Eveready Industries India Limited (EVEREADY.NS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

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Proceeding ahead, we shall now invite next speaker produce and you can switch on your video.

Good evening, ma'am. I am Sudipa Choraborty attending VC from Kolkata, a shareholder of Abi Industries Limited. At first, I congratulate my Company Secretary, my Board of Directors and my fellow shareholder to give me a chance to speak something in this platform. I believe my company is in strong hand, and it will perform better to better in coming future for our directors' honesty, dedication, devotion and determination. I always use Everready product as battery and like me, thousands of Indians always use Everready. This is the proof of our brand. Sir, I just want to know how can you control your liabilities and interest costs? And my second question is, how would you implement green energy in your business? I casted vote along with my family members in favor of you. Thank you, sir. Please consider some rewards for the attending member. Thank you, everybody.

Thank you so much, sir. Moving ahead, we shall now invite the next speaker, Mr. Gautam Nandi.

Respected Chairman, Board of Directors, fellow shareholders. [indiscernible] Equity shareholder of your company. I'd like to give thanks to your secretarial department for sending me annual report allow to notice unnecessary join the link to e-mail all in advance. So special thanks to our respected company Secretary, Ms. Sam and our whole team of your secretary department, including our assistant, Ms. [indiscernible] well behaved and dam for rendering good services to our minority shareholders. Sir, you are organizing your Annual General Meeting through video conference, and I find it is a grand success like the previous year. Sir, I'm very pleased to receive your wonderful annual report, which is very, very informative. I find very good performance in every segment, even in this challenging year. Sir, your sir, is also very, very good. So please keep it up. Sir, MD sir, respected sir, your introductory speech was very encouraging. So thank you again, sir. Sir, very pleased to receive your very good dividend. Sir, I'd like to know what is your road map for the next 3 to 4 years. One thing, sir, Definitely, you have adopted the latest AI technology in your company, I think. Now I'd like to know how this new technology is helping our company for further modernization. Sir, what is the safety measures taken by our company in and your premises. Please let us know. Sir, is there any plan for expansion program or any diversification program in near future? Sir, are you planning to acquire any new company in this year? Sir, I personally use our previous products. As per the price and quality is concerned, it is remarkable. It is marvelous. So thanks again, sir. Sir, I'm very pleased and very proud to be a shareholder of your company. I have full trust with our strong management like you and so along with my family, wholeheartedly support your all resolutions, which we have already casted through our e-voting. -- looking forward with a positive outlook towards our company with higher profit margin and some dividend, a personal bonus and they got very much signing off.

Thank you so much. We shall now invite the next speaker, Mr. [indiscernible]

[indiscernible] a shareholder of Eveready Industries. My respected Chairman and Board of Directors and Independent Directors, our Suvamoy Saha and Anand Chand Burman and our Company Secretary, Madam, Shampa Ghosh; and our total team, along with our Kanchan Madam, though who informed me on time to attend this meeting. Thanks to everybody. Sir, my previous shareholder already raised and it's the 9th Annual General Meeting, which is going on 5th August 2025. Sir, my previous shareholder already raised a number of queries and they are valuable queries the matter of accounts and so on and so on. Sir, matter of our Chairman already informed us the matter of 23% profit increase and also ROE 16.4%. Sir, as far as my question is, what is our future plan, mainly in the area of electronics am and also solar panel area? And how do we mitigate our threats, different threats. So please, if possible, sir. And sir, the matter of the annual report, sir, 255 pages beautifully organizing our company secretary department. Sir, please, I have not yet reached received that one. Please send me on my system-wise, sir. And the matter of CSR activities, I'm requesting, please think about the sports area. sports area. It's I wish a good year ahead, good result and good dividend and do we meet again. It's our ever give me power, give me range, innovate, collaborate and accelerate our next-generation future. Thank you very much.

Moving ahead, we shall now invite the next speaker, Mr. Jaideep Bakshi.

