Sharda Cropchem Ltd
NSE:SHARDACROP

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Sharda Cropchem Ltd
NSE:SHARDACROP
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Earnings Call Transcript

Earnings Call Transcript
2022-Q4

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Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Sharda Cropchem Limited Q4 FY '22 Earnings Conference Call hosted by Antique Stock Broking. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I now hand the conference over to Mr. Manish Mahawar from Antique Stock Broking. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

M
Manish Mahawar
analyst

Thank you, Sandy. On behalf of Antique Stock Broking, I would like to welcome all the participants on the call of Sharda Cropchem. From the management, we have Mr. R.V. Bubna, Chairman and Managing Director; Mr. Ashok Vashisht, CFO; and Mr. Dinesh Nahar, GM Finance on the call.

Without further ado, I would like to hand over the call to Mr. Bubna for opening remarks. Post which, we will open the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to Mr. Bubna.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Thank you, Manish. Good evening, and a warm welcome to everyone present on this call. I hope you all are keeping safe, healthy during these pandemic times. Along with me, I have Mr. Ashok Vashisht, our Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Dinesh Nahar, General Manager; and SGA, our Investor Relations advisers. Hope you all have received our investor deck by now. For those who have not, you can view them on the stock exchanges and company website.

We have a vast and growing library of dossiers and IPR, which provide us a solid foundation for growth in the global marketplace, especially in advanced markets such as Europe, North America and Latin America. It encrypts us with the ability to operate in a diversified range of formulations and generic active ingredients space globally. The company continues to identify opportunities in generic molecules. Our total registrations stand at 2,686 in FY '22. Additionally, 1,030 applications are in the pipeline.

The CapEx for the financial year 2022 stood at INR 413 crores, 4-1. We are placing special focus on expanding this buyer-side registrations. We maintained healthy relationships with our approved manufacturers, agrochemical industry, mainly in China. Sourcing from approved manufacturer helps us in getting quality products at optimal price and also helps us to derisk the sourcing capabilities.

We -- over the years, we have a good brand franchise within our global markets. We are benefiting through scale of economies in our portfolio and repricing value of our supply chain. We have mastered flexibility to grow our business. At present -- we are present in 75 to 80 countries, having a sale of 400-plus and more than 500 distributors. Going ahead, we plan to leverage market presence and execution capabilities and adopt the factory-to-farmer approach to be a one-stop solution provider to our global customers. We have accelerated focus on revenue-generating investments and are continually looking to improve the operational efficiencies, which will help us improve our margins.

In the year -- in the financial year 2022, our revenues -- sorry, this is alternative of the quarter 4. In the quarter 4, our revenues have grown by 32% to INR 1,434 crores; EBITDA by 60% to INR 729 crores and PAT -- I'm sorry, EBITDA by 29%. That was for the full year. For the quarter, our EBITDA has grown by 29% to INR 317 crores and PAT by 32% to INR 177 crores. This was for quarter 4. For the full year, our revenues have grown by 39% to INR 3,580 crores; EBITDA by 60% to INR 729 crores and PAT by 52% to INR 349 crores. We are a debt-free company, having strong balance sheet. Our ROE for the financial year 2022 stood at 19.8% and ROCE stood at 25.7%.

With this brief overview, I would now like to hand over the call to our CFO, Mr. Ashok Vashisht, for discussing our financial performance. Thank you. Over to Ashok.

A
Ashok Kumar Vashisht
executive

Thank you, sir. Good evening, friends. I'm pleased to take you through Q4 FY '22 and full year FY '22 financial numbers. First, coming to quarter 4 FY '22 performance, we recorded a strong quarter. In this quarter, revenue stood at INR 1,434 crores, of which INR 1,088 crores in Q4 last year and growth of -- growth of 32% year-on-year basis. Our revenue growth was mainly led by better product mix and price -- better price valuation.

We had a favorable price and product mix impact to the tune of 42% coupled with exchange rate of around 0.3% during the quarter and adverse volume degrowth around 12%. In terms of gross margins, we were at 29.2%. And gross margin is marginally lower than the last year maybe factored by higher freight cost and other inflation. EBITDA stood at INR 317 crores versus INR 246 crores in Q4 FY '21, registering a growth of 29% on a year-on-year basis. Our growth in EBITDA as everyone will recall, our quarter 4 last year was very -- one of the best quarters. So this growth, we have below than that. And growth in EBITDA was mainly driven by high revenue, effective cost management across the country, which was marginally out by higher freight costs.

