Craftsman Automation Ltd

NSE:CRAFTSMAN

Earnings Call Transcript 2025-Q2

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the earnings conference call of Craftsman Automation Limited. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I now hand the conference over to Mr. Srinivasan Ravi, Chairman and Managing Director of Craftsman. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Ravi.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you very much for joining the earnings call. And today is a very important day because we have major events happening in Craftsman and its subsidiaries. So in the interest of time, I will just rush you through the financials, give an overview of the financial performance and what are the indicators which are to be considered in reading the financial statements. Then we will go to Q&A and we'll spend more time on Q&A for -- because of the 2 major acquisitions and also completing -- completion of the DR Axion acquisition which has happened all in 1 quarter or the beginning of this quarter -- beginning of the new quarter.

So the H1 performance more or less has been, I would say, slightly lower than the last year previous year H1 performance, after taking into consideration 2 important parameters. Of course, the main, Craftsman, there has been extraordinary expense which is related to 2 new plants, which are coming on -- come up in Bhiwadi which has started production at the end of August, and now it is operating at [ 20% ] capacity and will reach around 50% to 70% capacity in Q4.

The second plant in [indiscernible] which is also a major milestone, is under [indiscernible] production already. Both these plants have been incurring expenses, which have been -- gone to [indiscernible] expenditure. So if you look at the EBITDA portion of the apple-to-apple comparison if you look at it, I think there is a [indiscernible] 8% to 10% drop [indiscernible] across H1 EBITDA levels. And the consolidated level is also almost at a similar level, I would say, because there actually there has been a small drop.

So the 3 things which are now is we have taken over [indiscernible] and we are operating it smoothly from the first of October as Craftsman Fronberg Guss Limited in Germany. And this is a big strategic deal for us because we are getting our global customers also for Craftsman [indiscernible] foundry and [indiscernible] more of it later.

Second thing is [indiscernible] was envisaged as [indiscernible] and also only for 3 plants. And subsequently [indiscernible] into 4 plants and it again was [indiscernible] deal. But the complexity of the nature, we went in for the buyout of the [indiscernible] company, and the [ CC ] approval also came in late September, and we have -- from the second week of October, we have acquired the company.

So eventually, the deal, whatever we have envisaged, I think there were some INR 400-odd crore deal, which was there, which has become around INR 700 crore. But that is temporary because the land has not been sold in Gurgaon. And once the land is sold in Gurgaon, I think the money will come back [indiscernible] directly, maybe also I think some of the investments that we have made and something [indiscernible] can go back to customers.

So we have, because of these 3 major acquisitions and 2 major new greenfield projects, we've gone a little higher on the debt and maybe we'll close FY '26 at around -- for a stand-alone rate of around [indiscernible] crores for Craftsman. And that we are also factoring that that will become lesser when we sell the land of [indiscernible] Gurgaon.

The subsidiaries will have also a little debt, but not much, I think, well within their capabilities. So we have 1 more year of operations, we'll be back to between 1 to 1.5x debt-to-EBITDA, which is [indiscernible] comfort zone.

So with this, I will leave to Q&A and would like to talk about the opportunities of this acquisition and how the business will grow and how the revenue will look for next year because we don't give any revenue guidance, but I would like to say that it will be [indiscernible] INR 7,000 crores on a consolidated level in the next financial year, just to give -- because of the game changes that's happened in the last few months. Thank you very much for the patient hearing, and we'd like to listen to the Q&A.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] We have the first question from the line of Mumuksh Mandlesha from Anand Rathi Institutional Equities.

[Mumuksh Mandlesha, analyst]

And firstly, sir, on the Sunbeam, can you guide more how do you see the revenue and the margin trajectory over a medium-term perspective? What are plans to turn around this unit, sir?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Okay. The revenue, I think maybe it's not a public domain maybe, but it may be available somewhere, but I think the revenue is around INR 1,000 crores, I would say, in the top line. And the EBITDA has been negative for almost 3, 4 years, I would say, overall, in general.

Now there are 3 things which are changing now. One is the labor settlement, and the settlement is around INR 150 crores will be done by March totally. It is already agreed on and agreements are signed up, and the first tranche of people are -- a small group have left and the group is leaving by November, and the bulk will leave end of March. So will continue to have the impact of higher salary and double operating expenditure of trying to ship the Gurgaon plant until March.

So I would rather only look at marginal EBITDA for Q4 going forward. Q3, I don't expect any EBITDA because of the holidays and [indiscernible] workforce being there. I think we'll be at least trying to stem that whether it is minor positive or minor negative, it will be nothing significant in Q3. But Q4 will be slightly positive on the EBITDA.

