Nava Limited ($513023)

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Madhuri, moderator for the conference call. Welcome to Nava Limited Q4 FY '26 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this conference is recorded. I would now like to hand over the floor to Ms. Nidhi Shah. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.

Yes. Thank you so much, Madhuri. Good evening. On behalf of ICICI Securities, I welcome you all to the Q4 and FY '26 Earnings Call of Nava Limited. Today, we have with us from the management, Mr. Ashwin Devineni, Managing Director and CEO; Mr. Nikhil Devineni, Executive Director; Mr. GRK Prasad, Executive Director; Mr. B. Srinivasa, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. VSN Raju, Company Secretary; and Ms. Lisa from Corporate Communications. We will begin with opening remarks from the management, which will be followed by a Q&A. Over to you, sir.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. FY '26 has been a strong and important year for Nava, both from an operational and strategic perspective. Our business continued to perform steadily across geographies, supported by disciplined execution, stable operations and improving efficiencies. At the stand-alone level, we reported 116% increase in profit after tax to INR 911 crores, marking one of the strongest performances in the company's history. The growth was primarily supported by healthy upstream dividend flows from our overseas investments and buyback proceeds received during the year. We also witnessed one of our strongest years of cash generation, supported by these inflows alongside healthy operational cash flows, further strengthening our liquidity and balance sheet position. On the consolidated side, profitability was impacted by a certain accounting-led tax adjustments at MEL, which is Mamba Energy Limited relating to deferred tax movements. To provide some context on this, the increase in deferred tax expenses, which is a noncash item, was primarily driven by approximately 32% appreciation of the Zambian kwacha, resulting in unrealized foreign exchange gains. These unrealized gains create a timing difference between how income is recognized in the financial statements and how it is treated for tax purposes. As a result, a deferred tax liability is recorded. However, the underlying operational and cash performance of the business remains healthy and consistent. And on this, it is important to note the following, and there are 4 points. on this deferred tax provision. One, noncash in nature. This deferred tax does not involve any immediate cash flow -- cash outflow and is purely an accounting adjustment. The second is it's linked to the exchange rate movement. The deferred tax position will be reassessed during every reporting period based on the outstanding loan balances and the prevailing exchange rate. Third, that it's temporary and reversible. Since the underlying driver is foreign exchange fluctuation, the impact can be temporary. And as exchange rates stabilize or move in opposite direction, the deferred tax liability is expected to reverse over time. and it has no impact on the core performance. This movement should be viewed as a technical accounting adjustment and not as an indicator of the company's operational performance or cash position. That being said, overall, we believe today, Nava is in a stronger position operationally, financially and strategically with stable core businesses, healthy liquidity, improving cash flows and multiple long-term growth drivers in place. A testament to this is the dividend declared for the year at INR 8.50 per share, which is the highest in the company's history. With that overview, I would now like to hand over the call for a detailed discussion on the financial and operational performance for the year. Thank you very much.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Aditya Shriman from PCS Securities.

The first one is the status of the projects of the 100-megawatt solar project and the 300-megawatt thermal project, sir?

Yes. So the solar project is due to be -- at least commissioning is supposed to commence in the month of July this year, 2026. And the Phase 2, which is a 300-megawatt expansion at MEL is to be commissioned during the early part of January 2027.

Okay, sir. And what is the status for the avocado and the sugar complex?

Well, on the avocado front, in fact, this year, we've had our first commercial harvest for about 150 tonnes. As we speak, the rest of the growth in the last division, division B is taking place. We expect that to be complete towards the end of this financial year. Post which in terms of plantations, we would be fully complete with it. However, in terms of commercial sale, we are expecting next year, there would be a harvest sale of about 1,000 tonnes. And going from there, every year, the quantity would double in nature up until 2034.

And sir, one last question, sir. What are the domestic realizations for power?

Power for the current year, we estimated it will be around [indiscernible].

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Co.

Yes, [Foreign Language] sir. Hope I am audible. Hello

Yes, you are audible.