For the quarter, profit after tax stood at INR 177 crores -- so versus INR 134 crores in the same period last year. So registering a growth of 32% year-on-year basis. Now deep dive is coming to state of agrochemical business grew by 24% year-on-year basis to INR 1,243 crores whereas non-agro business grew by 129% year-on-year basis to INR 191 crores.

In agrochemical space, Europe grew by 14%, as especially Europe is very big followed by NAFTA region grew by 26%, Latin America 173%, and rest of the world de-grew by 18%.

Europe continue to be the major contributor to the overall revenue of Sharda and for quarter 4, the revenue contribution of Europe was 49%, NAFTA, 39%, Latin America, 9% and ROW, rest of the world 3% of the agrochemical business for Q4 FY '22.

In the non-agrochemical space, Europe grew by 105%, NAFTA 229%, Latin America 31% and rest of the world 9%. Coming to the contribution in non-agro business, as you know of different regions, Europe contributed 29%; NAFTA, 57%; Latin America 5% and rest of the world, 9% of the non-agro business for our Q4 FY '22.

Now coming to our full year FY '22 performance. Our revenue increased to INR 3,580 crores versus INR 2,396 crores in FY '21, registering a strong growth of 49% on year-on-year basis. This was mainly driven by strong volume growth of 24% across the geographies, favorable price and product mix balance to the tune of 25%, coupled with exchange gains 0.9% during the year.

Gross margins stood at 30.2% and gross margin for the year was impacted by in line with our global trends due to the higher freight costs. So what we could majorly mitigate impact of adverse inflation or other effects. EBITDA stood at INR 729 crores versus INR 455 crores in FY '21, registering again strong growth of 60% year-on-year basis. Profit after tax stood at INR 349 crores versus INR 229 crores in FY '21, so with a growth of 52% year-on-year basis.

Now for full year coming to segments. Agrochemical business grew by 46% to INR 3,004 crores out of INR 3,580 crores, whereas non-agrochemical business grew by INR 71 crores (sic) [ 71% ] on a year-on-year basis to INR 576 crores.

Now further into agrochemicals space, Europe grew by 32% for the full year basis, NAFTA grew by 59% on full year basis, and Latin America grew by 110% on a full year basis, and rest of the world grew by 10% on full year race. In terms of regional contribution to the total agro business revenue, Europe contributed 46%, NAFTA contributed 38%, Latin America 11%, and ROW, rest of the world 5% of the agrochemical business for the full year basis.

In non-agro space, Europe grew by 67%, NAFTA grew by 93%, Latin America grew by 14% and rest of the world 44%. In terms of contribution of non-agro business by the different regions, Europe contributed 31%, NAFTA 50%, Latin America 5%, rest of the world 14% of the non-agro business for full year FY '22.

We also improved on the net working capital as it stood at 89 days in FY '22.

So this was our brief performance for quarter 4 and FY '22. Now we open the floor for the questions. Thank you.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Jigar Shah from Swan Investments.

J
Jigar Shah
analyst

Sir, a couple of questions. First, so you have been [indiscernible] about deepening our presence in the -- in our various markets. So could you be specific about that? What sort of impact are we seeing by strengthening our distribution network? Number one. And second question would be outlook given the Chinese lockdown. How have you secured the supplies from there? And what sort of growth outlook will you like to give for the FY '23? Yes, these are 2 questions.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Sir, your first question was [indiscernible] because of the sound. Can you repeat the first question once again?

J
Jigar Shah
analyst

Sure. So the first question is about we have being continuously tendering our distribution network as you are mentioning in the investor presentation and which has helped us to gain some market share in certain geographies. Sir, if you could elaborate more that where do we stand on a vis-a-vis last year in number of our network in the world market share and what is our plan for the existing year? Which other areas are we going to focus more on to strengthen the network?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, it will be difficult for me to quantify what has been the improvement. All I can say is that the distribution network, the number of distributors are increasing, and the volume from the distributor is also increasing. This is most of our ability to supply the goods to them on time, on their demand and maintaining the quality of the goods.