Yes. Very good evening, Chairman, MD and Board of Directors and other key manager persons, myself Jaideep Bakshi, connecting from the city of Kolkata. First of all, I convey my thanks to our Company Secretary Shampa Ghosh Madam and also to Kanchanpande Madam for giving me an opportunity to express my view and maintaining good cordial relations with the shareholders and presenting a detailed and informative annual report. Sir, your initial speech was very much informative, highlighting about our different products and also our future prospects. And congrats once again for the steady top line growth and excellent performance we performed. Sir, kindly share our growth priorities and plans to continue our growth momentum banking on the emerging opportunities and plans to counter this inflationary pressure? And what is the percentage of market share are we enjoying at present? -- and status of our batteries plant in Jammu coming up, kindly share some thoughts and our support for technology to provide energy-efficient solutions and expand our product base. What is our thoughts? CSR activities well explained from Pages 37 to 39 and also our ESG journey well shared also. And what is our plans to utilize our resource reserves rather in future? I'm personally using our products and really satisfied with the life of our products and company mainly exposed to currency in U.S. dollars and Chinese yuan and how much has been this impact on our margins, kindly share some thoughts and I have supported all the relations and wish the company continued the lighting up the lives with our dynamic presence through brand eready along with the trust of all stakeholders and company grow to new heights. Thank you, madam. Thank you for giving me an opportunity.

Thank you so much, sir. We shall now invite the next speaker, Mr. Redepau.

Yes. Thank you. Chairman, Board of Directors and myself, [indiscernible] AGM from Hyderabad. As a shareholder, I'm very happy, proud about the company's performance financial '25. Chairman, sir, your speech is very wonderful. You have given me nice information about my company progress and future and past also. Congratulations, wonderful speed. Company Secretary is very good team. They sent the annual report to me well in advance as requested. Thank you so much. I received -- gone through the annual report, wonderful number, figures, pictures and especially, I'm very happy with 90thnualener I'm attending from G from Chailood battery lights. While I'm going to the paddy fields with my father, I have very good memory quality lights battery lights and also everything my childhood, days are now memorable, sir. Thank you so much for quality production are giving to the nation. Sir, also gone through the annual report, wonderful transparency, ethically high, high standard, the governance or maintaining are under highly appreciative conduct all our KMP and also I can't management, everybody, the CS team and also the CFO team has the man also given wonderful the annual report. Congratulations, God you without them, this not happened in the annual report preparation. CSR also very wonderful doing the need and rural area and the education support rural thank you so much [indiscernible] to the education and our funds, especially the single parent also please support them, sir, the education, especially wonderful performance my questions, sir. out the financial performance question, sir, here, can you management give the overview of the company's performance and also what is the key challenges faced during the year? And also, so what is the company revenue growth, profit growth outlook for financial '25, '26? Are there any cost cutting or efficiency improvement initiative any plan? I would like to know about the production portfolio innovation question? Are there any new product launches or the innovations in this pipeline? And another one, how is the company adapting the changing consumer preferences? This is very important. Please throw some information. And also the expansion exports, are there any plans to expand the manufacturing capacity to enter new markets? And also what percentage of revenue comes from the export and there are are there efforts to grow the sustainability and ESG goals and what steps our company taking towards the sustainability and environment-friendly production questions on the supporting strongly supporting the resolution. So I wish all the best to the company secretary sending the annual report also the wonderful the transparency [indiscernible] please continue their able to attend anywhere in the global future coming financial also please continue sir. We have ahead and take sir. Sir, hopefully, in coming financial, we'll achieve many more higher awards in coming financials under your leadership. So wish good wisdom. I pray to give the wisdom, health, happiness, entire Board members, families and hard-working employees, hardworking company secretary team, entire team, God bless you happy and proud sir from Hyderabad. All the best, [indiscernible]

Thank you. We shall now invite the next speaker, Mr. Abhishek.

