Lots of new folks are unhappy with the sort of quiz-puzzle picture put up by me asking folks to decipher what we are reading into this:). Got many messages to that effect.
I thought we put this picture up in the Stock Story thread - and NOT in the SBCL main thread - so new folks (without a rich SBCL context) can quickly refer to the Stock Story and decipher for themselves. But evidently that doesn’t work so well.
So here are some quick clues.
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At one point of time Isabellen Huette (certainly in 2017/18 timeframes) had over 50% market share of Automotive BMS Shunts; with the rest being shared by lots of others including Vishay, Shivalik, Panasonic, Rohm. None probably had double digit market shares.
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In AGM 2022, SBCL confirmed a global market share of 10%+, and also much more on their custom design advantages, EBW Machine configuring (from 3rd party hw and Sw advantages, and much more. Instructive for all to read the AGM 2022 Notes filed by several of us attending.
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We didn’t know then that Isabellen Huette pioneered the Hard Resistant Bonding Tech. Shivalik right form the start has gone the EBW Bonding tech route - and have made it their own with superior cost and custom design advantages, even probably faster manufacturing (low lead times of 20w is probably due to this as well) and gradually ramping up market share as quality/performance requirement wise it met all that OEMs required.
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BUT, we still didn’t have a hold on the addressable market by Shivalik. How many of the OEM-Tier1-Tier2 relationships were frozen, where other competitors are entrenched, which relationships were neutral (and therefore potentially tappable), and which Tier1-Tier2 relationships were warming up.
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In Mumbai analyst meets (see Reports filed), Shivalik mentioned that that have narrowly defined their addressable market ONLY as EBW BMS Shunts. (earlier they wanted to do other EV (non BMS) shunts such as Resistor Shunts as well. And with that Market definition, they declared (to our shock, and amazement) that ISH is NOT really a competitor - probably less than 5% mshare in EBW Automotive Shunts market.
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Thanks to VP in-house domain experts/and others from the Industry, the Merc BMS Shunts supply chain is now mapped completely (more or less); it is confirmed that SBCL shunts are approved in the Bosch-led supply chain along with Wieland and another apart from ISH. Please Note ISH still commands 60-70% share of the Bosch-led supply chain to Merc. And we heard so is the case for other Tier1 suppliers to Merc like Hella and Continental.
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To the discerning investor - this narrow market definition EBW shunts only - when coupled with the announcement of - 1600 Cr sales capacity (created on the back of Sales visibility of 6-7 year customer forecasts; TTM sales 430 Cr), could only mean one thing, they are steadily gaining market share/confidence of OEMs - and consequently other Tier1 and Tier2 suppliers in established OEM Supply Chains - other than just the Vishay linkage (that share has dropped significantly from as high as 70% at one time).
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To my mind, this is where decision-making hinges - on where the ODDS lie - (information will always be insufficient). The smart analysts should work v v hard to establish to FORESEE if
Given all the advantages that SBCL brings to the Table (enough of that in the Shivalik Stock Story)
a) Could SBCL EBW BMS shunts one day come to command as high as 50-60% share of large Tier1s like Continental, and Hella? We know these relationships are warm - but no idea on future visibility
b) Which other large OEMs are neutral enough to work with SBCL in future (and thus we should count them in SBCL addressable market)
c) Is it possible with large multi-year forecasting, the accent is on volumes being secured (in a fractured geopolitical environment, all large Supply chains in all Industries we know are first scurrying to secure long-term supplies); We know this is happening in the Battery Chemicals segment, something like the EV BMS Market must also be seeing movement on this?
d) Looks like in Shunts/Strips segment Margins are NOW sustainable (even with volumes dropping); Is it possible that the Tier2s and Tier1s are facilitating/guaranteeing margin-secure sourcing (RM) for a player like SBCL if in turn their supplies are secured?
Disclosures/Disclaimers:
1. My views are biased. SBCL is a significant investment from 2018 levels. Above is only conjectures (in the realm of possibilities, though)
2. Like most SBCL (and Non-SBCL) investors, we didn’t like what has happened in the lead up to promoter share sale transactions, but surely someone like SBCL having built up the business over last 30-40 years have the right to monetise a part of the wealth-creation- even a fat 10% at one go; and several examples abound like Page Industries who have repeatedly sold, and yet created abundant value for all stake-holders
3. Market news is that further dilution through QIP is possibly in the offing; we are hoping to extract news of advanced dialogs for one or more significant related-business acquisition, and or some big-ticket independent factory JV/Partnership; That is the ONLY logical explaination (to my mind) of frantic market awareness/value-creation activities of recent past (when seen in the context of a normally very reticent, ultra-conservative SBCL Mgmt)