J
Jigar Shah
analyst

Okay. And sir, on the -- sorry, on the Chinese, how we secure our supplies from China?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, for China has been a little up and down. Further up to say, June, July last year -- versus last year the supply from China was very normal. It started getting impacted sometimes in the month of August to December. Than from January onwards they also started improving. Recently, there has been, again, some impact of corona and COVID impacts in China. Government has strictly put lockdown in many, many areas. And when they say lockdown, it's complete lockdown, people aren't allowed to leave out of their houses. So this part -- this has affected the shipments. The goods are waiting at the port to get into the ships and ships are waiting at port also to get entry on the bulk. But this development has been very recently, and it has not been in a crucial period for us. So our impact on these jurisdictions have been very marginal. But we are very confident that the things will change. Chinese have been very flexible and very quick to recover very fast immediately after they overcome this corona problem.

J
Jigar Shah
analyst

Supply which are stopped entry for would impact us in the -- in terms of...

Operator

Repeat your question, please? We were not able to hear you clearly.

J
Jigar Shah
analyst

Yes. Yes. Sir, what I would like to understand is due to the supply bottleneck as the Chinese fault, which quarter should we see the impact?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, our quarters are different and what is the impact of corona on the Chinese country and population that are 2 different things. For us, this quarter is not so significant because by this time, all the goods required for the right season in the spring have already arrived in essence and in the distributors' warehouses. Any impact of restrictions in the shipments will have impact on our business the next quarter, which is significantly quite compound compared to Q4 and Q1 for us. So we are not very much alarmed. And I'm sure by the time the crucial period comes, the Chinese will be able to come out of these lockdowns.

J
Jigar Shah
analyst

Okay. Okay. And what sort of growth outlook would you like to give for the current -- for FY '23?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Sir, it will -- we should grow at the rate of 15% to 20%.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Somaiah from Spark Capital Advisers.

S
Somaiah Valliyappan
analyst

My first question is on the distribution -- the distributor count, you did mention. What has been over the change? Sir, how many new distributors have been added over the last year? That's the first thing. And second thing, in terms of the new regions, I mean, over the last year, any new geographies specifically we have entered or probably penetrated more which you want to kind of highlight?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See geographies, we were covering all the 4 geographies: Europe, NAFTA, Latin America and rest of the world. We have gone a little more deeper into these geographies. And this year, we have been very effective and contribute -- I mean, benefited by NAFTA region. The growth in NAFTA region has been very good, and we hope to continue this if the weather continues to be normal or friendly. We hear about some adverse weather in this month of some regions in U.S. is having storm and snow. So if this time these things happen, then we may have some adverse impact. Otherwise, we should be able to continue our growth in NAFTA regions.

S
Somaiah Valliyappan
analyst

Helpful, sir. And also, if you can touch upon in the distributor count, you have given a total number. Anything that you can give on a geographic basis and more importantly, on a Y-o-Y, which are the areas which have seen a larger change?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Mr. Somaiah, we have not -- we have a very little time to go into so many details. All I can tell you is that there is a general growth in the number of distributors, but we have -- it doesn't help us to know whether it's grown by 10% or 12%. They are growing, and the distributors are gaining more and more confidence on Sharda, Sharda's ability to supply the goods on time and Sharda's ability to supply quality products. That is helping us with the distributors.

S
Somaiah Valliyappan
analyst

Understood, sir. Sir, one question on the RM thing from -- sourcing from China. So over the last year, things have been pretty tough. So what has kind of really helped us in terms of getting the sourcing completely in place and in fact, gaining market share amid such tough times?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Sir, our -- developing a good relationship with our manufacturers and gaining their confidence that we will pay them on time. And decision-taking even at a crucial time when we found this is difficult, we have shifted the goods -- shipped the goods by air. It has cost us a lot, but we've been able to meet the demands of the customers also in time.

S
Somaiah Valliyappan
analyst

Sir, can you help us with the volume -- I think you did mention about the volume, price and FX for Q4. Can you please repeat it, the line was not clear. And also, if you could give the same number for FY '22, that will be helpful.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

1 minute -- just 1 second. What is this? Quantity-wise, our volume in 2021-'22 was 436,800 as compared to 32,319,900. This is the quantity. I know there are a lot of disturbance. It is INR 3,580 crores as compared to INR 2,396 crores. Hello?