For next year, overall, I think that the revenue stream will be more or less the same, I would say, or a slight increase maybe there from INR [ 1,000 ] crores. And we are targeting internally at a high single-digit EBITDA or at least a low double-digit EBITDA because still it will be work in progress of shifting the Gurgaon plant to release the land and to sell the land. So the selling of the land also will -- I mean, moving the operations out, we'll be able to reduce the plant overheads because we'll be reducing the number of plants. And we are shifting the Gurgaon plant to Bhiwadi where Craftsman has already got line. So the -- it will be a smaller shifting only.

So I think in that sense is that the [indiscernible] plant of Sunbeam is hardly a few minutes away, just a couple of -- less than 3, 4 kilometers away, I think, that is it. So the -- it will bring a lot of operational synergy between the 2 plants of Sunbeam. And the Craftsman plant in Bhiwadi is producing alloy wheel, which is complementary to the Sunbeam activity.

So with this, I would say that the export potential for Sunbeam is quite high. And the new orders, RFPs have not been coming for a long time because of the finance situation. Now with this new management and the infusion of capital and the profitability picture what we are trying to project, I think the customers will come back because of the track record of the capability of Sunbeam over a long period of time. And this will result in a significant growth in the export business in the years to come.

So if you look at the profile of Sunbeam and the profile of Craftsman and the profile of DR Axion and the customer base, I will give the overall picture. Craftsman is predominantly only -- it's only in the [indiscernible] and garmenting business, except for Bhiwadi [indiscernible] plant. The customers of Craftsman and Sunbeam are not at all overlapping. There's actually practically no overlap. That means we have acquired new customers with Sunbeam domestically as well as export [indiscernible].

The second point is the DR Axion is predominantly in low-pressure and graphite die-casting. And Craftsman is predominantly in high-pressure die-casting [indiscernible] and mostly in the higher tonnage area, whereas Sunbeam is operating at a lower tonnage on high-pressure die-casting and to a certain extent also on the gravity and low pressure.

So this brings a lot of synergy of operations between the 3 aluminum divisions. So how to move it closer to each other on the technology footprint and try to extract the best out of each other is still work in progress, which will happen in one financial year. We have set up strong functional teams across all the 3 plants, and we are very confident about turning around Sunbeam, with a lot of help is also coming up from the customer side. They're encouraging us to -- with more inquiries and things like that. I hope I've answered your question properly.

[Mumuksh Mandlesha, analyst]

Yes, sir. It's very comprehensive, sir. Just further on this [indiscernible] the share, what kind of savings we would get from the employee cost reduction? And just a little more on the export opportunity for the Sunbeam, sir?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

I will give you only the top line number. It is very close to around -- how much is it, INR 270 crores to INR 280 crores? Understand on a INR 1,200 crore turnover of an aluminum business where aluminum is predominantly have been -- I mean it is contributing to 60% of the revenue, or almost close to 60%, I would say. When you have INR 280 crore employee cost, and similarly, when you look at DR Axion and compare Craftsman Aluminum segment, it is much, much higher.

It is 2 things which are there. One thing is, of course, the duplication of people which is there and across all the plants because the Gurgaon was not shifted. In total, we are still carrying the people [indiscernible] number one. Number two is the footprint of 5 plants, which normally we would like to have 3 plants, and 3 plants in 3 geographies, one geography [indiscernible] Bhiwadi, and [indiscernible] region, and 1 in [indiscernible] and 1 in [indiscernible].

So this will give better synergy. The operational cost management may be different. But I would say the developmental team can be leveraged between the 2 plants overall.

I will give you one example of how we leverage the DR Axion knowledge also to get into the alloy wheel business. And we are one of the few companies without a JV partner as Craftsman, we have done -- our technological partner, we have started [indiscernible] business, and we are able to -- we decided in January, we applied for land in January because the line in February, and we started commercial production in August end. And today, the plant is functioning -- and in Q4 this year, we will be generating revenue from the Bhiwadi plant [indiscernible].

This has been also because of the -- a lot of support from our [ Korean ] expertise who've got a long experience in the gravity area. And similarly, we will be leveraging DR Axion's expertise for Sunbeam also to improve the operations in low pressure and gravity. High pressure by itself, Sunbeam is quite reasonably strong on lower tonnage missions, but the [indiscernible] support will be required from Craftsman. We have put a much larger [indiscernible] and a larger development team for making dice and things like that. So with that, I think there will be more synergy.

And the one thing is we can pick up the entire bouquet of request from the customer, whether it is the large tonnage [indiscernible] die-casting or low-tonnage [indiscernible] die-casting. And what we are first thinking is to [indiscernible] the business development strategy. That will be very important to tap the new opportunities across the globe.

