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Welspun Corp Ltd

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BSE Code : 532144 | NSE Symbol : WELCORP | ISIN : INE191B01025 | Industry : Steel |


Chairman's Speech

Chairman's Message

Dear Stakeholders,

The financial year 2023-24 has been a milestone year in our transformation journey for Welspun Corp Ltd. Our new businesses have started contributing towards the Company's shareholder value, and the milestones achieved are becoming the next stepping stones for our success. The Company recorded its highest-ever revenue and EBITDA, along with its strongest-ever operational performance. We have recorded strong volume growth in all our business entities including Line Pipes, Ductile Iron (Dl) Pipes, Stainless Steel Bars,

Pipes & Tubes, Water Storage Tanks and other Polymer Products. As a testimony to our sustainability efforts, we are ranked in the top 4 percentile in steel sector globally in DJSI ratings on Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) parameters. We also achieved highest ESG score by CRISIL under the basic Iron and Steel industry category.

Our aim is to create value for all our stakeholders by building a diversified business portfolio strengthened by our engineering excellence, strong customer connect, project execution capabilities, sustainable innovation and financial prudence. With a keenness to contribute to India's growth story, our new businesses have strengthened our efforts in developing the nation's infrastructure and improving the quality of life of citizens, while also providing employment opportunities.

Financial Performance

This has been a record year for the Company both from a financial and an operational perspective. Each of our businesses in our Pipe Solutions vertical has exceeded our expectations and have individually contributed to the Company's growth. Sales volume for our Line Pipes business (India and USA) grew by 49%, went up by 5x for DI Pipes and our Stainless Steel Bars and Pipes grew by 89% Y-o-Y. In our Building Materials vertical, Sintex volumes grew 16% Y-o-Y, and our TMT Rebars saw a rise of 7x Y-o-Y in sales volume.

Backed by this robust operational performance, the business has significantly grown from INR 9,758 Crores to INR 17,340 Crores in revenue. We have more than doubled our EBITDA from the previous year. Our PAT for FY24 has jumped by more than 5x. Contribution of our associate company in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the bottom line also improved substantially. Our net debt has reduced significantly and our ROCE has improved to 20% compared to 8% in FY23.

Bringing Smiles to Your Homes - Our Water Solutions

The water sector has been growing exponentially in India, and the demand for pipelines for this sector has seen a continuous rise. We are seeing a lot of traction coming from states like Gujarat, MP, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka who are putting up a huge network of pipeline for irrigation. All these states are witnessing massive industrialization and urbanization, in turn adding up to demand for our Line Pipes business.

The Jal Jeevan Mission, Nal Se Jal and AMRUT schemes of the Government of India (GOI) aim to provide safe and sufficient drinking water to households in both rural and urban India. We have been contributing towards transportation of drinking water to rural and urban households in line with these initiatives through our DI Pipes business. This was the first full year of our DI Pipes business and we have recorded 204,581 tonnes of sales this year with a strong order backlog making us a credible player in the very first year. The growth for this business is expected to be strong for the next 5-7 years with various schemes on drinking water funded by GOI driving this demand. In this backdrop, we are expanding our capacity from 400,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes per annum. We are expecting our capacity utilization to ramp up at a faster pace in the coming years. Our DI Pipes business remains one of our key focus areas.

Sintex is an iconic brand with pan India presence, and it has witnessed a great first year with us. Our focus has been on winning back lost share and scaling up the existing business. Our water tanks business is gaining traction and we have been working on strengthening our

distribution network. We have redesigned our engagement programs with retailers and launched Sintex Pride program for plumber community. This has supported in increasing our retail network by 30% on Y-on-Y basis. Focusing on the robust potential and strong growth opportunity in the plastic pipes market, we have announced a capex of INR 2,355 Crores spread over two years for manufacturing of different types of plastic pipes (including CPVC, UPVC, HDPE and OPVC pipes) and Water Storage. Along with our existing manufacturing facilities in six locations, this investment will be made in four states viz. MP, Telangana, Odisha and J&K helping us gain a pan India presence. We have also signed an exclusive contract with Rollepaal, one of the two key technology suppliers for OPVC pipes, which augurs well for our aim to target the premium market segment.