First of all, I congratulate the management on the 90th Annual General Body Meeting. Sir, trust all is well with you and your family. In this challenging situation, our company deserves much more respect than the current market cap after completing more than a decade of successful operations, profitability and becoming one of the strongest brands in the respective segment. Sir, as of date, how many employees are there in the company? What are the steps being taken by the management to reduce the other expenses, legal professional charges and the audit fees. my team are running a legal firm in the name and style of associates. So I request the management to the firm in the appointment of the company, and we will be glad to extend our services. Sir, what are the steps being taken by the management to improve the ROE, return on equity ratio and EPS, I would like to know from you. I would request the management to kindly consider hybrid AGMs in the years to come because most of the senior citizens are not able to join because of the digital challenges in this platform. So if you can kindly consider hybrid AGMs in the years to come, a number of shareholders can join you in the meeting. You can get the valuable points, suggestions and ideas that will be helpful for the management to empower in the coming future. So kindly arrange a plant visit for the investor fraternity in the upcoming year. And what are the steps, what are the new innovations, ideas that the independent directors are bringing on the table to guide the next generation. I would like to know from you, sir. And most of my questions have been asked by my pure shareholders, and I send my questions via e-mail also restrictive questions here in the interest of time. And I would request the management to kindly take care of the hospitality part of the investor fraternity who have joined this virtual conference, kindly send your product samples, batteries to the investor fraternity who have joined this virtual meeting and made your 90th Annual General Body Meeting a grand success. Sir, kindly give us an opportunity to meet you and greet you, sir, whenever we come down to Kolkata and the company is doing really well. Company has very good corporate governance practice. I do appreciate the management for that. Nothing much to ask. I wish the company and the Board of Directors a great success and prosperity in the coming future. And thank you for giving the opportunity, sir. One more shareholder, Mr. Prakash is also a registered speaker shareholder and he is not able to join from his own device because of the technical difficulties in e-voting platform and traffic. So kindly allow him to join from this device, share for the last number of years been selling your products in our showroom. [indiscernible] products are coming. What is the new product going to come that will be wonderful and it will be useful. You have a good old record of good products late [indiscernible]

We invite the next speaker, Mr. [indiscernible]

Respected Chairman, other Board of Directors, I'm Sujan Moto. I'm attending this meeting from my residence in Kolkata. First of all, I'd like to welcome our new Company Secretary, ma'am Shampa today. Ma'am, you have joined last year 1st December. So joining our family is very nice, but I know you from your previous company also, ma'am. Thank you for joining our company. Sir, our result is very good. You have given 30% dividend. That is very nice, sir. I have a few questions, sir. This lighting and electrical product section, how much market we have captured so far, if you can please tell us. I believe that you will have this data with you. And sir, is there any plan for solar cell business to enter at all, if you can please tell us. Sir, manufacturing facilities we have in India. So how much capacity utilization in our plants we are doing at this moment? That's my third question. If possible, please arrange a factory visit. I have never seen our factory. So it will be very nice. And sir, my last question is that the main challenges we are getting from this chip product, especially on the lighting section, bulbs and all. So how our company is trying to overcome that challenges, if you can please tell. Nothing to add more. Over to you for further proceedings. But before that, I'd like to definitely thank our Company Secretary, our new company, Sampa Ghosh and her whole team, especially Kanchan Pan ma'am also for bringing a very good investor services to the investors community. listing, you -- thank you very much. Chairman, sir, over to you for further proceedings. Thank you.

Thank you so much, sir. We shall now invite the next speaker, Ms. Chandravati Ghani.