Yes, sir. Sir, if you could just explain to us the allowance of expected credit loss that we have factored of INR 20 crores for this quarter and an amount of INR 137 crores for the entire year. And sir second......

See it is on account of dues, which were outstanding as on 31st March '25. We have received during the year about like INR 15.5 million on that the provision made in the previous years were reversed.

Okay. So sir, these are gains that we have booked for the current year?

Yes.

And sir, going ahead, will this be any recurrence of the same? How much more will be reversed back going ahead?

We are left with 1.3 million, which will be reversed during the next financial year, quarter.

Sir, if you could just give some understanding of how the core business aspect in terms of the different verticals are behaving, the silicon, manganese, the ferrosilicon and the type of the expected realizations going ahead? And sir, as you mentioned about the cash flow from the subsidiaries and the buyback program, what should one anticipate going ahead? And how are the power realizations going to shape up? I think so in your presentation, you did alluded to the fact of lower -- reduced realizations for both ferroalloys as well as the Indian energy increased fixed costs, which was mentioned in the financial highlights. So if you could just give us the -- in brief, the setup of the business environment for all the verticals. And going ahead, what should we anticipate?

That's a very broad question, but let me try to answer it the best I can. I think, first, with respect to the ferroalloys vertical. Yes, there were many pricing pressures on account of two major factors. One was the fact that India now produces about 4 million tonnes of manganese alloys, out of which approximately 1 million is slated for export. And the main export destinations are Europe and Middle East. So over the course of the last year, the European Union has imposed safeguard duties against Indian imports into the country. That, coupled with the geopolitical situation going on in the Middle East has definitely put a strain on Indian exports. And as a result of that, we are seeing a lot of that material being dumped in the domestic market, which is essentially causing the prices to come down. However, I think when it comes to Nava, we are fairly well insulated from these volatilities because of, one, we have a long-term arrangement, a yearly contract with the two major Japanese mills, which essentially accounts for 40% of our production. In addition to that, we also have quarterly fixed base contracts with some of the big steel producers -- private steel producers in India, which again accounts for another 40% to 50%. So our level of volatility or exposure to the spot market is only to the extent of 10% to 15% per se. So going forward, I do see that there should be a slight improvement even in terms of the metals vertical. Now I think coming to the power side, this year is definitely in terms of our entire cost structure, it would look very different from the preceding year because the drop in coal prices by Singareni Collieries, whom we are essentially drawing 100% of our coal from in the Telangana operations. So this allows us to essentially have a better cost structure and be able to participate in a lot of these bilateral tenders even during the non-peak season, which was not the case earlier. So as a result of this, this year onwards, we're going to be looking at a fairly better overall PLF.

Sir, if you could just -- on this part, if you could just dwell further, you are -- we are expecting lower coal prices for current year? I missed.

Sir, I'm very sorry to interrupt. In the interest of time, I request you to...

Yes, I'm joining the queue is only what sir has told, I could not get his point. So I'm joining the queue, no issues with that.

Thank you.

Please clarify on.

I didn't get your question. I'm sorry. Can you repeat that?

Sir, only for the coal prices, I could not get the correlations you were trying to explain for the Singareni coal mine. If you could just repeat what you said, and I joined the queue.

Our offtake for coal, which we sold raw material for power generation in Telangana is coming from Singareni Collieries. Over the course of the last year, sometime in September of 2025, they have decreased their coal prices to be more in line with the international market. And this essentially has had a big impact on our operations where now we are able to operate year-round with a higher PLF and gain more contracts.

Right. I'll join the queue sir. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Viraj Mahadevia from MoneyGrow.

One is the financial assets and investments of INR 1,347 crores. Is that cash like in nature, i.e., is it in debt products, NCDs, et cetera, like it was the prior year? And what is the planned use for this?

The major investments are in liquid mutual funds and then the debt products.

Right. And sorry, what is the planned use for this money going forward?

Yes. So I think as you're aware now, we have the [indiscernible] projects in the pipeline with both the avocado and the sugar, which are to be funded essentially from the corporates in the Indian accounts.

