Hyderabad Industries is in the business of manufacturing fibre
cement sheets and thermal insulation materials.
It owns the prominent ‘Charminar’ brand and is a market
leader in its industry with 20%+ market share.
The company has reported good growth in revenues in the last
five years as a result of capacity additions but operating margins have taken a
hit in the last year due to overcapacity in the industry (see below). It reported 88cr of operating profits on
725cr of revenues in the last financial year.
The company employed only moderate debt in financing its operations
despite the heavy capacity additions in the industry, which is a point in
favour of the company’s strong cash flows and management competence.
The business is exposed to the risk of substitutes becoming economically
viable such as GI corrugated sheets (steel-based). The business is dependent on rural spending
power and there is little pricing power within the industry to pass on
increasing input costs. It is exposed to
the risk of rising costs of cement, asbestos and fly ash, which forms a large
proportion of its input cost. The industry is currently blighted by a demand
slowdown and overcapacity as a result of large capacity additions in the past
in expectation of larger demand growth.
The thermal insulation material business is specifically exposed to the industrial
capital investment cycle.
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