is it something which was very aggressively bidded or only like this was one-on-one transaction between the 2 parties?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#30

No, this is a one-on-one transition between the 2 parties. There are -- so like I said, this is not owned land. This is -- the Speedy Multimode has rights to operate these CFSs in Mundra and JNPT for a fixed period of time, which is subject to renewal. And that is where we believe that with us coming in, there will be an opportunity to continue to sustain the volumes, exhibit strong operational capabilities and continue to operate CFSs in the long run and drive performance.

Operator

operator
#31

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Chetan Shah from Abakkus Asset Management.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#32

Thank you for a very detailed explanation at the beginning. Just 2 quick questions, both to team and Suresh, if they can give us some big picture highlight about the respective regional consolidation process, which has gone or which has happened in last 7, 8 quarters due to pandemic where lot of small, small regional players have been died out or out of the business due to cash crunch? And how do we see our ability to get that market share going forward? And is there -- and my second question is, is there any other opportunity like Speedy Multimode where we can consolidate our position in CFS business in India? And I have a third question, which I'll ask later, if I will be allowed and time permit, please.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#33

Yes. So I would request Tim to talk about what has been the competitive landscape like, as you asked about bigger players gaining advantage over smaller players in consolidation play. And then Suresh can answer your questions around what's happening in India. So over to you, Tim, please.

Tim Tudor

executive
#34

Yes, sure. That's a good question, right? We've certainly seen a lot of consolidation over the last 5 years with the ocean freight carriers, and that was out of necessity actually because they were not performing very well. So we've seen a lot of consolidation and just that will actually help answer the previous question as well, which is the consolidation of the carrier -- there's less carriers. So there's less competition amongst them. So the ocean freights will continue to stay high, just as a supporting comment to that. And then in the freight forwarder community, we've seen a lot of consolidation as well. And it's not just the big companies acquiring large companies -- sorry, small company. It's also large companies acquiring large companies. And we also are participating in the consolidation of an appetite to grow our market share and presence by the acquisition of Nordicon. So that we fit right into what is happening on the global strategy of acquiring companies. And we will continue to be on the lookout and on the hunt to find and look for new companies that will fit our strategic goals of continual growth in the ocean freight business, both LCL and FCL as well as now whether we want to grow aggressively in the airfreight business. So these 3 product lines that we're running will continue to be areas where we want to grow both organically as well as through acquisition given the right multiple and given the right synergy that we can get out of the targets that we find. I hope that answers that question.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#35

If I may just ask one follow-up to that. When you say that we are one of the fully integrated model, both FCL, LCL on Ocean and also looking at the air and we have offices across. And if you look at India business, mainly on the CFS side and our presence in various port, that makes us one of the very unique business model on a global platform, may not be in a very larger scale, but on a very significant trade route scale. So could you just explain us that does this give us any advantage while negotiating with clients, not just in terms of pricing, but also in the form of gaining a long-term contractual arrangement with them, which helps us to have a better visibility of the business in a time to come.

Tim Tudor

executive
#36

So yes. And in the global ocean freight business, we may appear to be small, but in the space in which we operate, we're the #1 player. Our competitors are smaller and they're behind us, so -- on the LCL business, in particular. And we're certainly making marks on the FCL. So from a market position perspective, we are in a leadership position on the LCL. I think that answers your question.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#37

Yes. And Suresh, if you could add about the India part as well?

R. Kumar

executive
#38

I'll do that. I'll do that. Thank you. That was a good question. With regard to the opportunities that the present situation throws up, you rightly observed that there are opportunities for consolidation and -- which come up and we are constantly on the lookout for strategic fit where we have great synergies and we have a very, very strong record of identifying opportunities, taking them on and then assimilating those inorganic acquisitions into the group. So that's the strength with which we look at Speedy Multimodes. And given the fact that it is strategically located close to the JNPT port here, helps us to increase our market share in the growing market of Mundra, we felt it's a great opportunity to look at. About your question as to how we responded to the pandemic, I would like to just add saying that these are very difficult times, dynamic times. And if we are able to respond to the customers' requirements with agility and speed, and that is something that our management and our teams across the country have been able to do. It has been a very difficult period of lockdowns in which there have been many changes which have come, and that's why we have kept our eyes on operations running uninterrupted because we play a vital part in the customer's supply chain and ensuring that there are no disruptions or even if there are disruptions brought upon by the environment, how can we manage to minimize them. That's something that we have kept an eye on and absorbed some of the shops. And if I were to kind of tell you, when we went through the first phase of lockdown and there was a condition in the ports, I think we really extended ourselves to ensure that most of our customers who had time critical and those kind of containers, we were able to prioritize and ensure that they didn't have to go through much of disruption. So that is something which we are focused on. And along with that, looking at the opportunities which come up, it's put a lot of pressure on operations, including our own operations, and that's why the quality of the teams that we have in our different facilities comes in handy. We expect to bring that kind of knowledge and understanding of the business as we look at opportunities like Speedy Multimodes and which is what Ravi was referring to, bring that quality of operations and management to kind of to the 4 so that the assimilation of those businesses can happen well.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#39