Understood. So what is the equity contribution still pending for all these new projects coming on stream? And how much incremental debt is likely to be taken to complete all these projects? So delta on equity and delta on debt?

So right now, I think if you look at the total commitment, I'm talking about for the group as such. The total commitment is about $130 million in terms of equity. And in terms of the agri side debt, we're looking at about $100 million. And for the -- for Mamba, we've already taken on the debt for the Phase 2. And I think for the solar, 30 million is pending. So that is pending. These are for existing projects that we are currently implementing. But as you kind of know, we're always looking at other projects that could probably shape up during the course of the year. So those are not considered.

Understood. So if I -- just to clarify, so $100 million from agri on debt remaining to be taken and $30 million on solar debt remaining to be taken, so $130 million incremental debt and $130 million equity contribution into agri still remaining?

Not into agri. So in agri, it is about $100 million. And then we have some equity contribution that needs to go into Mamba -- sorry, the Mamba is about $17.5 million, not solar. Solar, we made our entire equity contribution. I'm talking about the Phase 2. We have a large tranche that needs to go in. And the remainder of that is for the agri, which includes the sugar and the avocado.

The next question comes from Abhinav Nalawade from ICICI Securities.

My first question is what is the cost of 100-megawatt solar plant and what is the tariff?

Yes. I mean I'm not going to go into the cost of the solar plant now. But in terms of the tariff -- it's USD 0.078.

7.8 sorry?

USD 0.078.

[Foriegn Language] Second question is on NBL. What is the revenue EBITDA and PAT for FY '26?

I'm sorry, revenue and profit after tax. INR 42 crores and PBT is INR 80 crores. PAT is...

Sorry, didn't get the PAT number.

The PAT is INR 59 crores.

The next question comes from Jhalak Jain from Chhattisgarh Investment Limited.

Hello. Am I audible?

Yes.

Sir, my question is, how is the situation in Zambia currently? And due to West Asia crisis, do we have any power disruptions in Zambia? And are there any problems in receiving the payment from DISCOM?

So the situation in Zambia is fine. The only change there is Zambia is going into election. Elections are due to be held in the month of August. There -- I mean, the power situation is fine. And with currently what's happening, there are no major disruptions. I think the only disruption is what the rest of the world is facing, which is increase in fuel prices. And with regards to receivables, we've been getting it on time.

Okay. And my second question is due to the West Asia crisis, are we anticipating any increase in supply of coal in Zambia from mines?

Sorry. So we have our own captive mine there, right? So it's a mine-mouth power plant. So we're not dependent on import of coal.

So sir, are we thinking it to sell even more -- like as the demand is rising.

No. We have a large customer base. Our sales for our coal business is fairly healthy. And definitely, if opportunities arise and there is a good market, we will definitely explore it.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Co.

When we look at our EBITDA margin, excluding of, I think, so the one-off also before that, the EBITDA margin for the quarter has declined on a consolidated basis from Q-on-Q basis, sir. So what should be the number that we should factor in for the current financial year? And also with in terms of our the subsidiary, MEL Zambia, there also, we have seen the PLF on Q-on-Q basis was down. So how should -- what should be penciling in, sir, in terms of how the trajectory for the EBITDA margin is likely going to trend going ahead? That is the first question.

Just give us a second. Yes. So I think -- I just wanted to get the numbers before I answered your question. So in terms of the EBITDA delta, it's because the last quarter, actually, there was other income. So hence, the EBITDA was slightly higher.

I'm talking -- Q-on-Q, sorry, I'm talking about the Q-on-Q part only for quarter 3, December quarter versus the March quarter, if that comparison works, sir?

Yes, there was a decrease in the other income by INR 18 crores in Q4. Other reasons, Q4 Maamba Energy power plant had a planned shutdown because of which there is an increase in the manufacturing expenses and repairs and maintenance. These are the major reasons for decrease in EBITDA.