Operator

Somaiah, do you have any further questions?

S
Somaiah Valliyappan
analyst

Yes. So I was referring to the percentage breakup of your revenue which you give up how much volume has contributed, how much price in FX has contributed. That number for Q4 and FY '22 of the 30% revenue growth to be the first.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

One second. Hello? Yes, I'll give you those figures. Our volume has contributed 24%; foreign exchange 1%; and price variance about 25%; overall, about 50%.

S
Somaiah Valliyappan
analyst

For Q4, what would be the same numbers?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

For Q4, volume has degrown by 11%, FX 0.3% and price variance 42%.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of [ Nitin Kumar ] from Alpha Capital.

U
Unknown Analyst

Congrats for a very good set of numbers. Sir, my first question would be, you were just mentioning about the volume and pricing. So you see volume has grown by 11% this quarter. Can you please explain why that happened and any guidance for the next full year?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Sir, one of the main factor is that our performance in the previous year and see, this quarter was very good. And there have been some holds up because of the freight and logistic reasons. And third was maybe some demand because of the corona pandemic.

U
Unknown Analyst

So sir, any guidance you would like to give in terms of volume growth for next full year because there are issues in terms of recessionary worries in Europe and China also lockdown is there?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

We are confident we should be able to grow in the range of about 15% to 20% in the next year. And this is something as once like Ukraine and Russia war getting expanded or going over the world scale affecting at Europe and U.S. If at the current state, we feel that we'll be able to grow around 15% or plus.

U
Unknown Analyst

And this guidance is on volumes, sir or value-wise?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Value-wise.

U
Unknown Analyst

Sure, sir. And any margin-related things you would like to give us guidance?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, margins, we have been able to maintain around 31%, 32%. This time, it was 30% in the [indiscernible]. So we'll be able to continue same trends.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Rohan Gupta from Edelweiss.

R
Rohan Gupta
analyst

Congratulations on good set of numbers despite such a challenging environment. Sir, first thing is on the volume growth for the quarter, which has degrown by almost 11%, you mentioned that a couple of reasons you just cited. Doing same thing in the current quarter, do you see that volume growth pressure is likely to continue, though, you gave the guidance also of 20%. But also if you can clarify further because the price-led growth itself was significant, and it will likely to remain significant in the current year also. So in that kind of scenario, sir, do you see that the price growth itself can be 15% to 20% upward and the volume growth separate?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

What did you say price growth? See, first of all, I didn't say 20%, I said 15% to 20%.

R
Rohan Gupta
analyst

Yes. 15% to 20% growth guidance is, sir, it should be more in the volume-led growth, right, sir?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Yes. Yes. And also, the margins will be in the range of 30% to 32%.

R
Rohan Gupta
analyst

Right. And sir, prices are still holding up or prices are going up in the current scenario, driven by the raw material price increase coming from China. How do we see that the pricing, sir?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Rohan, it depends from product to product. In some products, the prices are catching up with the increase in the cost. In other products, there is no increase in the -- increase in the raw material sourcing product. So in fact, maybe sometimes the goings so that is helping us in our margins. The selling prices are more or less stable.

R
Rohan Gupta
analyst

Right, sir. Sir, another is a clarification. On the current quarter, sir, Q4, what we have seen that ROW markets have fallen significantly while other markets have reported a solid growth. So any particular reason for ROW markets weak market in the current scenario, sir?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Rohan, this ROW is very spread or the markets are spread over geographically. And many of these countries are not so well regulated. There the borders are not so full proof, and a lot of products goes under different names and other things. So it's very difficult. Sometimes duplicate materials may reach there. So it's very difficult to maintain the margins. And then the margins are not so attractive. Our interest also gets little reduced. Our emphasis into these markets also get reduced. We try to concentrate more in the markets of developed countries where the rule of law is effected and implemented very seriously and only genuine and authorized products enter the countries. That is the area which gives us a margin and our interest.

R
Rohan Gupta
analyst

Right, sir. So in that way, sir, LATAM markets has been quite significant for you in Q4 and you have reported a very solid growth. Do you see that these markets -- LATAM markets will continue to do well and the company will continue to focus more on this LATAM market?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

The company will continue to focus also on the LATAM market. Our emphasis is mainly in Europe and NAFTA and also in the LATAM market.