Yes. Sir, just one last follow-up on that. The way we acquired Speedy Multimode and trying to put fit into our missing piece. Is there a location or area which is like in your top 1 or 2 priority, either inorganic or organic growth, which helps us to make our CFS business much more robust and relatively much more competitive to our competition around us. This is with respect to expected dedicated freight corridor which is long awaited to get ready, and we are one of the few who can take advantage of that asset once it is ready to take highest advantage out of that.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#40

Yes. So just to share on that, we have provided this information earlier as well. As far as the CFS business is concerned, we would continue to look at opportunities to grow inorganically wherever possible without making significant capital commitments. While on the other hand, as far as ICD is concerned, these have to be developed alongside the new dedicated freight corridor, which have brought in paradigm shift in the rail container transport in the country. And we already have an upcoming large Multimodal Logistics Parks, which also includes a private freight terminal and ICD coming up at Jhajjar, which would connect with the dedicated freight corridors by way of a special Haryana orbital ray in which we are also equity partners holding a very minority strategic stake. And we would continue to look for opportunities to set up facilities in some more additional strategic locations. We cannot share details at this point in time. But yes, you would look at a couple of other facilities along the Western dedicated freight corridor, which would be our focus. And on CFS, we continue to evaluate other opportunities as well. Wherever we can find low capital investment, high return kind of opportunities wherein our capabilities and relationships can play a role in driving growth, we look for such opportunities in some select locations. But there are no significant gaps as such because the locations we cover already accounts for almost 80% of the contained traffic in the country.

Operator

operator
#41

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Keshav Garg from CCIPL.

Keshav Garg

analyst
#42

So just wanted to understand that what would be our net debt post these 2 acquisitions of Speedy and that Nordic acquisition?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#43

Yes. So I would request my colleague, Deepal to share the details of the debt position with you. Deepal, over to you.

Deepal Shah

executive
#44

Sure. See, currently, our gross grew net debt -- gross debt -- net debt is around INR 1,800 crores across the group, around INR 1,000 crores with Allcargo, around INR 500 crores for ECU and around INR 300 crores at Gati. We have some monetization events, especially the Blackstone event and some of the other events that are lined up. So it would be very difficult to say. But as far as the Nordicon is concerned, that would add marginally around close to INR 150 crores to INR 200 crores debt. But it will be kind of coped up by earnings that we've seen which are ballooning up and will go up over the rest of the year, and we should be able to kind of repay some of the other loans on that. So we have a target to bring down debt over the next year or by the end of this year. And with both of these acquisitions, we do not see a substantial change in our overall debt position. But both acquisitions put together, the cost is approximately INR 200 or INR 300 crores, which we believe that through higher internal earnings, we should be able to fund that.

Keshav Garg

analyst
#45

So basically, we'll end the year with a similar amount of net debt that we have right now around...

Deepal Shah

executive
#46

Yes. In fact, if the Blackstone event happens, we should be slightly better than what we're doing now.

Keshav Garg

analyst
#47

Sure, sure, sure, sure. And also, if you could give us any idea about the profitability about that Nordic acquisition, profitability right now? And with our integration and synergies and our superior management, what kind of -- I mean, how much improvement in operating margins can we extract from that acquisition?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#48