In Europe, the aluminum manufacturing footprint is going down, and in U.S. also it is going down, and this is moving to other countries, including Mexico, and possibly we have got a good opportunity at this scale of business. I have always been saying that the -- our aluminum competition outside the world between $1.5 billion to [ $6 billion, $7 billion ] in revenue. At least we are looking towards the INR 4,000 crores, which is 0.5 billion next year, approximately. So still we are not up to the multinational scales, but at least we are offering that we are capable of growing to that level. And this is interesting many customers today. I think that is the synergy what they are bringing about.

[Mumuksh Mandlesha, analyst]

Got it, sir, [indiscernible]. Just lastly, on the heavy industrial business and the wind sector and the [indiscernible] any new order wins or [indiscernible] for the segment, sir? And just [indiscernible] what would be the order book for this segment as of now, sir?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

The [indiscernible] facility at Stage 1 and the complementing mission shop at Stage 1 [indiscernible] Unit 3 at Craftsman was put up for a general engineering market requirement and mostly oriented towards are focused towards wind sector and [indiscernible] tool parts, I would say. So that is already under trial production as of today.

So this means that the foundry Phase II will be more focused on the -- when we can do the engine blocks in Phase 1, we already got some couple of big breakthroughs and orders from 2 customers, and third and fourth are on the way now.

The Phase 2 of the [indiscernible] foundry will be oriented towards the cylinder block [indiscernible] for the station engines for the backup power generators, which the demand is huge. So I mean, this is the strategy going forward for the [indiscernible] division.

And the second part of your question, sorry, I missed it out, can you please repeat?

[Mumuksh Mandlesha, analyst]

If possible to share the order book as [indiscernible] for this new segment, sir?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

New segment, the order book for next financial year will be around for the general castings, the machine tool castings, the printer castings, and we have 1 or 2 small subsegments also. I think that order book is more than INR 100 crores as of now, the developers are going on.

Now the second portion of the Indian business, that order book is more than INR 100 crores as of now itself. But the only point here is the development cycle is huge. That is the reason we are -- also stopped shutting this foundry business with quick wins on the industrial engineering product side. And while we wait for the development of the engine side, because engine development, each product development cost, which the customer has to pay, is millions of dollars. Their validation also is in the millions of dollars. And the time taken for development of the part and the validation takes anywhere between 18 to 24 months. So we will see the revenue flowing from FY '27 onwards. And these are very, very sticky customers.

And one very good point is, in the top 10 engine manufacturers who are contributing to the [indiscernible] power engines for the -- generating power generation sets all over the world, some of them are directly now with the customer in Craftsman or already a customer [indiscernible]. So I think this is a very key point. And the [indiscernible] foundry will [indiscernible] already started to get support from the former facility for development. And some inquiries have come for Craftsman because we have acquired Fronberg, and some inquiries have come for Fronberg because Craftsman has acquired Fronberg.

And that is -- the former will be able to develop the parts fast. And the second incremental volume of the same parts production will be done in India for the customer. So the customer is also happy that there will be 2 sites for the production of these parts going forward, which will also derisk them. Plus the requirements are booming there and time to market is extremely important. All of them are sitting on order books for the next 2, 3 years, the outlooks are full. I think it is already on public domain that all these Indian manufacturers are expanding their own manufacturing [indiscernible].

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Mukesh Saraf from Avendus Park.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

So it's on the similar lines. Just if you could -- I mean, you've given us a lot of information, but just trying to understand, for the [ Kotawari ] facility and the Bhiwadi facility, what's the kind of CapEx we are doing in the Phase 1? What have we done so far? And anything that's pending for Phase 1?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Phase 1 [indiscernible] one key equipment has to come, that is the [indiscernible] shorter. I think the -- Kotawari, I mean, okay, Kotawari number is currently around the CapEx is all incurred for first half is around INR 80 crores. Okay.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

And we have some more that we'll do, sir, Kotawari, for Phase 1?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

This year CapEx is INR 80 crores. Last year, we also incurred CapEx for Kotawari. We started the project on October 2, so I'll give you the total CapEx in a minute. Yes.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

Yes, just the total numbers.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

And at Bhiwadi, I think we have completed around INR 150 crores CapEx as of now.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

INR 150 crores Okay.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

That is without land. Land Is a significant portion, it's 25 acres, so that will house -- I think that is one of the reasons also we are looking at the Gurgaon facility shifting there. The land is a long-lease item, I think that is around INR 130 crores.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

Okay. So Bhiwadi, Phase 1, say, for utilization, what kind of revenues we can do, sir, maybe in a couple of years or so, maybe 2, 3 years, at full utilization Phase 1?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

The revenue will have 2 parts to it. One is the casting part and one is the [ missioning ] part of that. Both put together, the top line will be around -- see, we can produce around 30,000 tonnes, I think between INR 500 crores to INR 600 crores, the revenue will be there on the top line at, I would say, at 80% utilization. But [indiscernible] I think we can go up to INR 600 crores, INR 700 crores.