R
Rohan Gupta
analyst

Sir, just last, and I'll come back in queue. This -- sir, belting business, that has also grown in line with the revenue in agrochemicals. I think that, that will be more led by the price increase growth. If you can give some comment on the belting business, how it is proceeding in the current scenario? And are you seeing that the mining and increased mining operations are now? Are they helping the growth of the business?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, the main driving force for the belting business is our service to the customers, deliveries on time in difficult times and quality of the product.

R
Rohan Gupta
analyst

Sir, I was just looking for the growth guidance on that number. And will the belting business also will keep on growing in line with the agrochemical?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Rohan, this year, the belting business has grown faster than the agrochemical business. And we are starting the next new year with a very big base, but we hope to continue almost as much the growth part, as we have done this year.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Rohit Nagraj from Emkay Global. Sir, we are not able to hear your voice clearly.

R
Rohit Nagraj
analyst

Hello?

Operator

Yes, yes, please proceed.

R
Rohit Nagraj
analyst

Am I audible now?

Operator

Yes.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Yes, please.

R
Rohit Nagraj
analyst

Yes, sir. Congrats on good Q4 as well as FY '22. Sir, my first question is in the next 5 years, there are $5 million to $6 million of products going off patent. How are we able to capitalize on this? Or how are customers placed to capitalize on this?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

It's a natural opportunity for us. This is not requiring any efforts on our part. When a lot of -- I mean, these are natural opportunities for us. And we are confident of capitalizing on this as we have been doing it in the past.

R
Rohit Nagraj
analyst

Right, sir. Got it. Sir, the second question is in terms of channel inventories. How are the channel inventories across different markets currently? And if channel inventories are high, then probably that could have implications in future. So what is your sense on the same?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, our experience is that a channel inventories were getting lesser and lesser and they are drying up during the last full year in the period of corona pandemic. And that had helped us. It is very difficult for us to make a guess and estimate how the channel entries are going on in the current year with the competitors because these informations are now published. But I feel that the channel inventories are going to go down over the period of time because freight costs are also increasing significantly. The shipping times are increasing significantly. And so it's becoming very difficult also for anybody to keep a lot of product in the channel.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Jigar Shah from [ Swan Investments ].

J
Jigar Shah
analyst

Yes, sir. Sir, we have around 72 days of inventory as per the presentation. And sir, could you give us a breakup and around INR 892 crores of inventory in absolute term. So out of this, how much would be finished goods and if you could share the breakup? Just want to understand like the disruption in the logistics, which has been caused, what -- for how many months will it be covered in terms of [indiscernible] inventory?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, we do not have a breakup of what is the -- what was your main question? Breakup in -- what was the formulated products or...

J
Jigar Shah
analyst

Yes, the [indiscernible] products, yes, the finished products, yes and the raw material.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

I do not have that breakup, and we do not maintain the breakup in this firm because ultimately, there's not a big time gap between the raw materials and finished products, getting the products formulated. Our inventories have been in the range of 70 to 75 days, and we feel that we'll be able to contain it to this level in the next year.

J
Jigar Shah
analyst

Okay. So for us to grow at around 20% in the June and the September quarter, will we be able to have sufficient stock assuming the supplies from China has got disrupted in last around 25 to 30 days. And we don't know how the things will open up. So just want to get your confidence on that.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Yes, we'll be able to maintain.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Bhavya Gandhi from Dalal & Broacha.

B
Bhavya Gandhi
analyst

Sir, I just wanted to understand what is the overall dependency on China and what is the alternative source, sir, for example, if China remains shut for 6, 8 months. So what is the alternative? And what is our overall dependency?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

We have told you -- I have told people in the past that China is a factory to the world. And the entire world is dependent upon China. The real alternative doesn't exist in the real sense in. There are some alternatives available in India, but the quantity and the volumes are much lesser. In India also, we have a lot of handicaps of logistics and so many things, ships availability and all that. And I think China is very flexible in this respect. And they have been able to meet the requirement of the world, and I feel that they will continue to be.

B
Bhavya Gandhi
analyst

So sir, what would be as a percentage of our procurement -- overall procurement?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, our procurement from China is more than around 90%, 95%. And we will continue to be in that level.

B
Bhavya Gandhi
analyst

In terms of value?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

In terms of value, yes.

