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Advanced Enzyme Technologies Ltd>
  • CMP : 387.4 Chg : 1.95 (0.51%)
  • Target : 265.0 (9.56%)
  • Target Period : 12-18 Month

06 Aug 2022

Headwinds continue to hamper growth, margins…

About The Stock

Advanced Enzyme Technologies (AET) is a focused, research driven Indian enzymes company with a product basket of 400+ proprietary products developed from 68 indigenous enzymes and probiotics.

  • The business is divided into three segments - 1) human healthcare, 2) animal healthcare and 3) industrial processing business
  • It has nine manufacturing and seven R&D facilities, which consist of three integrated fermentations, recovery & formulation facilities, one extraction and recovery facility and one satellite blending, mixing & formulation facility
Q1FY23

Margin pressure and elongated recovery at the clients’ end continue to weigh.

  • Revenues were down 12% YoY to ₹ 121 crore
  • EBITDA was at ₹ 31 crore, down 51% YoY with margins at 25.5%

PAT was at ₹ 18 crore (down 53% YoY)

What should Investors do?

AET’s share price has grown by ~1.9x over the past three years (from ~₹ 151 in August 2019 to ~₹ 293 levels in August 2022).

  • Downgrade from HOLD to REDUCE as we wait for 1) normalcy to return in core businesses of human nutrition and 2) improvement in margin profile
Target Price and Valuation

We value AET at ₹ 265 i.e. 22x FY24E EPS of ₹ 12.1

Key Triggers for future price performance
  • Easing of input cost inflation, logistical challenges and demand for enzymes and probiotics in key geographies
  • Introducing more products in domestic and international markets along with expansion of sales and marketing team in US, MENA and Asian market
  • AET remains a marginal player in the global enzymes landscape that is estimated at ~US$10 billion and poised to grow as more applications across usage industries incorporate enzymatic technologies
  • Going ahead, AET plans to augment its R&D capability that bodes well in the long run in its quest to improve scalability & foraying into complex enzymes
Alternate Stock Ideas

Apart from AET, in our healthcare coverage we like Laurus.

  • Laurus is evolving as a strong vertically integrated player with strong order book visibility and incremental traction from custom synthesis

 

  • BUY with a target price of ₹ 675

Key Financial Summary

Particulars FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 5 Year CAGR(FY17-FY22) FY23E FY24E 2 Year CAGR (FY22-FY24E)
Net Sales 419.6 444.0 501.8 529.4 9.8 520.8 579.9 4.7
EBITDA 181.9 202.3 231.5 201.4 6.0 162.1 216.6 3.7
EBITDA Margins (%) 43.4 45.6 46.1 38.0 - 31.1 37.4 -
Adj. Profit 111.1 129.3 146.2 119.7 5.7 94.7 134.7 6.2
Adj. EPS (|) 9.9 11.6 13.1 10.7 - 8.5 12.1 -
PE (x) 32.1 23.5 20.8 25.4 - 34.6 24.3 -
RoE (%) 16.4 15.4 15.1 11.0 - 8.1 10.4 -
RoCE (%) 21.6 19.6 19.4 14.3 - 10.2 13.2 -
Source: Company, ICICI Direct Research

Key takeaways of recent quarter & conference call highlights

Q1FY23 Results: Revenues, margins weak

  • Revenues declined 12% YoY to | 121 crore on the back of 9% YoY de-growth in human nutrition segment to | 81 crore being partially offset by growth of 11% YoY in animal nutrition to | 16 crore. Bio processing segment de-grew 10% YoY to | 18 crore while specialised manufacturing sales was at | 6 crore this quarter. EBITDA margins contracted 2026 bps YoY to 25.5%, mainly due to higher input cost and other expenditure. Subsequently, EBITDA de-grew 51% YoY to | 31 crore while net profit fell 53% YoY to | 18 crore
  • Advanced Enzyme reported a below par performance this quarter with margins significantly below I-direct estimates. AET has witnessed logistics crunch, soaring input costs and supply chain concerns across geographies in the last few quarters affecting overall business in the enzymes and probiotics space. However, historically, strong margins and healthy return ratios is testament to the pricing power and balance sheet strength of the company. Going ahead, the business environment is likely to improve from H2FY23. The management intends to augment its R&D capability for better facilitation and strengthening of in-house R&D capability, in its quest to improve scalability and a possible foray into more complex enzymes and launch more products in target market of probiotics

 

Q1FY23 Earnings Conference Call highlights

  • The company witnessed continued challenges on logistics and input cost
  • Raw material inflation along with higher logistic cost is likely to ease from Q3FY23. EBITDA margins declined due to higher raw material cost and higher other expenses comprising higher consulting/legal charges, promotional activities, fuel cost and expense due to annual increments
  • Revenues from Evoxx this quarter was at | 6.9 crore, EBITDA was at | 1.8 crore, profit of | 0.8 crore. Revenues from JC Biotech were | 14.6 crore while EBITDA was at | 1.9 crore and PAT at | 0.7 crore. Revenues from Scitech was | 6.6 crore and loss of | 1.4 crore
  • AET’s largest selling product, anti-inflammatory enzyme sales in Q1FY23 was at | 27.9 crore
  • Top 10 customers of AET contributed 28% in Q1FY23
  • B2C segment contributed US$1 million in Q1FY23
  • R&D expense at | 7 crore (5.1% of topline) in Q1FY23. R&D will be ramped up gradually and be around 5-7% of sales
  • The management has indicated that promotional expenses will continue to go up as market opens up in quarters ahead. The management has indicated at reaching FY22 margins by Q4FY23

 

 

Variance Analysis

  Q1FY23 Q1FY23E Q1FY22 Q4FY22 YoY (%) QoQ (%)   Comments
Revenue 121.1 132.0 137.0 131.7 -11.6 -8.1   YoY decline amid de-growth in human HC, industrial processing and SSPL being partially offset by growth in animal HC 
Raw Material Expenses 27.2 31.7 22.4 31.6 21.1 -14.1    
Employee Expenses 28.1 25.7 26.9 25.9 4.3 8.4    
Other Expenditure 34.9 33.0 24.9 33.8 40.3 3.2    
EBITDA 30.9 41.5 62.8 40.3 -50.7 -23.3    
EBITDA (%) 25.5 31.5 45.8 30.6 -2026 bps -508 bps   YoY decline mainly due to higher input and freight cost along with higher employee and other expenditure 
Interest 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.7 28.1 -14.6    
Depreciation 8.6 9.4 8.5 9.1 1.9 -4.8    
Other Income 2.0 1.3 0.9 3.4 113.7 -41.0    
PBT before EO & Forex 23.7 33.0 54.7 33.9 -56.7 -30.2    
Forex & EO 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0        
PBT 23.7 33.0 54.7 33.9 -56.7 -30.2    
Tax  6.1 9.1 15.0 8.7 -59.3 -29.6    
PAT before MI 17.6 23.9 39.7 25.3 -55.7 -30.4    
MI -0.3 0.8 1.8 0.8 -116.7 -135.4    
Net Profit 17.9 23.0 38.0 24.4 -52.9 -26.8    
Key Metrics                
Human HC       80.7       86.5       89.2      86.5 -9.5 -6.7   YoY decline due to Probiotics and bio-catalysis division
Animal HC       15.6       14.7       14.1      15.2 10.6 2.6    
Industrial Processing       18.3       19.0       20.3      18.8 -9.9 -2.7   Food business de-grew 14% YoY to | 14.7 crore, non food categories grew 13% YoY to | 3.7 crore
Specialised Manu. (SSPL)         6.5       11.8       13.4      11.3 -51.5 -42.5    

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