Yes. So just to share some details on the transaction where again it has been an extremely value-accretive transaction for us wherein we have valued the business on the basis of 2020 performance and the business has already grown significantly during the year 2021. And we believe that it will add further synergies to our global network as the cargo will flow into the global network. And in terms of the performance improvement within Nordicon, Nordicon is already run by an excellent management team, very focused on driving growth and digitization. So we believe that the large gains have already been accruals since the negotiation period and the actual performance period at this point in time. So to share with you, we had paid approximately about USD 29 million for acquiring a 65% shareholding in the company. And the company EBITDA for the calendar -- for the year along with the additional synergies and contribution to the EBITDA for ECU Worldwide, the total impact should be about $2 million to $3 million impact of an additional EBITDA generated for ECU Worldwide, which will be 100% ours. And the company is expected to do close to about $7 million in EBITDA for the year and 65% of that would belong to us for the 65% share. So those are the numbers, broadly speaking. And there is no debt in the company. Also just to highlight the strength of our business, the Nordicon acquisition has been funded from -- largely from the internal accruals itself. So that speaks volumes about the company's strength in these challenging times as well.

Operator

operator
#49

The next question is from the line of Vikram Suryavanshi from PhillipCapital.

Vikram Suryavanshi

analyst
#50

Yes, sir. Sir, I just wanted to clarity on our location, the Jhajjar one, because what I understood, initially we had that warehousing business as well as the ICD business. So deal with the Blackstone, which are the assets we are holding in Jhajjar or it is completely sold to Blackstone with 90%, 10% holding. So if you can give some clarity on Jhajjar asset base?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#51

Yes. So Jhajjar was being built as a Multimodal Logistics Parks, which would have both warehousing and the ICD and PFT business. The company, in fact -- so there are 2 entities which own the land and building there. We are already restructuring those entities by way of a demerger whereby the business would get segregated into 2 separate entities, 1 which would hold all the warehousing assets, which are under consideration in the Blackstone transaction, while the second entity will hold the ICD and the PFT business, which is what remains 100% with on Allcargo. And it is this ICD, PFT business, which we are referring to when we speak about the ICD at Jhajjar which is basically near Farrukhnagar station and Farrukhnagar station is now part of the upcoming Haryana orbital rail corridor, which is a high-speed metro cum DFC-compliant trade transport, which is very unique and provides direct access from Jhajjar to the dedicated freight corridor.

Vikram Suryavanshi

analyst
#52

Understood. And how much CapEx will do for development of this ICD and PFT? And over how many -- basically, how we are looking at it will start in a time frame?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#53

So I would say that there are currently certain ongoing approvals and some land parcels being acquired for the purpose of railway track to be laid which would happen during this financial year. However, subsequent investments of procuring additional land and building up the freight terminal would largely be in the subsequent financial year. And in terms of the exact scale and size, it is still a bit of a broad range. So we would share details in the coming quarters as we are still contemplating the exact operational and business plan based on traffic studies and competitive landscape. So we would share numbers when we are more closer to having the final figures for the same.

Vikram Suryavanshi

analyst
#54

Okay. And this INR 1,000 crore debt what we have in standalone, how much of that can -- will go once Blackstone deal will be complete?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#55

Yes. Deepal, if could you answer that, please?

Deepal Shah

executive
#56

Okay. So just -- so to further clarify, the total debt, net debt for Allcargo India -- I mean, standalone is around INR 1,000 crores and net debt across the group is INR 1,400 crores, not INR 1,800 crores, INR 1,800 crores is the gross debt. So INR 1,000 crores, we expect this to go down by around INR 300-odd crores by end of the year if the Blackstone deal goes through?

Vikram Suryavanshi

analyst
#57

Understood. And yes. And my last question about this, basically, if you look at Allcargo has the advantage of network as well as the kind of investment what we have done in technology. And we were talking about really capitalizing that for end-to-end delivery model. So how much we have been able to move to into a delivery model and what kind of growth and profitability impact it can have going ahead? So if you can comment on that, I think that would be helpful.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#58