Okay. And then we, as investors, what should be penciling in, in terms of a steady state EBITDA margin trajectory for the foreseeable future? And sir, second question was also with respect to the volume in terms of the silicon and the ferroalloys, what kind of incremental volume can we expect in terms of production and sales for the next year, if an understanding could be said. These two were my points.

So with regards to what can you expect, I firstly, I don't think you should be looking at quarter-on-quarter. There are a lot of variables and so on. So I think you should look at basically annual performance and base your forecast on that. And then...

For the year as a whole, what should we be penciling in, in terms of the EBITDA margin trajectory, sir, then for the current year for '26, '27.

It's very dynamic, right? Because on a year-on-year basis, you have various things coming up. We have Phase 2 coming up. We have tax holidays that we are losing for Phase 1. So it's very hard for us today to give you an exact number until we have -- we get everything up and running and everything is as usual.

Okay. Even a trajectory, sir, you must have worked out on a trajectory of, say, 35% to 40% or 40% to 45% wherein we should be in that sailing through that period with the type of adjustments which you have just talked about?

Yes. So you can assume 35% to 40%.

Okay. And now for the volume increase in terms of the ferro and the silico manganese part of the story, what are the utilization levels? And any incremental offtake that we may anticipate for the current year?

See, with regard to ferroalloy production, the total production will be on the same range like last year because the Orissa plant was under shutdown for first quarter of the year. So the sales quantity will remain like in the previous year.

In total, we're looking at about 130,000 tonnes for the next year.

Okay. So this time, we did 134,000 for silico and ferro was 8,000.

We've actually discontinued ferrosilicon because the market for silico manganese is more favorable at the moment. So I'm just talking about silico manganese being at 130,000.

Okay. So that will be flat, sir. FY '26, we did 134,000...

The next question comes from Sai Shreyas from Scientific Investments.

Am I audible?

Yes.

So my first question is, can you please help us understand why is there a sudden jump in the employee costs year-over-year?

Partly on account of like ESPs like we are giving RSUs to employees to some extent on account of this labor cost and the normal wage hike like to the employees we are giving.

Okay. So sir, will this be the sustainable cost? Or is there any expected increase?

It will be like sustainable, subject to like increment we usually give to the employees.

Okay. Sir, and my next question is, sir, can you please help us understand what is the revenue potential from the agrochemical agro sector from the avocado as well as the sugar?

With regard to avacado when it is in peak, the expected revenue is $22 million.

Is it yearly $22 million? And from when will it start contributing, sir?

So like already the commercial operations have begun, like we start harvesting some fruit, but it will be incremental. The revenue will be like it is not like equal over the years. By the time it reaches peak, the total revenue would be $22 million.

Okay. The peak revenue is $22 million. And from when will this commercialization start? Is it from FY '27 or '28, sir?

So I think the peak we can look at post 2032. But until then, you're going to definitely have incremental revenues flowing in every year. Just to add, we've already started selling fruit. It's just commenced. So it starts in a small way and then slowly picks up as the trees grow.

The next question comes from Viraj Mahadevia from MoneyGrow.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Ashwin, the way I look at your financials, there seems to be a bit of a structural cross-currency issue, right? Historically, you had the benefit of dollar billing in Zambia and dollar weakening against the rupee and the local currency also weakening against the rupee. So higher revenues and lower costs. That seems to have swapped more recently, which is why you've seen massive cost escalations and a jump particularly in employees. Is that the right understanding? And secondly, if that is the case, then it's probably better to build in some natural hedge on currency where local employees are paid there in dollars since your revenue are in dollars.

Yes. So it's a good thing, by the way, that the Zambian Kwacha is appreciated because that means that the country is doing well. And I also think that this also ensures that we get paid on time. The GDP is growing very healthily. What has happened...

Yes, in your cross-currency translation to INR, you take a hit.

Yes. Well, the thing is we -- exactly. And even in Zambia, we have to report in Kwacha. So when the dollar balance sheet gets converted to Kwacha, you have these issues that sometimes are notional in nature. In terms of employees, the Zambian government passed a law or a statutory instrument late last year, where it said that all local employees, local contractors and transactions have to be transacted in Zambian Kwacha. So you can't have an employee there getting paid in dollars. I mean this used to benefit us before when the Kwacha was depreciating. But now it is. But it's kind of become stable. I think it's appreciated extensively in a very short period of time. We may see some correction later. But I look at this as a good thing.