Because now one important point is we are going to get castings from rest of the world, coming from South America, coming from Europe, for [ missioning ] for Craftsman, just because we put up the facility, the casting validation takes too much time, so we are starting with missioning with these customers.

The orders are coming for missioning now only for the simple reason is we have put up the Kotawari facility and we acquired Fronberg. So they are confident that we will be able to make the castings from '27, '28 onwards. So I think the revenue from missioning will come from '26 onwards itself totally. But the missioning on revenue, the turnover wise may be lesser, but it will be value addition in that sense.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

Right. So this is Kotawari is what you mentioned.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Kotawari [indiscernible] crores because we had most of the lines earlier. So, so far, the investment has been [indiscernible] crores to go before we complete this Phase 1.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

Right. So the INR 500 crores, INR 600 crores revenue you said before, that's for the Bhiwadi plant, so that 70%, 80% utilization?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

So when I talked about [indiscernible]. Bhiwadi plant is very clear, it is 4 million [indiscernible] for 2-wheeler.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

Right. And what kind of revenues you're looking?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

There's a seasonal demand there, and I have to be very careful when I comment that. [indiscernible] capacity of that plant will be around INR 400 crores, on all practicality will be around between 300 to 350 because of [indiscernible] demand not being there.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

Right. Okay. Understood. And right now, we have an order book of INR 100 crores at the Kotawari.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

That is for the general engineering part [indiscernible] engine blocks and other things are much higher.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

Sure.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

That's not going to see light of the day in '26. So it will see only in '27. On the revenue, it will contribute significant portion only in '27. '26 will be marginal revenue. That's why I didn't want to talk about that.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

Sure. And just the second question is, when I look at your -- the stand-alone business, when I look at your industrial and engineering business, the margins there have dropped significantly. I would assume a lot of it has to do with the storage solutions. But if you could kind of give us some update there. The margins there are literally now come down to negative.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

There are 3 or 4 parameters. I think from Q3 onwards, we'll see the margins looking up in the industrial engine sector. Undercutting or the entry cost, everything is over. We have established ourselves very well in the stationary racking business. So there's no more [indiscernible] in the market in that sense for the new orders which we have taken in the past few months. So it will start yielding result by end of Q3 and for full of Q4. That's for the [indiscernible] engine.

Now we opened the order book the automated solutions at INR 80 crore level in April because these are long-gestation projects. And we had around INR 40 crores is [indiscernible]. This is [indiscernible] these stores. And now we currently stand with the order book on the automated solution system [indiscernible]. And this is -- will have significant margins going forward.

So in the coming years, we will see that the blend of the products will be more on the automated solutions of the particular lift modules, which will contribute the bulk of the revenue, whereas the [indiscernible] business will be supporting the automated storage solutions. So will not be at a more high engineered solution provider.

So we have -- we are already implementing for one of the largest corporates in India in plant in [indiscernible] which is a INR 50 crore automated storage solutions. It is under implementation. And we have secured for another still major, very large order of INR 50 crores for automated [indiscernible].

So this is only the beginning, and we have broken through now. I think the revenues and the profitability will be improving quarter-on-quarter starting from Q3 itself.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

Right. Understand, sir. I'll get back in the queue.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

I want to add on the industry engine portion [indiscernible] has been a backbone to support both the powertrain as well as the aluminum division, the special purpose missions, tools, dice and all the other engineering, what we do. And now that engineering division, this is also helping our operations to grow on the non-storage engineering capabilities [indiscernible] side.

[Mukesh Saraf, analyst]

Right. Thank you, sir.

[Operator]

The next question comes from the line of Jinesh Gandhi from Ambit Capital.

[Jinesh Gandhi, analyst]

Just as question, you mentioned that order book for automated storage is INR 250 crores.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Yes, correct.

[Jinesh Gandhi, analyst]

And of which particularly has been executed in the first half?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

No, this is [indiscernible] as of now. What I'm saying is there are long-gestation projects because the customer builds the -- building after the order isplaced, because it is all high-rise buildings. These are built to the requirements, and we are also giving engineering solutions.

So the [indiscernible] order pipeline [indiscernible] the INR 300, INR 400 crores, our revenue stream will be more focused towards quarter-on-quarter on the automated solutions, because order to delivery takes around anywhere between 10 months to 15 months depending on the customer [indiscernible]. That is what [indiscernible].

[Jinesh Gandhi, analyst]

Right. And what would be revenues of storage solution in Q2?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

It is around INR 262 crores.

[Jinesh Gandhi, analyst]

And [indiscernible] automated will be about 10%, 15%?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Automated would have been only around 25% to -- 25%, right? On the total. 33%, sorry, 1/3.

