We have discussed about Atul Auto a couple of times and to go in-depth and get a much better understanding of the company, we interacted with Mr. J V Adhia, Vice President, Finance – Atul Auto.
The company seems to be in a sweet spot with a very comfortable balance sheet and a good opportunity to maintain growth rate of about 25-30% for at least next couple of years. The co has been a leader in its existing territory – Gujarat (approx. 45% market share) & Rajasthan (approx. 30% market share), the company is now trying to go Pan India by entering new territories.
Here are the highlights from the management interview:
During the period 2001-06 the company had been growing at about 70% p.a. Till then we were a front-engine 3-wheeler company. In 2007 we decided to go pan India and introduced the more predominant rear-engine 3-wheeler segment. Some things went wrong and the company faced a rough patch, and that is the reason you notice stagnant sales for the period 2007-10. However in June 2009 period we introduced Atul Gem the rear-engine vehicle and it has been received very well in the market. The growth is back on track.
Overall about 91% of the total autos are rear-engine vehicles.
We are No #1 in Gujarat with about 44% market share & No #2 in Rajasthan with about 30% market share. Kerala & Assam are our next big markets.
We are gradually entering new territories and ramping up dealer network.
Current dealer network is about 120 dealers. A year back we had 100 dealers but only 30-40% were active! Now more than 80% are active. Plan to have 140-150 dealers by this year end and 250 in 2 years.
As of now the company is seeing a very strong demand and there is a waiting period of about 10 days. As per policy the company is taking orders on advance basis only. Hence the high advances on Balance Sheet
We are in process of doubling our capacity from 24,000 to 48,000 vehicles p.a. This expansion is being done at our existing plant and we have sufficient space.
We are expanding capacities by ongoing de-bottlenecking exercises. We are already at 20-25% higher production and the rest of the de-bottlenecking increases should happen over next 3-6 months. We have options of introducing a double shift, as and when deemed necessary.
We do envision to be 1000 Cr company by 2015-16. (Co did 203 Cr turnover in 2011 and 275 Cr is expected for FY 12)
Please check out the complete management interview (requires free login)