Very good afternoon, respected Chairman, sir, and all other Board members present in the meeting. I am Chandravati Gattani, equity shareholder of MIT Industries India Limited, one of the most iconic consumer brands, especially known for its dry batteries and flusls. Thank you very much to our secretary team. Thank you, [indiscernible] and timely and give me an opportunity to express myself. I strongly support all the regulation, sir. The annual report is very detailed. Our company has shown resilient performance through operational excellence, focused domestic strategy and consistent financial growth. The company remains on a strong trajectory heading into financial year 2025-'26 with enhanced shareholder value and strategic product innovation. Our company unveiled India's first hybrid power torch combining rechargeable and A battery modes for uninterrupted lightning. Dividend, INR 1.50 increased dividend reflects confidence in cash flows and profitability. Capital allocation indicates a balance between rewarding shareholders and retaining earnings for growth. Average move suggest a steady hand in financial management and and to shareholder royalty. We are very confident in your company as we can see the dedication of the management to create a long-term value for us as shareholders. Best wishes for a better height. Thank you.

Thank you so much, ma'am. So we will move to our first speaker shareholder, Mr. Manjit Singh. So I think he's not there at the meeting. So thank you, everyone. There are no more speakers. Over to you, Managing Director, sir.

Okay. I'll take on the questions now, and I'll try to give answers to them to the best of my ability. I'll start with Ms. Lili Radhan. First of all, I acknowledge gratefully the words of appreciation. You have asked a question on energy conservation. As you know, we have made a mention of it in our annual report also, we have adopted ISO 50001, which is a certified energy management system. And this is across all our manufacturing operations to optimize energy usage and reduce greenhouse emission. You have asked about the long-term vision for batteries. As you know, we are an entrenched consumer battery player. Our market share exceeds 50%. It is about 53%. And we plan on staying as a very dominant leader in this market. You have asked about rechargeable batteries. Yes, we are also -- we have rechargeable batteries as part of our battery portfolio, and we are fairly successful in that. I move on to Mr. Manoj Kumar Gupta. Mr. Gupta, you have asked about the future of the future plans for the company. Business-wise, as you know, we are in batteries, flashlights and lighting. All these 3 business verticals provide ample opportunities for growth. And our current focus is to make sure that we explore the entire potential that exists within each of these verticals. And currently, that is what we are working on in the current financial year. You have asked about the export of Eveready brand. Unfortunately, we do not have Eveready brand other than in India and Nepal. As a result, we cannot export products in brand Eveready. However, we do that in a brand called Lava. Our current presence in the export market is pretty limited. But as we bring alkaline manufacturing into our basket, we should be able to look at exporting these batteries, maybe in Lava brand or in white label. You have talked of ESG rating. We have an ESG committee that to drive sustainable development. Our ESG rating is not yet due. It would be due from next year. And of course, we will comply with that. We do conduct regular stack emission monitoring at all our plants. Jammu plant completion is on target. We plan to start commercial production by the end of this financial year, and we stay sort of on target with that. The cost of the plant would be INR 180 crores at this point of time. And again, we are on target with that. I respectfully disagree with you on one point that you made that we are weak in West and Central. Our market share position in batteries and flashlights, batteries, as I said, is 53%. That is uniform all across. Okay, there are small pockets here and there, but to say that we are weak in entire West or Central is not really accurate. However, we take your point respectfully, and we will see that if you have observed any pocket where we are weak, we will try to improve ourselves. Our place in lighting is yet not very large because we have been a recent entrant. We are large in one product segment of the lighting portfolio, which is emergency bulk, where we would rank among the fast 3 players in the market. You have asked about double-like returns. I can assure you that as management, as Board of Directors, we are completely engaged with making our company's profitability, our top line, bottom line better. So once we manage to do that, and we have managed to do that, I'm sure the returns will flow back to the shareholders. I come to Deepa Prhan. You have asked how do we maintain our leadership position vis-a-vis players like Exide and Amaraja. I would respectfully like to correct your impression on one thing. We are not in the same market as Exide and