[Jinesh Gandhi, analyst]

Got it.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

But there's been more of this or the orders have been taken more than a year back at entry prices. I mean we are trying to prove ourselves in the market. So we had to be very, very cost-competitive to convince the customer to place [indiscernible]. So that is something that is [indiscernible] now. But all the new orders are coming at a fair value.

[Jinesh Gandhi, analyst]

Fair point. On Sunbeam acquisition, so this will be consolidated from third quarter still, from October onwards? Or will it take longer time?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

October first week is not there. I think it is on 9 October is the date which we started. It will be consolidated from that date. But anyway, Q3 will be a transition phase because nobody produce as much in December. But I think Q4, we'll get the -- more than the [indiscernible] crore revenue and less revenue is what we are looking at.

[Jinesh Gandhi, analyst]

Right. And now [indiscernible] required the company in [indiscernible] will you be having a substantial carryforward losses which will benefit our overall tax rate? How to think about that?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

See, there is some business losses which is above INR 300 crores, and there are some [indiscernible] depreciation, which is in the region of maybe INR 350 crores, INR 400 crores, something like this. I don't know the exact number. I think more than -- yes, more than INR 400 crores, INR 440 crores. This INR 440 crores can be carried forward for a long time, but INR 380 crores has to be more or less if it can be only for this year, totally. So unless we have some other plans, we'll not be able to get the first portion of it. But we're also thinking about what are the strategy we can try to -- and [indiscernible] what we have, what we can do on this.

But anyway, there will be a tax saving of INR 100 crores on the unabsorbed depreciation going forward.

[Jinesh Gandhi, analyst]

Got it. And lastly, what is the CapEx for FY '25 given that they've already invested roughly INR 467 crore in first half, what will be the full-year CapEx guidance?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

We are expecting to close at around INR 850 crores overall CapEx for [indiscernible].

[Jinesh Gandhi, analyst]

Got it. Thanks. All the best.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

The CapEx will be very muted for next year on this matter. I think -- I want to also bring it to Mr. Jinesh Gandhi, I want to add one particular point here, is that we see that even today we have the news that the FDA is opening for multinationals. You see, today, we have companies who are willing to invest capacity today for revenue 3 years later. We'll have multinationals coming in, especially our Asian neighbor, which before even this submit, I think, 2 or 3 prospects and projects have been cleared for FDI.

I think there is -- we should be open for multinational competition. So as Craftsman, we are now always thinking about multinational competition coming into India, whether I hope we can do better and we can grow our business. I think scale is extremely important going forward.

Coming to a factor that India is going to go into a manufacturing GDP country as a whole [indiscernible] we don't have capacity, we'll order for the equipment, it comes in 2 years or 3 years' time, it doesn't gel with any customer -- multinational customer because they experience different things with China.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of [ Jay Shah ] from [ JS Family Office ].

[Unknown Analyst]

Congratulations to the management moving forward with the acquisition. Just one question what I wanted to ask you actually quite hinted in the previous answer, is that in some of the interactions with peer companies in the car [indiscernible] sector, it is -- it comes to seem that India today doesn't have the capability [indiscernible] way for the capacity for [indiscernible]. And that is why some of these large engine [indiscernible] guys are not coming to the country.

So is it like a [indiscernible] problem that the companies are waiting for something like a Craftsman to put things up and [indiscernible] rather than like you said, that if we don't have the machinery right now, people are not going to place orders.

And apart from engines also, do you see that today the way Craftsman is progressing, like you can open up doors for other industries as well for us to back clients in those sectors as well?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

We have good examples, which are very, very positive examples legacy wise. We have at least of 2, 3 companies in India, top 2 at least, and maybe the third also, in the forging industry, we're quite significant in the global market, especially the top 2. The top 1 is far, far ahead and they are attracting -- their industry engineering business, they are already serving the forgings for the [indiscernible] engines across the world. So that is what is keeping them on a stable level. Overall, I cannot speak for any forging industry. But I would say that the vision was there to go ahead and put capacities.

But I would say the opposite has happened in the foundry business where nobody put up the capacities which could be able to attract the attention of the -- for engine block casting for export, and that went away to China overall.

So we put up the scale for missioning of the blocks [indiscernible]. Even today we don't have capability to make -- we have capability, but we don't have the capacity or the infrastructure [indiscernible] foundry because we are entrant on missioning.

Missioning-wise we have the scale, but the foundry has missed the export business on the block [indiscernible]. But we have seen, on the other carrier parts, we have partnered with a foundry, they were able to capture the market in North America now after almost 18 years of working. I think scale is important and also the orientation towards export and export qualities, extremely important.

