Stock Market Update on Exide Industries for 1QFY2012

Stock Market Update on Exide Industries for 1QFY2012 with a Neutral recommendation.

Exide Industries (Exide) reported a weak performance in 1QFY2012, missing our top-line and bottom-line estimates, largely due to lower-than-estimated growth in automotive replacement battery volumes and lower demand for inverter batteries. Further, slowdown in demand growth restricted Exide’s ability to completely pass on raw-material cost increases, thus negatively affecting its operating margin. We maintain our long-term positive outlook on the battery industry; however, considering the lower-than-expected 1QFY2012 results and subdued guidance for the next couple of quarters going ahead, we revise our revenue and earnings estimates downwards. We recommend Neutral on the stock.

Lower automotive and industrial battery demand and raw-material cost pressures led to weak quarterly performance: For 1QFY2012, Exide reported modest 8% yoy growth (1.4% qoq) in its total revenue to `1,244cr, led by a ~5% increase in sales realisation. Revenue growth was restricted on account of muted volume growth due to 1) slower growth in the automotive vehicle segment, resulting in lower OE demand for automotive batteries and 2) pleasant weather conditions in north Indian markets, leading to a 25.7% decline in inverter battery volumes. EBITDA margin declined substantially by 498bp yoy (88bp qoq) to 17.9%, impacted by lack of buoyancy in industrial and automotive batteries demand and increased lead prices. Lead prices jumped by 31% yoy, leading to a 400bp yoy increase in raw-material costs – which accounted for 63.6% of sales. However, higher other income of `31cr and lower tax outgo restricted the fall in net profit to a large extent. Thus, the bottom line reported a marginal 1.3% yoy decline (0.3% qoq) to `163cr.

Outlook and valuation: We expect Exide to post a ~15% revenue CAGR over FY2011–13E, leading to a 12% CAGR in net profit. At `155, Exide is fairly valued at 16.6x FY2013E earnings. We recommend Neutral on the stock. Our fair value for Exide works to `161. We value Exide’s core operations at 16x its FY2013E earnings at `149 and its stake in ING Vysya Life Insurance at `12/share on FY2013E NBAP.