Amararaja, who are in large-format batteries. We are in consumer sales, and we are the market leader. With regard to efficiency in manufacturing, yes, we do track efficiency in manufacturing by ensuring that our productivity is high, labor productivity high, machine productivity, scrap, we try to make sure that defectives are the lowest. So we track all parameters that encompasses smart manufacturing. With regard to our case going on at Ipllat, the case is in hearing. There is an appeal from the company, which is currently being heard. So there has been no conclusion on that process yet. Mr. Satesh Kumasara gratefully acknowledged the appreciation. And I would say that we do keep looking and exploring at adjacent product categories like solar products. We do have some small format solar products, but whether we should go further more into this is something that we routinely keep exploring. Your point on home lighting is sort of well received. We are in home lighting, and we will continue to explore further portfolio enlargement in this particular segment. As far as carbon emission is concerned, yes, we do have -- we have installed solar power plants in all our manufacturing locations. We have tried to transition to renewable energy use through use of LED lights, natural ventilation to reduce dependence on electricity. I think I -- you have one more point on debt equity ratio. I would like to -- happy to announce that our debt equity ratio stood at [ 1.8 ] in 2021, which is now down to 0.7. Mr. Patak, again, gratefully acknowledge the appreciation I have already. You have asked about the commercial production at Jammu. I have already covered that. The alkaline perspective is something which has led us to this particular manufacturing option because that is the most exciting part of the battery market now. It is growing rapidly. Last year, we grew both value and volume upwards of 50%. So we think this is one area which we need to really focus on, and that is how Jammu plant was conceived, and it is now on track to be starting commercial production by end of this financial year. We routinely do new products development, whether it is in flashlights, in lights and also adjacent product. E-commerce, you have mentioned, yes, it is a focus area of attention for us. E-commerce and particularly quick commerce is extremely important for our product categories, and we are extremely mindful of that. Electrical accessories, yes, we do some accessories through our lighting distribution, and we will keep adding whatever we think is relevant for the distribution system. You have mentioned about profitability. Yes, there is focus on profitability. We have been able to expand margin in the current -- in the financial year under review, and we will continue to endeavor improving on that. Debt equity ratio, I have already covered. I have covered market share in batteries, which stands at 53% -- you have also asked us -- asked about the export strategy of the company, which I have also covered in an earlier question. Evers Spark is a small subsidiary, which we used to strategically use for our procurements from particularly China. And this is under review, whether we need to carry on with it or really not carry on. That is something that we'll keep you highlighted on this -- updated on this. The CCI matter, which is in NE, I have already covered. Working capital management continues to be a high priority area for us, and we have been improving on all parameters, whether it is receivables, inventory holding and whatever other current assets. Mr. Dilip Kumar Das, we acknowledge your appreciation and the good wishes. You have asked about the adoption of AI in our operations. Yes, we do have AI woven into many of our functions like logistics, like preventive maintenance, et cetera, et cetera. So obviously, I mean, everybody these days has to adopt to AI, and we are also doing the same. Mr. Tapas Kumar Datta, your suggestions are well noted. We really acknowledge the detailed reading that you have given to the annual report. I mean it was -- I mean, an erudite reading of the report, and thank you for that. You have asked about ESG rating, which I have covered in an earlier question. You have also asked about any plans on inorganic acquisition? No, we don't, at this point of time, have any plan. But of course, I mean, the company remains open as and when an opportunity arises. Mr. Taraknatakravaty, we -- I again acknowledge your kind words and the compliments. We have noted your point on the presentation of the annual report, and we will -- that is well noted. Mr. Sudita Chakravaty, we again acknowledge your kind words and extremely grateful for your custom. I'm happy to know that you are buying our products. Please keep doing so. how do we control interest cost? As I said, our -- and as I covered some time back, our debt-equity ratio keeps coming down, reflecting the company's focus on making sure that the debt number comes down. If debt number comes down, interest cost automatically gets reduced. You have talked of green energy. I have covered that earlier. Mr. Gautam Nandi, again, very grateful for your custom. You