Sterlite Technologies (STLTECH) Q4 17/18 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY18 was described as the strongest year to date, with revenue of ₹3,205 crore, EBITDA of ₹789 crore, PAT after minority interest of ₹334 crore and a record ₹5,223 crore open order book, up 73% YoY.

• Growth was supported by higher exports, long-term contracts and integrated optical products, network services and telecom software; exports represented 54% of FY18 revenue.

Financial highlights

• Consolidated revenue rose 24% YoY to ₹3,205.49 crore; EBITDA increased 45% to ₹774.97 crore and PAT attributable to owners grew 66% to ₹334.33 crore.

• Consolidated EBIT was ₹606 crore, diluted EPS ₹8.25 and EBITDA margin 24.6%, versus 20.9% in FY17; reported ROCE was 30.4%, versus 20.8%.

• Exports reached ₹1,735 crore, up 81% YoY, and represented 54% of revenue versus 37% in FY17; international revenue more than tripled from FY16 to FY18.

• Operating cash flow was ₹731.61 crore, up from ₹488.50 crore; net cash used in investing was ₹584.84 crore, including ₹450.09 crore of PP&E purchases.

Outlook and guidance

• FY19 began with an order book above ₹5,000 crore, up 73% YoY; current cable capacity of 15 million fkm was expected to see high utilisation in the coming year.

• A 20 million fkm fibre-capacity addition was on track for completion by June 2019, lifting total capacity from 30 million to 50 million fkm.

• Management cited rising demand for optical fibre, network-integration services and software as data usage grows and operators deepen fibre networks for 5G and FTTx.