Aluminum, if you look at our exports when compared to China, it will be hardly single-digit percentage when compared to the export of China. The entire aluminum industry, our own industry -- sorry, suppliers like Craftsman or Sunbeam. If you talk it up in the country, it will be less than 10% of the capacity in China for similar suppliers.

So this is a basic problem that they don't see the infrastructure. And then without the scale, we cannot invest for R&D., we cannot invest for development. We cannot have technological experimentation, which we need to do to improve our costs and things like that. So this is one reason, for example, alloy wheel, which we have put our plant in Bhiwadi, was getting imported from -- mostly from China in a big way until the requirement for BS and other things have come up within India.

But we also have to note a point as we have Asian companies. I don't want to put names to the countries now. But they have also a set of clients in India that are supporting their -- supply to OEMs. This means they have left their source and they have come to our source and they have done well. But I think the opportunity is there that we put up scale. We have more, especially for North America where there are no people to work there and they want to also derisk their -- from China, so as a strategy itself. So this means that they're looking at India as a fast-growing market, the growth in China slowing, and the capacities are enough already. So this means for any product to be sold in India or in the other Asian countries, they are now preparing to [indiscernible] parts in India.

But they're delaying their entire addition of investment or plant here or export out of year because of the lack of supplier capacities and capabilities. This is the real truth.

[Jinesh Gandhi, analyst]

Thank you so much, sir, for the comprehensive answer. That's it from my side. All the best, sir.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Joseph George from IIFL.

[Joseph George, analyst]

Two questions. One is the CapEx guidance of INR 850 crores that you gave, is that including all the new subsidiaries or is it just on a standalone basis?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

The subsidiary CapEx doesn't come into this number. If you look at the Bhiwadi, look at it, the land and the building, which is there, the [indiscernible] building, the mission shop to complement the Kotawari facility for the engineering parts as well as engine block, and the aluminum CapEx, we have done standalone Craftsman, and plus the maintenance CapEx. Maintenance CapEx itself is to the tune of around INR 200 crores. So all that put together. Because we've gone for 2 greenfield facilities.

[Joseph George, analyst]

Sorry, I didn't get the answer. So are you saying that the 850 includes what you're spending stand-alone, including the new plant [indiscernible], and say, what is required in Sunbeam or...

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Sunbeam is a separate company, DR Axion is a separate company from [indiscernible]. Those CapEx will not come into Craftsman.

[Joseph George, analyst]

The 850. That 850 -- so this 850 doesn't include DR Axion or Sunbeam, right?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

No, no. We don't talk about the group CapEx now. Group CapEx will be not that, I think, no.

[Joseph George, analyst]

Okay. And sir, the second question that I had is, in the context of the INR 250 crores of order book for automated storage solutions, you mentioned that it's not something that will be converted into revenues immediately. It is longer station order. What I want to check is do you have price escalation process built in? Because in the past, it's happened that [indiscernible] price and steel prices have gone up and then margins have been impacted. So do these long-gestation contracts have price escalation process?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

See, we have 2 things. One is on this category, I think, which is all the quick-order wins and quick deliveries and will be consumed within a quarter or so. The long-gestation periods on automated storage solutions, the material content is very low overall. That have to -- and [indiscernible] what was price are fixed immediately, electrical, electronics, mechanical, and things like that. And a lot of activity happens inside for the valuation. So the raw material content itself is very low. [indiscernible] commodity raw material current is low.

[Joseph George, analyst]

As a result, even if there is no price escalation, it won't make too much of a difference really, that's what you're saying.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Yes, we factor something, but I think will not make a significant difference, yes. It will not -- one thing is that we will need a INR 500 crore order book to have a consistent revenue because of the long lead time item. So this is something like a long pipeline. Once we fill it up, I think the consistency in the quarterly revenue on the automated storage solutions will improve.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of [ Kush Nahal ] from Electrum Portfolio Managers.

[Unknown Analyst]

So my first question was, can you guide us on FY '25 growth? How are we looking at FY '25%?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

FY '25 will be in a similar line of H1 growth, that's one. I think we are not -- I'm not talking about standalone, but on a consolidated basis, it will be significant because we'll have almost 2 quarters of consolidation of these 2 subsidiaries. Plus the Bhiwadi plant operation in Q4 will bring significant revenue.

[Unknown Analyst]

And sir, just one question on the EBITDA margins. So like you said [indiscernible] target around INR 7,000 crores in FY '26 as revenue. So that would [indiscernible] EBITDA?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

See, the EBITDA will be now in transition, Sunbeam EBITDA will be in transition. It will not be a quick turnaround. It will take 1 more year, I would say. So that will bring down the overall EBITDA level. I think Craftsman will be able to sustain very high teens, in the range of 18, 19 is what we look at.

