Starting from two ginning factories in the 1950s, the Indus Group has grown to become a leading name in the Pakistani textile business. With a market capitalisation of over Rs 11.3 billion, Indus Dyeing & Manufacturing Company Limited now ranks in the top four textile stocks on the KSE, up there with the likes of Gul Ahmed and Feroze1888.
The company has three plants in Hyderabad, two in Muzaffargarh, and one in Karachi. It is a prime example of a vertically integrated textile company; Indus operates in four segments - ginning, yarn spinning, towels, and power generation. Of these, yarn-spinning is its core business and accounts for over 80 percent of sales amount and workforce.
The towel division began production in 2005 and has an integrated plant with the most modern Air-Jet weaving machines other equipment. For power generation, Indus has natural gas generators from leading companies of Europe and USA, ensuring continuous supply of electricity.
With annual sales north of $150 million, Indus Dyeing & Manufacturing has under its belt a number of export markets where it sells its quality products, and it has received many awards and recognitions, including the Best Export Performance Trophy.
The company's gross margins and net margins also show a highly fluctuating trend for the same reason. As can be seen from the bar chart, FY10 was a golden year for the company, with skyrocketing international yarn prices. However, as of FY14, gross margins and net margins declined by around 800 and 700 basis points year-over-year, respectively.
Indus relies far too heavily on exports. It's presence in the local market is considerably lower than the revenues it makes of exports. As of FY14, the company's exports made up almost 84 percent of net sales. Of these, its core business is cotton yarn. This does not bode well due to the fluctuations in the international market, not to mention the depressed prices as of late.
It seems the company suffered lowered margins as it had to emphasise volume over value due to depressed international yarn prices. As of the ten months ended April, Pakistan's cotton yarn exports declined by over 13 percent year-over-year. Raw cotton and towels suffered a similar fate, declining by 4 and 5 percent year-over-year, respectively.
Sales have not been increasing accordingly with costs and gross profits and margins are being hit. The usual suspects are to blame - an overvalued Rupee against the dollar, competition from India and other regional players, energy crisis, depressed international prices on lackluster demand from China.
Although lower fuel costs and raw cotton costs should have helped in providing some cushion to profitability, the slump in yarn prices was far greater. And given its low presence in the domestic market, this was the perfect recipe for disaster for Indus.
On the flipside, the call for zero-rated exports was denied and tax was actually increased from 2 percent to 3 percent. This will further strain the liquidity of textile companies. The dollar-rupee parity remains unaddressed. Moreover, fuel prices have been increased and the GIDC still remains in place. All this will further hurt profitability.
Despite the gloomy state of the industry, Indus has been expanding and installing more spindles and power generation equipment to its plants. However, it may be time to start expanding the company's local footprint.
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Indus Dyeing & Mfg Co Limited
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Rs (Million) 9MFY15 9MFY14 YoY
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Sales 16,116 13,751 17%
Cost of Sales 14,531 11,873 22%
Gross Profit 1,584 1,879 -16%
GP Margin 10% 14% down 400 bps
Other Operating Income 5 45 -89%
Administrative Expenses 168 185 -9%
Distribution Expenses 373 294 27%
Other Operating Expenses 12 9 33%
Finance Cost 318 283 12%
Profit Before Taxation 599 1,081 -45%
Taxation 124 -
Profit After Tax 475 1,081 -56%
NP Margin 3% 8% down 500 bps
EPS 26.28 59.81 -56%
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