2. Astec Lifesciences Ltd.– About the company
Established in 1994- It is an Indian manufacturer of Agrochemical Active ingredients, formulations
and intermediate products. Astec is a leader in Triazole fungicides and has a portfolio of fungicide
and herbicide technical products. The Company has 214 product registrations across 32 countries
including 139 product registrations in India..
• The Company has 2 multiproduct plants in Mahad, Maharashtra and an R&D site, manufacturing
and pilot plant in Dombivli near Mumbai.
• Utilization at Mahad-I currently stands at 90-95%. Mahad-I facility is used for all the three
business verticals
• At Mahad-II facility, the Company currenly uses only 30% of the total area available and remaining
70% is kept for future expansions. Mahad-II is primarily used for manufacturing herbicides.
• Besides these two plants, the Company also has a R&D centre and Pilot plant at Dombivli,
Mumbai.
• The sites are certified to ISO 9001 (Quality), ISO 14001 (Environment) and OHSAS 18001 (Safety)
standards.
• The Company is a signatory to the International Council of Chemical Association’s Responsible
Care Initiative for standards in Quality, Safety and Environment parameters
• Astec has Efficiently designed production facilities with substantial scope for capacity expansion
within existing premises.
3. Astec Lifesciences– Business Profile
Astec Lifesciences- Business Verticals
Business Vertical Operations
Revenue
Contributions
EBITDA
Margins
Enterprise Sales
Sale of active ingredients and bulk formulations to
leading agrochemical companies worldwide 75.00% 19.50%
Contract Manufacturing
Operations
Outsourced manufacturing services of keyherbicide
and fungicide for global companies 16.00% 20.20%
Branded Formulations
Sale of branded formulations in India through its
subsidiaryAstec Crop Care Private Limited 9.00% 7.00%
• Company largely manufactures Agro-chemicals intermediaries and Fungicides.
• It has Comprehensive portfolio of Triazole fungicides for foliar and seed treatment of
a wide range of crops including paddy, cereals, plantation crops, fruits and
vegetables.
• It pioneered Triazole fungicides in India and continues to be a leader in this segment
in India.
• Some of the Fungicides product which the company produces include: Tebuconazole,
Propiconazole, Epoxiconazole and Cyproconazole.
4. Astec Lifesciences– Investment Rationale
Growth momentum to continue with focus on the high margin operations
Over the years, Astec has successfully
nurtured and grown its flagship
Triazole products in India. Until 2011
the Company operated only in
Enterprise Sales segment where it
manufactured intermediaries and
various fungicides products. However
recently it ventured into two more
vertical viz., Contract Manufacturing
Operations (CMO) and Branded
Formulations. These two segments,
CMO in particular, has been the
growth drivers since FY 2012.
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FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 9MFY15
Net Revenue
Net Sales
Rs. in crs
Robust revenue growth since last 5 years.
5. Astec Lifescience– Investment Rationale
Growth momentum to continue with focus on the high margin operations
Astec’s revenue grew at a CAGR of 19.6% over last 5 years. However, its bottom line took a
beating, declining from 10.73 crores in FY09 to 8.68 crores in FY14. The key reason for
decreased profitability was dwindling margins on it’s key products. The EBITDA Margins fell
from 22.7% In FY09 to 16.8% in FY14. However, FY12 and FY13 were the years of turnaround
for the Astec. It revisited it’s strategy and decided to venture in two new verticals, CMO and
Branded formulations. It also developed new products for its Enterprise Sales segment, which
are yielding good dividends for the company now. Astec also aims to develop 2-3 products
every year. This will help them consolidate their already strong position in Triazole fungicides
market and also aid in recouping their margins.
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6. Astec Lifescience– Investment Rationale
Growth momentum to continue with focus on the high margin operations
As a part of its growth strategy Company is undertaking following approaches:
• Enterprise Sales: It is the biggest vertical for the company both in terms of sales and
profit contribution. Astec aims to add 2 new products to its portfolio each year, especially
new generation high growth molecules, with 5 – 6 new products slated for
commercialization over the next 2 years (these including products under exclusive
arrangement with specific customers).
• Contract Manufacturing Operations: Company has successfully signed up agreements
with Australian MNC Nufarm (10 years) for its herbicides products and a Japanese
company Sumitomo in FY12 and FY13 respectively. It also has a smaller agreement with a
Russian concern. Management is confident of adding many more international clients
and should be the growth engine over the coming few years.
• Branded Formulations: Company operates in this vertical through it’s 100% subsidiary
Astec Crop Care Ltd. Currently, its operations are spread over 6 states and Company
expects to scale up its operations to 4 more states. EBITDA margins for this segment are
on lower side at 7% due to higher employee cost. However with geographic expansion
employee efficiency is expected to improve and impact margins positively.
• Exports: Exports contribute approximately 35% of consolidated revenues and Europe and
the Americas are their key markets. It has set up one subsidiary at Columbia and Belgium
each as they expects Europe and Latin America to continue to drive their export growth.
7. Astec LifeScience– Financial Outlook
Focus on Margins:
We expect Astec Life Sciences, EBITDA margin to improve from 16.8% in FY14 to 19.98% in
FY17 as a result of following measures:
• Enterprise sales: Slated commercialization of few products and focus on new generation,
higher growth molecule products will drive margins for this vertical.
• CMO: It plans to cross sell some of its products to the existing clients and also add more
clients in this high margin segment.
• Branded Formulations: Astec looks to mobilise its employee cost by scaling up its activities
to 4 more state.
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EBITDA Margin (%)
EBITDA Margin (%)
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ES and CMO BF (RHS)
Segment wise margins
8. Astec Lifescience– Financial Outlook
A combination of attractive product launches, addition of new clients and scaling up of Retail
business are expected to add to the growth momentum of the company. We expect Astec
Lifesciences to report 3 year Net Sales CAGR of 23.4% to Rs. 389 crore and Consolidate PAT
CAGR of 53.7% to Rs. 31.5 crores in FY17.
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NetSales
Net Sales
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ConsolidatedPAT
Consolidated PAT
9. Astec Lifesciences Ltd.– Valuation
We assign a PE of 12 on FY17 EPS of Rs 17.02 to arrive at a target
price of Rs. 204, which translates to a near 71% upside from the
current levels.