Yes. But I guess then the next question is, can you change your PPAs from dollars to Kwacha at the current rate? Because it's like-for-like hedge, right? Right now, you're on the wrong side of the currency equation in terms of your INR financials. So if the rupee continues to weaken and the Kwacha continues to strengthen, then you'll continue taking a hit on your consol P&L.

Yes. See, the Kwacha appreciation, like we -- from a cash flow point of view, are not affected at all. this only affects the tax position. So -- and trust me, you want to keep the PPA as USD. In fact, when the law was passed or the statutory instrument was passed to move all local transactions, they actually ring-fenced power assets and so on where they can continue at USD. So all our expenses, O&M expenses, everything are USD-based. So apart from just tax purposes because we have to convert our balance sheet from USD to Kwacha, there really is no effect of this appreciation.

But why not on your employee costs? Because the kwacha cost of your employees translated to INR is getting more and more expensive because the kwacha is strengthening and INR is weakening.

But that is hedged with my coal sales, right? My coal sales today is in Kwacha now. So while the cost of the employees is kind of going up to a slight extent.

So is the coal sale value. Is that -- Is that cover?

The revenue generated from coal sales. So the delta is hardly anything. And in terms of my core employees there, it's not much.

Understood. Very helpful. Sorry, my next question is the 10% that's remaining of the -- by the way, congratulations on collecting 90%. But the 10% that's remaining, when is that likely to be due from ZESCO? on the cost of FY '27?

Yes, definitely. I'd say in the next 6 months, we should get it.

The next question comes from Jhalak Jain from Chhattisgarh Investment Limited.

My question is, can you please shed some light on the mining activities in Africa like MNO and lithium?

So I think with respect to manganese, we are focused on Ivory Coast. And the second mine, which has been allocated to us, which is 360 square kilometers, in fact, we have just completed the exploration works recently in a two square kilometer area. And we have found promising results where we are able to take this forward for -- towards an exploitation permit. That's what we are currently working on. And I think hopefully, in the next 1 year, we should be able to achieve that. Yes. And on the lithium front, as we have informed before, exploration was underway. We did -- although the initial exploration results in certain parts were fairly positive, we did come across a certain obstacle where there was another company once after seeing our activity had claimed some of that area for a different license, a tin license. So that is currently under review by the ministry. And what we have indicated is until we get clarity and clearance, we won't proceed further. So it's currently underway, but it's under review by the ministry to overcome the conflict.

The next question comes from Keta Joshi from Nidhay Asset Management.

What is -- my question is what is expected incremental revenue and EBITDA from Maamba solar power project, 100 megawatt...

So the top line expected is 20 million to 22 million and then bottom line expected is 6 million to 7 million...

The next question comes from Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Co.

Yes, sir. Only an understanding of how the power realization per unit would shape up. I think so you have alluded to the fact of softening of the Indian energy business. So what should be the outlook for the -- on the tariff front? And second question was, sir, again, pertaining to the volume for the ferrosilicon part, wherein you mentioned 130. So we will be flattish for this year, sir, since last year was 134, the sales number for silicon manganese.

In terms of the production volumes, we are expecting a slight uptick in it. But with respect to pricing, again, that's an extremely fluid situation. Month-on-month, it does vary. But I don't see any reason for it to fall compared to the preceding year as of now.

And for the power part, sir, what should we anticipate in terms of the realization power?

I think on the power side, although India has reached the expected peak demand is supposed to touch 277 gigawatts, you are also seeing a huge capacity addition in the form of renewable energy, which is serving as a deterrent for prices going up. So if you just look at the exchange, year-on-year, there's been a 13% drop. So our strategy has been more to rely upon the bilateral contracts where the net realizations are faring better than what it is on the spot. So given the situation, I think we can expect somewhere close to INR 5.50.