have asked about the road map for business. I have mentioned a little while back about our 3 verticals and how engaged we are to explore the full potential that is there in these 3 existing verticals. Adoption of technology, we adopt technology in all our processes. We are powered by an ERP system, which is SAP. We are powered by sales automation tools, our sales force, they carry handhelds where they capture the orders from the market, et cetera, et cetera. We have demand planning systems. So adoption of technology, I would say, is of a very high order. Safety standards, yes, we are extremely mindful of safety, and we try to adhere to the highest standards possible. Diversification is a routine exploration by management. And if there is anything that comes up, we obviously will keep you updated on that. Mr. Atum Saha, you have also asked about our future plans. I have covered that through our -- about our businesses. Your suggestion on CSR is noted, but I would like to highlight that we already have a program called Saksham, which caters to sports-related CSR activities. Mr. Jaideep Bakshi, growth priorities, as I said, all our 3 verticals have potential to grow, and we are focusing on the same. We deeply appreciate all the kind comments and also grateful for your custom. Market share, I have already covered. I have already also covered the status of Jammur, which remains on track. Export, again, I have said that we are currently operating on a very small base. But hopefully, in future, we should be able to improve upon that. Impact of FX, yes, we do have impact of FX on our profitability, but prudent hedging, we try to minimize such impacts. Mr. Gunduluru, again, acknowledge the appreciation and also grateful for your custom. Cost cutting, profit growth for '25, '26, you have sort of asked for some highlight. As I said, that we would like to grow our top line in a healthy manner, which provides for profitability. You have asked about consumer loyalty. Obviously, as an FMCG organization, that is our first and foremost priority. Our exports, as I mentioned before, is still very small. It is about 2% of our turnover, but we hope to grow in future. Manufacturing capacity, we have abundant manufacturing capacity because there are some of the types in battery, which have, over time, become very small, like the big desize battery, the C size battery, et cetera. The ones which are regularly in business are AA and AAA, where our capacities in utilization varies between 75% and 85%. So we still have headroom there for growth. Mr. Abhishek, you have asked about how do we improve our ROI, PE ratio, EPS -- these are all derivatives from our business profitability. As I said, that is our focus area. So as we improve profitability, this ROI, PE and EPS get immediately better. I thank you for offering your services. We have noted that. Mr. Modak, lighting market share, we are very, very small at this point of time. We have just covered -- crossed INR 300 crores in the year under review. However, our aspirations are high, and we hope to grow market share. As you know, lighting market is a crowded market. There are some 12 to 15 large players. We are one of them. However, the market size being very small, we see opportunity for us to grow bigger from the size that we are currently in. Solar products, I have already covered. You have talked about profitability of lighting. We are, at this point of time, breakeven. As we improve our turnover size, profitability is something that's going to happen in the course of the coming times. Ms. Chandravati acknowledge your appreciation. And I note all your points and comments, and we will certainly take all that into cognizance as we go forward. I think I have covered everyone. So that's all from my side. Thank you once again for your valuable time and contributions. I now hand over the proceedings to the Company Secretary.

Thank you, sir. This brings us to the end of the question-and-answer session. Chairman, Chairman, you're still muted.

Got it. Got it. Now I'm not anymore. Thank you. I trust the members who have not cast their votes by availing the e-voting facility have cast their votes during the meeting. And if you haven't done that even, you've got 30 minutes till after the conclusion of the meeting to cast your votes. I request the Company Secretary to apprise you about the details on the voting results.

After the conclusion of the meeting, the scrutinizer will count the votes cast during this meeting and the votes cast through remote e-voting and shall submit his consolidated report within the requisite time from the conclusion of the meeting. The voting results shall be submitted to the stock exchanges and uploaded on the company's website for information of all concern as well as put up on the notice board of the company at its registered office. I thank all the shareholders, members of the Board, auditors and the management team for joining this meeting over video conference.

The business of the meeting is now complete. Thank you all for joining the 90th Annual General Meeting of Eveready Industries India Limited. Thanks again. Bye-bye.