The EBITDA of -- our overseas subsidiaries, the revenue is small. I don't want to comment too much on that because revenue itself is around [indiscernible]. Then we will be single-digit EBITDA, whether it's low single digit or high single digit, we, obviously, the operations going forward there totally, but it is EBITDA positive. That is clear.

And then Sunbeam, we are looking at between around 8% to 10% EBITDA. This is what we are targeting internally overall. So we look at the blended average, more or less we will be around 17%, 18% as the overall company goes.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Yash from [ Duro ] Capital.

[Unknown Analyst]

Just a bookkeeping question. Can you please tell us the value added across the segments for H1 as well as this quarter?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

There is a little -- I would say that I don't mind giving it really speaking, but I've seen that none of our peers give it. And that has been adverse to us on this matter, like, okay, this is the revenue and this is the value add and there's raw material content and how is it happening, and becoming more sensitive on the Aluminum segment. So now we don't want to get into those numbers, so there is a cost which is there overall, I think that's better, you know the aluminum content and [indiscernible] aluminum revenue, and aluminum across the segment will be having more or less the same costs.

It is not beneficial as a strategy to give these details, I think so, going forward.

[Unknown Analyst]

So can you just tell us in a direction-wise, how it's gone, if you will not give us the exact numbers?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

On the powertrain, I think the product mix is more towards wood material because of the other -- whatever we are buying [indiscernible]. So that is when we are also doing job out there, so we cannot really [indiscernible] that. In general, the value addition as a percentage has been, in the powertrain, has been in the range of around 60%, I would say. And the aluminum also it is very close to around 40% because we are doing value-added products in the missioning side, casting and missioning totally.

And the [indiscernible] side has been lower because of the legacy orders on the storage solutions business, which is less than 30%, I would say.

[Operator]

The next question comes from the line of [ Neel ] from ValueQuest.

[Unknown Analyst]

Yes. So my question is around [indiscernible] in powertrain. How is the lay of the land in terms of [indiscernible].

So the question is, what are you planning to [indiscernible] amount in terms of have increased the [indiscernible]?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Sorry, I think it's not clear, please, and the voice is hardly [indiscernible]. If you don't mind, you can use the...

[Unknown Analyst]

Is it better now?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Yes, better now.

[Unknown Analyst]

So my question was around the [ QID ] that we did. So about INR 1,200-odd crores that we have raised. If I were to net of the sale of the land from [indiscernible] about INR 700 crores to INR 800 crores would be spent, and we will be left about INR 400-odd crores. So what are the plans around that, if you are trying to see M&A or maybe [indiscernible]?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

No, we are not looking at any M&A because we have done our strategy very, very clearly. And aluminum, we didn't have a footprint in the north. Now we have footprints in the north. We have got customers like [ Maruti ], [ Vitesco ], Bosch. We have [indiscernible]. I think a lot of export is also happening to North America, and we are trying to grow that. And if not for the Sunbeam, I think our footprint [indiscernible] got into [indiscernible] not Indian region, Asia region, I would say. This is one thing.

Second thing is, if not for Fronberg, I think we would have missed [indiscernible] the large engine segment, which China is at least 15 years ahead of us, as of today, totally. They started this foundry investing for the foundries 15 years ago. Today they are the major supplier in the world.

And in fact, there was a comment saying that for the large Indian production, the capacity of the Chinese foundries is -- can serve the entire world totally. And there's all the other foundries in Europe and U.S. can be redundant. So much capacity is there. And capability is also there, because they have done major investments in technology upgradation from learning from customers and things like that.

So we're trying to do catch up. I think this [indiscernible] facility was important and putting up the Kotawari was important to -- for Kotawari facility will make the castings in a proper way quickly, which will give confidence to customers, is what's important. So there was [indiscernible] cost which are there at [indiscernible].

I think the second thing is the other bidder for us was why the price went up from the initial, say, 5 million to 10 million. The simple reason is that this customer wanted to buy the foundry. So this what they were. So we were pitted against the customer. And one of the key customers for Fronberg.

Now coming to the DR Axion, we have completed the [indiscernible] acquisition, that is also done overall. And [indiscernible] portfolio by itself is complete. We don't need any acquistions at all. Organically, we can first [indiscernible] the plants, bring the synergies, then growing capacities.

Even on the powertrain, having done [indiscernible] deal and the [indiscernible] we don't need any acquisitions in the [indiscernible] business.

And in the industry engineering business, unless something comes up in a different way in the coming years, it may be small questions, maybe in the region of INR 100 crores, INR 150 crores [indiscernible] some strategy. But no large acquisitions for clients at all [indiscernible] we are not going to do that, any large acquisitions, in the next 2 years.

