SYMPHONY - Symphony Limited Share Price

Question 1: Sir, on the premium side, 95 litre to 120 litre categories, I think in the market we have seen input cost deflation as well as the market is also cluttered. Just want to understand how our competitors are doing in this segment, whether they are doing aggressive discounting to gain market share? And how is our volume growth in the segments? And are we seeing any compression in this premium segment in recent quarters?

Answer: Broadly, the market's experiencing a K-shaped movement. The lower segment is moving from metal to plastic coolers at lower price points. While the premium category prices remain stable, recent models we've launched are priced higher, but they represent a small part of our overall portfolio. Therefore, there's no significant compression in the premium segment.

Question 2: Sir, organized as well as unorganized air cooler market are growing at same rate? Or is there any diversion happening? And how is our growth coming - primarily from market expansion or premiumization or share gain from organized or unorganized players? What is the split, sir?

Answer: A significant part of our growth results from customers shifting from unorganized to organized markets. While there's organic growth in the traditional plastic coolers market, the real impetus comes from this movement away from unorganized sectors, particularly in the metal cooler category.

Question 3: Sir, my last question, what percentage of sales is coming from modern trade and e-commerce versus traditional dealers in Q3? And how our margin structures are evolving across these channels? And what investments are being made in direct-to-consumer capabilities to mitigate long-term channel dependency risk?

Answer: D2C sales have turned profitable, both at EBITDA and PAT levels. While we cannot disclose specific percentages for sales from various channels for competitive reasons, we've routed all investments through P&L, including expenses related to D2C and new product launches, which will show benefits over the medium to long term.

Question 4: So, I would just like to understand that the India growth, which we have, is it majorly because of the core air coolers, counter seasonal products channel normalization or are we gaining market share?

Answer: In this quarter, growth more reflects channel placements rather than market share gains. We prioritize product placement during October to December, while counter-seasonal products now represent slightly above a quarter of our business, steadily increasing over the years.

Question 5: Sir, this time, you haven't mentioned subsidiary financial in presentation. Can you give some sense how has been their performance for this quarter? And how are the things looking for the next quarter? What sort of growth and margin we should expect?

Answer: For Climate Holdings Australia, top line for 9 months is Rs.128 crores (up from Rs.123 crores). EBITDA improved to minus Rs.8 crores from minus Rs.14 crores, while PAT rose to minus Rs.18 crores from minus Rs.22 crores. IMPCO Mexico's top line decreased to Rs.101 crores from Rs.135 crores, with EBITDA and PAT down, but still cash positive. Each subsidiary has shown improvement, positioning them for recovery next quarter.

Question 6: Just a sense, we have just taken a decision to sell it off, now we are rolling it back. So what sort of valuation gap was there? Because earlier call, you were very sort of positive this might happen by this year and possibly early next year and we had a strong interest, as you highlighted from more than 10 parties. So why was the valuation so poles apart?

Answer: We received strong interest from multinational companies and financial investors. Yet, the valuation gap compared to our expectations was significant, preventing us from proceeding. While we cannot specify details due to confidentiality, it was enough to reconsider and focus on our current markets where there's strong potential, especially in light of tariff considerations.

Question 7: And when should we expect Climate Technologies, Australia to hit the profitability part? Should we expect it should be back to profitability on PAT, as well as cash level from next year onwards?

Answer: We are working towards profitability for Climate Technologies, but cannot confirm timelines yet. However, there are indicators suggesting an improving trajectory, which is promising.

Question 8: One last question from my side. How has been the non-core category growth this quarter? And how much it was as a percentage of mix?

Answer: Over the last 9 months, non-core categories contributed over 25% of our mix, growing steadily. This includes large space cooling, water heaters, and kitchen appliances. While subsidiaries aren't significantly profitable yet, they are positioned for better performance, with IMPCO and GSK contributing positively.

Question 9: The first one is on the difference between standalone and consol revenues. If we just consider continuing operations, the revenues in the consol entity are slightly lower than standalone. So is it a case that we had sold certain units to, let's say, IMPCO or Climate Technologies, which have remained unsold how should we kind of think about it?

Answer: The decrease in consol turnover for continued business is primarily due to stock sales. Any goods sold to subsidiaries are excluded from consolidated turnover as per accounting standards, ensuring there's no double counting. The focus should be on combined continued and discontinued operations for understanding.

Question 10: And sir, my second question is, if you could give us some indication on how the water heater business is faring, which all states are we currently present in? How large the business could have become?

Answer: Our water heater business is maturing, presently in around 8 states, including recent expansions to select northern markets. Plans to roll out further in new areas are in place. The business ability will grow steadily based on market response to our innovative offerings, but specifics on size are dedicated to future evaluation.