So there are 3 parts to it. One is an integrated freight offering. Second is your customer-facing synergies. And third is back-end synergies. As far as integrated freight offerings are concerned, today, we have Gati service capabilities fitting right in the ECU 360, the global digital platform, which allows for end-to-end low transportation. And while it is still a small base, it is steadily picking up. And our focus as a business at ECU Worldwide is also to expand on the digital and door-to-door offerings. So in that regard, it's a great capability, which is gaining in percentage. That side, our ability to offer integrated freight service is also picking up with various other initiatives such as CFS and Gati coming together, as well as offering end-to-end products on cross-border e-commerce, et cetera. However, it's a small base, not making a significant commercial impact on the overall scale of business. The other 2 synergies are actually playing a more critical role. One on the customer-facing wherein customers now recognize all cargo as a service provider which can be a true logistics partner to take care of all their requirements. And therefore, there's a greater interest in working with Allcargo across the business segments. And that is something which is certainly helping us drive significant growth in revenue through both acquisition of new customers as well as expanding the share of wallet with the existing customers. And that's something which is visible in the growth patterns of Gati over the last few quarters. And the third point, which has also been significantly worked upon is the back-end synergies whereby by having businesses across the group, which integrate across the value chain, we are in a position to synergize procurement and support operations, which have helped us to maintain the highest quality standards while optimizing cost and optimizing costs certainly helps improve the profit margins as well. So this is what has been happening on the overall synergies on integration, customer relationship and on the back-end.

Operator

operator
#59

The next question is from the line of Prateek Kumar from Antique Stockbroking.

Prateek Kumar

analyst
#60

Just one thing on debt. We said net debt is INR 1,400 crores and around INR 200 crore will be added by the Nordicon acquisition. Is that correct?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#61

That's correct. That's correct.

Prateek Kumar

analyst
#62

And just one thing on this Logistics Park construction for Blackstone and other parties. So this has been quite delayed generally in terms of construction. So if we just want to put that on a scale of construction in terms of percentage, so how should we understand that -- because it seems March '22 also doesn't -- is not a very confirmative target that we're looking at, so just?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#63

Yes. So let me just clarify there. There is no delay absolutely on construction or operations whatsoever. In fact, the facilities are already constructed and operational and also revenue accretive. And we have also, in some of the SPVs even raised LRD funding, which is discounting the lease rate. So as you would see from the segmental reporting, the facilities are already starting to earn revenues which is increasing quarter-on-quarter as new and new tenants are moving in. The delays that we are attributing to are some of the conditions precedent to be fulfilled which are around some very small land parcels, which had some technical changes and some technical approvals which were pending with the government authorities, which are still pending because the functioning of the government authorities in the state of Karnataka as well as Haryana has been constraint by the COVID pandemic. It does not impact the operational aspect of the logistics part, which continue to work well on both the construction as well as leasing out. So there are no concerns on the operational front. It just had some conditions precedent which were linked with the government approvals have been delayed, and therefore, the consummation of Blackstone transaction has been delayed, but it does not have any impact on the operational or the construction aspects of the Logistics Parks.

Deepal Shah

executive
#64

Ravi, this is Deepal. To add further more, through the year, there will be many other boxes which will be completed and LRD is raised. So there are no issues on the construction for sure.

Prateek Kumar

analyst
#65

But we are still not very confirmed on the receipt of receiving money?

Deepal Shah

executive
#66

So we are very confident of finishing it, but -- as you are aware that we are right amidst the pandemic, the functioning of some of the offices under the government and they're not within our control. So we are not able to decide, yes. It wouldn't be fair to give a time line on something which we don't have a control on.

Operator

operator
#67

The next question is from the line of Chetan Shah from Abakkus Asset Management.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#68

Just have 1 small question. What would be the normal CapEx for the current financial year, apart from these 2 acquisitions that you did?

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#69

Yes, Deepal, if you could answer that on the CapEx budget?

Deepal Shah

executive
#70

Yes. So we do not have any -- so if we leave the Blackstone pieces where the construction needs to be completed, if you leave that aside, apart from that, we do not have any other large CapEx other than just maintenance CapEx through the year. That's a very, very small amount.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#71

Just that just to add further -- yes, just to add further on that, most of the expenses have been -- have been moved into operating expense category as we look at using technology also through service providers as a service rather than investing. The focus has been very sharp on keeping the CapEx minimal. So therefore, in proportion to the earnings, it will be very minimal.

Operator

operator
#72

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Vikram Suryavanshi for closing comments.

Vikram Suryavanshi

analyst
#73

Thank you, operator. We thank the management of Allcargo Logistics for giving us an opportunity to host the call and taking time out for interaction with the stakeholders. Thank you all for being on the call.

Ravi Jakhar

executive
#74

Thank you.

Deepal Shah

executive
#75

Thank you very much. It was a pleasure to be here.

Tim Tudor

executive
#76

Thank you.

Deepal Shah

executive
#77

Thank you, everyone.

Operator

operator
#78

Thank you. On behalf of PhillipCapital India Private Limited, that concludes the conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

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