Our acquisition of Sintex and our capacity expansion in the Ductile Iron Pipes business are aimed towards further strengthening our focus in tapping the huge potential of the water solutions industry.

ESG - Our Top Priority

Our commitment to ESG has resulted in Welspun Corp being ranked in the Top 4 percentile in Global Steel Industry in S&P Global's DJSI Corporate Sustainability Assessment. We achieved a total score of 68, a 19% increase from the previous year score of 57. The Company is ranked in the Top 2 percentile in the steel sector globally on Governance scores. We also achieved the highest score in ESG performance across "Basic Industry: Iron & Steel products" category by CRISIL ESG Rating.

We are making significant progress towards our commitments to achieve carbon neutrality and water neutrality by 2040. We are on our path to achieving our renewable energy targets through a combined solar installation of ~4MW across three manufacturing facilities and 42 MW Hybrid RE at Anjar contributing up to 55% renewable electricity by 2026.

We have a very strong focus on governance as well, and we are compliant with all statutory requirements and policy needs. Our board comprises 50% Independent Directors with illustrious and diverse backgrounds, with female representation of about 25%. Our objective is to build an organization that generates a net positive influence on society and the environment.

Growth Drivers for Line Pipes

Our Pipe Solutions business is performing in line with our expectations. We see a strong business outlook for our Line Pipes business in all three geographies that we operate in; India, USA and Saudi Arabia.

Expansion of gas grid pipelines, continued focus on City Gas Distribution pipelines, huge opportunity in interlinking of rivers and strong push by states including Gujarat, MP, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on increasing the water pipeline network for irrigation, industrialization and urbanization purposes augur well for our Line Pipes business.

We are seeing the emergence of hydrogen pipelines and carbon capture pipelines, including ammonia transmission. This is where we see global demand moving onto in the near future and it is expected to offer big opportunities. We are leading the technical drive both in domestic as well as international markets with JIP with DNV and partnerships with key international operators. We are well placed to capitalise on the same as demand rises. As a Company, we are working closely on technical developments in this area

and we expect to see some key breakthroughs in the coming years.

Our strong engineering capabilities in the Line Pipes segment ensure that we remain well-positioned to harness these new opportunities and become an established player in this segment in times to come.

Outlook remains strong in the US and we see at least one of the pipeline projects in Permian Basin to get concluded in CY2024. We also remain optimistic of booking new orders to ensure business continuity. In Saudi Arabia, our associate company East Pipes Integrated Company for Industry (EPIC) has a confirmed order book for more than two years. Backed by strong Government push, demand for both Oil & Gas and Water pipelines is increasing exponentially and EPIC now commands a dominating presence in this market.

Way Forward for New Businesses

With a strong growth potential in the MENA region, the Company is setting up a manufacturing facility for DI Pipes with a capacity of 150,000 tons per annum in the

KSA, expected to be completed by the end of 2025. We are also expanding our DI Pipes manufacturing capacity in India from 400,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes. DI Pipes demand both in India and KSA market remains very strong and this will continue to remain a key focus area for us in the foreseeable future. Welspun Specialty Solutions Ltd (WSSL) continues its transformational journey under a well-defined growth strategy, and it has witnessed its first year with a profitable bottom line with a complete turnaround. Our strong focus on R&D has been instrumental in developing and delivering critical grades to segments including thermal power, nuclear power, defence, petrochemicals, among others.

On Building Materials side, Sintex should continue to garner greater market share in Water Storage Tanks. We are confident on our foray into PVC pipes, which is also a synergetic business for Welspun Corp. With strong business potential, we are exploring various growth options at current and new locations.

For an organization like ours which is undergoing transformation, it is critical for us to nurture our in-house talent to create a future pipeline of leaders. We believe in instilling a philosophy of grooming and developing our leaders of tomorrow to undertake more critical roles at Welspun Corp. We are continuously assessing the current skills of our people and mapping them with the industry standards to ensure that we bridge gaps, and provide upskilling opportunities for our Human Capital to grow both professionally and personally.

On behalf of Welspun Corp's Board of Directors, I want to thank all our shareholders for their sustained support, and all our customers and business partners for their firm faith in our endeavors. Let me also take this opportunity to thank our Welspunites, who have powered our growth and success in FY 2023-24 through their commitment and dedication.

Warm regards,

B.K. Goenka

Chairman.