B
Bhavya Gandhi
analyst

Okay. And sir, you've given 30%, 32% gross margin guidance. Sir, what is the guidance with respect to EBIT or EBITDA margin?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

One minute. EBITDA margin is in the range of 20% to 21%...

Operator

The next question is from the line of Ritik Shrawak from Edelweiss Financial Services.

R
Ritik Shrawak
analyst

I just wanted to know the gross margin breakup geographically.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

One minute. See, in the year -- financial year 2022, the gross margins in Europe have been in the range of 36%; NAFTA around 29% to 30%; LATAM around 15%; and rest of the world, about 22%. [indiscernible] overall is 30.2%. Yes. Q4. Well, Q4 has been, say, Europe, it has been in the same range, 35% to 36%; NAFTA was around 26%; LATAM 15%; and rest of the world, 22%, 23%, more or less in the same range as the full financial year.

R
Ritik Shrawak
analyst

Okay, sir. And sir, total...

Operator

Sir, I would request you to please come back in the queue. The next question is from the line of Nitin Agarwal from DAM Capital.

N
Nitin Agarwal
analyst

Sir, on the belting business, has there been any change in the margin profile of the business also?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

There has been. The margins have been under pressure mainly because of the freight costs. The freights have been so significant, and they form a fairly significant part of the total cost. In other ways, the cost of agrochemicals, the freight is much lesser in terms of percentage as compared to the belt parts. And our customers have been sharing quite a lot of portion of the increase in the freight, but not 100%. So maybe 15% to 20%, or 25% freight has to be also absorbed by us, which we have to take out of our margins, and that's why the margins are under pressure.

N
Nitin Agarwal
analyst

So the margin will be around 5% in the businesses, sir? Or is there a different range of that now?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Overall, the margin is in the range of 17% to 18%.

N
Nitin Agarwal
analyst

In the belting business also, sir?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

In the belting business, yes.

N
Nitin Agarwal
analyst

Okay, sir. And sir, secondly, by the end of the year, we have a slightly higher inventory than we used to have in the past. You talked about reducing inventory going forward. So any particular reason why the inventory -- have we deliberately chosen to stock up a higher inventories in this quarter?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

You see, we had planned the inventories as per the previous year, but the offtake has been a little bit slow in the fourth quarter. That is why you would see some -- a small increase in the inventory. And that will be all utilized in this current quarter.

N
Nitin Agarwal
analyst

[ At some level ], sir, because of disruption which are there in manufacturing, that should be probably helpful you to stand.

Operator

Sir, I would request you to please come back in the queue. We would like to cover all the participants in the queue. The next question is from the line of Dhruv Muchhal from HDFC Asset Management.

D
Dhruv Muchhal
analyst

Sir, first question was on the CapEx. Sir, next year, now your EBITDA rate is much better than -- I mean, much higher than what it was for the last few years. So sir, any [ upgrading ] CapEx that we are [ actually ] looking for? And yes, that's -- for the next 2 years, we can guide on the CapEx, sir?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, the CapEx has been always on an increase also because the requirement of the authorities are increasing for registering a product. The product registration costs have been continuously going up. So I think our CapEx would be in the same range. This year, it was more than INR 400 crores. Next year, it could be maybe INR 380 crores to INR 450 crores.

D
Dhruv Muchhal
analyst

INR 300 crores to INR 400 crores.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

INR 380 crores, I'm saying, closer to -- closer to INR 400 crores.

D
Dhruv Muchhal
analyst

Okay. Got it. And sir, second was a question on the broader Europe market, focusing on just on the Europe market. Sir, are we seeing some change in the structure of the market in terms of how buyers are purchasing? How our customers are looking at the purchase from, say, of [indiscernible] products. Because, sir, earlier what we used to understand is the innovators had a big hold in the market because of some bundled policies [indiscernible] and all those factors. So the customers are not leaving these innovators for some of the other reason.

But are you seeing, sir, that changing at a relatively faster pace now and they're looking for [indiscernible] suppliers like you more and more now? Is that a trend that you're seeing [ today ]? Earlier, sir, what we also used to see is these customers running a lot of data in terms of getting products from -- [indiscernible] products from other suppliers and not from innovators, but now is that changing, sir?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, your question has been a little long. I'll provide a shorter answer. The customers are getting accustomed to non -- I mean, non-innovative products because they find that the quality is good enough, and they have a slight soft corner because the prices are better than the innovators. And the generic companies are more flexible. They are very fast to change to the requirements of the customers, whereas innovators, the response to the changes in their market situations are comparatively slow.