The next question comes from Vedant Sarda from Nirmal Bang Securities.

Am I audible?

Yes, sir.

First of all, congratulations to the management for a good financial year. My question is with respect to volume, like you said the production would be a bit high. But over a long-term horizon, 3 to 5 years of time frame, how we can see the volume growth in our ferroalloys business?

At full capacity utilization, we are able to produce about 160,000 metric tons with the current setup in place. However, we are always evaluating which vertical -- is it better to produce alloys versus export that power to the grid. Right now, given that it is peak summer where power tariffs are on the higher side, we have decided to exploit this time by shutting down the furnaces in Orissa in lieu of power export, while we are also carrying out all the preservation activities and so on. So this is an ongoing situation where we assess where the enhanced profitability comes from and as such, take a call. So I would not be able to give you a fixed number in terms of what the projection would be. It's a very dynamic situation.

Okay. And like you said, on pricing, you can't comment, but can you give some more color on what the factors which can drive the prices upwards or downwards on the ferroalloys?

Yes, I think -- so it's directly linked to steel because this is the feedstock that goes into steel production. So if you see an uptick in steel prices, ferroalloy prices also invariably go up. Although there is healthy increase in the steel production in India, there is a lot of surplus alloy supply in India, too, because of the lack of export markets, which I touched upon earlier. As a result of that, you are seeing a lot of pricing pressure right now. Hopefully, if the situation in Europe and the Middle East improves soon, we can probably look at a rebound.

The next question comes from Viraj Mahadevia from MoneyGrow.

So going back to our earlier point, the financial investments would be enough to cover your equity contributions required for the projects. You will incrementally have roughly about INR 1,200 crores of debt that you take on between agri and solar. You'll obviously generate free cash flows next year. But any plans on the land sale, the land bank in India because it's obviously a privilege to run a thermal business with zero debt.

Yes, definitely. I mean, in terms of the land, we're exploring different options. Now we have you have the Nacharam land, which is in Telangana, then we have the Dharmavaram land. That's more -- could be used for like industrial use and so on. But on the Nacharam land, the value has been appreciating. So if you were on the previous investor calls years ago, there was a lot of pressure to sell it, sell it, and thank God, we held on to it because now the value is a lot higher. So now I think we are exploring options of possible JVs and so on in terms of developing that land. So once we have...

Why would be kind of as opposed to outright sale?

I mean, both options are available, but we are essentially what we're trying to look at options, and we're probably going to engage a third party to give us options in terms of sale, JV and whatever makes sense, we will take it forward.

Understood. And would I be able to ask what would be the rough value of that land today approximately?

It's hard for me to say. I mean you can ask the questions on the...

Are we talking INR 500 crores, INR 800 crores? Is it more? -- just a broad range?

I wouldn't want to speculate on this call.

Understood. And sorry, I missed on your last point on Africa mining, the line was unclear. I think you mentioned one of them had encouraging results and lithium was on hold because the lease is contested. Is that right?

Yes.

If you can just repeat that. So which one has had positive results and what's the way forward?

The manganese mine that we were exploring, we had -- we were exploring certain areas at Ivory Coast. Yes. So one seems promising, which we need to take forward and there are various steps involved there. And in terms of the lithium, we've done -- we started the exploration. The initial part was done. There were certain areas that were slightly promising. And -- but that area or some of these areas have been contested by another company that has a different license. It's actually a license.

So in the Kalomo district, right, the lithium Amethyst, Tantalum?

Yes, Mapatizya, that area. in Zambia. It's actually close to -- fairly close to where our thermal plant is.

There are no further questions. Now I hand over the floor to management for closing comments.

Thank you once again for joining us today and for your continued trust and support in Nava. We remain committed to build a strong, sustainable and future-ready business through disciplined execution, prudent capital allocation and long-term value creation. Thank you, and we look forward to interacting with you again next quarter.

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using Dusaba's conference call service. You may disconnect your lines now. Thank you, and have a pleasant evening.