[Unknown Analyst]

Right. Got that. So the rest of the QIP money will mainly be allocated towards the CapEx plan that you have for the next 2 years?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Yes. That is -- the history [indiscernible] say that we raised INR 150 crores from private equity in 2010, all put together. INR 150 crores in the IPO. Only INR 300 crore equity was raised apart from the original equity of the promoters, which was way back in 1986.

Then apart from this, the INR 1,000 crore is on step-up opportunity for making the company more safer and sustainable on the growth path for the next decade, I would say.

[Unknown Analyst]

Got that. So next 2 years, what kind of debt level you will be comfortable at?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

See, we will be -- stand-alone debt, I think we are targeting around INR 1,000, [indiscernible] crores for this year. And after the land sale happens, that will come down to INR 1,200. And in FY '27, if you look at it with the normal CapEx and normal maintenance CapEx, I think that level will be to the tune of the EBITDA level of Craftsman stand-alone, I would say, around that level, 1.2 to 1.3, is what we look at it.

Even at group level, I think 1.3, 1.4x EBITDA level will be the [ deck ]. And after that, it may come down to less than -- we want to keep it between 1 and 1.5. We do something extraordinary, that can go to 1.5. This is something onetime situation where we did a step-change, but that is not going to be repeated.

[Unknown Analyst]

All right. Got that. And last question is on DR Axion. So this quarter, sales were kind of big for us in that particular subsidiary. Now going forward, the expectation in the market is that over the next 6, 12 months, PV sales are going to remain [indiscernible], especially for a player like Hyundai who's not really gaining market share. So are we expecting any kind of growth to happen in [indiscernible] stand-alone subsidiary business?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

We feel that some -- whatever exports we have started in a small way, it will be for the full year next year. So that will help us to grow next year. This year, more or less, it will be flat, I would say.

[Operator]

We have a follow-up question from the line of Mumuksh Mandlesha from Anand Rathi Institutional Equities.

[Mumuksh Mandlesha, analyst]

Is there any impact of the higher aluminum price [indiscernible] on the revenues and margins, sir? Is that [indiscernible] happened? Or is [indiscernible]?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Sorry, I'm not able -- we're nota ble to hear properly.

[Unknown Analyst]

Yes. So I want to understand how is the impact of the aluminum prices, sir, for this quarter on the revenue margin, sir?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

No, nothing. I think overall, I think, we have been ramping up capacity. When there's ramping of capacity, normally there will be some expenses. For example, we -- even for Craftsman as a whole, we incurred all the other extraordinary expenditure for all the 3 acquisitions, that is DR, Sunbeam and our subsidiary in Fronberg, and that has the tune of more than I think around INR 10-odd crores, which has hit us in the first half.

And we have spent without capitalization for the expenses running on generator at Kotawari and Bhiwadi and putting people for trial production under INR 20 crores we have spent for preoperative expenditure, which has also gone as the expenses in the first half. This INR 30 crores has also, on the stand-alone, has impacted our EBITDA level. And with higher depreciation, it is showing the EBIT level optically lower, is a big problem which we have.

I hope I have answered your question.

[Mumuksh Mandlesha, analyst]

No. Basically I was -- specific on the change in aluminum prices, raw material prices, is there any impact on this quarter margin, sir? Because there's a lag in the past, sir?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

No, I don't think so. I think aluminum-wise, we are more or less same. As I mentioned that aluminum, we are expanding sometimes, for example, there are some Kotawari -- sorry, Bhiwadi expenditure that happened, I would say, that might have impacted some margins, I would say, not any aluminum prices.

[Mumuksh Mandlesha, analyst]

Okay. And sir, lastly, the stand-alone aluminum margins have come down this quarter to 11.8% versus 13.2% last quarter. Any reason for a fall for this margin?

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

See, we have to look at the [indiscernible] the depreciation and look at the EBITDA level, more or less we are same there. I would say that sometimes -- no, I think the EBITDA level is marginally lower, right. Total is around [ 15% ] yes.

Secondly, the product mix that can be a little on the top line increasing because [indiscernible] price, there is some Bhiwadi expenses, which has happened, which has been not capitalized. So our expenditure is quite significant, I would say, because of the operations.

So I would say that 0.5%, 1% margin coming down may be due to organic reasons, and the extra things other things [indiscernible] would have been with the Bhiwadi expense.

[Operator]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have no further questions. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Srinivasan Ravi for closing comments. Over to you, sir.

[Srinivasan Ravi, executive]

Thank you very much for patiently listening through the entire conversation, and we are very happy that a lot of people have participated in this Q&A, and I was happy to answer all your questions, because we are looking at a lot of shareholder support [indiscernible] transit this journey from being a medium-scale industry to an upper medium scale industry or where we can attract global customers, and with the good scale of operations in each of the segments we perform. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. On behalf of Craftsman Automation Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.