D
Dhruv Muchhal
analyst

Yes, sir. But they are system-driven?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

They are system-driven, and generics are [indiscernible].

D
Dhruv Muchhal
analyst

Sir, true sir, but this has been the case always. I mean you have always been cheaper than the innovators. So what I'm trying to understand, in the last [Foreign Language] is or let's say, last 3 years or so, has this increased? I mean, has the acceptance increased even further, and we should continue to see this because Europe is a big market for you, sir. And penetrating this market as always for other players has always been difficult, but things you are doing very well.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

My answer to your question is yes. Their shift towards the generics is increasing. And as it always happens, the customers have lesser confidence on a generic when it's new in the market. But we have been operative in this market for more than 15 to 18 years now. So they know that we are a serious company. And we are coming up to their needs and requirements. So they're having more confidence in us, and that's how a small shift towards the company like Sharda.

Operator

Yes. If you have any questions, you may e-mail or come back in the queue. The next question is from the line of Darshita Shah from Antique Stock Broking.

D
Darshita Shah
analyst

Congratulations on a good set of numbers. I just had one question. If you could get the volume and registration received geography-wise breakup for 4Q and FY '22, that would be very helpful.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

What was your question, volume?

D
Darshita Shah
analyst

Volume wise -- volume and registration received geography-wise breakup for 4Q and FY '22?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Madam, volume information I have already given. If you want, I'll give you once again.

D
Darshita Shah
analyst

No, no, geography wise, what was the volume growth?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Geography-wise, the volume in Europe was about 18.6 million units, NAFTA was about 13 million units, LATAM about 5.2 million or 5.3 million and rest of the world about 3 million, totally around 40 million units, you can call it kilograms or liters.

D
Darshita Shah
analyst

Yes. We actually wanted the Y-o-Y growth for the quarter as well as for the year.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Y-o-Y growth is about 24%. It was around 32 million units last year and it's around 40 million units this year. So it's about 24% growth.

D
Darshita Shah
analyst

Yes. And for the regions, that is Europe, NAFTA, LATAM and rest of the world, the Y-o-Y growth?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Yes, yes, madam. Y-o-Y growth is 20.3% in Europe, 14% in NAFTA, 112% in Latin America and 5% in rest of the world. Overall is about 24%.

D
Darshita Shah
analyst

And for the quarter?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

For the quarter, Europe has been a slight degrowth about 4%, NAFTA around 30% degrowth, LATAM about 170% growth and rest of the world is about 40% degrowth. So for the quarter, the biggest growth is in the LATAM region. Overall, for Q4, there has been a degrowth of about 10%.

D
Darshita Shah
analyst

Right, right. And I needed the registration received geography-wise breakup as well.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Let me see if I have that information. No. I'll tell you that you want the registrations received?

D
Darshita Shah
analyst

Right, right. Yes.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Am I right?

D
Darshita Shah
analyst

yes, yes, yes.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Madam, we have received about 143 registrations in the whole year, out of which 94 have come in Europe, 37 in NAFTA, 8 in LATAM and 4 in rest of the world, total about 143.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Himanshu Binani from Prabhudas Lilladher.

H
Himanshu Binani
analyst

So sir, I just have 2 questions. Number one is on the Europe region. So what you have been like [indiscernible] comments from the other [indiscernible] actually taking some regulatory increase in terms of the their product into the region [indiscernible]. Sir, I wanted to have a sense from how you are placed into that?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Sir, your voice was honestly not very clear. I would request you to please repeat the question and speak little slowly and louder.

H
Himanshu Binani
analyst

Sure, sir. So sir, my first question was on the European region. So what you have been like [indiscernible] from the competition as well as some [indiscernible] companies are facing some regulatory issues in terms of the products into the region. So just wanted to have a sense that how are we placed into this region basically?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Sir, I am not -- I'm hearing from you for the first time that some companies are facing some -- you said some challenges in terms of registration in Europe?

