Alicon Castalloy Ltd

Our strategy of unrelenting focus on customer-first, combined with world-class technological irmovation, has been instrumental in driving sustainable and robust growth for the Company and its stakeholders.

Dear Shareholders,

FY 2023-24 was a transformational year for Alicon's continuous journey of excellence. Our strategy of unrelenting focus on customer-first, combined with world-class technological innovation, was instrumental in driving sustainable and robust growth for the Company and its stakeholders.

The steps we took post the pandemic slowdown enabled us to recover rapidly, and to put us back on a strong growth trajectory. We successfully expanded our global customer base and launched a series of new and differentiated solutions, while simultaneously driving best-in-class operational and financial excellence.

The ability and commitment of our team enabled us to capitalise on the favourable market conditions to surpass last year's good performance, enabling us to achieve another milestone in terms of our highest-ever annual revenue.

Your Company demonstrated exceptional resilience and strength to deliver superior performance across all the key metrics. On a full-year basis, the Company's total income grew 11% over the previous year at ' 1,585 Crores. We ended the year on a high, registering the highest-ever quarterly revenues in the history of Alicon at ' 420 Crores, in Q4. EBITDA for the year grew by 27%, while EBITDA margin improved by over 150 basis points to 12.7% from 11.2% in FY 2022-23. The trend of enhanced EBITDA margin, despite rising inflationary pressures, reflects the effectiveness of our strategic efforts. Notwithstanding the increase in interest and depreciation costs on a year- on-year basis, PBT and PAT witnessed strong growth of 30% and 20% respectively. These excellent results are a testimony to our unrelenting focus on value engineering, capability augmentation and investment in leadership development.

In view of the strong all-round performance, the Board of Directors has approved an interim dividend of 60%, equivalent to ' 3 per share, and a final dividend of 90%, equivalent to ' 4.5 per share, resulting in an annual

We ended the year on a high, registering the highest-ever quarterly revenues in the history of Alicon at' 420 Crores, in Q4. EBITDA for the year grew by 27%, while EBITDA margin improved by over 150 basis points to 12.7?% from 11.2% in FY 2022-23.

dividend of 150% or ' 7.5 per share. We are confident that the initiatives we have undertaken have positioned us well to continue to build on the momentum and sustain our leadership position.

I congratulate the Alicon team on delivering a great performance and express my appreciation for all our customers who have reposed their trust in us.

TRANSFORMING STRATEGICALLY TO DRIVE GROWTH

The growth posted by Alicon during the last year is testimony to the success of our business transformation strategy. We are actively seeking to be a supplier of choice, as we strive to provide solutions based on technical feasibility, process excellence, and design differentiation.

Our strategy is focussed on diversificaron and reinforcement of our growth levers to drive sustainable progress. Aligned with market trends, we have identified five clear pillars of our strategy to drive long-term growth.

• Scaling strategic products in the ICE business.

• Addressing opportunities in carbon-neutral technology, including battery electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, fuel cell and hydrogen cell technologies.

• Exploring opportunities from structural parts or technology-agnostic components.

• Expanding into non-auto business; leveraging our competencies in sectors such as defence, energy and telecom.

• Enhancing customer business share through value-added processes and comprehensive design solutions.

FY 2023-24 witnessed a significant scale-up in these strategic growth areas, which enabled us to achieve a more balanced product mix. The share of Passenger Vehicles (PV) and Commercial Vehicles (CV) touched 52% of sales compared to 49% in FY 2022-23. Our investments in the strategic pillars also translated into an enhanced customer profile, with the addition of marquee global names.

Our global business contributed 25% during FY 2023-24 as against 22% in the previous fiscal, highlighting Alicon's growing stature in the industry. Our concentration on critical components, allowed us to secure significant contracts, giving us a strong competitive edge and enabling us to access higher value additions. At the same time, we moved aggressively to capture the opportunities triggered by the market transition towards hybrid technology, which is expected to push volume growth for the Company going forward. Our cylinder heads for Toyota are designed specifically for their hybrid models, reflecting our advanced position in this technology. OEMs like Maruti are also embracing the hybrid trend, opening new vistas of growth for Alicon in this niche segment.

We also continued to strengthen our capabilities in offering thermal solutions during the year. The e-Axle prototype we have developed for JLR is set to move into mass production, and we see significant growth potential emerging in this segment going forward.

These developments underscore an increasing recognition for Alicon as a partner and preferred supplier of critical parts for customers around the world. Responding to new and emerging opportunities, we spent an aggregate of ' 114 Crores towards capex deployment during the year. The capex was utilised for enhancing our production capabilities and raising our technology levels to global standards as well as investments in new product development. We aim to increase this capex further to around ' 150 Crores in FY 2024-25.

Your Company received numerous awards last year. Toyota India, Maruti, Royal Enfield and Jaguar Land rover have recognised our contribution in being a reliable partner and quality-driven supplier.

As we move forward, our modern technological capabilities, especially in critical components, will continue to help us win business traction from both domestic and global customers. Even as we boost our technological capabilities and expertise, we shall expand our footprints into new markets, customer segments, fuel technologies, and vehicle categories to grow our market share.

On this positive note, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my fellow Board members for their constant support and guidance. I would also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Management team the Alicon family for their continued commitment and hard work. Finally, my thanks to our customers, business associates, bankers, and all stakeholders for reposing their trust in our business. With your steadfast support, the future holds considerable promise and optimism for our Company.