Yogender Bisht, an esteemed member of valuepickr family, raised one important query regarding financials of Solar Industries and I replied to him as candidly as I can… Yogender and I both felt the need to share this conversation on valuepickr forum so that other members also get to know of all the facts…Reproduced below is the entire conversation…
I am grateful to Yogender for bringing this up and this has necessitated formulating a kind of Self Grading/Rating System for each company I cover based on many critical aspects like management quality, transparency, operational segment, financial parameters, etc… Such Grading System will allow members to look at grades/rating achieved by each company on repective aspects so that members can look at each aspect’s grade and question them… This will do away with any sort of mistaken ommision on my part in my research note as, although I prepare detailed research note on each company I cover, there may be some aspects which might have slipped out of memory and so have not found their way in the note… As soon as I am done with my grading system, I will first rate all the 3 companies presently under my active coverage, viz., PI Ind., Jubilant Ind. and Solar Ind. and put it on valuepickr.
Yogender Wrote :
Other income for last three years have been significant (Rs 25 Cr plus ). In last two years most of it is interest income and interest on bank deposits. In FY09 a big chunk of it was Income from sales tax deferment (Should that be treated as revenue??).
This other income is significant if you compare it to PAT ( Rs 75 Cr in FY11).
Maximum cash balance in last 3 years has been Rs 94 Cr. Total investments ( Long term and short term) in FY11 was Rs 12.25 Cr.
So where is this interest income of Rs 20 Cr plus (biggest chunk of other income) in last two years coming from?
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My Reply :
This same question cropped up in my mind when I was analysing Solar… I will answer it in two parts… 1st management’s take on it and then my candid take on it…
Management’s Version :
Co. has done entire investments in two coal blocks in subsidiaries via an agreement which provides that the investments will be as a loan and co. will earn interest on it…As at FY11, around 97.07 cr. investments are done in coal blocks… Bulk of the interst income was from these subsidiaries.
CFO was busy explaining stadalone other income (OI) numbers and when he was quizzed rgdg. consolidated OI numbers wherein interest income further jumps, he was clueless…
My Candid Take & Remarks :
Frankly speaking, I was not atall satisfied with the management’s version and doubt the pure logic that Co. is charging more than market rates to the investments done in coal ventures… Its a marwari promoter group and such rampant loan diversions and high interests income is common…
On business front there is least doubt that company enjoys a leadership position and strategy of future growth is excellent (I have cross-checked on this front)… However, on transparancy front, Solar can get only 2)5…and there will be a risk of hanging sword on that front in this company…
Feel free to get back to me in case of any other query…
Rgds.