H
Himanshu Binani
analyst

Sir, some challenges -- so some challenges in terms of the [ generic ] products -- products are getting banned due to the regulatory issues, et cetera. So I just wanted to have a sense that are you also facing something of this sort in the European regions?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, my friend, if a product is getting banned, then that ban is for everybody, including an innovator -- innovator or a generic player. It is not restricted only to the generic players. And the process of ban is because of the technical reasons, some products are found to be harmful to the environment or to the human consumptions and things like that. As R&D is developing, they find some impurities in some products, which are harmful. So this is a general trend, which is affecting everybody.

It is not affecting one company or one class of suppliers. So it is there, but it's very normal. It is a normal process. The process of banning will continue because as and when the product becomes older, the technical experts find some weaknesses in those products, which affect the quality of the application, I mean on the agri products, and they are slowly getting banned.

And newer and newer products are coming. The new products are proving to be more expensive, but more -- I mean, environmental friendly and harmless for the human consumption. This is general tail. It doesn't affect any generic or innovative separately. If I answered your question correctly, sir -- have I understood your question and answered you correctly?

H
Himanshu Binani
analyst

Right, sir. Right, sir. And sir, secondly, my second question was that on the opening remarks, we have actually commented on focusing on the bio products. So sir, I just wanted to have a sense on the registration. So how are we placed in getting the registrations, et cetera? So we have got somewhere around 140 registrations during FY '22. So if we actually need to bifurcate back between the traditional and the bio [indiscernible] what would be the breakup basically of this?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

See, bioproducts basically are not -- I mean, it's only the agri products, which are also used for bio application. So the molecules are the same. Only the concentration and packing are different. Bioproduct, the packing form a very significant part of the total product, concentrations are much lesser and registration process is also slower. And bioproducts, the volume of sales is also very much lower compared to the agri products.

So we are getting the registration of bioproducts. The pace is a little slow, and our attention is also slow because it's not forming a significant part of the business and revenue.

Operator

We'll move to the next question from the line of Bhavya Gandhi from Dalal & Broacha.

B
Bhavya Gandhi
analyst

Yes, sir, I just wanted to understand that companies which are backward integrated, especially in this inflationary scenario, do they tend to generate better margins and better hold because they'll have pricing power vis-a-vis us because every layer some sort of margin gets added from intermediates to technicals to formulations. So what's your take on this, sir?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Mr. Gandhi, if you take the total margin from the stage of manufactured in the factory or from the raw materials to the consumer, the manufacturing stage contributes very small part from the total margin. Most of the margins come from marketing and from sales.

So there could be some savings in the cost for the manufacturing, but the manufacturing has also a lot of disadvantages mainly to continue their factory running during off-season. Agrochemicals are purely season-driven product and manufacturing companies find it very difficult to manufacture, continue their products and then keep their goods in warehouses and store for a longer period till season comes. So these kind of disadvantages, all the small margins that they have in saving the -- in the cost of manufacturing. That's my impression.

B
Bhavya Gandhi
analyst

And sir, one more question. So how many pyrethroid registration we would be having? So do we -- in the overall registrations, do we have pyrethroid registrations globally?

U
Unknown Executive

We do have...

B
Bhavya Gandhi
analyst

If you could quantify the number and which geography [ adverse ]?

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

That [indiscernible] pyrethroids -- see, mainly the registrations are distributed among herbicides, fungicides and insecticides and all that. Pyrethroids, I think, form a part of insecticides. Insecticide is not a very significant part of the total agrochemical business. Majority is herbicides and fungicides. So they do not help -- it doesn't help us.

Operator

Sorry to interrupt, sir. You may e-mail your questions. We will have to move to the closing comments in the interest of time. This was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to management for closing comments.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Yes, madam. I would like to thank everyone, all of our participants who have joined us in this conference. I hope we have been able to answer your queries to your satisfaction. We look forward to such interactions in the near future. We hope to meet your expectations in future. In case you require any further details, you may contact us or Mr. Deven Dhruva from SGA, our Investor Relations partner. We are available to individuals' questions or communications and writing or on phone. And we will be very happy to interact with you. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you very much. On behalf of Antique Stock Broking, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

R
Ramprakash Bubna
executive

Thank you, madam. Thank you, everybody.

A
Ashok Kumar Vashisht
executive

Thank you, everyone.

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